Z 1773.000 S
BRYANT (CLYDE) PAPERS


Biography/History:

Clyde Bryant was born in Coffeeville, Mississippi, on January 15, 1868. She attended Ward Seminary in Nashville, Tennessee, in the 1880s and then returned to Coffeeville. She married Clarence Victor Beadles of Aberdeen, Mississippi, in 1899. The couple resided in Aberdeen for a year before returning to Coffeeville. Clyde Bryant Beadles died in 1948.

Scope and Content:

The majority of this collection consists of personal correspondence (series 1), including courtship letters exchanged between Clyde Bryant and a number of suitors, including brothers Clarence Victor and Eugene St. Clair Beadles, Allen Kennedy, Walter McClarty, James B. Small, Joe Talbert, and J. J. Ward. The letters document courtship customs and small-town life during the 1880s and 1890s. Although many of the suitors were from the Coffeeville area, even small distances were obstacles to communication. The courtship letters reflect how railway post offices made daily communication possible between Coffeeville, Grenada, Oxford, Water Valley, and Winona. Since daily visits with Clyde Bryant were often impossible, these letters are filled with details of social life in nearby towns and villages. Major social events are also documented in the social papers (series 4).

Of interest among the family correspondence (series 2) is a letter describing the behavior of freedmen on the old Bryant homestead in Marshall County, Mississippi, in 1866. The family papers (series 5) contain miscellaneous items associated with Bryant family matters. The photographs (series 6) include images of many correspondents in this collection.

Series Identification:

  1. Personal Correspondence. 1883-1899; 1902; 1908-1910; 1948; n.d. 3.50 c.f.

Incoming and outgoing correspondence of Clyde Bryant. Principal correspondents include Clarence Victor Beadles (Aberdeen and Coffeeville, Mississippi; Middleton, Connecticut; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and on The Overland Limited); Eugene St. Clair Beadles (Biloxi, Durant, and Water Valley, Mississippi; Los Angeles and San Diego, California; Cromwell, Connecticut; New Orleans, Louisiana; Watkins, New York; and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania); A. A. Bryant (Coffeeville, Mississippi); Edgar Bryant (Ft. Smith, Arkansas); Allen Kennedy (Ft. Smith, Arkansas); Walter McClarty (Water Valley, Mississippi); Edwin Newberger (Coffeeville, Mississippi; and Memphis, Tennessee); James B. Small (Coffeeville and Winona, Mississippi); Joe Talbert (Ft. Worth and San Angelo, Texas); J. J. Ward (Coffeeville, Oxford, and Winona, Mississippi); and Susie Webber (Ft. Smith, Arkansas).

Box 1: 1883-1887.

Box 2: 1888-1889.

Box 3: 1890.

Box 4: 1891-1892.

Box 5: 1893.

Box 6: 1894.

Box 7: 1895.

Box 8: January-March 1896.

Box 9: April-December 1896.

Box 10: January-June 1897.

Box 11: July 1897-January 1898.

Box 12: February 1898-January 15, 1899.

Box 13: 1899-1949, n.d.

Box 14: n.d.; fragments.

  • Family Correspondence. 1866; 1890-1891; 1893; 1895-1899; 1908; 1930. 15 items.

    • Correspondence of various Bryant family members and friends.

    Box 14

  • Correspondence. n.d. 1 item.

    • Typescript copy of a letter from John W. Bryant to his brother, May 7, 1853.

    Box 14

  • Social Papers. 1873; 1878; 1884-1893; 1895-1899; n.d. 0.33 c.f.

    • Calling cards; social invitations (grand ball and banquet, grand hop and banquet, military ball and banquet, German ball, commencement ball, and dress ball); dance cards; wedding invitations; birth announcements; funeral notices; personal greeting cards; commercial greeting cards; autograph book; play script; and miscellaneous papers.

    Box 15

  • Family Papers. 1853; 1859; 1864; 1895-1897; 1907-1909; 1917; n.d. 0.33 c.f.

    • Miscellaneous papers of Clyde Bryant or her family pertaining to the following subjects: Ward Seminary (short essays); Bryant-Beadles marriage; family care of Edgar Bryant; obituaries and memorials; medical records; invoices and receipts; warranty deed; Bryant-Shackleford settlement; broadside.

    Box 16

  • Photographs. n.d.

    • Included are ten loose images and thirty-nine album images.

    Box 16: Loose images:

    1. Edna Estes Beadles; 1a. Edna Estes Beadles.
    2. Bryant home, Coffeeville (1862-1918).
    3. Edgar Bryant.
    4. Clarence Victor Beadles home, Coffeeville (built ca. 1922).
    5. Alfred Alexander Bryant.
    6. Clarence Victor Beadles and Buford Jones (see series 1, Clarence Victor Beadles to Clyde Bryant, June 2, 1898).
    7. Joe Talbert.
    8. Group photograph; front row, left to right: Sue Genia Wells, Clyde Bryant (Mrs. Clarence Victor) Beadles; Frances Wells; back row, left to right: Dr. Carr, Mrs. A. A. Bryant, Clyde Beadles (sister of Clarence Victor Beadles), A. A. Bryant. (see page F-23 of Yalobusha County History (Water Valley: Yalobusha County Historical Society).
    9. Clyde Bryant.

    Box 16: Four loose images (three of Clyde Bryant; one of her daughter, Edna Estes Beadles) removed from photograph album described below.

    Box 17: Photograph album containing thirty-five of thirty-nine original images.

    Individuals depicted:

    Beadles, Clarence.

    Beadles, Clyde Bryant.

    Beadles, E. S.

    Beadles, Edna Estes.

    Beadles, Clarence V., III.

    Beadles, Clarence V., Jr.

    Beadles, Mabel.

    Beadles, Zara.

    Bryant, A. A. (Dr.).

    Bryant, Alfred A., Jr.

    Bryant, Alfred Alexander.

    Bryant, Carl, Sr.

    Bryant, Carl.

    Bryant, Clara Carr.

    Bryant, Clyde.

    Bryant, Edgar E.

    Bryant, John M.

    Bryant, Maggie Lee.

    Bryant, W. C.

    Everett, Clyde Bryant.

    Everett, Frank.

    Herron, Mattie.

    Herron, Mattie.

    Jones, Maria Lou.

    Lester. Mary B.

    Lester, Mary Bell.

    McCaslin, Mr.

    Rowland, Martha.

    Trigg, Rosa.

    Webber, Aretta.

    Webber, Minnie.