Z 1828.000 Bryant (W.C.) and Family Papers

Z 1828.000 S
BRYANT (W. C.) AND FAMILY PAPERS

1. Correspondence, etc. 1864; 1878-1949; n.d. 0.66 cubic ft.

The series includes the incoming and outgoing business and personal correspondence of Dr. A. A. Bryant and his son, W. C. Bryant. Included are a letter from W. C. Shackelford to Dr. A. A. Bryant, dated August 23, 1878, and a printed funeral notice of Dr. A. A. Bryant, dated April 5, 1893. The series also contains extensive correspondence of W. C. Bryant with attorneys, businessmen, and tenants concerning agricultural and mercantile operations and political matters. The personal correspondence includes letters exchanged by W. C. Bryant, his wife, and other family members during his 1905 world tour. These letters were written primarily from the West Coast of the United States, but they were continued as Bryant journeyed to Japan, China, the Philippines, Egypt, and France. Bryant also corresponded with President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Wall Doxey, and Charles S. Sydnor, professor of history, University of Mississippi, concerning the preservation of the "Yellobushia" plantation which was formerly owned and operated by eleventh President James K. Polk while he was speaker of the United States House of Representatives (1835-1839), and the construction of a memorial to President Polk at Okachickima, Yalobusha County, Mississippi. Also included are eleven letters from Dunbar Rowland, first director of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, dating from July 2, 1901, to July 19, 1902; one letter from Eron (Mrs. Dunbar) Rowland; Bryant's correspondence with magazines and newspapers concerning the publication of articles about the "Cannibal Tree of Mindanao Island" which Bryant observed in the Philippines; Bryant's letters concerning the purchase of grand-opera tickets in Jackson, Mississippi, in 1929; and Bryant's letters to his family while on a trip to Havana, Cuba, and the Panama Canal Zone in 1930. One folder of miscellaneous material contains a certificate for Confederate States of America bonds issued to Jonathan Woodall, dated March 31, 1864; a visitors register dating from 1936 to 1939 kept by W. C. Bryant; envelopes; and cards.

Box 1

• folder 1: August 1878-September 1899
• folder 2: July 1900-February 1901
• folder 3: March 1901-May 1901
• folder 4: July 1901-September 1901
• folder 5: October 1901-December 1901
• folder 6: January 1902-November 1904
• folder 7: July 1905
• folder 8: August 1905

Box 2

• folder 1: September 1905-October 1905
• folder 2: November 1905-December 1905
• folder 3: January 1908-May 1908
• folder 4: 1912-1922
• folder 5: 1924-1927
• folder 6: 1924-1930
• folder 7: 1933-1935
• folder 8: 1934-1935; 1937-1938; 1949, n.d.
• folder 9: 1864; 1902-1939, n.d. (miscellaneous)
2. Business Records. 1896-1949. 1.33 cubic ft.

2.1. Fullers Earth Records. 1917-1949; n.d.

This series includes W. C. Bryant's correspondence with companies and individuals throughout the United States attempting to establish a market for fullers earth. Also included are clay-sample reports, lists of geologists, plant estimates, a prospectus, and the Old Mill Company charter.

Box 3

• folder 1: 1917-1922
• folder 2: September 1926-May 1927
• folder 3: June 1927-December 1927
• folder 4: February 1928-August 1928; n.d.
• folder 5: September 1928-December 1928
• folder 6: 1929-1931
• folder 7: January 1932-June 1949; n.d.

2.2. Cotton Records. 1900-1915.

This series includes W. C. Bryant's correspondence with Stewart and Company, New Orleans; C. P. Ellis and Company, New Orleans; and Hubbard Brothers and Company, New York; and other brokers and Board of Arbitration records from the New Orleans Cotton Exchange, dated July 24, 1900.

Box 4

• folder 1: January 1900-August 1900
• folder 2: September 1900-December 1900
• folder 3: January 1901-March 1901
• folder 4: April 1901-November 1901
• folder 5: February 1902-March 1915

2.3. Investments. 1902.

This series includes W. C. Bryant's correspondence concerning bank-stock transfers, fire-association stock purchases, and a foreword and prospectus for the formation of the Southwestern Brokerage and Investment Company, and the building of a railroad (possibly the Skuna Valley Railroad).

Box 4

• folder 6

2.4. Livestock Records. 1900-1936.

This series includes W. C. Bryant's correspondence with the American Jersey Cattle Club, New York, regarding the purchase of a bull named Royal Ben-Hur (No. 41905) and railroad-car receipts from Burnette-Carter Company and Robison-Davis-Winfrey, Inc., Memphis, Tennessee, stockyards.

Box 4

• folder 7

2.5. Railroad and Timber Records. 1900-1924; n.d.

This series includes correspondence regarding the establishment of the Skuna Valley Railroad. Principal correspondents are W. C. Bryant; John W. Cutrer, Clarksdale; Roger and Isaac Butterfield, attorneys, Grand Rapids, Michigan, representing the Butterfield estate; C. H. Bradley, Duluth, Minnesota; and J. P. Cady, Pine Bluff, Arkansas.

Box 4

• folder 8: August 1900-March 1920
• folder 9: June 1920-January 1924; n.d.

2.6. Birmingham Dry-Goods Store Records. 1898-1908; n.d.

This series includes W. C. Bryant's correspondence with W. C. Shackelford concerning a dispute over the settlement of Shackelford's indebtedness to Dr. A. A. Bryant's estate; trial-balance sheets for the dry-goods store; correspondence with the store manager concerning stock supplies; and bank letters concerning loans on the store and other property.

Box 5

• folder 1

2.7. Skuna Valley Store Records. 1916-1943; n.d.

This series includes invoices for purchases for the Skuna Valley Store; a statement of telephone calls from the Southern Bell Telephone and Telegraph Company at Grenada; and store letterhead bearing "Where Bryant Is, Once Was," a listing of former place names for Bryant.

Box 5

• folder 2

2.8. Water Valley Real Estate Company Records. 1908-1915.

This series includes receipts for cotton, lumber, repairs, and taxes; and a typewritten account of the division of Judge E. E. Bryant's interest in the Water Valley Real Estate Company.

Box 5

• folder 3

2.9. Real Estate Holdings. 1889-1922; n.d.

This series includes correspondence, receipts, and agreements pertaining to real estate in Paris, Texas; Viola, Illinois; Denver, Colorado; Birmingham, Alabama; and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Box 5

• folder 4

2.10. Oil and Gas Records. 1919-1921.

This series includes geologists reports, oil and gas leases, and correspondence relating to the development of the oil industry in north-central Mississippi. Of particular interest is the Whaley-Eaton Service Letter No. 66 (For Clients Only), Washington, D.C., dated December 6, 1919.

Box 6

• folder 1: July 1919-April 1921
• folder 2: May 1931-July 1938.
• folder 3: October 1917-April 1920
• folder 4: May 1920
• folder 5: May 1920
• folder 6: June 1920-January 1921
3. United States Post Office, Water Valley, Mississippi. 1902-1932. 0.33 cubic ft.
This series includes correspondence pertaining to the construction of the United States Post Office Building and the acquisition of the title to the Whitney lot, the desired site for the building in Water Valley. It includes letters to Congressman T. U. Sisson, Senator James K. Vardaman, and B. R. Newton, assistant secretary, Treasury Department, Washington, D.C. There is a deposition, dated July 10, 1915, by Mrs. Hortense Whitney, the widow of J. B. Whitney, owner of the lot who had died intestate, a circumstance which generated the large amount of legal work evidenced in the papers. Included are warranty and chattel deeds; contracts and agreements; land and title abstracts; and miscellaneous receipts.Box 7
• folder 1: February 1915-March 1915
• folder 2: April 1915-July 1915
• folder 3: August 1915-December 1915
• folder 4: January 1916-October 1919
• folder 5: 1902; 1909; 1915-1916; 1921; 1923; 1926-1929; 1931-1932
4. Photographs. ca. 1890s-1930s; n.d. 0.33 cubic ft.
This series contains postcards and a color reproduction of an image of the Okachickima post office, built circa 1820. There is a photograph album containing images from the Philippines; as well as an aerial view of the 1912 Grenada County Fair; the drilling of an artesian well and logging operations in the Bryant, Mississippi, area; and a former slave, Spencer, who once belonged to Confederate Colonel David L. Herron, an officer mortally wounded at the battle of Shiloh in 1862. There is also a photograph of a courtroom scene in Fort Smith, Arkansas, with Judge E. E. Bryant presiding.

Box 8

• folder 1
• folder 2
• folder 3

Box 12

• oversize photograph of the S.S. Dakota.

Box 17

• album; n.d.
5. Postcards and Notebook. 1905; 1908; 1910; n.d. 0.33 cubic ft.

This series contains postcards collected by W. C. Bryant during his 1905 world tour, some with messages to his wife and daughter, and others with annotations on the back. Other cards were received from family and friends. There is also a bound notebook with a written account of Bryants travels and a ships log.

Box 9

• folder 1: Canada, Panama Canal Zone, United States
• folder 2: China, Japan
• folder 3: Ceylon
• folder 4: Italy
• folder 5: Egypt
• folder 6: Yemen (Aden)
• folder 7: Holy Land
• folder 8: France, Luxembourg
• folder 9: England, Somalia, miscellaneous

Box 18

• notebook: n.d.
6. Ephemera (Travel-Related). 1884-1901; 1934; 1965; n.d. 0.33 cubic ft.

This series contains printed works, which W. C. Bryant acquired during his trips abroad. Included are travel guides from Egypt, England, France, the Holy Land, Italy, Japan, and the Philippines (in Spanish). There is one folder containing menus from the steamships on which Bryant sailed and miscellaneous ephemera.

Box 10

• folder 1
7. Speeches. 1911; 1914; n.d. 0.10 cubic ft.

This series contains one political speech in which Bryant introduced Charlton H. Alexander, a candidate for the United States Senate. The speech is annotated as being Bryants only political speech, and it was delivered at Coffeeville, Mississippi, on July 28, 1911. Also included is a published address, "The Time is Now," which was delivered before the Yalobusha County Livestock Association on December 14, 1914. There are three academic addresses delivered by Bryant on the early history of Mississippi. They contain information about Coffeeville and Yalobusha County in the 1830s.

Box 11

• folder 1
8. Diaries. 1905; 1924-1935. 0.20 cubic ft.

This series contains one handwritten diary (photocopy) that chronicles W. C. Bryants trip to the Philippines and his subsequent world tour in 1905. Another diary (typewritten) spans the years 1924 to 1935. It covers Bryant's business dealings, family matters, and local events in Coffeeville and Water Valley, Mississippi.

Box 11

• folder 2
• folder 3
9. Compositions. n.d. 0.10 cubic ft.

This series contains compositions of W. C. Bryant, including one published work entitled, Mississippi: The Coming State; the second chapter of an incomplete work on bitterweed; a history of Coffeeville, Mississippi; two reports on the Skuna Valley Basin; and a story about Andrew Lee (Leigh), grandson of Wash Leigh, a former slave of John T. Leigh.

Box 11

• folder 4
10. Newsclippings. 1905-1968; n.d. 0.33 cubic ft.

This series contains photocopies of newspaper clippings of W. C. Bryant, E. E. Bryant, and Maggie Lea Bryant Stone. Those belonging to W. C. Bryant reflect his interest in General Sam Dale, north Mississippi oil exploration, and President James K. Polk's former plantation in north-central Mississippi. Included are articles Bryant wrote for various newspapers about his trip to the Philippines, especially concerning a so-called man-eating tree. There is also a copy of the North China Daily News, Shanghai, China, September 7, 1905.

Newspaper articles

• The Commercial Appeal, Memphis, Tennessee
• "Flood Protection for the Yazoo Delta," April 25, 1920
• "Lumber Production Soon to be Normal," July 4, 1920
• "Big Sam Dale-Indian Fighter," January 23, 1938
• "Flare Was Beacon for Black Gold," October 18, 1953
• "New Wealth Comes to the Hills," January 24, 1954
• "UFOs Trail Legends, Mysteries from Ancient India to America," October 16, 1966
• "Scientists by UFO Wreck in Norway, Fragment Shot from Disk by Jet," October 17, 1966
• "UFO Pilots Described as Automated Pygmies," October 18, 1966
• "Flying Saucers Make Antarctic Hot," October 19, 1966
• "Power Failure and UFOs Coincide," October 20, 1966
• The Meridian Star, Meridian, Mississippi
• "Post Office, Built in 1820, Used as Refuge by Lauderdale Countians as Escort on Famous Indian March," March 14, 1937.
• The North Mississippi Herald, Water Valley, Mississippi
• "Man-Eating Tree Is Found to be a Myth," August 29, 1930.

Box 14

• folder 1: newspaper clippings, W. C. Bryant, n.d.

Box 14

• folder 2: newspaper clippings, Maggie Lea Bryant Stone, 1937; n.d.

Box 12

• folder 3: newspaper clippings; speeches, E. E. Bryant, n.d.

Box 14

• folder 4: newspaper published in China, 1905.

Box 12

• folder 5: newspaper clippings, W. C. Bryant, 1905-1968, n.d.
11. Maggie Lea Bryant (Mrs. W. I.) Stone Papers. 1913-1965. 0.33 cubic ft.

This series includes one folder of material belonging to Maggie Lea Bryant (Mrs. W. I.) Stone containing several blue ribbons from the Mississippi State and Yalobusha County fairs; programs and name tags from the 1935 annual meeting of the Mississippi State Bar Association in Natchez; two handwritten African American spirituals arranged by Stone; a Southern Pacific railroad pass for Stone issued in 1930; and two folders of reports to the State Tax Commission for the Skuna Valley Store. There is also a copy of Duns Review, 1913; a brochure for Camp Luca Schoona, July 1921; and three copies of the seating arrangements of the Memphis Civic League auditorium in 1926.

Box 13

• folder 1: Natchez Pilgrimage brochures, 1921-1965
• folder 2: state tax reports, Mrs. W. C. Bryant, 1938-1939
• folder 3: state tax reports, Mrs. W. I. Stone, 1940-1946
• folder 4: fair ribbons, holographic spirituals, Bar Association plates, 1927-1960
• folder 5: Duns Review, Camp Luca Schoona, Memphis Civic League, 1913-1926
12. Scrapbook. 1879. 0.33 cubic ft.

This scrapbook contains poetry and illustrations clipped from newspapers and other sources. Inside the front cover is handwritten, "Miss Sallie Bailey, Oxford, Miss., from Sister Livi, Feb. 28th 79." Lavinia Lea Bailey Brown was the elder sister of Sallie Bailey.

Box 17

13. Bailey Family Papers. 1900-1909. 0.33 cubic ft.

This series includes telegrams; promissory notes; statements of account for medical bills, art supplies, groceries, and dental work; and correspondence concerning tenants and tenant houses of John Bailey, Mrs. E. C. Bailey, Ellen Bailey, and Sallie Bailey.

Box 14

14. Miscellany. 1919; 1924; 1925; n.d. 0.33 cubic ft.

This series consists of the following material: printed material by L. M. Southworth pertaining to a convention for the nomination of a congressman for the Fourth Congressional District; a real estate flyer for the Louisville Real Estate and Investment Company, Louisville, Mississippi; a copy of the coat-of-arms for "The Randolph"; a 1919 calendar featuring the poem "We Shall Not Sleep" or "In Flanders Fields" by Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, published as a supplement to the Sunday edition of The Commercial Appeal; page 12 from The Delineator, February 1919, dedicated to McCrae; an article entitled "Any Hoop Snakes? Yes, Sirree!" by W. C. Bryant (The Philosopher of Skuna Valley); pages 5 and 6 of the American Weekly, Inc., 1924, headlined "Mystery of the Man-Eating Tree of Madagascar"; pages 5 and 6 from the American Weekly, Inc., 1925, headlined "Escaped from the Embrace of the Man-Eating Tree," as related by W. C. Bryant; and a letter to W. C. Bryant from Ambrose and Gray Real Estate Company, Sheffield, Alabama, dated March 19, 1924, enclosing a blueprint and a pictorial history of Muscle Shoals, Alabama, printed in newspaper form.

Box 12

1. Correspondence, etc. 1899-1921. 0.10 cubic ft.

This correspondence is primarily addressed to W. C. Bryant and relates the adversities he is experiencing with his health and finances, precipitated by a bout with smallpox and his misfortunes with some investments. In a letter of November 9, 1901, Bryant tells his brother, Allie, of his nervous condition and hints of a near breakdown. The last letter of March 3, 1921, is addressed to the Estate of E. E. Bryant, Coffeeville, Mississippi.

Box 15

• folder 1
2. Compositions. n.d. 0.10 cubic ft.

This series contains titled and untitled compositions of E. E. Bryant. Among the titled ones are "The Orchard," "How Dreams Came True," "The Unfortunate Boy," The Unfortunate Maiden," "History of Telemachus," "Thomas Middleton and Samuel Yacht," "Shanks, to the Temple of the Star," and "A Kentucky Pioneer." Also included are two poems entitled "Lone and Sad" and "The Rainbow."

Box 15

• folder 2
3. Speeches. 1880-1896; n.d. 0.33 cubic ft.

This series contains handwritten copies of the valedictory address of E. E. Bryant at the University of Mississippi, Oxford, in 1880; a speech delivered to the Knights of Pythias on January 20, 1887; a speech delivered at the Confederate Veterans Reunion at Greenville, Mississippi, in 1890; a speech delivered to the Catholic Society at Fort Smith, Arkansas, in 1891; a speech delivered at the Reunion of the Ex-Confederates, Bentonville, Arkansas, on September 18, 1893; a speech delivered to the Arkansas State Democratic Convention in 1896. There are also speeches delivered to the Yalobusha County Teachers Association; the Deaf Mute Association of Fort Smith, Arkansas; the citizens of Mena, Polk County, Arkansas, on the towns fourth anniversary. Also included are two commencement addresses; a law school commencement address (University of Mississippi ?); and a eulogy for Judge J. C. Parker. There is a typewritten speech on the coining of money and definitions of gold, its ratio, and standard of value; a speech on the anti-trust legislature of Arkansas; a speech to the Chalmers Polemic Society; and a number of speeches to undetermined audiences.

Box 15

• folder 3: 1880-1896
• folder 4: n.d.
• folder 5: n.d.
• folder 6: n.d.

Box 16

• folder 1: n.d.
• folder 2: n.d.
• folder 3: n.d.
• folder 4: n.d.
• folder 5: n.d.
• folder 6: n.d.