Collection Details:

Collection Name and Number: Emma Balfour Collection (Z/0696.001).
Creator/Collector: Emma Balfour.
Date(s): 1781-1925.
Size: 0.40 cubic feet.
Language(s): English.
Processed by: MDAH staff, Bill Hanna, 1979.
Provenance: Gift of Allen T. Akin (husband of Emma Balfour Collier Akin, a great-granddaughter of Emma Harrison Balfour) of Vicksburg, MS, on June 7, 1979; Z/U/1979.039.
Repository: Archives & Records Services Division, Mississippi Department of Archives & History.

 

Rights and Access:

Access restrictions: Reference photocopy or typescript must be used. Due to the fragility of the item, the original diary is restricted. The reference photocopy in Box 1, or typescript in Z/0696.000/F must be used instead. If access to the original is required, a written request must be approved by the curator and Division director.

Publication rights: Copyright assigned to the MDAH. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to Reference Services. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the MDAH as the owner of the physical items and as the owner of the copyright in items created by the donor. Although the copyright was transferred by the donor, the respective creator may still hold copyright in some items in the collection. For further information, contact Reference Services.

Copyright notice: This material may be protected by copyright law (Title 17, U.S. Code).

Preferred citation: Emma Balfour Collection (Z/0696.001), Mississippi Department of Archives & History.

 

Biography:

Emma Balfour

Biography to come.

 
Scope and Content Note:

This accretion contains the original of the Emma Balfour diary which was kept from May 16, 1863, through June 2, 1863, giving an account of life in Vicksburg during the siege by the Union army during the Civil War.

Emma Balfour was a resident of Vicksburg and was married to Dr. W.T. Balfour. In her diary which ends a month and two days before the fall of Vicksburg, Balfour discusses the daily activities of the troops and the constant bombardment of the city by the Union troops.

In addition to the original diary, the collection contains a card from Harris Dickson to Emma Collier (granddaughter of Emma Balfour and wife of Congressman J. W. Collier) indicating the return of the Emma Balfour diary. Also contained in this collection are typescripts of various Balfour and Oswald family papers, a facsimile of the "Wallpaper Edition" of the Daily Citizen, July 2, 1863, and a copy of a Postscript to the Pennsylvania Gazette, dated October 1781. This paper probably belonged to Dr. George Balfour, father of Dr. W. R. Balfour.