Dates: 1834-1953.

A native of North Carolina, Duncan McArn settled in Jefferson County, Mississippi, around 1835. He taught school in nearby Franklin County, Mississippi, from about 1835 to 1840. McArn married Catherine Torrey, sister of John Torrey, and moved to Union Church in Jefferson County. He established a cotton plantation with business outlets in Natchez and Rodney, Mississippi, and in New Orleans. Duncan McArn died in 1875, leaving the plantation to his second son, John McArn, who continued farming during his lifetime.

This collection is arranged as follows:

Series 1: Personal correspondence, 1834-1905 (boxes 1-2).

Series 2: Business correspondence, 1835-1953 (box 3).

Series 3: Accounts, invoices, and receipts, 1834-1877 (boxes 4-5).

Series 4: Cotton receipts, 1847-1874 (box 6).

Series 5: Miscellaneous items, including lists of enslaved persons with physical descriptions of each; records concerning freedmen; advertisements; a daybook; a hymnal; a pocketbook; and a prayer book (boxes 7-8).