Shields, Joseph D. (Joseph Dunbar), 1820-1886. Papers, 1802-1960 (bulk 1843-1897). 1802-1960 (bulk 1843-1897). 712 items, 4 ms. Vols., 2 printed vols. Location: T:37-T:44; 99:S; Vault; OS: S. Resident of Natchez who was a judge, legislator, planter, and author. His son Joseph Dunbar Shields, Jr., served under J. E. B. Stuart in the Civil War and was killed at Culpepper, Virginia. Papers consist of personal, political, financial, Civil War, and plantation management correspondence and papers; historical, literary, legal, and political manuscripts; and printed items, documenting three generations of the Shields family. Includes letters from Joseph Dunbar Shields while attending the Univeristy of Virginia and drafts of his writings. Plantation papers relate to the family's plantation Pecano, in Waterproof, Tensas Parish, Louisiana. Available (with some omissions) on microfilm: University Publications of America Records of Southern Plantations from Emancipation to the Great Migration, Series B, Part 4, Reels 12-15, or Southern Women and Their Families in the 19th Century: Papers and Diaries, Series E, Reel 34. For further information, see online catalog. Mss. 390, 1526, 1542, 1709, 1821, 1996, 2053.

Vidal, Joseph. Family Papers, 1797-1936 (bulk 1797-1869). 1.4 linear ft. (666 items, 3 ms. Vols.). Location: A:68-69, Vault. Vidal was secretary to Manuel Gayoso de Lemos, Spanish Governor of the Natchez District (1792-1997). Samuel Davis, Vidal's son-in-law, and Francis Surget were planters and land speculators in Louisiana. Collection consists of Vidal's legal documents related to land grants and conveyances in Louisiana, Davis' land speculation documents, and Surget's papers related to his estate. Available on microfilm 5322: University Publications of America Records of Ante-bellum Southern Plantations Series I, Part 3, Reels 11-12. For further information, see online catalog. Mss. 432.

Ellis-Farar Papers, 1768-1871 (bulk 1804-1833). 308 items. Location: S:1; OS:E; Vault:21. Richard Ellis, planter of White Cliffs, Homochitto, and Laurel Hill plantations, Natchez. His children included Mary (who married Captain Benjamin Farar), Jane, and Abram. Papers document plantation management and include deeds, vouchers, correspondence with overseers, and receipts. Jane took a special interest in managing Laurel Hill. Personal correspondence deals with education, plantation life, and family news. Available (with some omissions) on microfilm: University Publications of America Records of Ante-bellum Southern Plantations Series I, Part 3, Reel 10. For further information, see online catalog. Mss. 1000.

Pinson, Nancy. Papers, 1820-1890. 1 linear ft. Location: C:62. Planter of Woodville, Wilkinson County, Mississippi. Correspondence and business papers of the Daniel B. Pinson family. Papers are comprised of bills and receipts for taxes, goods and services, and medical and dental treatments. Letters refer cotton trade, cholera, and family matters. Also included are statements from cotton brokers in New Orleans; contracts with freedmen; a slave list; and a letter mentioning that excitement over the slave riot subsided (June 21, 1853). Available (with some omissions) on microfilm: University Publications of America Records of Ante-bellum Southern Plantations Series I, Part 2, Reels 13-14. For further information, see online catalog. Mss. 828, 1255.

Taylor, Miles, 1805-1873. Family Papers, 1821-1954 (bulk 1821-1890). 200 items. Location: U:236, 99. Congressional representative, lawyer, judge, and sugar planter of Assumption Parish, Louisiana. Taylor's son, Thomas, was a sergeant in the 8th Louisiana Volunteers in the Civil War. Collection includes family letters, photographs, manuscript writings, genealogical and biographical materials, and reprints of speeches Taylor made in Congress (1856-1857). Mrs. Taylor's mother lived in Natchez and the collection includes letters between the two of them; and Civil War letters from Thomas Taylor as a prisoner of war in Saratoga Springs, New York. Available (with some omissions) on microfilm 5735: University Publications of America Confederate Military Manuscripts Series B, Reels 18-19. For further information, see online catalog. Mss. 1378, 1448, 1636, .

Witherell, W. Frank. Papers, 1839-1958 (bulk 1860-1889). 6 linear ft. Location W:129-135, F:19, OS:W. Native of New York, West Point graduate, businessman and entrepreneur, in business with his uncle, W. H. H. Witherell, a New Orleans commission merchant and dealer. Correspondence related to the wholesale trade in hides and mining ventures in the West comprises the majority of this collection. Early papers relate to W. H. H. Witherell's dealings in Natchez and offer insight into the attitudes of West Point cadets towards the Civil War and the assassination of Abraham Lincoln (1860-1865). Items associated with the hide trade include, shipping records, invoices, bills of lading, bank drafts, and receipts. Additional papers pertaining to mining enterprises contain assay certificates, invoices, contracts, deeds and reports on mines. Also included is material related to extending telephone service west of the Mississippi River and a plantation journal recording daily work activities, and sugarcane production for Magnolia Plantation, Plaquemine Parish, La. (1877-1880). Mss. 1498, 1503, 1555, 1776.

Buhler, M. E. (Mary Edith). Papers, 1881-1931. 985 items, 7 ms. Vols., 8 printed vols. Location: C:50-51; H:17. Poet and journalist of Mount Independence Plantation near Natchez, Mississippi, and resident of New Orleans and New York City; author of The Grass in the Pavement (1918). Papers consist of her manuscript and printed writings published in the New York Times and the New Orleans Times-Picayune and of materials relating to her family history and genealogy. Available on microfilm 5750: University Publications of America Southern Women and Their Families in the 19th Century: Papers and Diaries Series E, Reels 1-4. For further information, see online catalog. Mss. 1192, 1210, 1333.

Terry, William. Family Papers, 1766-1896 (bulk 1860-1869). 67 items. Location: A:63. Residents of Pine Woods, Jefferson County, Mississippi, and was related to the Jefferies, Baillio, and Ellett families. Papers include correspondence; a military discharge (1766); a Spanish land grant (1795); and photographs of family homes and plantations. Civil War correspondence contains two letters apparently written by Solomon, a family slave (1862). Available on microfilm 5735: University Publications of America Confederate Military Manuscripts Series B, Reel 19. For further information, see online catalog. Mss. 915.

Butler, Richard, 1777-1820. Papers, 1795-1899. 1.25 linear ft. Location: S:2, OS:B, Vault. Richard Butler, army officer and sugar planter, was the son of American Revolutionary War figure Colonel William Butler and Jane Carmichael of New Orleans. Papers include correspondence, financial papers, and plantation records. A diary describes Butler's travels from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to Natchez, Mississippi, to deliver army dispatches. Included are two letters from Andrew Jackson to Butler. Available on microfilm 5322: University Publications of America Records of Ante-bellum Southern Plantations Series I, Part 5, Reels 2-3. For further information, see online catalog. Mss. 1000, 1069.

Eggleston-Roach Papers, 1825-1903. 285 items, 6 vols. Location: U-51, OS:R. Planters of Wilkinson County and Vicksburg, Mississippi. Mrs. Elizabeth Eggleston of Vicksburg smuggled goods through Union lines to Confederate soldiers. She was subsequently imprisoned and banished from Vicksburg. Diaries and personal papers of members of the Gildart, Eggleston, and Roach families. Horace Nelson Gildart's diary gives an account of a journey through England and Ireland; Dick Hardaway Eggleston's diary records activities on Learmont Plantation. Included are correspondence and orders of Union military authorities concerning Elizabeth Eggleston's activities during the Civil War. Available (with some omissions) on microfilm 6061: University Publications of America Records of Southern Plantations from Emancipation to the Great Migration, Series B, Part 4, Reel 5. For further information, see online catalog. Mss. 832.