Restrictions to Access

No restrictions. Open for research.

Copyright Notice

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the A. E. Rankin & Company Account Books #3168, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Received from Claude W. Rankin, Fayetteville, N.C., in 1955.

Sensitive Materials Statement

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.

Processed by: Adera Scheinker, May 1997

Encoded by: ByteManagers Inc., 2008

Updated by: Kathryn Michaelis, January 2010

The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.

Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.

• A. E. Rankin & Company.
• Account books.
• African Americans--North Carolina--Economic conditions--19th century.
• Fayetteville (N.C.)--Commerce--History--19th century.
• Merchants--North Carolina--History--19th century.

According to the donor, A. E. Rankin and Company later became A. E. Rankin Co., Inc. The building at 116 Person Street in Fayetteville, N.C., was occupied and owned by them from 1880 to 1954. "The firm catered to farmers and merchants and at one time was one of the largest mercantile establishments in the Cape Fear section." Volume 1, listed below, was found in the store of A. E. Rankin Company in Fayetteville when the firm went out of business in 1955, and the donor believes that the accounts in the back are those of "Uncle Billie Williams," an African-American man who ran a dray for hire business.

Ledgers and daybooks of a large Fayetteville, N.C., mercantile firm, chiefly in the 1880s, but also 1833-1835 and 1870s; and accounts of the firm with a black man who did hauling and errands, 1885-1888.

• Oversize volume (SV-3168/3)