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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 Harold Cranston Beall diaries #4837, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Received from Rogers McVaugh of Chapel Hill, N.C., in October 1996 (Acc. 96140).

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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.

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Updated by: Nancy Kaiser, January 2021

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.

• American diaries--Georgia--History--20th century.
• Beall, Harold Cranston, 1900-1975.
• Decatur (Ga.)--Social life and customs--20th century.
• Diaries.
• Georgia--Social life and customs.
• United States--Description and travel.

Harold Cranston Beall was the fifth child of William Dixon Beall (b. 1862), a Maryland minister, and Hannah Simpson Beall (b. 1862). He studied engineering at Johns Hopkins University and worked for the Bureau of Public Roads of the U.S. Department of Commerce until he retired in 1963. He lived in Bismarck, N.D.; Pierre, S.D.; and Decatur, Ga. Beall was married to Mary Young of Denton, Tex.

Twelve diary volumes written by Harold Cranston Beall, of Decatur, Ga., from his retirement in 1963 until his death in 1975. There is one volume for each year except 1974. Beall recorded the weather each day as well as his daily chores and activities, including detailed information on house repairs, gardening, errands, health, church affairs, and social activities. He also chronicled several trips, most along the eastern seaboard and one to Texas and California in 1968. He often mentioned events of national concern, such as the Kennedy assassination, the signing of the civil rights bill, the Apollo launch, the Nixon-Eisenhower wedding, and the Patty Hearst trial. The entries become briefer in 1975 and end abruptly on 9 November 1975.