Marion Stuart Davis Papers, 1770-2003

Collection Number: 05073

Collection Title: Marion Stuart Davis Papers, 1770-2003

This collection has access restrictions. For details, please see the restrictions.

This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held in the Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in our reading room, and not digitally available through the World Wide Web. See the Duplication Policy section for more information.

Expand/collapse Collection Overview

Size	6.5 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 5000 items)
Abstract	Marion Stuart Davis was a Louisburg, N.C., architect, who specialized in the construction of churches and schools. His sister, Mabel Irwin Davis, was a teacher at Louisburg College and a librarian of the Warren County Memorial Library. This collection includes Marion Stuart Davis's personal and business correspondence, architectural project files, legal and financial papers, Masonic papers, family history materials, and materials relating to the history of Louisburg College. Also included are Mabel Irwin Davis materials, chiefly letters; financial papers; writings; school papers; and notebooks containing attendance lists, notes related to teaching at Louisburg College, and original writings. There are also some materials relating to Davis's sister, Mary Davis Allen, who served as president of Louisburg College; his wife, May Amanda Holmes Davis; and to other family members.
Creator	Davis, Marion Stuart, 1877-1959.
Curatorial Unit	Southern Historical Collection
Language	English.

Expand/collapse Information For Users

Restrictions to Access: This collection contains additional materials that are not available for immediate or same day access. Please contact Research and Instructional Service staff at wilsonlibrary@unc.edu to discuss options for consulting these materials.

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 Marion Stuart Davis #5073, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Provenance: Received from Sarah Davis of Louisburg, N.C., in July 2001 (Acc. 99013), August 2001 (Acc. 99042), September 2001 (Acc. 99065), October 2001 (Acc. 99098), July 2004 (Acc. 99845), September 2004 (Acc. 99893, 99894), January 2005 (Acc. 100002), March 2005 (Acc. 100030), and September 2005 (Acc. 100199, 100202, 100212).

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.

Expand/collapse Processing Information

The additions of 2004 and 2005 are arranged in the same way as, but have not been incorporated into, the original deposit of materials.

Finding aid updated in September 2005 by Linda Sellars and Valerie Gillispie because of additions.

Expand/collapse Subject Headings

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.

Expand/collapse Related Collections

Matthew Smart Davis Papers (#4125);
Davis and Hill Family Papers (#4393);
Daniel Shine Hill Papers (#4834).

Expand/collapse Biographical Information

Architect Marion Stuart Davis, who is alternately referred to as M. S. Davis, Jr., or M. Stuart Davis, was born in Louisburg, N.C., in 1877. His parents were Matthew Smart Davis, a prominent educator in Franklin County, N.C., and Sarah Louisa Hill Davis. Davis married May Amanda Holmes in 1913, and they had four children: Marion Stuart, Kenneth, May, and Sarah.

After being educated in the Louisburg schools, Davis attended Trinity College, Durham, N.C., and the United States Military Academy at West Point, N.Y. He did not graduate from either institution, and his architectural skills were acquired via correspondence school and self-study. Davis's architectural practice focused on the construction of churches and schools within North Carolina. In addition to architectural design work, he was also involved in agriculture and owned a property insurance business. During World War II, he served with the office of the Post Engineer at Camp Butner, N.C. Davis was an active Mason and one-time Master of the Louisburg Lodge. He died in 1959.

Educator and librarian, Mabel Irwin Davis, who was a sister of Marion Stuart Davis, was born in Louisburg, N.C., in 1874. She was educated at Louisburg College and taught there for a number of years before assuming the position of librarian at the newly created Warren County Memorial Library in 1924. Davis served in this post until her retirement in 1954. In addition to her professional activities, she was a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution and secretary of the Warren County Historical Society. She died in 1961.

Expand/collapse Scope and Content

This collection is architect Marion Stuart Davis's personal and business correspondence, architectural project files, legal and financial papers, Masonic papers, Davis family history papers, and materials relating to the history of Louisburg College.

Davis's chief personal correspondents were family members, especially his mother, Sarah Louisa Hill Davis, his sisters, Mabel Irwin Davis and Mary Davis Allen (Mrs. Ivey Allen), and his wife, May Amanda Holmes Davis. Business correspondence, primarily related to his architectural practice in North Carolina, is with clients, contractors, building material suppliers, and other architects. Note that correspondence related to specific design and construction projects is filed in the Series 2 project files.

Architectural project files contain construction specifications, correspondence, invoices, account statements, building supply literature, brief notes, pamphlets, plans, blueprints, and photographs. There are also lists of church building projects; professional architectural association materials; newspaper clippings about church buildings and church architecture; and correspondence, pamphlets, government documents, and newspaper clippings relating to Davis's activities with the Franklin County Industrial Association.

Financial and legal papers consist of contracts for the purchase of real estate, dental care, a Model T Ford, and subsurface mineral rights; life insurance policies; receipts; statements of account; and other items. There is also correspondence concerning Davis's involvement with Mabel Davis's financial affairs.

Louisburg Masonic Lodge No. 413 materials are official lodge correspondence, meeting notes, membership rolls, printed programs, and a brief history of the Louisburg lodge. There are also a 1907 copy of "H.T.W.S.S.T.K.S. and his Followers" and materials relating to other clubs with which Davis was associated.

Also included are family history materials; essays about Louisburg, N.C., Louisburg College, and the Davis family; school records; World War II ration cards and books; and other papers. Family history clippings relate to a number of different family members, but Mary Davis Allen (Mrs. Ivey Allen) is most prominently represented. Essays include remembrances by Mary Davis Allen about her tenure as president of Louisburg College and Marion Stuart Davis's history of his family's relationship with the College. There are also historical notes created by Sarah Davis, the collection's donor.

Mabel Irwin Davis materials include letters, financial papers, writings, school papers, and notebooks. Notebooks contain attendance lists, notes related to teaching at Louisburg College, and original writings. Some writings discuss literature and history. Other writings are fictional short works with religious or moralizing themes; a play; The March of Events: A Pageant; and a tribute to her cousin, poet and novelist Edwin Wiley Fuller.