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 James Lawrence Dusenbery Diary and Clipping #2561-z, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Alternate Form of Material

Typed transcription of part of diary called "Records of My Senior Year at the University of North Carolina" available.

Acquisitions Information

Transcription received from R.D.W. Connor of Chapel Hill, N.C., in July 1943. Notebook purchased by William S. Powell of Chapel Hill from Jay H. Small of Indianapolis, Ind., and donated in October 1988.

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: Roslyn Holdzkom, December 1988

Encoded by: Peter Hymas, October 2004

Funding from the State Library of North Carolina supported the encoding of this finding aid.

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.

• Chapel Hill (N.C.)--Social life and customs.
• College students--North Carolina--Social life and customs.
• Diaries.
• Dusenbery, James Lawrence, b. 1821.
• Lexington (N.C.)--Social life and customs.
• Student notebooks--History--19th century.
• University of North Carolina (1793-1962)--Students--Social life and customs.

James Lawrence Dusenbery (b. 1821) of Lexington, N.C., was a student at the University of North Carolina. Upon leaving the University of North Carolina, Dusenbery studied medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. He subsequently served as a surgeon in the Confederate Army. Sometime after the Civil War, he returned to Lexington, where he died a bachelor.

The collection includes a notebook of James Lawrence Dusenbery of Lexington, N.C., containing copies of poems and other writings (56 pages), "Records of My Senior Year at the University of North Carolina" (80 pages), and "Copy of Correspondence with Miss Mary S." (5 pages). According to a 1940 newpaper clipping, upon leaving the University of North Carolina, Dusenbery studied medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. He subsequently served as a surgeon in the Confederate Army. Sometime after the Civil War, he returned to Lexington, where he died a bachelor.

The sketch of life at the University of North Carolina covers fall 1841-spring 1842, and largely concentrates on the social aspects of student life in Chapel Hill, N.C. The collection includes a typed transcription of this part of the notebook, probably made in the early 1940s by Mrs. Hal Worth of Asheboro, N.C., who owned the original at the time. Note that some entries for January 1842 are either missing or on damaged leaves in the original. This mutilation apparently took place before the typed transcriptions were made.