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 George Talmadge Grigsby Papers #4703, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Provenance

Received from George Talmadge Grigsby Jr. of Holly Springs, N.C., in July 1994 (Acc. 94092) and December 2015 (Acc. 102481).

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

Encoded by: Roslyn Holdzkom

Updated by: Nancy Kaiser and Meaghan Alston, June 2021

Since August 2017, we have added ethnic and racial identities for individuals and families represented in collections. To determine identity, we rely on self-identification; other information supplied to the repository by collection creators or sources; public records, press accounts, and secondary sources; and contextual information in the collection materials. Omissions of ethnic and racial identities in finding aids created or updated after August 2017 are an indication of insufficient information to make an educated guess or an individual's preference for identity information to be excluded from description. When we have misidentified, please let us know at wilsonlibrary@unc.edu.

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.

• African American Baptists--North Carolina--History.
• African American families--North Carolina.
• African American teachers--History--20th century.
• African American women--Education--North Carolina--History--20th century.
• African American women--Family relationships.
• African American women--History.
• African American women--North Carolina--Social life and customs.
• African American women--Religion.
• African Americans--North Carolina--Social life and customs.
• African Americans--Photographs.
• Baptist State Convention of North Carolina--History.
• Courtship--North Carolina--History.
• Durham State Normal School--Students--Social life and customs.
• Grigsby, George Talmadge.
• Grigsby, Gladys Natal Stinson, d. 1988.
• Holly Springs (N.C.)--Social life and customs.
• McLean, Harriet Ragland, d. 1900.
• Shaw University--Students--Social life and customs.
• Stinson, Alberta McLean, d. 1952.
• Wake County (N.C.)--Social life and customs.
• Women--Education--North Carolina--History--20th century.
• Women--North Carolina--Social life and customs.

Late in life, Alberta McLean Stinson wrote the following family history (see folder 13):

I was born Alberta McLean in Harnett County, Lillington, N.C., to Albert McLean and Harriet Raglan McLean. After my father's death [in 1877], my mother and I moved to Raleigh, N.C. [but Holly Springs postoffice], where we lived in a prominent white family, Rev. Walters Durham. While in Raleigh, I attended the Washington Graded School and the First Baptist Church.

At the age of fourteen, my mother and I went to Philadelphia, Pa., to better conditions. There we lived in the home of a white doctor. As I did not have an opportunity to attend school, I read papers and books. Two years later, I went to New York [City]. Soon I joined a mission church and began to speak in public until I was placed on programs in various parts of the city.

While in New York, I married Lonnie Shepard Stinson, son of Alsey Stinson and Easter Richardson Stinson. Five years later was born the only child, a daughter, Gladys Natal, who later attended the Durham State Normal [School], Durham, N.C., and is a graduate of Shaw University, Raleigh, N.C. She is now the wife of George Talmadge Grigsby, a Hampton [University] graduate, now acting director of industries and trades of Saint Paul's School, Lawrenceville, Va.

I came South to live when my daughter was two years of age and made my home in Holly Springs, N.C. Here I joined wholeheartedly in work for Christ and doing missionary work. In 1922, I was elected corresponding secretary of the Wake County Baptist Sunday School Convention. I served in this capacity for five years. In 1932, I was elected concert manager of the same organization and served for seven years. Now I travel in the interest of the Good Samaritan and do missionary work.

Alberta McLean Stinson died in 1952. Her daughter Gladys Natal Stinson Grigsby was graduated from the Durham State Normal School in 1924 and from Shaw University in 1928, after which she taught in North Carolina and Virginia public schools. In 1938, she married George Talmadge Grigsby, who was a professor and administrator at Saint Paul's School, Lawrenceville, Va. After her husband's death, Gladys returned to Holly Springs, where she was active in business, civic, and Holly Springs First Baptist Church activities. She died in 1988.

The collection includes materials relating to members of the McLean-Stinson-Grigsby family, an African-American family of Wake County, N.C. Correspondence, 1870-1952, relates chiefly to Harriet Ragland McLean, Alberta McLean Stinson, and Gladys Natal Stinson Grigsby. Included are many courtship letters to each of these women. There are several letters from George Talmadge Grigsby to Gladys and her family before and after their marriage. While most of the letters document activities of family and friends, there are a few relating to Alberta's Baptist Church work. Other materials include Gladys's bridal book; her Durham State Normal School commencement book, 1924, with handwritten narrative of school activities, autographs of classmates, and photographs; and Shaw University materials, circa 1928, including class notebooks, an autograph book, commencement programs, and other materials. There are also materials, including many handwritten obituaries, relating to Alberta and Gladys's Baptist Church work, especially at the Holly Springs First Baptist Church and the Wake County Baptist Sunday School Convention. Also included are 37 photographs, 1905-1939 and undated, of various family members and friends.

Photographs (P-4703/1-34, SF-4703/1-3)