Restrictions to Access

No restrictions. Open for research.

Restrictions to Use

No usage restrictions.

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 John S. Lefevre Diary, #4040-z, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Purchased 1978.

Additional Descriptive Resources

A copy of the original finding aid for this collection is filed in folder 1.

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: SHC Staff

Encoded by: Noah Huffman, December 2007

Updated by: Kate Stratton and Jodi Berkowitz, January 2009

This collection was rehoused and a summary created with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

This finding aid was created with support from NC ECHO.

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.

• Burnsville (Yancey County, N.C.)--Social life and customs.
• Lefevre, John S., d. ca. 1955.
• Older people--North Carolina--Social conditions--20th century.
• Retirees--North Carolina--Social life and customs--20th century.
• Rural churches--North Carolina--History--20th century.

John S. Lefevre (d. ca. 1955) was an educator and Presbyterian leader in Burnsville, N.C., who was principal of McCormick School in Burnsville, which was modeled after the Danish folk schools, and later worked with rural churches. Lefevre was born in Pennsylvania and attended Pennsylvania State Normal College. He came to North Carolina in 1920 as an agent for the Presbyterian church working with rural churches in Yancey County. For many years he was principal of McCormick School in Burnsville until its closing, at which point he returned to working with rural churches. He suffered strokes in February and May 1955 and it seems likely that he died about that time.

The collection includes three volumes of a detailed diary kept by John S. Lefevre, then retired from his school work and probably in his seventies, about his personal life, health, daily activities, weather and gardening, finances, and neighborhood and church events. The collection also includes clippings that were enclosed in the diaries, primarily poems and prayers, but also an article from the Charlotte Observer about the Lefevres.