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Collection Number: 03560-z

Collection Title: Louisa Furnace Account Books, 1831-1860

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.


This collection was rehoused under the sponsorship of a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, Office of Preservation, Washington, D.C., 1990-1992.

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Size 2 items
Abstract Louisa Furnace was an ironworks, probably in Montgomery County, Tenn., possibly operated in the 1850s by Gilbert Taylor Abernathy (1820-1888) of Pulaski, Tenn. Abernathy was an army officer, school teacher, civil engineer, iron furnance operator, and large land-owner, most of whose land was sold for taxes after the Civil War. Two volumes relating to the operation of the Louisa Furnace. One volume, 132 pp., contains daybook entries for Louisa Furance, 1853-1855, and records of accounts, 1831-1832 and 1848, that may not be related to furnace operations. The other volume, 192 double pages, is a ledger of accounts, 1854-1860, with African-American laborers at Louisa Furnace, with records of shoes, suits, blankets, cloth, flour, tobacco, and other supplies issued to the workers recorded on the left-hand page and records of amounts due employees for extra and Sunday work on the right-hand page. These amounts are labeled "extra iron," "cutting wood," and extra loads of coal.
Creator Louisa Furnace (Montgomery County, Tenn.)
Curatorial Unit University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.
Language English
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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 Louisa Furnace Account Books #3560-z, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Acquisitions Information
Received from Charles Elder of Nashville, Tenn., in November and December 1961.
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.
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Processed by: Rebecca Hollingsworth, February 1993

Encoded by: ByteManagers Inc., 2008

Updated by: Kathryn Michaelis, January 2010

This collection was rehoused under the sponsorship of a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, Office of Preservation, Washington, D.C., 1990-1992.

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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.

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Two volumes relating to the operation of the Louisa Furnace. One volume, 132 pp., contains daybook entries for Louisa Furance, 1853-1855, and records of accounts, 1831-1832 and 1848, that may not be related to furnace operations. The other volume, 192 double pages, is a ledger of accounts, 1854-1860, with African-American laborers at Louisa Furnace, with records of shoes, suits, blankets, cloth, flour, tobacco, and other supplies issued to the workers recorded on the left-hand page and records of amounts due employees for extra and Sunday work on the right-hand page. These amounts are labeled "extra iron," "cutting wood," and extra loads of coal.

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Contents list

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Folder 1

Volume 1: 1831-1855

Folder 2

Enclosure from Volume 1

Oversize Volume SV-3560/2

Volume 2: 1854-1860

Ledger of accounts with African American laborers at the ironworks from 1854 to 1860.

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