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Collection Number: 00898-z

Collection Title: Henri Masson Papers, 1831-1860.

This collection has use 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.


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.

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Size 2 items
Abstract The collection is manuscript notebooks, 1831-1855 and 1860, of Henri Masson, a Frenchman who taught at antebellum academies in Alabama, Missouri, Tennessee, and Mississippi. The books contain more than 100 sketches or essays (chiefly in French) about many aspects of American manners and institutions--religion, government, slavery, education, customs--especially in contrast with France, and about Masson's experiences, ideas, and intellectual interests. There are also diary entries, memoranda, business records of school teaching, descriptions of conversations with prominent people, and other notations. The collection also includes a typed transcription of one volume that contains a table of contents listing its headings, and some additional descriptive information related to the volumes.
Creator Masson, Henri, fl. 1831-1860.
Curatorial Unit University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.
Language French, English
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Restrictions to Access
No restrictions. Open for research.
Restrictions to Use
Volumes 1-2 may not be photocopied due to fragility.
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 Henri Masson Papers, #898-z, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Alternate Form of Material
Typed transcription of one volume and microfilm copy of the other available.
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: SHC Staff

Encoded by: Noah Huffman, December 2007

Updated by: Kate Stratton and Jodi Berkowitz, December 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.

Updated by: Laura Hart, January 2022

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expand/collapse 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.

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Biographical Information

Henri Masson (fl. 1831-1860) was a Frenchman who taught at antebellum academies in Alabama, Missouri, Tennessee, and Mississippi.

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Scope and Content

The collection is manuscript notebooks, 1831-1855 and 1860, of Henri Masson, a Frenchman who taught at antebellum academies in Alabama, Missouri, Tennessee, and Mississippi. The books contain more than 100 sketches or essays (chiefly in French) about many aspects of American manners and institutions--religion, government, slavery, education, customs--especially in contrast with France, and about Masson's experiences, ideas, and intellectual interests. There are also diary entries, memoranda, business records of school teaching, descriptions of conversations with prominent people, and other notations. The collection also includes a typed transcription of one volume that contains a table of contents listing its headings, and some additional descriptive information related to the volumes.

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Contents list

expand/collapse Expand/collapse Henri Masson Papers, 1831-1860.

Folder 1

Volume 1: Essays and sketches, 1831-1855

Usage Restriction: Photocopying not permitted.

Includes essays and sketches, chiefly in French, but also in English, discussing many aspects of American manners and institutions especially in contrast with France. There are also some diary entries and fragments thereof.

Folder 2

Volume 2: Diary, notes, accounts, and clippings, 1860

Usage Restriction: Photocopying not permitted.

The greater part of this volume is composed of diary entries, partly in French and partly in English, with some collected newspaper clippings interspersed throughout. Entries relate experiences, ideas, and conversations with prominent people. Following the diary entries there are also lists, primarily of books and other possessions, and accounts, including some for school teaching.

Folder 3

Enclosures and additional descriptive information

Transcription Volume TV-898/1-8

TV-898/1

TV-898/2

TV-898/3

TV-898/4

TV-898/5

TV-898/6

TV-898/7

TV-898/8

Transcription of Volume 1

Includes a table of contents listing Volume 1 headings.

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