Jason Niles Papers, 1831-1890

Collection Number: 00950

Collection Title: Jason Niles Papers, 1831-1890

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 processed with support from the Randleigh Foundation Trust.

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Size	5.5 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 50 items)
Abstract	Diaries, scrapbooks, and other records of Niles, who practiced law for 46 years in Kosciusko, Miss., and served as a Republican U. S. representative from 1873-1875. The diaries, 34 V. (estimated 6,800 or more pages), cover Niles's early life and education in Vermont, 1831-1838; teaching school at several places in Ohio and Tennessee, 1838-1848; residence in Mississippi, 1848-1890; and numerous trips: to Canada, 1864; Ohio and North Carolina, 1871; California, 1872; and Texas, 1873. The diaries are an unusually full and articulate record of the experiences and opinions of a New Englander residing in the South. Fifteen scrapbooks, 1847-1888, of clippings, pamphlets, broadsides, and other items, contain material on Mississippi and national politics, particularly during Reconstruction, on Niles's New England literary interests, and on many other events and subjects. Also included are a diary and scrapbook, 1869- 1871, of Henry C. Niles, and a Kosciusko town school record, 1853-1854.
Creator	Niles, Jason, 1814-1894.
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 Jason Niles Papers #950, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Alternate Form of Material: Microfilm of some volumes available.

Acquisitions Information: Received from Mrs. Swanson Niles of Kosciusko, Miss., in February 1945.

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: Suzanne Ruffing, May 1996

Encoded by: ByteManagers Inc., 2008

This collection was processed with support from the Randleigh Foundation Trust.

Updated by: Laura Hart, December 2021

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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.

Expand/collapse Biographical Information

Jason Niles was born 19 December 1814 at Hatley, Quebec. He lived in the vicinity of Burlington, Vt., from 1831 to March 1838, attending the University of Vermont from 1834 until his graduation in 1837. He lived in Massachusetts, Ohio, and Tennessee from 1838 to 1848, teaching school. He married Harriet "Qu" McRee of Shelbyville, Tenn., on 15 August 1847.

Niles moved to Kosciusko, Miss., on 20 July 1848. Having started reading law in January, he was admitted to the bar in 1851 and practiced intermittently throughout his residence in Kosciusko. He was editor of the Kosciusko Chronicle, 1851-1853; a delegate to the state constitutional conventions of 1851, 1865, and 1868; a member of the state House of Representatives in 1870; a circuit judge in 1871 and 1872; and Republican member of the United States Congress March 1873 to March 1875 (he was defeated in the 1874 election). Niles died at Kosciusko, Miss., on 7 July 1894.

Expand/collapse Scope and Content

Diaries, scrapbooks, and other records of Niles, who practiced law for 46 years in Kosciusko, Miss., and served as a Republican U. S. representative from 1873-1875. The diaries, 34 V. (estimated 6,800 or more pages), cover Niles's early life and education in Vermont, 1831-1838; teaching school at several places in Ohio and Tennessee, 1838-1848; residence in Mississippi, 1848-1890; and numerous trips: to Canada, 1864; Ohio and North Carolina, 1871; California, 1872; and Texas, 1873. The diaries are an unusually full and articulate record of the experiences and opinions of a New Englander residing in the South. Fifteen scrapbooks, 1847-1888, of clippings, pamphlets, broadsides, and other items, contain material on Mississippi and national politics, particularly during Reconstruction, on Niles's New England literary interests, and on many other events and subjects. Also included are a diary and scrapbook, 1869- 1871, of Henry C. Niles, and a Kosciusko town school record, 1853-1854.

Contents list

Expand/collapse Papers, 1831-1890.

Approximately 50 items.

Arrangement: format.

Diaries of Jason Niles begin during his youth and college in Burlington, Vt., and continue through his teaching positions in Ohio and Tennessee, 1838-1848, and his business and political career in Kosciusko, Miss., 1848-1890. There are also accounts of trips to Canada in 1864, Ohio and New Orleans in 1871, California in 1872, and Texas in 1873.

Other volumes include commonplace books, a township school record, and a chapter of an unpublished history based upon material in Niles's diaries.

Fifteen scrapbooks of newspaper clippings belonging to Jason Niles and Henry Niles. These volumes contain clippings, pamphlets, broadsides, and ballot sheets pertaining to Republican Mississippi and national politics. There are also clippings on literary criticism with an emphasis on New England authors of the 1840s; items on American history; European political and literary affairs; celebrated murders, marriages and lynchings; and poetry, obituaries, and other clippings showing an interest in U. S. Grant, Wendell Phillips, Horace Greeley, Daniel Webster, Margaret Fuller, Emerson, Stoddard, and Blaine. Also included is material relating to Jason Niles's own political activities in Mississippi in the late 1860s.

Folder 1	Diary (Volume 1), 1831-1836 150 pages. Niles while residing in Burlington, Vt., and environs.
Folder 2	Diary (Volume 2), 1836-1838 171 pages. Niles began in Burlington, Vt.
Folder 3	Diary (Volume 3), 1838 170 pages. Niles began at Haverhill, Mass., and continued at Tupper's Plains, Ohio.
Folder 4	Diary (Volume 4), 1838-1839 157 pages. Niles began while teaching in Zanesville, Ohio.
Folder 5	Diary (Volume 5), 1839 165 pages. Niles began while teaching in Middleton, Tenn.
Folder 6	Diary (Volume 6), 1839-1841 165 pages. Niles began while still teaching in Middleton, Tenn.
Folder 7	Diary (Volume 7), 1841 128 pages. Niles, probably still teaching in Middleton, Tenn.
Folder 8	Diary (Volume 8), 1841-1842 139 pages. Niles began at Athens, Ohio.
Folder 9	Diary (Volume 9), 1842-1843 130 pages. Niles began at Tupper's Plain, Ohio.
Folder 10	Diary (Volume 10), 1843-1844 136 pages. Niles began at Nashville, Tenn. Included is an account of a steamboat trip to Cairo, Illinois.
Folder 11	Diary (Volume 11), 1844-1845 147 pages. Niles while teaching in Tennessee.
Folder 12	Diary (Volume 12), 1845-1846 291 pages. Niles while in Tennessee.
Folder 13	Diary (Volume 13), 1846 147 pages. Niles while in Tennessee.
Folder 14	Diary (Volume 14), 1846-1848 153 pages. Niles while in Tennessee and Mississippi. Another diary notes his marriage to Harriet "Qu" McRee on 15 August 1847.
Folder 15	Diary (Volume 15), 1850-1861 250 pages. Niles while practicing law in Mississippi.
Folder 16	Diary (Volume 16), 1862-1864 182 pages. Niles while in Mississippi.
Folder 17	Diary (Volume 17), 1864-1865 180 pages. Niles while in Mississippi.
Folder 18	Diary (Volume 18), 1865-1866 176 pages. Niles while in Mississippi.
Folder 19	Diary (Volume 19), 1867, 1870 50 pages. Niles, with a few entries about travels to Canada.
Folder 20a	Diary (Volume 20a), 1871 100 pages. Niles on a trip from Kosciusko to Cincinnati and back.
Folder 20b	Diary (Volume 20b), 1872-1873 100 pages. Niles on a trip through St. Louis, Texas, New Orleans, and back in 1873 and to California in 1872.
Folder 21	Diary (Volume 21), 1873-1876 336 pages. Niles at Kosciusko, Miss., and Washington, D.C.
Folder 22	Diary (Volume 22), 1876 164 pages. Niles while in Mississippi.
Folder 23	Diary (Volume 23), 1876-1877 170 pages. Niles while in Mississippi.
Folder 24	Diary (Volume 24), 1871-1878 222 pages. Niles while in Mississippi.
Folder 25	Diary (Volume 25), 1878-1880 216 pages. Niles while in Mississippi.
Folder 26	Diary (Volume 26), 1880-1881 216 pages. Niles while in Mississippi.
Folder 27	Diary (Volume 27), 1881-1883 192 pages. Niles while in Mississippi.
Folder 28	Diary (Volume 28), 1883-1884 136 pages. Niles while in Mississippi.
Folder 29	Diary (Volume 29), 1884-1885 197 pages. DNiles while in Mississippi.
Folder 30	Diary (Volume 30), 1885-1886 111 pages. Niles while in Mississippi.
Folder 31	Diary (Volume 31), 1886-1887 195 pages. Niles while in Mississippi.
Folder 32	Diary (Volume 32), 1887-1889 242 pages. Niles while in Mississippi
Folder 33	Diary (Volume 33), 1889-1890 150 pages. Niles while in Mississippi.
Folder 34	Writings (Volume 34), 1861 50 pages. Collectanea with writings on history, classics, etc., written by Niles.
Folder 35	School record (Volume 35), 1853-1854 50 pages. Township School Record, Kosciusko, Miss.
Folder 36	Commonplace book (Volume 36), 1869-1871 202 pages. Commonplace book of Henry C. Niles.
Folder 37	Typescript (Volume 37), 1973 [1860-1870] 61 pages. Photocopy of a typescript of Chapter 9, "The Fourth Decade, 1860-1870, Civil War and Military Rule" by James P. Coleman for his Choctaw County History. Coleman quoted extensively from Niles's diaries.
Folder 38	Scrapbook (Volume 38), 1847-1868 150 pages. Scrapbook of newspaper clippings about literature, history, travel, European affairs, and poetry.
Oversize Volume SV-950/39	Scrapbook (Volume S-39), 1847-1859 125 pages. Scrapbook with European affairs, Daniel Webster, poetry, etc.
Folder 40	Scrapbook (Volume 40), 1848-1850 300 pages. Scrapbook of newspaper clippings about local politics and events and general and literary matters.
Folder 41	Scrapbook (Volume 41), 1849-1890 542 pages. Scrapbook of newspaper clippings of local clippings, broadsides, and material on Jason Niles's political career (pasted over record of the thirty-sixth Congress, 1860).
Folder 42	Scrapbook (Volume 42), 1848, 1867-1870 125 pages. Scrapbook of newspaper clippings of obituaries, poems, and general feature articles.
Folder 43	Scrapbook (Volume 43), 1868-1872 100 pages. Henry Niles's scrapbook of newspaper clippings about Republican politics in Mississippi, poems, and information on Horace Greeley.
Folder 44	Scrapbook (Volume 44), 1870-1872 85 pages. Scrapbook of miscellaneous newspaper clippings.
Folder 45	Scrapbook (Volume 45), 1872 100 pages. Scrapbook of clippings, pamphlets, and published speeches concerning the election and campaign, with U. S. Grant material.
Folder 46	Scrapbook (Volume 46), 1872-1873 75 pages. Scrapbook of newspaper clippings about literature, history, and Washington information.
Folder 47	Scrapbook (Volume 47), 1872-1882 300 pages. Scrapbook of Jason Niles with newspaper clippings of poetry, literary criticism, public affairs, political issues and a few murders.
Folder 48	Scrapbook (Volume 48), 1877-1882 150 pages. Scrapbook of newspaper clippings about politics, speeches, and miscellaneous topics.
Folder 49	Scrapbook (Volume 49), 1878-1886 425 pages. Scrapbook of newspaper clippings of obituaries, biographical material on public and literary men, marriages, murder trials, and miscellaneous items.
Folder 50	Scrapbook (Volume 50), 1879-1885 370 pages. Scrapbook of newspaper clippings.
Folder 51	Scrapbook (Volume 51), 1879-1883 75 pages. Scrapbook of newspaper clippings dealing chiefly with the National Republican Convention of 1880 (pasted in a county school record of the 1860s).
Folder 52	Scrapbook (Volume 52), 1885-1888 370 pages. Scrapbook of obituaries and miscellaneous clippings.
Oversize Paper Folder OPF-950/1	Oversize paper with images, circa 1850-1890 Small images of 20 unidentified white men pasted to a thin board.
Reel M-950/1-5 M-950/1 M-950/2 M-950/3 M-950/4 M-950/5	Microfilm copy of portions of the collection, 1831-1890
Transcription Volume TV-950/1	Transcriptions of selected portions of diary volumes 1-2, 1831-1838
Transcription Volume TV-950/2	Transcriptions of selected portions of diary volumes 3-4, 1838-1839
Transcription Volume TV-950/3	Transcriptions of selected portions of diary volumes 5-7, 1839-1841
Transcription Volume TV-950/4	Transcriptions of selected portions of diary volumes 8-10, 1841-1844
Transcription Volume TV-950/5	Transcriptions of selected portions of diary volumes 11-12, 1844-1845
Transcription Volume TV-950/6	Transcriptions of selected portions of diary volumes 12-14, 1846-1847
Transcription Volume TV-950/7	Transcriptions of selected portions of diary volumes 14-15, 1848-1859
Transcription Volume TV-950/8	Transcriptions of selected portions of diary volumes 15-17, 1861-1864

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Microfilm (M-950/1-5)
Oversize paper folder (OPF-950/1)
Oversize volume (SV-950/39)
Transcription volumes (TV-950/1-8)

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Collection Number: 00950 Collection Title: Jason Niles Papers, 1831-1890

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Expand/collapse Papers, 1831-1890.

M-950/1

M-950/2

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M-950/4

M-950/5

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Collection Number: 00950

Collection Title: Jason Niles Papers, 1831-1890