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 John R. Reston Letters, #736-z, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Prior to 1940

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: Laura Clark Brown, December 2012

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.

• Courtship--North Carolina--History--19th century.
• Meares, Mary F.
• Occasional verse--History--19th century.
• Reston, John R., d. ca. 1858.
• Single men--North Carolina--History--19th century.
• Valentine's Day--North Carolina--History--19th century.
• Wilmington (N.C.)--Social life and customs.
• Women--North Carolina--Social life and customs.

The collection contains love letters and poems written on successive Saint Valentine's Days from 1854 to 1858. Addressed to John R. Reston of Wilmington, N.C., the letters and poems were composed by an unidentified woman, who signed her writings "Mary Valentine." The collection also includes a letter dated 23 March 1935 from Mary F. Meares of Wilmington, N.C., to Frank Porter Graham, president of the University of North Carolina, that briefly describes the life and character of John R. Reston and the provenance of the Reston documents. In her letter, Meares offered the poems and letters to the university for preservation.