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 William Thomas Sutherlin Papers, #3327, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Purchase in Danville, Va., in 1958

Additional Descriptive Resources

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

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 Adam Fielding and Jodi Berkowitz, November 2010

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.

• Banks and banking--Virginia--History--19th century.
• Confederate States of America--Economic conditions.
• Confederate States of America. Army--Supplies and stores.
• Danville (Va.)--History--Civil War, 1861-1865.
• Railroads--Virginia--History--19th century.
• Sutherlin, William Thomas, 1822-1893.
• Tobacco industry--Southern States--History--19th century.
• Virginia--Economic conditions.
• Virginia--History--Civil War, 1861-1865.
• Virginia--Politics and government--19th century.

William Thomas Sutherlin (1822-1893) was a farmer, leaf tobacco dealer, and tobacco manufacturer of Danville, Va., 1846-1861. Additionally, he was mayor of Danville, 1855-1861, president of the Danville Bank, delegate to the Virginia secession convention, and Confederate major and quartermaster at Danville. After the Civil War, Sutherlin owned and operated several farms near Danville, was in the state legislature, 1872-1874, served as president of the State Board of Agriculture and was a member of agricultural societies, railroad director, bank director and president, Methodist, Mason, and speaker and writer on economic and agricultural topics.

The collection contains business correspondence of William Thomas Sutherlin, deeds, bills, notes, voting returns, sales records and balance sheets, circular letters, shipping manifests, lists of current wholesale prices, accounts, telegrams, bankruptcy papers, payrolls and timetables, and contracts with agents, managers, and other business firms. The volumes, 1853-1892, are accounts and memoranda. The correspondence and other papers relate to the varied business affairs of Sutherlin as tobacco manufacturer and distributor throughout the southeast; Confederate major and quartermaster at Danville, Va.; builder and operator of railroad lines in the vicinity of Danville; farmer, banker, capitalist; and holder of miscellaneous positions of trust in the community and state. The papers are concerned also with legislation affecting banking and railroads, current politics in relation to economic conditions, requests for political and economic patronage, loans, and other aid.

The Civil War papers include letters from soldiers in Virginia, state legislators, and Confederate congressmen and businessmen, as well as papers relating to Sutherlin's work in procuring provisions for the Confederate Army, locating scarce items for commercial and industrial use, and his own tobacco business. Included are letters, 1860-1866, from traveling salesmen and crop-buying agents covering the southeast on tobacco business.