Restrictions to Access

This collection contains additional materials that are not processed and are currently not available to researchers. For information about access to these materials, contact Research and Instructional Services staff. Please be advised that preparing unprocessed materials for access can be a lengthy process.

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 Sallie Blackwell Sharp Taylor and Lawrence Arthur Taylor Papers #5253, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Received from Lawrence Arthur Taylor Jr. in January 2006 (Acc. 100309).

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: Margaret Dickson, May 2006

Encoded by: Margaret Dickson, May 2006

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.

• Birth control--United States.
• Courtship--History--20th century.
• Courtship--North Carolina--History--20th century.
• Family--North Carolina--Social life and customs.
• Hammond (Ind.)--History.
• Holland (Mich.)--History.
• Love-letters.
• Montgomery Ward--History.
• Music teachers--North Carolina--History--20th century.
• North Carolina College for Women.
• North Carolina State School for the Blind and Deaf.
• Reidsville (N.C.)--History.
• Reidsville (N.C.)--Social life and customs.
• Sharp family.
• Sharp, James Merritt, 1877-
• Sharp, Susie.
• Taylor, Lawrence Arthur, 1905-
• Taylor, Sallie Blackwell Sharp, 1911-
• University of North Carolina at Greensboro--History.
• Weddings--North Carolina.
• Weddings--Planning.
• Women college students--North Carolina--History--20th century.
• Women music teachers--North Carolina--History--20th century.

• Susie Sharp Papers (#4898)

Sallie Blackwell Sharp Taylor was born Sallie Blackwell Sharp on 21 December 1911 to James Merritt Sharp and Annie Britt Blackwell Sharp. She was one of seven children who survived to adulthood, including Susie Marshall, Annie Hill, Thomas Adolphus ("Tommy"), Louise Wortham, Florence Abigail, and James Vance ("Kits"). She was lived in Reidsville, N.C., until she left to attend the North Carolina College for Women (now the University of North Carolina at Greensboro). Sallie was an avid violinist, and a large part of her studies at the Women's College involved her musical training. Upon graduating from college in May 1933, Sallie took a position as instructor of violin at the North Carolina State School for the Blind and Deaf in Raleigh, N.C., where she lived and worked for one year.

Sallie's sister, Susie Marshall Sharp, of Reidsville, N.C., was elected chief justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court in 1974, becoming the first woman elected chief justice of a state supreme court in the United States.

Lawrence Arthur Taylor, generally known as "Arthur", was born 17 February 1905. Taylor graduated from North Carolina State College (now North Carolina State University) in Raleigh, N.C. in the 1920s and worked for several years at the Montgomery Ward store in Reidsville, N.C., where he met Sallie Blackwell Sharp. He was later transferred to Hammond, Ind., and then to Holland, Mich., where he was the manager of the Montgomery Ward store.

Sallie Blackwell Sharp Taylor and Lawrence Arthur Taylor began dating in November of 1932. On 21 June 1935 they were married at the Sharp home in Reidsville, N.C.

The collection consists largely of correspondence between Sallie Blackwell Sharp Taylor of Reidsville, N.C., and Lawrence Arthur Taylor working for Montgomery Ward in Hammond, Ind., and Holland, Mich., during their courtship, 1932-1935. Letters describe their daily activities and work, relationships with family (including Susie Sharp) and friends, plans for their upcoming wedding, and their expectations about married life including a discussion of birth control. Letters, November 1932-May 1934, describe the daily life of a college student at the North Carolina College for Women in Greensboro, N.C., and letters, May 1934-May 1935, describe life and work as instructor of violin at the North Carolina State School for the Blind and Deaf in Raleigh, N.C. Other correspondents include Sallie's father, James Merritt Sharp; mother, Annie Britt Blackwell Sharp; and other family and friends. There are also a few letters, 1935-1999; clippings; programs from musical events Sallie attended; a partially completed bride book; and an award booklet commemorating Arthur's 25 years with Montgomery Ward.