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 Peterkin Upshur Letters, #2645, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Received from Mrs. George Benson, Richmond, Va., 1943.

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: Kate Stratton and Jodi Berkowitz, June 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.

Diacritics and other special characters have been omitted from this finding aid to facilitate keyword searching in web browsers.

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.

• Annapolis (Md.)--Description and travel.
• Beijing (China)--Description and travel.
• Fort Leavenworth (Kan.)--Description and travel.
• Haiti--Description and travel.
• Kearsarge (Ship)
• Quantico (Va.)--Description and travel.
• Richmond (Va.)--Description and travel.
• South Carolina--Description and travel.
• United States Naval Academy--Students--Social life and customs.
• United States. Marine Corps--Military life--History--20th century.
• United States. Marine Corps--Officers--History--20th century.
• University of Virginia--Students--Social life and customs.
• Upshur, William Peterkin, 1881-1943.
• Virginia Military Institute--Students--Social life and customs.
• Virginia--Description and travel.
• West Indies--Description and travel.

William Peterkin Upshur (1881-1943) of Richmond, Va., was a Marine Corps officer.

The collection includes letters from William Peterkin Upshur to his parents, Dr. and Mrs. John N. Upshur in Richmond, Va., written every few days, except during 1912, 1913, and 1923. The letters were written from Virginia Military Institute, 1898-1901; University of Virginia, 1902-1903; the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, 1904; on the U.S.S. Kearsarge off the Atlantic coast and in the West Indies, 1905-1907; Virginia and South Carolina, 1908-1911; Peking (Beijing, China), 1914; Haiti, 1915-1917; and at Quantico and Richmond, Va., Annapolis, Md., Fort Leavenworth, Kan., and other American cities and marine stations, 1917-1928. Upshur described his educational, military, and other experiences, as well as his surroundings and reflections, sometimes in significant detail.