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Collection Number: 01074

Collection Title: Zeb Vance Walser Papers, 1825-1930.

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 rehoused and a summary created with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities; this finding aid was created with support from NC ECHO.

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Size 4.5 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 900 items)
Abstract Zeb Vance Walser (1863-1940) was a lawyer, public official, and historian of Lexington, N.C. The collection includes papers of Walser consisting chiefly of notes, writings, correspondence, and pictures gathered in biographical research in the 1920s about the North Carolina members of the Confederate Congress and other Confederate officials. There is also a small set of unrelated correspondence, chiefly letters from North Carolina and national political leaders, which includes a letter, 1918, from Theodore Roosevelt and three letters from Walter Clark. Volumes include ten books of Walser's lecture notes as a University of Michigan law student, 1885-1886; a book of official letters received while he was a deputy federal internal revenue collector at Lexington, N.C., 1891-1892; historical and political scrapbooks; and other items.
Creator Walser, Zeb Vance, 1863-1940.
Curatorial Unit University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.
Language English
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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Information For Users

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 Zeb Vance Walser Papers, #1074, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Acquisitions Information
Received from the children of Zeb Vance Walser, 1946. Additional materials received from Richard G. Walser of Raleigh, N.C., February 1973 and May 1979.
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.
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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Processing Information

Processed by: SHC Staff

Encoded by: Noah Huffman, December 2007

Updated by: Kate Stratton and Jodi Berkowitz, January 2010; Nancy Kaiser, January 2021

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.

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Subject Headings

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.

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Biographical Information

Zeb Vance Walser (1863-1940) was a lawyer, public official, and historian, of Lexington, N.C. Walser was born in Yadkin College, N.C., to Burgess Gaither Walser and Francis Estelle Byerly Walser. He was educated at Yadkin College; the University of North Carolina, 1880-1884; and the University of Michigan Law School, 1884-1886. He began practicing law in Lexington, N.C., and was married in 1894 to Frances Estelle Adderton.

Walser served in the North Carolina House of Representatives, 1888-1890 and 1894-1896; North Carolina State Senate, 1896-1900; and as a North Carolina Supreme Court reporter, 1900-1905. He was also actively involved in the presidential campaigns of Charles Evans Hughes, 1916, and Leonard Wood, 1920.

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Scope and Content

The collection includes papers of Zeb Vance Walser consisting chiefly of notes, writings, correspondence, and pictures gathered in biographical research in the 1920s about the North Carolina members of the Confederate Congress and other Confederate officials. There is also a small set of unrelated correspondence, chiefly letters from North Carolina and national political leaders, which includes a letter, 1918, from Theodore Roosevelt and three letters from Walter Clark. Volumes include ten books of Walser's lecture notes as a University of Michigan law student, 1885-1886; a book of official letters received while he was a deputy federal internal revenue collector at Lexington, N.C., 1891-1892; historical and political scrapbooks; and other items.

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Contents list

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Series 1. Congress of the Confederate States, 1861-1865 Material.

expand/collapse Expand/collapse Subseries 1.1. Sketches and Research Material

Arrangement: by subject according the Walser's proposed chapter headings.

Includes correspondence, biographical sketches and photographs of Confederate congressmen, and genealogical material prepared and collected by Zeb Vance Walser for a proposed book on the Congress of the Confederate States.

Folder 1a

Original finding aid

Folder 1

Confederate States Cabinet

Folder 2-3

Folder 2

Folder 3

State Convention of 1861

Folder 4

Provisional Congress of the Confederate States

Folder 5

Confederate Congress, first and second

Folder 6

Bocock, Thomas Stanley

Hunter, Robert Mercer Talliaferro

Folder 7-12

Folder 7

Folder 8

Folder 9

Folder 10

Folder 11

Folder 12

Folder numbers not used

Folder 13

Arrington, Archibald Hunter

Folder 14

Ashe, Thomas Samuel

Folder 15

Avery, William Waightstill

Folder 16

Bridgers, Robert Rufus

Folder 17

Craige, Burton

Folder 18

Davidson, Allen Turner

Folder 19

Davis, George

Folder 20

Dortch, William Theophilus

Folder 21

Fuller, Thomas C.

Folder 22

Gaither, Burgess Sidney

Folder 23

Gilmer, John Adams

Folder 24

Graham, William Alexander

Folder 25

Kenan, Owen Rand

Folder 26

Lander, William

Folder 27

Leach, James Madison

Folder 28

Leach, James T.

Folder 29

Logan, George W.

Folder 30

McDowell, Thomas David Smith

Folder 31

McLean, James Robert

Folder 32

Morehead, John Motley

Folder 33

Puryear, Richard Clanselle

Folder 34

Ramsay, James Graham

Folder 35

Reade, Edwin Godwin

Folder 36

Ruffin, Thomas

Folder 37

Smith, William Nathan Harrell

Folder 38

Turner, Josiah

Folder 39

Venable, Abram Watkins

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Subseries 1.2. Photographs, circa 1840-1918.

Image P-1074/1

Walser, Henry, circa 1840-1850

Photograph of drawing.

Image P-1074/2

Arrington, Archibald Hunter, circa 1840-1850

Photograph of painting.

Image P-1074/3

Ashe, Thomas Samuel, circa 1845-1860

Image P-1074/4

Avery, William Waighstill, circa 1850-1860

Image P-1074/5

Bocock, Thomas Stanley, circa 1875-1890

Photographer: W. W. Foster, Richmond, Va.

Image P-1074/6

Bridgers, Robert Rufus, circa 1875-1885

Cabinet card.

Image P-1074/7

Craige, Burton, circa 1860-1875

Photograph of drawing.

Image P-1074/8

Davidson, Allen Turner, circa 1885-1905

Image P-1074/9

Davis, George, circa 1880-1895

Image P-1074/10

Dortch, William T., circa 1875-1889

Engraving. Engraver: Clement, Goldsboro, N.C.

Image P-1074/11

Fuller, Thomas C., circa 1885-1900

Engraving. Engraver: E. G. Williams and Brothers, New York, N.Y.

Image P-1074/12

Gaither, Burgess Sidney, circa 1865-1885

Image P-1074/13

Gilmer, John Adams, circa 1850-1870

Image P-1074/14-15

P-1074/14

P-1074/15

Graham, William A., circa 1855-1875

Image P-1074/16

Kenan, Owen Rand, circa 1845-1865

Image P-1074/17

Lander, William, circa 1847-1865

Image P-1074/18

Leach, James Madison, circa 1860-1880

Image P-1074/19

Leach, James T., circa 1850-1870

Carte-de-visite. Photographer: William Shelburn, Raleigh, N.C.

Image P-1074/20

Logan, George W., circa 1865-1885

Image P-1074/21

McDowell, Thomas David Smith, 1886

Cabinet card.

Image P-1074/22

McLean, James Robert, circa 1865-1870

Image P-1074/23

Morehead, John Motley, circa 1850-1865

Image P-1074/24

Puryear, Richard Clauselle, circa 1845-1865

Cabinet card. Photographer: Wortham and Bowly, Winchester, Va.

Image P-1074/25

Ramsay, James Graham, circa 1865-1885

Engraving.

Image P-1074/26-28

P-1074/26

P-1074/27

P-1074/28

Reade, Edwin Godwin, circa 1874-1894

Image P-1074/29

Ruffin, Thomas, circa 1850-1862

Image P-1074/30

Smith, William Nathan Harrell, 1866

Carte-de-visite. Photographer: Watson's, Raleigh, N.C.

Image P-1074/31

Smith, William Nathan Harrell, circa 1865-1870

Engraving.

Image P-1074/32

Turner, Josiah, circa 1865-1885

Engraving. Engraver: E. G. Williams and Brothers, New York, N.Y.

Image P-1074/33

Venable, Abraham Watkins, circa 1830-1845

Image P-1074/34

Andrews, Alexander Boyd, circa 1895-1915

Engraving.

Image P-1074/35

Benjamin, Judah P., circa 1855-1875

Photogravure.

Oversize Image OP-P-1074/36

Butler, Marion, circa 1885-1905

Image P-1074/37

Garfield, James A., circa 1871-1881

Cabinet card. Photographer: Wortham and Bowly, Winchester, Va.

Image P-1074/38

Lee, Robert E., circa 1860-1870

Photogravure.

Image P-1074/39

Moses, George H., circa 1910-1930

Image P-1074/40

Stephens, Alexander, circa 1860-1880

Photogravure.

Image P-1074/41

Toombs, Robert, circa 1865-1885

Photogravure.

Oversize Image OP-P-1074/42

House Committee on Penal Institutions, Session of 1889

Oversize Image OP-P-1074/43

Senate of North Carolina, Session of 1895

Photographer: C. P. Wharton, Raleigh, N.C.

Image P-1074/44

Unidentified man in a World War I uniform, circa 1917-1918

Photographer: Hitchcock Studio, Lexington, N.C.

Image P-1074/45

Confederate capitol at Montgomery, Ala., circa 1862-1865

Photogravure.

Image P-1074/46

Confederate capitol at Richmond, Va., circa 1862-1865

Photogravure.

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Subseries 1.3. Production and Distribution Correspondence, 1925-1929.

Arrangement: alphabetical by North Carolina counties.

Includes correspondence pertaining to the production and distribution of "Congress of the Confederate States, 1861-1865."

Folder 40

Miscellaneous

Folder 41

Alamance-Brunswick counties

Folder 42

Buncombe-Cherokee counties

Folder 43

Chowan-Davie counties

Folder 44

Duplin-Greene counties

Folder 45

Guilford-Jackson counties

Folder 46

Johnston-Mecklenburg counties

Folder 47

Mitchell-Pasquotank counties

Folder 48

Pender-Rowan counties

Folder 49

Rutherford-Union counties

Folder 50

Vance-Yancey counties

Folder 51

"Davidson County Court, The State vs. Jim a slave"

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Series 2. Volumes

Folder 56

Volume 1: Student notebook, Zeb Vance Walser, 1880-1881

Folder 57-67

Folder 57

Folder 58

Folder 59

Folder 60

Folder 61

Folder 62

Folder 63

Folder 64

Folder 65

Folder 66

Folder 67

Volumes 2-11: Student notebooks, Zeb Vance Walser, 1885-1886

Folder 68

Volume 13: Scrapbook, 1880-1887

Includes historical, biographical, and political items. Also includes anecdotes, book reviews, and poems.

Folder 69

Volume 14: Scrapbook, 1896 and 1898

"Campaign Book" includes clippings, speeches, cartoons, and anecdotes dealing with state and national political campaigns.

Folder 70

Volume 15: Letterbook, Zeb Vance Walser, 1891-1893

Includes letters to Zeb Vance Walser as Deputy Collector of Internal Revenue at Lexington, N.C., from the Collector in Asheville, N.C., and the Agent in Greensboro, N.C.

Folder 71-72

Folder 71

Folder 72

Volumes 16-17: Letterbooks, Zeb Vance Walser, 1897-1900

Includes copies of outgoing letters of Zeb Walser Vance while serving as Attorney-General of North Carolina, containing his opinions addressed to various judges and lawyers of North Carolina, also other matters pertaining to the office of Attorney-General.

Folder 73

Volume 18: Ledger, 1905

Includes accounts with North Carolina business firms and others.

Folder 74

Volume 19: Collected anecdotes and poems, 1906

Folder 75

Volume 20: Farm book, Zeb Vance Walser,1907

Includes clippings of suggestions and items of interest to farmers.

Folder 76

Volume 21: Collection docket, 1908

Almost entirely blank except for two cases.

Folder 77

Volume 22: Minutes, Lexington City School Board, 1929-1930

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Additions

expand/collapse Expand/collapse Addition of February 1973

Includes diplomas, commissions, appointments, and licenses, 1872-1916, of Zeb Vance Walser.

Oversize Paper Folder OPF-1074/1

Diplomas, commissions, and licenses

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Addition of May 1979

Contains correspondence of Zeb Vance Walser, 1889-1920, including letters from North Carolina and national political leaders, especially North Carolina Republican chairmen. Among the correspondence is a letter, 1918, from Theodore Roosevelt and three letters from Walter Clark. There are also speeches and reports, biographical sketches, and clippings and other memorabilia. Also included are six scrapbooks, chiefly political, kept by Walser.

Folder 52-55

Folder 52

Folder 53

Folder 54

Folder 55

Correspondence and other papers, 1889-1920

Folder 78

Volume 23: Scrapbook, 1887-1888

"Literary Scrapbook" includes clippings of interest to Zeb Vance Walser, many about Republican leaders, especially Abraham Lincoln, and Republican politics. Also includes orations and an index.

Folder 79

Volume 24: Scrapbook, 1888-1898

"Scrapbook of Politics" includes clippings about North Carolina and national politics, many referring to Zeb Vance Walser. Also includes excerpts from legislative journals, mainly speeches of Walser.

Folder 80

Volume 25: Scrapbook, 1891

"Literary Scrapbook" includes literary and other clippings, many biographies and speeches. Also includes clippings about politics and Zeb Vance Walser.

Folder 81

Volume 26: Scrapbook, 1897-1912

Includes political, biographical, and literary clippings, many about the 1912 presidential campaign. Also includes clippings about Zeb Vance Walser.

Folder 82

Volume 27: Scrapbook, 1882-1918

Includes political, biographical, and personal clippings, many related to the 1912 presidential campaign in North Carolina. Also scattered programs, invitations, political tickets, and other personal memorabilia.

Folder 83

Volume 28: Scrapbook, 1914-1919

Includes programs and other memorabilia, many related to the death of Theodore Roosevelt and the Roosevelt Memorial Association. Also includes clippings about North Carolina history and politics.

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