Finding Aid of the Joe M. McLaurin History Collection, 1900 - 2000, PC.1998
Abstract
Joe M. McLaurin was a historian from Richmond County, North Carolina who spent his career collecting information and records about the history of the county and its families. McLaurin was a successful businessman and active in historical societies. These records concern the history of Richmond County and the genealogies of its families. The collection contains papers and correspondence relating to McLaurin's efforts to seek out and acquire historical records on these subjects. The collection holds original primary sources and copies of sources if McLaurin could not acquire the originals. Many people donated papers to the collection, but he also purchased materials when they were offered for sale.
Descriptive Summary
- Title
- Joe M. McLaurin History Collection
- Call Number
- PC.1998
- Creator
- McLaurin, Joe M.
- Date
- 1900 - 2002
- Extent
- 1999.00 boxes, 260.00 cubic feet, 13.00 flat boxes, 1.00 slim boxes
- Language
- English
- Repository
- State Archives of North Carolina
Restrictions on Access & Use
Access Restrictions
Available for research with some restrictions.
Use Restrictions
Copyright is retained by the authors of these materials, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law (Title 17 US Code). Individual researchers are responsible for using these materials in conformance with copyright law as well as any donor restrictions accompanying the materials.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], PC.1998, Joe M. McLaurin History Collection, State Archives of North Carolina, Raleigh, NC, USA.
Collection Overview
The Joe M. McLaurin History Collection consists of a variety of papers and materials
created by or collected by McLaurin. These records concern the history of Richmond
County and the genealogies of its families. The collection contains papers and correspondence
relating to his efforts to seek out and acquire historical records on these subjects.
The collection holds original primary sources and includes copies of sources only
if McLaurin could not acquire the originals. Many people donated papers to the collection,
but Joe McLaurin also purchased materials when they were offered for sale. He purchased
the negative collections of two prominent Richmond County photographers--Charles Sauls
and Nick Lovin. One donor gave McLaurin the legal papers of William G. Pittman who
served as an attorney in the county during the first half of the twentieth century.
McLaurin also collected a significant quantity of information and papers on the cotton
mill industry in Richmond County. Many of the books that he collected concern genealogical
subjects, and were of limited publication runs making them quite valuable for research
in this genre. The collection is made up of correspondence, research files, publications,
interview tapes and transcripts, newspapers and clippings, photographic prints and
negatives, publications, and books on the history of Richmond County and its residents.
Due to the size of the collection, McLaurin created a system of filing numbers for
the collection. These filing numbers are described in greater detail in the finding
aid within their corresponding series scope and content notes. McLaurin also developed
an index of names to help him locate subjects within the papers and records. The file
numbering systems, and the index system has been kept by the State Archives in order
to maintain the integrity of his personal system of research methodology.
Arrangement Note
The collection is arranged into six (6) series as follows:
Biographical Note
Joe M. McLaurin (July 1, 1926 to August 24, 2003) often said that he wasn't born in Richmond County, North Carolina, but moved there when he was six weeks old. McLaurin loved his hometown of Rockingham and the entire county, and spent his life learning all he could about its history and the families who lived in the area. McLaurin also loved airplanes, and had his pilot's license at age 14. He graduated from Davidson College with a degree in history. After college, McLaurin settled back in Rockingham and worked as a local historian while emerging as a successful businessman. McLaurin was a former president of both Richmond County Historical Society and the North Carolina Society of County and Local Historians. In 1982 he was the latter's Historian of the Year. McLaurin also served as the chairman of the Rockingham Bicentennial Planning Committee. He was active in the county's business affairs as a board member of the Richmond Savings Bank, First National Bank, and as the chair of the board of directors for the McLaurin Vocational Training Center. McLaurin founded the local business, Solene Lubricants (now Total Lubricants), selling the company in 1986 to devote all his energies to the local history of Richmond County and to write for the newspaper. In 1990 McLaurin established the Society for History, Research, and Preservation, Inc. Over the course of his career as an historian, McLaurin did genealogical research for many Richmond County familes, and collected a great deal of material on the county's history. His research and collected historical documents make up this collection.
Contents of the Collection
1. Index Series.
scopecontent:
This series the best place to start when pursuing research on a specific person or family within this collection. They provide an alphabetical list by name of nearly every person referenced in the each series of the collection. Each person's index page lists folder numbers, and often even page numbers within those folders, that have information concerning that person. McLaurin referenced names by a different number in his book, but the book's numbers often appear on an individual index sheet. Researchers should therefore be able to look up a name in this index, match it with the reference number from McLaurin's , and then find the corresponding folder numbers in this collection. The series is divided into three parts: Family Name Index, Subject Index, and Card Index.
2. Richmond County History "A" Series,1900-2003.
scopecontent:
Joe McLaurin numbered his folders for this series with a number followed by the letter A. So folder 1 in this series is consequently 1A, and so on. The State Archives has kept this numbering system as it aids the researcher in finding individual files listed in the indices and with cross-referencing with the other series in this collection. When filling out call slips at the Reference Desk, it would be helpful to reference the folder numbers (e.g. 24A) as well as the box number (e.g. PC.1998.69). This series contains information pertaining to the history, people, events, and locations in and around Richmond County, North Carolina. Joe McLaurin collected the material in this series to aid his research of the county and its families. Industries such as the county's textile mills are well represented; as are prominent families including the Cole, Covington, Entwistle, Leak, Ledbetter, and Steele families. A folder listing of each file is provided in the first folder of the first box (PC.1998.66) of this series. There are six sub-series that have been separated out from the main "A" series. These subseries are the William G. Pittman's attorney files (20A), the Charles Sauls photographs (40.26A), original newspapers (45A), primary source materials (60A), publications (185A and 185B), and the Nick Lovin photographs (218A).
3. Interview Files "D" Series,1981-1999.
scopecontent:
In 1981, the Richmond County Historical Collection began conducting interviews with individuals in every part of the county. A special effort was made to locate and interview senior citizens. The interviewers placed particular emphasis on gathering family histories and significant events within the subject's life or family. Additional emphasis was placed on knowledge or reminiscences of events that occurred in their area which helped shape some aspect of Richmond County's history. Joe McLaurin assigned the letter D to his interview files. Interview files D.001 to D.170 were conducted by Mrs. Sallie Boyd Long, and her notes and workpapers for these interviews are filed in Richmond County History Collection "A" Series file 60A.161. Interview files D.201 to D.259 were conducted by John Patrick Hutchinson, and his recording tapes can be found in Richmond County History Collection "A" Series box 203A. Interview files D.260 to D.287 were conducted by Clark Cox. An alphabetical index of interviewed persons and their corresponding file numbers is located in the final box of the series.
4. Society of Richmond County Descendants "R" Series,1978-1989.
scopecontent:
The majority of this series includes files of researchers requesting assistance from Joe McLaurin. However there are other files within the series that are not researcher requests. These include files from E. Bert McLaurin's work at Richmond County Savings and Loan, four family bibles, and Joe McLaurin's book . Joe McLaurin assigned the number R to this series. He began assigning each researcher an individual number in this manner: R.1, but eventually replaced that by assigning each researcher the prefix R.60 followed by a specific number for each researcher in this manner: R.60_100. Eventually McLaurin dropped the R.60 prefix and reverted back to assigning researchers their own specific number. When filling out call slips at the Reference Desk, it may be helpful to include the file number (e.g. R.60_125) as well as the box number (e.g. PC.1998.167). An index of the researchers that McLaurin assisted can be found in boxes PC.1998.229 to PC.1998.231. This index is probably the best place to start when trying to find the research and correspondence for a particular individual.
5. North Carolina Society of Historians Series,1955-1991, bulk 1982-1991.
scopecontent:
The North Carolina Society of County and Local Historians became the North Carolina Society of Historians in 1987. This series contains records of the society's annual meetings from 1983 to 1991. Special emphasis is given to the awards the society handed out each year for various categories of research such as local history, biography, and genealogy. The series also contains membership roles for the society. Joe McLaurin served as president of the society for several years within the scope of this series, and was the society's Historian of the Year in 1982.
6. Oversized Material,1920-1970.
scopecontent:
Three oversized envelopes separated from the main collection and stored with the other oversized private collections on Archives stack level 3B. This last series consists of three (3) map-sized folders holding oversized photographic prints. The archives made negatives of the prints, and these negatives have been placed in the last folder of box PC.1998.136. The prints in this series are of a variety of subjects, but were not labeled with a number from Joe McLaurin's system and so can not be fitted into any particular series. The prints in this series are described at item level inside each map folder listed below.
Subject Headings
Acquisitions Information
On February 15, 2010 the Society for History, Research and Preservation, Inc. donated the Joe M. McLaurin History Collection to the State Archives of North Carolina as per the instructions in Joe McLaurin's will.