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Collection: MABRY AND READ PAPERS
Ridgeway, Warren County, North Carolina
1844-1929
Physical Description: C 2,200 items consisting of letters, statements,
accounts, invoices, receipts,, promissory notes, bills of lading, price
lists, advertisements, circulars, pamphlets, books, checks, agreement,
copy of debenture, and miscellaneous items.
Acquisition: No information located on this specific collection. It* had
been accessioned before the 1942 edition of the Guide to Manuscript
Collections.
Description: The Mabry and Read Papers consist of 25 personal letters,
approximately 275 business letters, about 1,800 business instruments
such as receipts and accounts, and 95 miscellaneous items such as
pamphlets and advertisements.
The personal letters (1891-1925) are written mainly to Helen Mabry
and W. C. Mabry. Included in these letters are the minutes of a
literary society at an unnamed college for the year 1895-1896; a letter
written from Kelly Field, San Antonio, in 1917, concerning preparations
before leaving for France; and a letter from a professional baseball
player [probably with St. Louis] in 1922 concerning his record. There
are also some letters involving the settlement of the estate of Charles
F. .Read, Mecklenburg County, Virginia.
The business letters and instruments (1871-1929) concern a general
merchandise store in Ridgeway, North Carolina. The store operated under
several names over a period of time: Mabry and Read, 1883-1901; R. C.
Mabry and Son, 1901-1906; W. C. Mabry, 1906-1908; Baxter and Mabry, 1909-
1913 (the dates are taken from available letters and are approximate).
There are also several letters addressed to the Fanners Gin Company.
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The items involving the store consist, of receipts of sales and
taxes, accounts, invoices, bills of lading, checks, statements, and
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business correspondence. The business letters were written mainly dur-
... . ing the summer when the store was shipping produce, especially canta¬
loupes, to Philadelphia and Baltimore. Some of the subjects discussed
were the number of shipments, quantity and quality of the produce, and
the crates used for shipping. :
*