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Series Identification:
Subgroup 1. Papers of W. C. BryantThe series includes the incoming and outgoing business and personal correspondence of Dr. A. A. Bryant and his son, W. C. Bryant. Included are a letter from W. C. Shackelford to Dr. A. A. Bryant, dated August 23, 1878, and a printed funeral notice of Dr. A. A. Bryant, dated April 5, 1893. The series also contains extensive correspondence of W. C. Bryant with attorneys, businessmen, and tenants concerning agricultural and mercantile operations and political matters. The personal correspondence includes letters exchanged by W. C. Bryant, his wife, and other family members during his 1905 world tour. These letters were written primarily from the West Coast of the United States, but they were continued as Bryant journeyed to Japan, China, the Philippines, Egypt, and France. Bryant also corresponded with President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Wall Doxey, and Charles S. Sydnor, professor of history, University of Mississippi, concerning the preservation of the "Yellobushia" plantation which was formerly owned and operated by eleventh President James K. Polk while he was speaker of the United States House of Representatives (1835-1839), and the construction of a memorial to President Polk at Okachickima, Yalobusha County, Mississippi. Also included are eleven letters from Dunbar Rowland, first director of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, dating from July 2, 1901, to July 19, 1902; one letter from Eron (Mrs. Dunbar) Rowland; Bryant's correspondence with magazines and newspapers concerning the publication of articles about the "Cannibal Tree of Mindanao Island" which Bryant observed in the Philippines; Bryant's letters concerning the purchase of grand-opera tickets in Jackson, Mississippi, in 1929; and Bryant's letters to his family while on a trip to Havana, Cuba, and the Panama Canal Zone in 1930. One folder of miscellaneous material contains a certificate for Confederate States of America bonds issued to Jonathan Woodall, dated March 31, 1864; a visitors’ register dating from 1936 to 1939 kept by W. C. Bryant; envelopes; and cards.
Box 1
Box 2
2.1. Fuller’s Earth Records. 1917-1949; n.d.
Box 3
2.2. Cotton Records. 1900-1915.
This series includes W. C. Bryant's correspondence with Stewart and Company, New Orleans; C. P. Ellis and Company, New Orleans; and Hubbard Brothers and Company, New York; and other brokers and Board of Arbitration records from the New Orleans Cotton Exchange, dated July 24, 1900.
Box 4
2.3. Investments. 1902.
This series includes W. C. Bryant's correspondence concerning bank-stock transfers, fire-association stock purchases, and a foreword and prospectus for the formation of the Southwestern Brokerage and Investment Company, and the building of a railroad (possibly the Skuna Valley Railroad).Box 4
2.4. Livestock Records. 1900-1936.
This series includes W. C. Bryant's correspondence with the American Jersey Cattle Club, New York, regarding the purchase of a bull named Royal Ben-Hur (No. 41905) and railroad-car receipts from Burnette-Carter Company and Robison-Davis-Winfrey, Inc., Memphis, Tennessee, stockyards.Box 4
2.5. Railroad and Timber Records. 1900-1924; n.d.
This series includes correspondence regarding the establishment of the Skuna Valley Railroad. Principal correspondents are W. C. Bryant; John W. Cutrer, Clarksdale; Roger and Isaac Butterfield, attorneys, Grand Rapids, Michigan, representing the Butterfield estate; C. H. Bradley, Duluth, Minnesota; and J. P. Cady, Pine Bluff, Arkansas.Box 4
2.6. Birmingham Dry-Goods Store Records. 1898-1908; n.d.
This series includes W. C. Bryant's correspondence with W. C. Shackelford concerning a dispute over the settlement of Shackelford's indebtedness to Dr. A. A. Bryant's estate; trial-balance sheets for the dry-goods store; correspondence with the store manager concerning stock supplies; and bank letters concerning loans on the store and other property.Box 5
2.7. Skuna Valley Store Records. 1916-1943; n.d.
This series includes invoices for purchases for the Skuna Valley Store; a statement of telephone calls from the Southern Bell Telephone and Telegraph Company at Grenada; and store letterhead bearing "Where Bryant Is, Once Was," a listing of former place names for Bryant.Box 5
2.8. Water Valley Real Estate Company Records. 1908-1915.
This series includes receipts for cotton, lumber, repairs, and taxes; and a typewritten account of the division of Judge E. E. Bryant's interest in the Water Valley Real Estate Company.Box 5
2.9. Real Estate Holdings. 1889-1922; n.d.
This series includes correspondence, receipts, and agreements pertaining to real estate in Paris, Texas; Viola, Illinois; Denver, Colorado; Birmingham, Alabama; and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.Box 5
2.10. Oil and Gas Records. 1919-1921.
This series includes geologists’ reports, oil and gas leases, and correspondence relating to the development of the oil industry in north-central Mississippi. Of particular interest is the Whaley-Eaton Service Letter No. 66 (For Clients Only), Washington, D.C., dated December 6, 1919.Box 6
Box 8
Box 12
Box 17
This series contains postcards collected by W. C. Bryant during his 1905 world tour, some with messages to his wife and daughter, and others with annotations on the back. Other cards were received from family and friends. There is also a bound notebook with a written account of Bryant’s travels and a ship’s log.
Box 9
Box 18
This series contains printed works, which W. C. Bryant acquired during his trips abroad. Included are travel guides from Egypt, England, France, the Holy Land, Italy, Japan, and the Philippines (in Spanish). There is one folder containing menus from the steamships on which Bryant sailed and miscellaneous ephemera.
Box 10
This series contains one political speech in which Bryant introduced Charlton H. Alexander, a candidate for the United States Senate. The speech is annotated as being Bryant’s only political speech, and it was delivered at Coffeeville, Mississippi, on July 28, 1911. Also included is a published address, "The Time is Now," which was delivered before the Yalobusha County Livestock Association on December 14, 1914. There are three academic addresses delivered by Bryant on the early history of Mississippi. They contain information about Coffeeville and Yalobusha County in the 1830s.
Box 11
This series contains one handwritten diary (photocopy) that chronicles W. C. Bryant’s trip to the Philippines and his subsequent world tour in 1905. Another diary (typewritten) spans the years 1924 to 1935. It covers Bryant's business dealings, family matters, and local events in Coffeeville and Water Valley, Mississippi.
Box 11
This series contains compositions of W. C. Bryant, including one published work entitled, Mississippi: The Coming State; the second chapter of an incomplete work on bitterweed; a history of Coffeeville, Mississippi; two reports on the Skuna Valley Basin; and a story about Andrew Lee (Leigh), grandson of Wash Leigh, a former slave of John T. Leigh.
Box 11
This series contains photocopies of newspaper clippings of W. C. Bryant, E. E. Bryant, and Maggie Lea Bryant Stone. Those belonging to W. C. Bryant reflect his interest in General Sam Dale, north Mississippi oil exploration, and President James K. Polk's former plantation in north-central Mississippi. Included are articles Bryant wrote for various newspapers about his trip to the Philippines, especially concerning a so-called man-eating tree. There is also a copy of the North China Daily News, Shanghai, China, September 7, 1905.
Newspaper articles
Box 14
Box 14
Box 12
Box 14
Box 12
This series includes one folder of material belonging to Maggie Lea Bryant (Mrs. W. I.) Stone containing several blue ribbons from the Mississippi State and Yalobusha County fairs; programs and name tags from the 1935 annual meeting of the Mississippi State Bar Association in Natchez; two handwritten African American spirituals arranged by Stone; a Southern Pacific railroad pass for Stone issued in 1930; and two folders of reports to the State Tax Commission for the Skuna Valley Store. There is also a copy of Dun’s Review, 1913; a brochure for Camp Luca Schoona, July 1921; and three copies of the seating arrangements of the Memphis Civic League auditorium in 1926.
Box 13
This scrapbook contains poetry and illustrations clipped from newspapers and other sources. Inside the front cover is handwritten, "Miss Sallie Bailey, Oxford, Miss., from ‘Sister Livi,’ Feb. 28th ‘79." Lavinia Lea Bailey Brown was the elder sister of Sallie Bailey.
Box 17
This series includes telegrams; promissory notes; statements of account for medical bills, art supplies, groceries, and dental work; and correspondence concerning tenants and tenant houses of John Bailey, Mrs. E. C. Bailey, Ellen Bailey, and Sallie Bailey.
Box 14
This series consists of the following material: printed material by L. M. Southworth pertaining to a convention for the nomination of a congressman for the Fourth Congressional District; a real estate flyer for the Louisville Real Estate and Investment Company, Louisville, Mississippi; a copy of the coat-of-arms for "The Randolph"; a 1919 calendar featuring the poem "We Shall Not Sleep" or "In Flanders Fields" by Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, published as a supplement to the Sunday edition of The Commercial Appeal; page 12 from The Delineator, February 1919, dedicated to McCrae; an article entitled "Any Hoop Snakes? Yes, Sirree!" by W. C. Bryant (The Philosopher of Skuna Valley); pages 5 and 6 of the American Weekly, Inc., 1924, headlined "Mystery of the Man-Eating Tree of Madagascar"; pages 5 and 6 from the American Weekly, Inc., 1925, headlined "Escaped from the Embrace of the Man-Eating Tree," as related by W. C. Bryant; and a letter to W. C. Bryant from Ambrose and Gray Real Estate Company, Sheffield, Alabama, dated March 19, 1924, enclosing a blueprint and a pictorial history of Muscle Shoals, Alabama, printed in newspaper form.
Box 12
Subgroup 2. Papers of E. E. Bryant
This correspondence is primarily addressed to W. C. Bryant and relates the adversities he is experiencing with his health and finances, precipitated by a bout with smallpox and his misfortunes with some investments. In a letter of November 9, 1901, Bryant tells his brother, Allie, of his nervous condition and hints of a near breakdown. The last letter of March 3, 1921, is addressed to the Estate of E. E. Bryant, Coffeeville, Mississippi.
Box 15
This series contains titled and untitled compositions of E. E. Bryant. Among the titled ones are "The Orchard," "How Dreams Came True," "The Unfortunate Boy," The Unfortunate Maiden," "History of Telemachus," "Thomas Middleton and Samuel Yacht," "Shanks, to the Temple of the Star," and "A Kentucky Pioneer." Also included are two poems entitled "Lone and Sad" and "The Rainbow."
Box 15
This series contains handwritten copies of the valedictory address of E. E. Bryant at the University of Mississippi, Oxford, in 1880; a speech delivered to the Knights of Pythias on January 20, 1887; a speech delivered at the Confederate Veterans Reunion at Greenville, Mississippi, in 1890; a speech delivered to the Catholic Society at Fort Smith, Arkansas, in 1891; a speech delivered at the Reunion of the Ex-Confederates, Bentonville, Arkansas, on September 18, 1893; a speech delivered to the Arkansas State Democratic Convention in 1896. There are also speeches delivered to the Yalobusha County Teachers’ Association; the Deaf Mute Association of Fort Smith, Arkansas; the citizens of Mena, Polk County, Arkansas, on the town’s fourth anniversary. Also included are two commencement addresses; a law school commencement address (University of Mississippi ?); and a eulogy for Judge J. C. Parker. There is a typewritten speech on the coining of money and definitions of gold, its ratio, and standard of value; a speech on the anti-trust legislature of Arkansas; a speech to the Chalmers Polemic Society; and a number of speeches to undetermined audiences.
Box 15
Box 16