Burwell-Catlett Papers

Collection

Identifier: Mss. 69 B95

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

Correspondence, 1794-1887, of the Burwell family of Virginia, North Carolina, Alabama, and Mississippi. Includes letters of Mary Cole Turnbull Burwell and her children including Armistead Burwell, Benjamin Powell Burwell, Frances King Burwell Catlett, Robert Burwell, William T. Burwell (at the United States Military Academy), Charles Blair Burwell, and concerning these children and her other children Elizabeth Margaret Burwell Putnam and Anne Burwell Garland.

Subjects include family, courtship and marriage, religion, setting up and teaching schools in Virginia, North Carolina, and Alabama, economics, travel, sickness, childbirth, and slavery. Includes a poem concerning love between two slaves. The Panic of 1837 is shown in the Burwell letters from the 1830's through 1850's.

There are letters from John Walker Carter Catlett to his wife Frances King Burwell Catlett. Catlett had children by an earlier marriage, some of whom are mentioned in the letters.

Also included is a letter by Elizabeth Keckley, a slave and later a published author, dated April 25, 1844 (Box 1 folder 14).

See also: Southern Women and their Families in the 19^th Century Papers and Diaries Series C Reel # 01 and #02 in Swem Library’s microforms area, call number HQ1438 .V5 S68

Dates

1794-1887

Creator

Burwell family (Person)

Language of Materials

English

Conditions Governing Access:

Collection is open to all researchers. 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, such as the Virginia Public Records Act (Code of Virginia. § 42.1-76-91); and the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (Code of Virginia § 2.2-3705.5). Confidential material may include, but is not limited to, educational, medical, and personnel records. If sensitive material is found in this collection, please contact a staff member immediately. The disclosure of personally identifiable information pertaining to a living individual may have legal consequences for which the College of William and Mary assumes no responsibility.

Conditions Governing Use:

Before reproducing or quoting from any materials, in whole or in part, permission must be obtained from the Special Collections Research Center, and the holder of the copyright, if not Swem Library.