Inventory of the Braxton Craven Records and Papers, 1839-1882
[top]Descriptive Summary
Repository
University Archives, Duke
University.
Creator
Craven, B.
(Braxton), 1822-1882.
Title
Braxton
Craven Records and Papers,
1839-1882.
Extent
4,000 Items,
5.5 linear feet
Abstract
5.5 linear feet
Braxton Craven (1822-1882) served as
an administrator and educator during the nineteenth century
evolution of Trinity College (Randolph County, N.C.).
Craven was Principal of Union Institute (1842-1851),
President of Normal College (1851-1859), and President of
Trinity College (1859-1863, 1866-1882). In addition, Craven
actively participated in the Methodist Episcopal Church,
South and the Order of the Masons in North Carolina.
Collection includes correspondence, sermons and addresses,
diaries, legal and financial papers, teaching materials,
subject files, and photographs and portraits of Braxton
Craven. Correspondents include John Wesley Alspaugh,
Charles Force Deems, David Lowry Swain, David Settle Reid,
Henry Toole Clark, and Calvin H. Wiley. Subjects include
the Methodist Episcopal Church, college financial affairs,
and the activities of the Trinity Guard, a unit of
student-soldiers that Craven formed during the Civil War.
Language
English.
[top]
Administrative Information
Access RestrictionsPatrons must sign the Acknowledgement of Legal Responsibility and Privacy Rights form before using this collection.
No Restrictions.
Acquisitions Information
Received from multiple sources, including
transfers from other campus units prior to the founding of
University Archives:
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Braxton Craven Records and Papers,
University Archives, Duke University.
Use Restrictions
Copyright for official University records is
held by Duke University; all other copyright is retained by
the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants,
as stipulated by United States copyright law.
Processing Information
Torrence N. Thomas, Jill Katte; Completed October 2002
Encoded by Joshua McKim, 2002
This finding aid is NCEAD compliant.
[top]
Biographical and Historical Note
Educator and Methodist clergyman, Braxton Craven was born in Randolph County, N.C., in 1822. Craven became licensed to preach in 1840, earned an A.B. (Hon.) in 1849 from Randolph-Macon College, and received various other degrees during his lifetime. His career included the following educational and administrative positions: Student-teacher, Union Institute (1841-1842); Principal of Union Institute (1842-1851); President of Normal College (1851-1859); President of Trinity College (1859-1863, 1866-1882). Braxton Craven died in 1882.
Duke University (Durham, N.C.) was established in 1924 and evolved from the following institutions: Brown's Schoolhouse (Randolph Co., N.C), 1838-1839; Union Institute (Randolph Co., N.C.), 1839-1851; Normal College (Randolph Co., N.C.), 1851-1859; Trinity College (Randolph Co., N.C.), 1859-1892 and (Durham, N.C.), 1892-1924).
[top]Scope and Content Note
Correspondence, student and financial records,
reports, and other materials relating to the administration
and academic program of Trinity College (Randolph Co.,
N.C.) as well as its predecessors, Union Institute and
Normal College. Of particular interest are Braxton Craven's
reports to the Board of Trustees, as well as minutes and
resolutions of the trustees of Normal College, the
constitution of Union Institute (1839), and Craven's
correspondence with elected officials in North Carolina as
well as Methodist clergymen. Individuals figuring
prominently within the correspondence include trustee John
Wesley Alspaugh; Charles Force Deems, a Methodist minister;
David Lowry Swain, President of the University of North
Carolina; North Carolina Governors David Settle Reid and
Henry Toole Clark; and educator, Calvin H. Wiley. Subjects
within the correspondence include the Methodist Episcopal
Church, college financial affairs, and the activities of
the Trinity Guard, a unit of student-soldiers that Craven
formed during the Civil War. Some letters describe
conditions and public sentiment in and around Randolph
County during the Civil War. Also included are Craven's
sermons and addresses, lecture notes, and diaries, as well
as photographs of Craven.
[top]
Online Catalog Headings
- Clark, Henry T. (Henry Toole), 1808-1874.
- Craven, B. (Braxton), 1822-1882.
- Deems, Charles F. (Charles Force), 1820-1893.
- Reid, David Settle, 1813-1891.
- Swain, David L. (David Lowry), 1801-1868.
- Wiley, Calvin Henderson, 1819-1887.
- Duke University--History.
- Freemasons--North Carolina.
- Normal College (Randolph County, N.C.)
- Methodist Episcopal Church, South--Clergy--North Carolina.
- Trinity College (Randolph County, N.C.)
- Union Institute (Randolph County, N.C.)
- College presidents--North Carolina.
- Education--North Carolina--History--19th century.
- Randolph County (N.C.)--History.
- United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865.
Container List
Correspondence, 1842-1882.
The correspondence of Braxton Craven that
survives documents the financial struggles of Normal
College and later Trinity College. During the 1850s and
1860s, the correspondence describes attempts to gain state
aid to the College and the formation of a cadet corps at
Trinity. Included are typed copies from the original
correspondence in the North Carolina Department of Archives
and History in Raleigh, North Carolina. The Methodist
Church seems to dominate the correspondence after 1859,
when it becomes the chief financial supporter of the
College. A few surviving family letters are also present.
They pertain to the illness and death of Craven in 1882.
Also included is a letterbook (1870-1882) that contains
copies of letters, receipts, bylaws of the Trinity Normal
School, bursar accounts, and faculty salary payments. Major
correspondents include John Alspaugh, member of the Board
of Trustees of Trinity College, Bishop Edward R. Ames of
the Methodist Episcopal Church, Calvin Henderson Wiley,
John S. Brown and Governors Thomas Settle Reid, David Lowry
Swain and Henry Toole Clarke of North Carolina.
Box 1
Folder 1-6
Correspondence
Sermons, Speeches, and Addresses, 1841-1880.
Include sermons given by Craven at church
services, commencements, and funerals. Some are incomplete
or fragments of sermons. Also present are 14 volumes that
contain drafts of sermons by Craven. The notebooks, mainly
pocketsize, include Scriptural passages glued to pages,
with handwritten exegeses beneath them.
Folder 7
All things are teachers, and all
teaching is necessary
Anti-Christ
Asking but not recovering
The Atonement of Christ
Beauty Rebuked
Babes in Christ
Baccalaureate Sermon
Belief
Be ready
Besetting Sins
The Best Gifts
The Blood of Christ
Born Again
Brotherhood
Brotherly Love
Folder 8
The Christian Ideal
Christian Kindness
Christian Life
Christian Manliness
The Christian's Prize
The Church
Christmas
1854
The Church of God
Comfort Ye, My People
Conscience, a Test of
Duty
Counting the Cost
Courage
Currency in God's
Kingdom
Folder 9
Danger of missing heaven
The Day of Small Things
The Day of Trouble
Demonstrating the Heart
Denominationalism
Denouncing Sinners
Diversity in Unity
Divine Life
The Diving Omniscience
Doc's Religion Satisfy the
Soul
Edification
The Effective Element of
Christianity
Elegance and Durability of
Christianity
The Emphatic Work of the
Church
Enough Help Already
Given
Equal Error of Sensationalism and
Rationalism
Evangelism
Every Man needs a Pastor
The External Manifestations of God's
People
The Fall and Atonement
Family Religion
The Father draweth them
Feeding and Governing the
Flock
Final Destiny
The Fixed and Variable
The Friendship of the
World
Fruits meet for
Repentance
Folder 10
Given to Idols
God's Anger Turned Away
God's Graciousness to
Penitents
God's Mercy to those that
Cry
God's Providence
God's Providence of Doing and
Permitting Founded on Contingency
The Great Deliverance
The Great Promise
Healing for the Nations
Heaven
Help only in God
A Higher Status of Life possible and
necessary
Honest Failure
How God is Known
House of Prayer
Human Happiness
The Hurt of my People
Immortality
Impudence
The Influence of the Dead upon the
Living and the Living upon the Dead
Instant in Season
Folder 11
Job
The Judgements of God
Keeping the Heart
The Kingdom of Christ
(3
versions)
The Lamb of God
The Last Judgment
Laying up Treasures
Let out the Light
Life in the Light of the
Gospel
Life of the Spirit
Love, the only improving
power
Folder 12
The Magna Charta
The Man with enough
The Manifestations of the
Spirit
Methodism
The Mission of Christ
Mutual Help
Necessity and Sources of
Regeneration
Necessity and Atonement
Obligation to return
Favors
Our Father
Our Natural Character
Our Value to God
Folder 13
Parental Duties
Paul's Position
The Pecuniary part of
Religion
Philanthropy
The Philosophy of
Experience
A Plea for Missions
Power of the Gospel
Praise, A Religious Duty
The Praise of Men
Prayer and Faith
Prayers
Preliminary Sufferings of
Christ
The Prodigal
The Profit of Church
Membership
Proof of the Divinity of
Christ
The Prospects of Praying, Believing
Man
Proud Looks
Proverbs . . . .
Proving the Heart
Prudence
The Publican
Folder 14
The Ransomed of the Lord
Rebuilding the Temple
Reformation
Reproof
Regeneration
Religion is satisfactory the
soul
Resisting Evil
Resisting the Devil
The Resurrection of
Christ
Retribution
The Salvation of God
Satan . . .
Saving Sinners
Scenes in the Future
Self Denyal and the Cup
The Sinner cannot comprehend his own
estate
The Sinner destroys God
The Sinner's controversy with
God
Sitting together in heavenly
places
The Social Estate
The Songs of the Temple
The Spiritual Conflict
The Stature of Christ
Straight Paths
The Sufferings of Christ
Sunday School Lecture
Folder 15
Taking the Kingdom
Terms of Discipleship
Testing the Trees
True Worshippers
Trusting in God
Trusting in the Lord
Unfaltering Trust
The Unspeakable Gift
Victory of Sin
Waiting for the Holy
Spirit
The Way of the Lord
Weeping is brief
We see Darkly
What shall I do
The Whole Christian
The Will of the Lord
The Word of the Lord
Working for the
Multitude
Wounded in the house of our
friends
Yielding to the Will of
God
Folder 16
Incomplete Sermons
Folder 17
Funeral Sermons
Folder 18-22
Sermons - Volumes [Old catalog Nos.
794-803]
Box 2
Folder 23-24
Sermons - Volumes [Old catalog Nos.
804-806,
"Sketchbook, 1880"
]
Folder 25
Dedications,
1882.
Includes transcript of a speech given by
Craven at dedicatory celebrations of a cotton factory in
Concord, North Carolina.
Folder 26-27
Education.
Speeches given on the topic of education --
normal schools, collegiate education, female education,
testing, and scholarships.
Folder 28
Methodist Episcopal Church,
South.
Topics include unity within the church, and
the centennial of the Methodist Church.
Folder 29
Fragments of addresses given by
Craven.
Topics include education, labor problems,
and the Masonic rites and creeds.
Diaries, 1845-1874.
Although the diaries span the years of
1845-1874, entries do not appear for every year. A partial
transcript has been made for a particularly detailed
section of Craven's 1868 diary. Handwritten portions of
diaries from 1845 and 1855 also are included. The volumes
date from the years 1861 (2 volumes), 1868, 1869, 1871, and
1874. These volumes are pocketsize, and some contain ideas
for sermons, notes and comments on the weather, farming,
preaching, Methodist conferences, and the state of the
institution. Also included in this series is a short diary
which was kept in 1867 by Craven's eldest daughter, Emma L.
Craven. An undated memoranda notebook kept by Braxton
Craven is also present.
Folder 30-34
Diaries
Legal and Financial Papers, 1850-1882.
Personal legal papers primarily dealing with
transactions of land and money to and from Craven. Topics
include receipts, letters of guardianship for orphans, last
wills and testaments, indentures, petitions, deeds and
legal disputes in which Craven was involved While this
series does span the years of 1850-1882, it does not
include material from all years. Financial material
pertains to the personal finances of Braxton Craven with
some items related to the Craven family. Topics in this
series include receipts, inventories, promissory notes, and
bank ledgers. Also in this collection, are two ledgers
(1872-1875) from the Shaw and Company Store, of which
Braxton Craven was a partner.
Folder 35-44
Legal Papers
Financial Papers
Teaching Materials, 1850-1882.
Notes from lectures given by Craven, class
lists and grade books, and outlines of instruction. The
lecture notes have become confused and are roughly arranged
alphabetically by subject. It is difficult to ascertain
whether these lectures were given at the Union Institute,
Normal College or Trinity College. The class lists and
grade books are from classes that Craven personally taught
and are not for the entire College. The outlines of
instruction are summaries of the classes which Craven was
teaching during 1850.
The series also includes student papers and
essays, including valedictory and salutatory speeches
delivered at Trinity College in 1872 and 1873. There is
also a bound volume of 15 graduation speeches from class of
1880. Topics include industrial waste, the Confederate
States of America, success, time, music, government, and
philosophy. Some fragments of student papers are
present.
Box 3
Folder 55-93
Lecture notes
Aesthetics
Astronomy
Beauty
Botany
Chemistry
Education
Elocution
Fine Arts
Geology
Government
Latin
Law
Logic
Mathematics
Mineralogy
Natural Science
Philosophy
Psychology
Box 4
Folder 94-97
Rhetoric
Theology
Zoology
Folder 98-99
Class lists and grade books,
1850-1882
Folder 100
Outlines of instruction,
1850
Folder 101-103
Student papers,
1840-1872
Masonic Papers, [undated].
Papers pertaining to the Order of the Masons,
of which Craven was a member. Trinity College also had its
own Lodge. Included within this series are bylaws of the
Trinity Lodge, minutes of meetings, copies of Master
Mason's Certificates, and a partial list of members.
Folder 104-105
Masonic papers
Methodist Episcopal Church South, [undated].
This series documents Braxton Craven's
involvement with the Methodist Episcopal Church South.
Included in this series is a roll book of the North
Carolina Conference of the Methodist Church, of which
Craven was secretary (ca. 1870s). Inside the book are
provisions for lay and clerical delegates.
Folder 106-107
Methodist Episcopal Church South
Photographs and Portraits, 1840-1880.
Primarily formal portraits of Braxton Craven
with some images of Craven's family, his wife, Irene L
Craven, and his tombstone in Trinity, North Carolina.
Formats include tintype, ambrotype, engraving, and
silhouette.
Folder 108-109
Photographs and portraits
Bible, 1839
1 volume.
This Hebrew Bible was printed in Germany in
1839 and was the property of Braxton Craven. Craven's
daughter gave it to the Reverend B.F. Hargett, after her
father's death. Hargett gave the Bible to the Reverend
Wilbur G. McFarland, who died in 1955.
Folder 110
Bible,
1839
Oversize materials
Folder 111
Sermons
Folder 112
Class Lecture Notes
Folder 113
Portrait
Box 6
Trinity Account books, 1855-1863
Box 7
Trinity College Class Book and Accounts, 1860-1863
Trinity College Roll Book, 1864-1869
Trinity College Grade Book, 1860-1861
Trinity College Roll Book, 1860-1861
Notebook that includes grades and sunday school records, circa 1875-1876
Miscellaneous notebook with clippings
