Administrative Information
Access Restrictions
Collection is open for research.
However, patrons must sign the Acknowledgment of Legal Responsibility and Privacy Rights form before using this
collection.
Also, all or portions of this collection may be housed off-site in Duke University's Library Service Center. Consequently, there may be a 24-hour delay in obtaining these materials.
Please contact Research Services staff before visiting the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library to use this collection.
Use Restrictions
The copyright interests in this collection have not been transferred to Duke University. For more information, consult the copyright section of the Regulations and Procedures of the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Evans Family Papers, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University.
Provenance
The Evans Family papers were a gift to Duke University in 1986 and 1989.
Processing Information
Processed by: Marion Hirsch
Completed February 2, 1998
Encoded by Michael Shumate
This finding aid is NCEAD compliant.
Collection Overview
Collection contains correspondence, scrapbooks, albums, clippings, addresses, writings, and other materials that concern the personal lives and careers of the Evans family, particularly Emanuel J. and Sara Evans, their sons, Eli and Robert, and Emanuel's brother, Monroe. The family owned and operated United Department Stores, and for twelve years, 1951 to 1963, Emanuel Evans was mayor of Durham, NC. He was also very active in his synagogue, was a president of VISTAS, and participated actively in the University of North Carolina's Alumni Association. There are two scrapbooks on Emanuel Evans's mayoral terms and a similar volume and other materials devoted to Mrs. Evans's activities as leader of Hadassah including items pertaining to Israel.
Mr. Evans's mayoral correspondence is divided into a general file and a subject file. In pictures and personal correspondence, the Nachamson family is often represented. One early clipping from a Fayetteville, N.C. newspaper, tells of Mr. Evans's sister being refused teaching positions because of her Jewish faith. Eli Evans is a correspondent and writer, led the establishment of the National Jewish Archives of Broadcasting, and was on the staff of the Carnegie Foundation that helped launch "Sesame Street." He was president of the UNC student body and a number of items in the collection concern his presidency. Also included is an address of Eli Evans presented during the conference on Southern-Jewish history in 1976, Eli Evans's vita, his unpublished diary of the Kissinger shuttle, and a large number of his writings, many concerning U.S. politics, minorities, and Jews in the South. There is a reprint of a chapter from his book,
The Provincials, and reports from the Charles H. Revson Foundation, of which he is president. Also included are materials concerning Eli's brother Robert, a correspondent with CBS, who continued on as a television executive. Their uncle, Monroe Evans, was mayor of Fayetteville, NC, and his service is documented in several of the collection's scrapbooks. One entire scrapbook is devoted to the writings of Mildred and Madeline Evans,
Monroe's wife and daughter.