Correspondence and Newspaper Clippings, 1900-1911

File — Box: 2, Folder: 10

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

From the Collection:

The Holloway Family Scrapbook contains legal documents, personal and business correspondence, receipts, ephemera, clippings and photographs pertaining to the Holloway family, a prominent free family of color in Charleston, SC. Series 1: "The Scrapbook," holds a variety of documents: Highlights include legal documents with deeds (1806, 1821, 1871), a conveyance (1811), slave bills of sale including one for the slave "Betty" (1829), an agreement (1829) to apprentice the slave boy Carlos in the carpenters and house joiner's trade, exhorter licenses to preach and a photograph of a 1797 document declaring patriarch Richard “Holliday” [Holloway] a free mulatto. Personal and business correspondence include letters concerning the hiring out of slaves, an offer (1837) to buy the "Holloway Negroes,” a letter (1831) from Samuel Benedict about emigrating to Liberia, agreements for carpentry work, and information about the Brown Fellowship Society, the Century Fellowship Society, the Minors Moralist Society and the Bonneau Literary Society. Also included are invitations, Confederate and corporate tax receipts, receipts for general merchandise, and Confederate scrip. Other letters and newspaper clippings, including letters to the editor written by James H. Holloway, concern Negro taxes, Negro slaveholders, the Liberia movement, the Methodist Episcopal Church, civil rights and related topics. James H. Holloway's niece, Mae Holloway Purcell, preserved the scrapbook after his death and added to its contents. The bound scrapbook was microfilmed by the South Caroliniana Library in 1977 but was later disbound and reorganized. Using the microfilm as a guide, this archive attempts to recreate the original order and this digital presentation of the scrapbook reflects those efforts.

Dates

Creation: 1900-1911

Creator

From the Collection: Holloway, James H. (James Harrison), 1849-1913 (Person)
From the Collection: Purcell, Mae Holloway, 1891-1982 (Person)

Extent

From the Collection: 4.0 linear feet (3 oversize boxes)

Language of Materials

From the Collection: English

Additional Description

Materials Specific Details

Draft of letter (1911) to Freemen Owens, cinematographer, from James H. Holloway to film "the better side of Negro life," written two days after the hurricane of 1911. Letter (1905) from A. C. Kaufman, President of S.C. Red Cross, to James H. Holloway concerning former New York Mayor Seth Low's inability to speak at the Century Fellowship Society during his visit to Charleston. Letter (1911) from A. C. Kaufman sending his regrets to James H. Holloway for being unable to attend a lecture at the Brown (Century) Fellowship Hall.

Letter (1901) from the secretary of the Negro Department of the South Carolina Inter-State and West Indian Exposition seeking James Holloway's attendance at a meeting. letter (1900) by Thomas J. Jackson, secretary of the Negro Department, asking JH to attend meeting in Charleston discussing his appointment in the church; letter (1902) from rector of St. Philip’s on JH’s request for genealogy research; Circular (1903) from James H. Holloway announcing his intention to help the aged and asking for support; Note (1909) informing James H. Holloway that he has been elected a member of the Corporation of the Hospital and Training School for Nurses.

Newspaper clipping (1904) of an editorial in the Southern Reporter arguing that "negroes are no more criminal than white people."

Copy (undated) of Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation.

NEW

Correspondence (circa 1908) from Thomas Calloway, chairman of the Executive Committee of the Negro Exhibit at the Jamestown Exposition, informing James H. Holloway he is returning the materials James had exhibited there.

Letter (1907) from A. C. Kaufman, president of the SC chapter of the American Red Cross, to James H. Holloway, congratulating him on his ascension to president of the Century Fellowship Society and expressing his desire for Holloway to use this correspondence as an open-ended letter of recommendation should he or the society need it.

Letter (undated) from James H. Holloway, secretary of the Century Fellowship Society, soliciting funds for their new hall;

1909 reprint of the 1856 annual report of the Christian Benevolent Society,

Letter (1906) from former Charleston mayor William A. Courtenay in Newberry, S.C., writing of the honor of the Holloway family and sending a contribution; Printed list (n.d.) of Methodist History sources available to James H. Holloway with an offer to lecture on the "colored" contributions to Methodism in South Carolina.

Letter (1902) from John Johnson, rector of St. Philip's church in Charleston, to James H. Holloway informing him he is unable to find in the vestry minutes any reference to a sermon that supposedly inspired the creation of the Brown Fellowship Society in 1790; Letter (1900) from J. Fitzgerald of the Methodist Camp Meeting Association in Ocean Grove, NJ, thanking James H. Holloway for his work in the Methodist church.

Letter (1896) from Celia Carter, President of the Centenary Church Home Society announcing plans to build a home for aged and infirm members on property formerly used as the church cemetery; Printed images of James H. Holloway and Centenary House on Smith St.

Circulars (1899, 1903) publicizing the Centenary Church home and seeking public donations;