| Scope and content |
Correspondence, usually addressed to Mrs. Frank M. Cook, deals primarily with family matters but also includes comments on employment in the machinist's trade and illnesses, including scarlet fever, cancer, and dysentery. Civil War period correspondence describes the conditions at a military hospital in Hamilton, Va., and contains comments on the weariness of war and the high prices of necessities in North Carolina. Post-war correspondence concerns Nags Head as a summer resort; economic difficulties in Oxford; and social life of the 1880s in Norfolk, Va., and Elizabeth City, N.C., including weddings, oyster dinners, Elizabeth City Academy Grand Carnation Ball, and attempts to purchase a velocipede. Correspondence from Emily and Camilla Cook, both of whom attended the Hagerstown Female Seminary in Hagerstown, Md., describe facets of women's education in private schools of the Victorian era. Topics include student life, coursework, faculty and staff, and a dormitory fire. Religious matters concern descriptions of a revival meeting of a Norfolk church, Dwight L. Moody's large camp meeting in Norfolk, and evangelistic meetings in Baltimore. Other materials include papers regarding the estate of Thomas Murphy, receipts, and genealogical material concerning the Cook, Matthews, and Murphy families. |
| Access restriction | No access restrictions. |
| Cite as |
Cook Family Papers (#324), Special Collections Department, J. Y. Joyner Library, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina, USA. |
| Reproduction note | Photocopy. Greenville, N.C. : East Carolina University, 1976. |
| Terms of use | Literary rights to specific documents are retained by the authors or their descendants in accordance with U.S. copyright law. |
| Acquisitions source |
Joyner- Loaned by Mrs. R. E. Daniels. |
| Biographical note | The Cook Family of Elizabeth City, N.C., descended from the Lord Mayor of London, emigrated from England to Baltimore, thence to Elizabeth City, N.C. Frank M. Cook, to whom much of the correspondence is addressed, was a watchmaker and jeweler. |
