William Sinkler Manning

Correspondence, letter books, and business records re cotton trade, textile mills, and other aspects of life in S.C. during Reconstruction and the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Letters, 1866-1996 and undated; bills and receipts, 1845-1919; legal papers, lien and rent contracts, 1874-1928 and undated [on site - legal-size document box]; and records of various cotton textile mills, 1880-1949 and 1960-1966. Topics addressed include cultivation and sales of cotton; African Americans and others employed by Manning on his properties; labor contracts and plantation management; education for male and female children; life during Reconstruction; politics and elections at the state and national levels; sales of real estate to satisfy debts; Clifton Manufacturing Company and many other textile mills around S.C., especially in Spartanburg and Anderson Counties, S.C. Correspondents include Richard I. Manning; D.E. Converse; James P. Lesesne; members of the Moise family; Andrew M. Adger and the cotton factorage firm of Smyth and Adger (Charleston, S.C.); photographer George S. Cook; and others; places represented include the S.C. Counties of Charleston, Pendleton, Sumter, and elsewhere; and others writing from Virginia, Maryland, Philadelphia, and elsewhere. Eighty-four volumes, 1859-1964, include letter books (1875-1918) of W.S. Manning; accounts with tenants and farm laborers; financial accounts and banking passbooks; and other records of various family members. Smaller volumes filed in Box 13.