This collection concerns author and naturalist Horace Kephart (1862-1931) and the Kephart family, including his wife, Laura Mack Kephart (1862-1954) and their children. This collection contains:
Correspondence from Horace Kephart’s father, Isaiah, chiefly concerning Kephart family genealogy;
Correspondence between Kephart and his children;
Correspondence and related material concerning a proposed brigade of “Sharpshooters” that Kephart attempted to organize during the Spanish-American War;
Correspondence and related material pertaining to posthumous reissues of Kephart’s published works;
Correspondence and related material pertaining to the disposition of Kephart’s estate after his death in 1931;
Photographs of family members and family homes;
Related publications and clippings.
The correspondence in the collection is divided into correspondence between two or more Kephart family members (Folders 1-24); and correspondence between Kephart family members and unrelated people (Folder 25-59).
For more information on Horace Kephart, see MSS 80-24 Horace Kephart Collection. Also, see Back of Beyond: A Horace Kephart Biography by George Ellison and Janet McCue (Great Smoky Mountains Association, 2019).
The first addition to the collection consists of a framed picture of Horace Kephart and Laura Mack Kephart; a photograph of Isaiah Lafayette Kephart in his office, inscribed and dated December 10, 1907; the booklet “A National Park in the Great Smoky Mountains” (Published by the Swain County Chamber of Commerce, Bryson City, North Carolina, 1925); and nineteen typescript pages on firearms by Horace Kephart, St. Louis, headed “Preface,” “Chapter I,” and “Chapter II” with the dedication “To my Sons Leonard and George I dedicate this chapter from the long record of American Patriotism and Manliness.”
The second addition to the Horace Kephart and Laura Mack Kephart Family collection contains correspondence, chiefly between members of the Kephart family. Some correspondence includes royalty statements for published works of Horace Kephart. Also, the collection contains a partial manuscript lacking an author statement, but it is likely a portion of Horace Kephart's manuscript for his novel, Smoky Mountain Magic. Finally, the collection includes a manuscript by Leonard W. Kephart (son of Horace Kephart and Laura Mack Kephart) entitled An Experienced Generation.
