James O. (James Ozborn) Carr, a lawyer of Wilmington, N.C., was a state legislator, served as United States District Attorney, 1916-1919 and 1933-1945, and was a leader in the North Carolina Democratic Party. The collection includes political correspondence, mainly 1916-1938, of James O. Carr, especially with Henry G. Connor, Angus W. McLean, J. C. B. Ehringhaus, and Josiah W. Bailey, concerning Democratic Party organization, political issues and programs, and North Carolina state and national elections and patronage. Among the topics discussed in detail are the administration of Federal law courts in eastern North Carolina, especially the problem of enforcing liquor laws; North Carolina state financial programs; the state highway program; public education; the huckleberry industry; and the New Deal's effect on North Carolina. Earlier papers consist of family letters, mainly 1818-1885, written by members of the Dickson family, Carr family, and Hall family of Duplin County, N.C., and Wilmington, N.C., and their relatives and friends in other southern states. Many of the correspondents were female. Volumes include seventeen general merchandise account books, 1876-1894, of Jacob W. Carr (born 1827) at Rose Hill, N.C.; military court martial records and other information pertaining to the Duplin County militia, 1784-1853; secretary's book of the Hannah More Academy in Duplin County, 1834-1844; and Carr family history.
