Robert Brent Drane was rector,1876-1932, of Saint Paul's Episcopal Church, Edenton, N.C. The collection includes family, business, historical, andgenealogical correspondence and other items of Robert Brent Drane. Earlycorrespondence is of Drane's parents, Catherine Caroline Parker and Robert BrentDrane Sr., and of Robert Brent Drane with friends and family while studying theologyin New York. Correspondence, 1877-1932, reflects Drane's genealogical and historicalinterests, including his involvement with the Roanoke Colony Memorial Associationand the proposed construction of a memorial at Fort Raleigh, N.C. There iscorrrepondence with his cousin, North Carolina bishop Joseph Blount Cheshire, aswell as letters to Drane from his children, including some from his daughter Marianwhile at Saint Mary's School in Raleigh, N.C., and some, 1915-1925, from his sonFrederick Blount Drane, serving as a missionary and later Archdeacon of the Yukonamong the native peoples in the Yukon and Alaska. Later correspondence includesletters to Frederick Blount Drane from American soldiers serving in World War II andthe Korean War and letters from prominent alumni of the University of North CarolinaClass of 1912. Notable correspondence includes letters relating to the Wrightbrothers' flight trials: two letters, 1908, addressed to Eliza Drane from editor Arthur Ruhl describing hisattempts to photograph the trials at Kill Devil Hills, N.C., and one 1929 lettermentioning Frederick Blount Drane's having taken a piece from one of the Wrightgliders. The collection also includes original and transcribed copies of wills,indentures, and deeds; church records; financial records; historical researchmaterials; genealogical notes, charts, and sketches; printed material; and clippingsrelating to Drane and Webb family members and to ecclesiastical history in theAmerican colonies. Some papers relate to Josiah Collins and Josiah Collins Jr. ofEdenton, N.C., and their mercantile endeavors and involvement with the NorthCarolina Diocese, Saint Paul's Church, and the establishment of the Edenton Academyin Edenton. There are also some records of religious services performed by FrederickBlount Drane at Monroe, N.C., 1925-1955; sermons of Robert Brent Drane and others;blueprints and architectural plans, chiefly relating to the Fort Raleigh monument;and photographs, including a set of portraits, circa 1910, of University of NorthCarolina athletes in uniform. Collier's Weekly
