Robert W. Winston was a lawyer, NorthCarolina state legislator, judge, historian, and biographer. The collection comprises family, political, andprofessional correspondence. Papers up to 1881 are correspondence of Winston'sfather, Patrick Henry Winston (1820-1886), of Bertie County, N.C., concerning Whigpolitics, planting, and other matters. Included in this section are letters,1854-1861, from R.W. Winston's uncle, Joseph R. Bird, United States Navy officer inCalifornia, Hawaii, China, and Japan. Also included are letters from another Birduncle serving in the Confederate Army in Virginia, and letters from R.W. Winston'sbrother, George Tayloe Winston (1852-1932), while a student at the University ofNorth Carolina, the United States Naval Academy, and Cornell University in the1870s. The correspondence, 1881-1895, of R.W. Winston reflects his activities as alawyer in Granville and Durham counties, N.C., railroad officer, Democraticcandidate for public offices, and member of the North Carolina legislature in 1885.Correspondence, 1896-1944, is with nationally prominent persons about hisbiographies, autobiography, and other writings, and about public affairs. Familycorrespondence, 1881-1944, includes letters from R.W. Winston's brothers, G.T.;Patrick Henry Jr. (1847-1904), lawyer of Spokane, Wash.; and Francis DonnellWinston (1857-1941), judge of Bertie County; and of his sons, R.W. Winston Jr., alawyer, including letters written while he was a soldier during World War I; andJames Horner Winston (b. 1884), lawyer of Chicago, Ill. Also included are notes andsource materials for various books, particularly biographies of Robert E. Lee,Andrew Johnson, and Professor Horace Williams; manuscript articles on historical,political, sectional, racial, religious, educational, and economic subjects; manyclippings; and R.D. Winston's diary, 1932-1944, recording his reactions to andanalysis of public events from World War I to World War II. The addition of 1987contains letters to and items accumulated by Robert W. Winston, chiefly concerninglegal and financial matters. Also included are letters related to the fundraisingefforts associated with the establishment of the Walter Hines Page School ofInternational Relations at Johns Hopkins University and six volumes, one of which isa ledger-like record of Winston's legal practice and five of which are his researchnotes for his biographies of Robert E. Lee, Andrew Johnson, and JeffersonDavis.
