Chiefly family letters to Jemima and Elizabeth G.M. MacKenzie of Charleston, S.C., from friends and relatives in Edinburgh, Scotland, and elsewhere, during antebellum, Civil War, and Reconstruction years. Includes bills and receipts for settlement of the estate of James Kirker, who worked as a blacksmith and wheelwright, and account book, 1856-1860, of John MacKenzie recording wages and other payments for Charleston rice mills. Letters re life in S.C. during Civil War and Reconstruction, and subsequent decades into the 20th century. Letter, 2 Mar. 1849, Jno. MacKenzie (S.C.), to Jemima [Mason] (Scotland), reporting his attendance at a meeting of the St. Andrew's Society, relating the celebration of his militia company's anniversary, and mentioning that the unit might be called upon to conduct a review for President James K. Polk; letter, 15 Mar. 1850 (Charleston, S.C.) Jno. MacKenzie, to Jemima [Mason], [Scotland], giving the details of a train journey from Charleston to Blackville, S.C., commenting on the accommodations, "The carriages are different from yours, there is only one class for whitefolks and one for negroes," referring to the trip as "very dreary travelling" citing the problems caused by animals roaming the tracks, and relating his impression of Blackville (Barnwell County, S.C.) Letter, 19 Aug. 1852 (Charleston), Northrop & Allemong, to John M[a]cKenzie, notifying him that a female African American slave sold by James Kirker had been declared unsound and that he could return the money or "she will be sold at public auction, at the risk of the estate"; list of accounts, 25 Aug. 1852, of sales of articles belonging to the blacksmith and wheelwright establishment of James Kirker. Letter, 28 Jan. 1862, Griffin, Catherine B[ooth] Heriot, to [Mrs.] Louisa [Heriot], lamenting the death of her daughter in childbirth and relating her warning "that the weight of petticoats worn round her waist would injure her frame internally," inquiring about her studies and hoping that she intended to become a teacher serving locally, "Let us have no more Yankee's in our Seminaries, when we have so many Southern Girls, ready to supply all our schools," and family news. Letter, 29 Mar. 1863, from James M. Conkey and W[illia]m Paul, to Mrs. John MacKenzie (Charleston, S.C.), with thoughts on the war and comments on camp life; letter, 25 June 1865 (Greenwood, S.C.) Emma Carr, to Mrs. [Jemima] MacKenzie, reporting that many of the African American freedmen had returned following a trip to Augusta, Ga., "they evidently were not prepared for their new freedom; they were under the impression that work would be optional with them, and their masters would have to maintain their families." Letter, 4 July 1865, from "May," in Newberry, S.C., re illness among family and friends, plans for upcoming travel, and social conditions, and inquiring as to the local situation for the Mackenzie family, "This is the Fourth of July and the Yankees have bee firing guns all day long.... Have the Yankees treated you politely? They say that we have a very gentlemanly set in the Village...."; letter, 17 Oct. 1865 (New York), William S. Bryce, to Mrs. J. M., Charleston, thanking her for the gift of a relic from Fort Sumter, expressing delight to learn of her daughter's arrival in Edinburgh (Scotland), "Education is more solid and complete in Edinburgh than here," hoping that the situation in Charleston would improve shortly, mentioning the opposition to the Republican radicals in the North, with thoughts on President Andrew Johnson, advising, "I think the President means well for the South, and if your people will give him a cordial support matters will settle all right yet." Letter, 11 Jan. 1866, from F.A. Trenholm, re challenges of life during Reconstruction in S.C., sending greetings for Christmas and the New Year, and description of a Christmas tree and decorations, "English walnuts painted different colors and suspended from the tree by bright colored ribbons and are filled with sugar plums"; and family news re health, employment, loss of poultry by theft, and marriages and social gatherings, "There are a great many weddings taking place in spite of hard times & want of money." Letter, 5 Feb. 1869 (Edinburgh, Scotland), "Bessie" [Elizabeth G. M. MacKenzie], to Mr. Leslie [MacKenzie in Charleston], advising him to be "kind to the coloured people, and don't call them niggers when you know they don't like it; it is very unkind"; letter, 26 Oct. 1876 (Edinburgh, Scotland), R. S. [Merton?], to Jemima [MacKenzie], Charleston, commenting on mutual friends and sympathizing with her re "the repeated trials you seem to have perpetually [with] these negroes. You must be in constant terror never feeling safe at your own fireside." Printed invitation, 22 Feb. 1878, to a military ball in honor of George Washington's birthday, hosted by the Washington Light Infantry; letter, 27 Sept. 1931, Cambridge, [England], from [illegible] H. Gordon Douglas, to Bessie [MacKenzie, in Charleston], commenting on economic conditions in the U. S. and Great Britain and excoriating Lloyd George for supporting the Labour Party; and printed program for the Froebel Birthday Celebration in Charleston's Freunschaftsbund Hall with the main address "South Carolina's Wants in Education" by Gen. Edwin Warren Moise (1832-1903) of Sumter, S.C. Bound volumes, 1856-1882, consist of four account books, 1857-1882, re household expenses and other purchases, and account book, 1856-1860, of John MacKenzie recording wages and other payments and accounts with various rice mills in Charleston.
