Chiefly family correspondence re social, economic, and political conditions in the area; including letter, c. 1786, from Agnes Gordon to Jane Bruce, Orangeburg, S.C., re disapproval among the Bruce family of Jane's marriage to Samuel P. Jones of Hartford, Conn.; genealogy, 1793, Orangeburg, S.C., re Salley, Bellinger, Wannamaker, Cross, Pearson, McDonald, Rumph, DuRant, Richbourg, Spencer, Caldwell, and Bull families. Letter, 21 Feb. 1796, Charleston, S.C., from John Jamison (Charleston, S.C.) to S.P. Jones (Hartford, Conn.), offering use of a general store belonging to Jones' mother-in-law, Mrs. Bruce, in Orangeburg, S.C., should the couple return to S.C., but "she owes a debt to some British merchants," which would prevent aiding him financially, and noting Bruce's plans to leave her property "to your son... named after Mr. Bruce."; land transfer, 6 Feb. 1810, Orangeburg County, S.C., from Farquhard McRae to Roderick Murchison. Bulk of collection consists of family letters exchanged among the descendants of Elizabeth Campbell Jones (1793-1870) and Dr. Roderick Murchison (d. 1820). Class cards and letters of Dr. Murchison, "University of the State of New York," 1816-1817, contribute information on medical education and his letters express views of slavery, "One of our great crimes... is the cruelty and avarice... towards the negroes: cruelty in subjecting them... to the lash and avarice in withholding... things.. necessary for their comfort." (11 Jan. 1817 (New York, N.Y.), from Roderick Murchison to Eliza [Campbell Jones] Murchison (Orangeburg, S.C.); letters during this period from Orangeburg, S.C., comment on elections, business, business, religious and social activities - invitation "to the ball, to be at MR. Felder's for which he gets two hundred dollars"; "preaching here tomorrow... wont suit some... as the races commence."; land transfer, 6 Feb. 1810 (Orangeburg County, S.C.), from Farquhard McRae to Roderick Murchison. Papers ca. 1820-1860 comment on education, attending religious "camp meetings," and include two letters from Mexican War soldiers, "Volunteering is not the thing I thought it was," and expecting no lasting peace in Mexico as long as the Catholic Church remained influential. A very few letters cover the Civil War period, but two letter of Martha [Salley], Orangeburg, 26 July 1862 and 5 Nov. 1863, to "Aunt Eliza," illustrate conditions and activities of the family and community, mentions her brother "Towney" belongs to the Rebel Rangers- a Citadel group, describes the "wayside hospital" women's war work, by which women brought food and provisions for the trains of wounded and sick soldiers, "I have seen as many as three hundred [ladies] there," crowded conditions, high prices making syrup, weaving cloth, religious meetings, and offers an apology for using "a Confederate envelope, it is the fashion here." Few papers mention the Civil War, two letters, 26 July 1862 and 5 Nov. 1863, Orangeburg, S.C., from Martha [Salley], to "Aunt Eliza," re membership of Salley's brother in a Citadel group known as the Rebel Rangers, providing food and provisions for wounded and sick soldiers, and religious meetings. Also including four volumes, 1820-1899, re estate records of Dr. Roderick Murchison, scrapbook of E.C.J. Murchison, farm records kept by Charles Henry Durant, and James Lide Coker's "History of Company G, ninth S.C. regiment, infantry, S.C. army and of Company E, sixth S.C. regiment, infantry, S.C. army," 1899, containing military record, 1861-1865, of Confederate soldier Moses E. McDonald.
