Personal and family correspondence, with newspaper clippings and photographs, re lives of Lucas and family: wife Maria Martin Lucas; sons John Paul Lucas III, Eugene Charlescraft "Gene" Lucas, and Maner Martin Lucas; and daughters Alice Conway "Connie" Lucas, Catherine Maner Lucas, and Maria "Mimi" Lucas; collection falls into three distinct periods: 1924-1934, containing letters of Paul, Jr., during his academic years; 1938-1945, including correspondence of Paul, Jr., and Maria during the early years of their marriage; and 1953-1971, consisting largely of letters written to Catharine Lucas. Correspondents in early papers are parents John Paul Lucas, Sr., and Alice Craft Lucas; includes letters written while Paul, Jr., attended Citadel (20 Oct. 1924), Duke University (1927-1930), and Princeton (1931-1933), and while he worked for Chester News (16 Aug.-20 Sept. 1932), and Asheville School (1933-1934); letter, 12 Feb. 1929, from Paul, Jr., noting "absolute ignorance of the South Carolinians' of the Federal law regarding prohibition"; and letters of author Lodwick C. Hartley (1931-1934), Converse College student Elisabeth Lewis (1932-1933), and author Ovid W. Pierce (1930-1933). Correspondence dating from 1938-1945 is chiefly between Paul, Jr., then working in Charlotte for The Observer, and Maria, who remained in Clemson, S.C., with her parents, Samuel Maner Martin and Conway Simpson Martin. A letter from Maria, pmk. 21 Aug. 1939, mentions old family homes in Laurens County, the Belfast House and the John Garlington House; collection also includes two biographical sketches of John Paul Lucas, Jr., ca. 1931-1933 and ca. 1938. Beginning in 1953, main figure of collection is Catharine Maner Lucas; included are 24 letters, 1953-1957, between Catharine and her confidant, Mrs. J. Oates Sprinkle, of Tryon, N.C.; and letters from foreign friends in Europe and Israel; Catherine graduated from Bryn Mawr in 1961 and moved to Berkeley, Ca. Paul III wrote letters home from Wake Forest, 1960-1962, and there is occasional correspondence to and from Connie and Mimi; letter, 27 Oct. 1960, from Wistar G. Metz, Laurens, S.C., noting problems faced by textile industry and commenting on state politics leading up to the 1960 presidential election.
