Creator: Grigsby, George Talmadge.
Collection number: 4703
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Abstract: Members of the McLean-Stinson-Grigsby family, an African-American family of Wake County, N.C., included Harriet Ragland McLean of Holly Springs, N.C.; her daughter Alberta McLean Stinson of Holly Springs and New York City, who was active in the Baptist Church; and Alberta’s daughter Gladys Natal Stinson Grigsby of Lawrenceville, Va., and Holly Springs, who was graduated from the Durham State Normal School in 1924 and Shaw University in 1928, after which she taught in North Carolina and Virginia public schools and worked for the Baptist Church.In 1938, she married George Talmadge Grigsby, professor and administrator at Saint Paul’s School, Lawrenceville, Va. Correspondence, 1870-1952, relates chiefly to Harriet Ragland McLean, Alberta McLean Stinson, and Gladys Natal Stinson Grigsby. Included are many courtship letters to each of these women. There are several letters from George Talmadge Grigsby to Gladys and her family before and after their marriage. While most of the letters document activities of family and friends, there are a few relating to Alberta’s Baptist Church work.Other materials include Gladys’s bridal book; her Durham State Normal School commencement book, 1924, with handwritten narrative of school activities, autographs of classmates, and photographs; and Shaw University materials, ca. 1928, including class notebooks, an autograph book, commencement programs, and other materials. There are also materials, including many handwritten obituaries, relating to Alberta and Gladys’s Baptist Church work, especially at the Holly Springs First Baptists Church and the Wake County Baptist Sunday School Convention.Also included are 37 photographs, 1905-1939 and undated, of various family members and friends.
Repository: Southern Historical Collection
Collection Highlights: Includes correspondence documenting activities of the families, school records, and involvement with the Wake County Baptist Sunday School Convention. There are a number of photographs of family and friends, including two young men in their World War I uniforms (Images P-4703/22 and 25). There is also a bridal book documenting the marriage of Gladys Stinson and George T. Grigsby at Holly Spring, N.C. in 1938 (Folder 5).