Scope and Content Note The George G. Evans Family Papers and Supplement, spanning dates from 1717 - 1937, contain a vast number of documents revealing the historic business accounts and legal affairs of the town of Newark, Delaware, and some of its major institutions, including Newark Academy, Delaware College (University of Delaware), the First Presbyterian Church, and the Welsh Tract Baptist Church. Both George Gillespie Evans and his son Charles Black Evans served as Newark Town Commissioners, inspectors for the Newark Board of Health, secretary and treasurer of Delaware College, and trustees of Newark Academy and the First Presbyterian Church of Newark. In addition, Charles B. Evans served as legal counsel for the town and the Welsh Tract Baptist Church. The George G. Evans Papers consist of fifty-one bound volumes containing over 12,000 individual items taped to leaves of paper. The majority of items were calendared, and all were indexed in the 1950s after they were accessioned. The volumes incorporated several gifts; most of the papers came from Lena Evans (daughter of George G. Evans) and Mary (Raub) Evans (wife of Charles B. Evans). Other donations - from Jane Maxwell, Charlotte Dayett Stuart, Alice Kerr, and Hugh Gallagher - that loosely related to the history of Newark Academy or Delaware College were also incorporated. The volumes are arranged in four chronological series, which overlap sequentially but represent four major accessions in the history of the collection. Consequently, much of the original provenance, grouping, and order of the collection was lost. As a result, the collection is a quirky mixture of personal, legal, and business papers: family letters and personal reflections commingle with institutional plans and thousands of receipts. A scholar spending time with this collection will be rewarded with a real sense of "who's who" in Newark, Delaware. A two-volume detailed index and a two-volume calendar prepared in 1946/1947 by William Ditto Lewis are available for use with the collection. Subsequent to the four accession series that comprise the bulk of the Evans Papers, the George Gillespie Evans Papers Supplement contains a personal account book for the Evans family, seven business ledgers, a daybook, three cashbooks, over forty memorandum notebooks, and five diaries from the life of George Gillespie Evans. Most of these accounts relate to the General Store on Main Street or the Evans' brick yards. However, some notations about Evans' various trusteeships can also be found in the Supplement. The George Gillespie Evans Family Papers will be extremely helpful to researchers interested in any aspect of the history of education. Labor historians and those interested in faculty and staff contracts, negotiations, candidate searches, and hiring practices will find much of interest. Records of staff expenses, wages, and salaries from the nineteenth and early twentieth century are in the collection. Letters of inquiry, letters of recommendation, resumes, and letters about job performance and applicants can all be found in the collection. Other items reveal accounts of tension between faculty and the administration or occasional accounts of tension between faculty and students. Those interested in student life can trace the early development and evolution of fraternities on campus with charters, correspondence, and building records in the collection. Researchers can also glean much information about nineteenth century student life at the College from trustee and presidential reports, and correspondence about discipline, alcohol and hazing, curricular requirements, and degree recommendations. There are also several student petitions to the administration included in this collection, tuition bills, information about the creation of scholarship funds, and many references to student clubs and activities. A scholar interested in the effects of war on higher education can compare documents from the post-Civil War closing to trustee and War Department correspondence during World War I. There is a variety of trustee and alumni correspondence that reveals tension about the place of military training and drills on campus. Researchers interested in the history and development of the University of Delaware will also find much of interest. Survey, property maps, and deeds, are records in the collection that trace the acquisition of land. Receipts and bills trace the development of this property through building specifications, plans for strategic expansion, and complications. Trustee, presidential, and committee reports examine housing issues for students and document the planning process for the first dormitories. Bills and receipts for the College show the growth of the College needs, from burgeoning water and heating demands to the introduction of electricity and telephone lines. A scholar interested in the development of academic research libraries or in the history of Morris Library in particular will find many early receipts for books, and see evidence of housing concerns, relocations, and library expenses, from cataloging collections to librarian salaries. Those interested in women's history and coeducation will also find much of interest in this collection. The collection contains documents pertinent to a variety of women's schools and private seminaries in Wilmington and Newark in the nineteenth century, including papers relating to women teachers, administrators, librarians, professors, and students. Of considerable interest in this collection are documents concerning the debates about coeducation at Newark Academy and Delaware College. George G. Evans favored women's education: during his trustee tenure a woman, Hannah Chamberlain, became principal of Newark Academy. Tuition receipts in the collection show that George G. Evans sent his daughters as well as his sons to secondary school and college. For a time in the nineteenth century, from 1873 - 1885, Delaware College did admit women. By the time of Charles B. Evans' trusteeship, however, women were excluded, but plans were in the works to open a separate Women's College. Collection documents trace objections to and support for this initiative and the opening of the women's college in 1914. Other papers debate "fair salaries" for Women's College faculty, comparing their earnings to professors in the men's college. Those interested in women's social organizations will be interested in the documents of the "Ladies Sewing Circle" of the First Presbyterian Church of Newark and in the development of the New Century Club. The collection also provides a wealth of sources to historians of material culture. Naturally, the account ledgers for the Evans family store show the variety of merchandise being ordered and sold. General store accounts for textiles, sugar, molasses, alcohol, and other supplies and services are found in the Supplement. A family furniture inventory contains details on the household possessions of the Evans' family, and several Evans family houses still stand and are owned by the University of Delaware. The vast variety of receipts found in the bound volumes range from school furniture orders to ice cream purchases. In addition, a series of several hundred receipts issued to Charles Thomson show his purchases from Elliot & Morgan between 1800 and 1804. Amongst the items included is receipt for a "Queensware Chamberpot" (#8836). Those interested in economic history, personal debt, the extension of credit, systems of exchange, or dry goods merchandising will be delighted with this collection. A researcher can easily trace the accounts of local families over many years. Records contain itemized lists of what was purchased, how often it was paid for, and what method of payment was used. In addition to cash payments, the Evans ledgers contain evidence of labor exchanges, where a man might work in the Evans' brick yard to pay for his store account, or barter, where families exchange items such as household-produced butter or home grown peaches for store goods. Those interested in Town Council ordinances and city development of infrastructure will also find much in the collection. Records of sewer work, railway lines, telephone poles, electricity meters, water systems, and road development can all be found in the George Gillespie Evans Papers. A series of vellum and parchment deeds from the eighteenth century, surveyor's notes, property line maps, and diagrams can also be found in various volumes of this series. In addition, a scholar of legal history and legal practice may enjoy the papers of Charles B. Evans. Legal documents in his possession ranged from marriage certificates to articles of incorporation for local businesses. In addition to many deeds, wills, powers of attorney, and estate papers, the collection contains an 1826 letter of manumission, Orphans Court documents, a nineteenth century naturalization document, an early twentieth century divorce settlement, and several petitions for writs of insanity. Those interested in local business and industry will find stock certificates, records, correspondence, and articles of incorporation for various local companies including the Helio Match Company, American Vulcanized Rubber, Casho Machine Company, and the Deer Park Hotel, during its ownership by John E. Lewis. A number of other family papers will interest genealogists and researchers on travel, tourism, and family relocation. Many papers relate to the Black family, relations of Mary Jane (Black) Evans. Kerr family papers include many letters to Delaware from Kentucky. Some Russell family papers, Chamberlain family papers, and Wilson family papers are also scattered throughout the collection. Related Collections Several other collections at the University of Delaware relate to the George Gillespie Evans Family Papers. A notebook of Mary Jane (Black) Evans is found in MSS 97, Item 026. It contains addresses and memorandum written by her from 1904 - 1906. The New Century Club Archives, MSS 260, contain papers relating to the history of the club and the role of Annie (Evans) Kolloch. The Wilson Family Papers, MSS 303, contains many additional letters and documents of Rathmell Wilson and William Savory Wilson, whose papers both appear in the George Gillespie Evans Papers. The Newark Town Council Digest, MSS 464, contains minutes from the times when George G. Evans and Charles B. Evans served as commissioners. The Wilbur T. Wilson Map Collection, MSS 377, includes many maps and property plans of Newark, concentrated around the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Other Evans documents and correspondence are housed at the University Archives; these are primarily records from the boards of trustee on which George Gillespie Evans and Charles Black Evans served. The University of Delaware Archive also contains portraits of George G. Evans, Andrew Kerr Russell, Rathmell Wilson, and Charles Thom(p)son whose papers are included in this collection.