Charles Alexander Nelson (1839-1933), librarian and bibliographer, was a Reconstruction administrator in New Bern, North Carolina, for a decade following the U.S. Civil War. He returned to the North in 1875 and worked until 1909 in various...
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Charles Alexander Nelson (1839-1933), librarian and bibliographer, was a Reconstruction administrator in New Bern, North Carolina, for a decade following the U.S. Civil War. He returned to the North in 1875 and worked until 1909 in various libraries. He published bibliographies, indexed books and organizational records, wrote articles, and was a founding member in 1876 of the American Library Association. Collection consists of correspondence, manuscripts, legal and financial documents, reports, organizational records, scrapbooks, photographs, and printed matter that document Nelson's career. Bulk of the collection is correspondence, 1859-1930s, concerning his work in North Carolina after the Civil War, his positions at the Astor, Howard Memorial, Newberry, and Columbia College libraries, and his activities as a bibliographer, indexer and writer. Also, Nelson's papers from his years in New Bern, 1865-1876; Howard Memorial Library reports, 1889-1891; records, 1880s-1900s, of various organizations to which he belonged; writings including his history of Waltham, Mass.; and personal and miscellaneous materials.
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