Charles Raven Brockmann diaries

Collection

Identifier: MSS-3757

Scope and Contents

Charles Raven Brockmann was a committed diarist. These sixty-two pocket diaries, with few gaps, chronicle his daily life through a significant portion of the twentieth century.

Dates

1906-1970

Creator

Brockmann, Charles Raven (Author, Person)

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open for research. Researchers must register and agree to copyright and privacy laws before using this collection. Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations. Due to the nature of certain archival formats, including digital and audio-visual materials, access to certain materials may require additional advance notice.

Biographical / Historical

Charles Raven Brockmann, the son of John Ludolph and Fannie E. Adams Brockmann, was born on June 25, 1888, in Greensboro, North Carolina. He was, throughout much of the Great Depression, the advertising manager for the H. W. Wilson Company. Later he became the long-time assistant director of the Mecklenberg County Public Library in Charlotte, North Carolina.

While at H. W. Wilson, Brockmann was the "captain" of the first "bookmobile" during the first year of a three-year tour of the United States. The bookmobile was filled with Wilson publications, the idea being to bring these publications to those librarians and book store owners who were not able to attend national conferences where they could examine - and purchase - them.

Brockmann married Olivia Comer; the couple had no children. He died in Charlotte, North Carolina, on March 3, 1970.

Extent

1.4 Linear Feet (sixty-two pocket diaries, beginning on July 1, 1906, and continuing through February 25, 1970)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Overview

The diaries of a librarian, traveling salesman, and committed diarist.

Provenance

???

General

These are currently located in the A. S. Williams III Americana Collection (boxes 3757.001-3757.004; range 11, shelf 021), in the Amelia Gayle Gorgas Library.