Rawles Family Historical Collection
Scope and Contents
Likely before her marriage to Samuel W. Cameron, Maggie Rawles kept a detailed photographic scrapbook of her family’s involvement in the logging industry. The photographs reveal a family’s experiences in the Piney Woods region of Mississippi. Not only does the collection include images of railroads, trains, teams of oxen carrying timber, and eight-wheeled wagons, but is also showcases river baptisms, church functions, and friends and family members posing in often comical ways. Several images depict mock gun fights, and in another photograph someone has climbed a water tower. A group of young women play leapfrog in tall grass, and at what appears to be a church event a game of Duck-Duck-Goose ensues. There are also a few photographs that depict early buildings on the University of Southern Mississippi’s campus. Maggie Rawles Cameron’s photographs capture a wide variety of scenes that are unique to the start of the twentieth century.
Dates
- Creation: circa late 1800s to early 1900s
Creator
- Rawles (Family)
Conditions Governing Access
Noncirculating; available for research.
Conditions Governing Use
This collection may be protected from unauthorized copying by the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code).
Biographical / Historical
Charles Timothy Rawles (1859-1934) and Martha Jane Geiger (1849-1922) are living in Williamsburg, the county seat of Covington County, Mississippi, in the 1900 Federal Census. The family, which included children Maggie (1877-1938) and Charles Print Rawles (1889-1970), was involved in the logging industry as well as operated a farm where they kept chickens and cattle. Charles T. Rawles supervised logging crews, and upon moving to another forested area the family would first cut enough trees to build a temporary residence while the timber was being harvested. The family was at some point involved in labor at Mississippi Normal College, what would become the University of Southern Mississippi, in Hattiesburg.
The family is located in the 1920 Federal Census of Perry County, and boarding with them is a World War I soldier named Samuel W. Cameron. Maggie Rawles subsequently married Cameron, and the couple resided in Hattiesburg and are buried at Highland Cemetery.
Extent
.25 Cubic Feet
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
The Rawles Family Historical Collection consists of 122 photographs depicting scenes from the early twentieth century in Mississippi. Among other things, images showcase the logging industry, family and church gatherings, and games. This collection is of particular interest to researchers studying the logging industry, life and culture in the early twentieth century, Mississippi history, the University of Southern Mississippi, farming, and railroads.
Arrangement
This small collection consists of one box with 122 photographs loosely arranged by topic. The original unbound scrapbook that belonged to Maggie Rawles Cameron has been dismantled, and the photographs have been preserved in archival quality sleeves and provided with descriptive captions.
Provenance
Donated by Jane Gandy Sharpe on 03 May 2011.
Sources
Case File
Contents from the collection
"United States Census, 1900," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M96N-6RL: accessed 31 January 2020), Chas T Rowles, Beat 1 Williamsburg (north part), Covington, Mississippi, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 12, sheet 2A, family 20, NARA microfilm publication T623 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1972.); FHL microfilm 1,240,804.
"United States Census, 1920," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MNT4-JW4: accessed 31 January 2020), Charles T Rawls, Beat 5, Perry, Mississippi, United States; citing ED 130, sheet 12B, line 52, family 83, NARA microfilm publication T625 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1992), roll 889; FHL microfilm 1,820,889.
"United States World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918", database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KZZB-P2J: 23 August 2019), Print Rawles, 1917-1918.
Genre / Form
Geographic
Topical
- Hattiesburg (Miss.) -- Social Life and customs.
- Logging.
- Lumber trade.
- Mississippi -- Social life and customs.
Uniform Title
- Title
- Rawles Family Historical Collection
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Collection processed and finding aid written by Jonathan Puckett
- Date
- 31 January 2020
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Repository Details
Part of the Historical Manuscripts and Photographs Repository
118 College Drive - 5148
Hattiesburg MS 39406-0001
601.266.4345
