William J. Northen (1835-1913) was president of the Georgia State Agricultural Society, and governor of Georgia in the early 1890s. He advocated for reform measures such as prohibition, increased educational funding, and also against lynching laws. For more information, see the article William J. Northen in the New Georgia Encyclopedia.
The collection consists of genealogy, land documents, correspondence, financial papers, writings, photographs, artifacts, and printed material. The correspondence includes letters to William J. Northen regarding the establishment of the town of Fitzgerald, Georgia; letters regarding an apparent scandal involving the Farmers' Alliance and Leonidas Livingston; William J. Northen's letters home as he traveled around Georgia in 1907 promoting racial harmony; and two Civil War letters from brothers William and John Henry Neel of the 15th Regiment, Georgia Volunteer Infantry, Company K. The writings contain a journal by William J. Northen in which he writes of his trip to Tallulah Falls, speeches at Mercer University, his 21st birthday, death of his brother, and a letter to his sister regarding conditions at the end of the Civil War. Farm accounts are also included in the journal.
Also of interest are slave documents and bills of sale; receipts from Mercer University and the Georgia Baptist Convention when Peter Northen was treasurer; Ruth Northen's photo album containing University of Georgia photographs from 1911-1912 and other travel photographs; and an 1801 indenture between the Catawba Indians and Thomas Neel for land in York County, South Carolina. The following items were separated from the collection: walking cane without the handle and one square back wooden chair with cane seat is housed in Organic storage.
Related collections held by the Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies, The University of Georgia Libraries, Athens, Georgia: Georgia governors' messages, 1872-1943.
