Scope and Content Note
The papers of Franklin Harper Elmore (1799-1850) span the years 1795 to 1858, with the bulk of the material concentrated in the period 1839-1850. The collection consists chiefly of business correspondence and financial papers, and reflects Elmore's manufacturing interests and his presidency of the Bank of South Carolina. Trained in the law, Elmore was an aide to various South Carolina politicians, and in 1836 the state elected him to succeed James H. Hammond as United States representative. He served one additional term before resigning to become president of the state bank in Charleston. In 1850 he briefly replaced the deceased John C. Calhoun in the Senate, but died less than a month after taking office. The collection is organized in Business Correspondence , Bills and Receipts , and Miscellany series .
The papers in this collection, while containing some material on South Carolina politics, are mostly devoted to banking affairs and to Southern manufacturing. A trustee of the Nesbit Manufacturing Company, Elmore was committed to the growth of industry in the South, and his correspondence demonstrates his interest not only in industrial and railroad expansion but also in the development of regional agriculture. Items of special concern that are evident in these papers include a volume of statements and letters regarding Charleston's fire loan policy, 1848-1849, minutes and reports of the Nesbit Manufacturing Company, and scattered legal materials pertaining to the Bank of South Carolina. Also in the collection are lists of slaves giving the names, valuation, and use of his human chattels. According to Pierce Mason Butler, with whom Elmore had frequent correspondence, the bank president was of Indian descent and had an abiding commitment to correcting the legal and social plight of the Cherokee Nation. In a copy of an 1845 letter to Cherokee Chief John Ross, Butler urged the Indian leader to retain Elmore's legal and political expertise in order that the nation might defend its rights and win justice.
Prominent or frequent correspondents in the collection include Nicholas Biddle, James Bogardus, Pierce Mason Butler, John C. Calhoun, W. F. DeSaussure, B. J. Earle, F. M. Gilmer, Jr., James Hamilton, Jr., Augustus Baldwin Longstreet, F.W. Pickens, Jesse B. Quinby, Robert Barnwell Rhett, and James H. Taylor.