J. Bryan (John Bryan) Grimes (1868-1923) of Pitt County, N.C., was a conservative leader of the Farmers' Alliance, the Grange, and other agricultural organizations; managed the family farms in Pitt County and Beaufort County; and was North Carolina secretary of state, 1900-1923. The collection includes 20th century business, personal, and official correspondence of Grimes, with the bulk of the papers concerning his service as North Carolina secretary of state and various Democratic political campaigns. Also included are ancestral family papers, North Carolina newspapers from 1864 and 1868, and some colonial land grants. Volumes include a law notebook on North Carolina court cases, 1783-1815; a mathematics exercise book, 1821-1829; a bank book of John Heritage Bryan (1798-1870) in account with the Bank of New Bern, 1831-1834; a manuscript tracing land title for the Avon Plantation in Pitt County from 1715-1910; and an undated manuscript on the Republican Party in North Carolina.
