20 October 1825. Bill for bacon.
This is a bill for 300 lbs of bacon used to feed the hands employed to work on the Chapel.
1 September 1826. "Account of disbursements by William Nichols."
Acct. of disbursement by Wm. Nichols for labour and materials in repairing the President's House and Steward's Hall; getting timbers, making brick, and building the new Chapel; taking down Cupola from South College, repairing the roof, and building a Belfrey [sic] in the yard agreeably with instructions given by the Building Committee in March 1824.
13 March to 29 April 1837. "Thomas A. Waitt's bill for labour."
Soon after becoming president of the university in 1835, David L. Swain hired Thomas Waitt, a New England native, to be superintendent of buildings. He charged Waitt with the completion of Gerrard Hall, which had stood unfinished since 1827, and with making repairs to the other buildings. The documents seen here list the names of individuals who worked for Waitt on the buildings. Those without surnames were most likely slaves. Among the carpenters, Leroy Anderson and James Smith were free men of color, and William Dales was a "colored man."
10 August 1837. William McPheeters to Marcellus McPheeters.
The elder McPheeters asks his nephew to inform certain of Mr. Waitt's
subcontractors and laborers that he wishes to see them regarding their accounts against the trustees.
16 August [1837]. Thomas Waitt to Reverend McPheeters.
Waitt objects that his hands have been "taken away from their work and interrogated in relation to affairs which I contend belonged exclusively to myself."