Nathaniel C. Browder Collection of Cryptography Manuals and William Thomas Prestwood Diaries, includes twenty-eight original Prestwood diaries, most of which are encrypted, and enlarged copies of several of the diaries. Also included are a copy of The Enciphered Diary of William Thomas Prestwood 1808-1859, a description and transcription of the diaries produced by Nathaniel Browder, and two of Browder's World War II-era cryptography manuals.
Nathaniel C. Browder worked as a cryptographer during and after World War II. After his retirement he worked on a number of genealogical and local history projects. Among these projects was the researching, deciphering, transcribing, and editing of William Thomas Prestwood's diaries. William Thomas Prestwood, a descendant of the influential Coker family, wrote a ciphered diary from 1808 until his death in 1859.
Nathaniel Clenroy Browder, was born February 4, 1904, in Hickory, North Carolina. He received a bachelor's degree in education from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill in 1930 and married Blanche Penland, of Hayesville, North Carolina, in December of the same year. He worked as a high school teacher before moving back to Chapel Hill in 1938. Browder completed a year of graduate level study in English at the University of North Carolina and then began working for the Federal Writers' Project (FWP) in Chapel Hill, North Carolina from 1939 to 1940. His projects for the FWP included various history-related interviews throughout the southern United States. In April 1940, Browder moved to Raleigh, where he completed a course in drafting at North Carolina State College (later North Carolina State University) and began work for the North Carolina State Highway Department.
In 1943, Browder began working for the Army Signal Corps and served as a cryptographer in Arlington, Virginia during the war. During his term of service, he was also loaned to the Air Force and stationed in Okinawa, Japan. After the war, he continued his career in cryptography in Washington, D.C., working for the National Security Agency until his retirement in 1965. After his retirement Browder moved to Clay County, North Carolina and pursued his interest in local history and genealogy. He wrote, edited, and published a number of books, including: Notes on the Browder Family of Tidewater, Virginia, 1704-1850 (with Blanche Penland Browder, 1970); The Cherokee Indians and Those Who Came After: notes for a history of the people who settled western North Carolina (1973); De Soto & Other Spanish Explorers & Their Historians (1975); The Tri-State Tobacco Growers Association, 1922-1925 (1983); Just Plain Folks (abstracted stories from the Federal Writers Project, ed., 1983); The Enciphered Diary of William Thomas Prestwood, 1808-1859 (ed., 1983); Ground Level History (1984); A Story of the Civil War: a story of the late war by Hannah Lide Coker (ed., 1984); and Isham Browder, Revolutionary soldier, man of mystery (with Blanche Penland Browder, 1984).
In 1984, Browder made arrangements to donate his papers and books to North Carolina State University. Included in these papers were the original enciphered Prestwood diaries, which Browder spent six years deciphering, transcribing, editing, and researching. Also in 1984, Browder and his wife created the Nathaniel C. and Blanche P. Browder Scholarship Endowment, an undergraduate endowment in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at North Carolina State University. Browder died on November 7, 1984.
William Thomas Prestwood was born in 1788 in Chesterfield County, South Carolina. His grandfather was the founder of the influential Coker family, which was established on the upper Pee Dee River prior to the Revolutionary War. He often taught school, but he also did a variety of other types of work, including jobs as a surveyor, mapmaker, clerk, constable, militia officer, farmer, gold miner, and stone carver. He was also a musician and naturalist, and, at the time of his move to Burke (later Caldwell) County, North Carolina between 1813 and 1814, he was a Master Mason. Prestwood married Celia Clarke and they raised six sons and one daughter. Prestwood began keeping an enciphered diary in 1808, and continued to do so until his death in November 1859.
Nathaniel C. Browder Collection of Cryptography Manuals and William Thomas Prestwood Diaries contains papers and publications related to some of Browder's interest and work with cryptography. The William Thomas Prestwood Diaries series contains 28 diaries written between 1808 and 1859. All were handwritten by Prestwood; most in a cipher. Generally, the entries are daily, very short, and reflect Prestwood's everyday activities, his observations, and information about his friends and relations. Illnesses, births, deaths, and major community events were recorded, as well as observations of weather, astronomical events, and animals. Prestwood recorded information about Masonic activities, his daily work, and his amorous encounters. Also in this series are photocopies of some of the diaries and the book, The Enciphered Diary of William Thomas Prestwood 1808-1859, written by Browder. The collection's cryptography manuals series consists of two United States military cryptography manuals from the late years of World War II.
The collection contains materials dating from between 1808 and 1983, fitting into three distinct time periods. The bulk of the collection is the original Prestwood diaries, dating from 1808 to 1859. The manuals date from 1944 to 1945, and the book and photocopies date from the early 1980s.
The collection is organized into two series: Cryptography Manuals and William Thomas Prestwood Diaries.
The nature of the NC State University Libraries' Special Collections means that copyright or other information about restrictions may be difficult or even impossible to determine despite reasonable efforts. The NC State University Libraries claims only physical ownership of most Special Collections materials.
The materials from our collections are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study, pursuant to U.S. Copyright law. The user must assume full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials. Any materials used for academic research or otherwise should be fully credited with the source.
This collection may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations. Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which North Carolina State University assumes no responsibility.
[Identification of item], Nathaniel C. Browder Collection of Cryptography Manuals and William Thomas Prestwood Diaries, MC 00098, Special Collections Research Center, North Carolina State University Libraries, Raleigh, NC
Received as a gift upon the death of Nathaniel C. Browder in 1984 (Accession 1984-0006).
Processed by Jennifer McElroy, 2005 December
Encoded by Jennifer McElroy, 2005 December
The collection is organized into two principal series:
The Cryptography Manuals series consists of two of Nathaniel C. Browder's World War II-era War Department manuals on cryptography.
0.25 archival boxes
The bulk of the William Thomas Prestwood Diaries series consists of the original diaries. There are twenty-eight of these diaries, numbered in a modern hand based on their chronology. The first diary is actually a handwritten description of an out-of-body experience as recorded by a minister in 1783. The remaining twenty-seven diaries are small, hand-sewn volumes, varying in size from 3 x 3.5 inches to 6.25 x 7.7 inches. Twenty-two of these volumes contain short daily entries that are almost all written in ciphered writing (excepting the dates and any writing on the covers). Another three books are partially or mostly enciphered. The remaining two volumes are #12, a book of Prestwood's thoughts on various subjects (especially mathematics), and #20, a ledger or accounting-type book.
Prestwood generally wrote short, daily entries recording his everyday activities, observations, and information about his family and friends. Notably, several members of the Baird family make appearances in the diaries. Illnesses, births, deaths, and major community events were recorded, as well as observations of weather, astronomical events, and animals. Prestwood wrote about Masonic activities and his work--farm work, teaching, milling, surveying, and mustering for the militia. He also recorded his various romantic and sexual exploits. His wife and mistress, as well as several other women, appear in the diaries in this context.
Also in this series are photocopies of diaries 2 through 5, and the book The Enciphered Diary of William Thomas Prestwood 1808-1859, a deciphered and transcribed version of the diaries written by Nathaniel C. Browder and published in 1983. In the published edition the diaries, and portions of diaries, not originally written in cipher are not necessarily presented in full and the excerpts tend to be replications rather than transcriptions.
2.75 archival boxes
This collection is open for research; access requires at least 48 hours advance notice. Because of the nature of certain archival formats, including digital and audio-visual materials, access to digital files may require additional advanced notice.
For more information contact us via mail, phone, or our web form.
Mailing address:
Special Collections Research Center
Box 7111
Raleigh, NC, 27695-7111
Phone: (919) 515-2273
[Identification of item], Nathaniel C. Browder Collection of Cryptography Manuals and William Thomas Prestwood Diaries, MC 00098, Special Collections Research Center, North Carolina State University Libraries, Raleigh, NC
The nature of the NC State University Libraries' Special Collections means that copyright or other information about restrictions may be difficult or even impossible to determine despite reasonable efforts. The NC State University Libraries claims only physical ownership of most Special Collections materials.
The materials from our collections are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study, pursuant to U.S. Copyright law. The user must assume full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials. Any materials used for academic research or otherwise should be fully credited with the source.
This collection may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations. Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which North Carolina State University assumes no responsibility.
