Discovery

The Kate Shepard House in Mobile, Alabama was built in 1897 by Charles and Kate McRae Shepard, the niece of the major purchasing agent of the Confederacy, Colin McRae. The house had been in the Shepard family until the 1970s.

When William and Wendy James bought the property and its contents in 2002, they had no idea what they would soon discover in its attic. To their astonishment, they found official Confederate records mixed among the Shepard family papers. After researching the value of the collection to Civil War Era studies, William and Wendy James knew the papers needed to be kept together, preserved, and made available to the history community in a public repository.

William and Wendy James currently operate it as a bed and breakfast. The house is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Continue to Caring for the Papers