The Dr. J. F. Plainfield Papers consist of correspondence, personal journals, a typescript, photographs and a book.
The earliest item is the leather bound homemade journal titled “Bon-Voyage,” that details the Plainfield’s boat trip back to Brazil in 1912. The pages are decorated with watercolor scenes.
There are four personal journals covering 1959 – 1962, two of which are dedicated to the family physician Dr. Landrum McCarrell in Travelers Rest. The journals contain Plainfield’s thoughts, as well as scripture analysis. There is a photograph of Plainfield and of a dog inside the cover of the 1961 journal.
Plainfield’s unpublished autobiography, “Memories in the Life of Dr. J.F. Plainfield,” was written when he was eighty-eight after his wife passed away [January 22, 1969]. The work covers Plainfield’s time as a missionary until his retirement in 1946. He concludes indicating that he was to take a trip to Italy with Dr. McCarrell and his wife to see remaining family.
The correspondence is recipient copies, letters to his family physician and friend, Dr. Landrum I. McCarrell [1918-2004] covering 1956 – 1971, and family friend Mrs. John F. Welborn [Dorothy May Snipes] 1966-1975. The Welborn’s cottage at Lakemont Colony was across the road from Plainfield’s, which was next to Dr. Cannada’s.
The “copy of a Letter to Mrs. Ricks, mailed April 25, 1972” was written by Mrs. McCarrell and describes events that resulted in Plainfield moving away from Travelers Rest in 1972, which included controversy over his will. Plainfield had been living in a mobile home on the McCarrell’s Travelers Rest property until he experienced health problems.
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