Scrapbooks from the Raleigh Fine Arts Society, dating from 1965-1992, are now available on DigitalNC.

The Society, which began in 1964, is a volunteer organization supporting North Carolina arts and artists. Members serve as docents at area institutions, coordinate fundraising for various causes, and hold annual events like the NC Artists’ Exhibition and a High School Literary Contest. The group also holds a number of social events and art exhibits.

These scrapbooks document the Society’s history from its early art exhibitions at the former downtown Olivia Raney Library* to its role in local events like Artsplosure. The earlier scrapbooks include newspaper clippings related to women’s changing role in society. Trips that the members have taken together over the years, to places in North Carolina as well as South Carolina and Washington, D.C., are documented through photographs and memorabilia.

Told throughout the 1970s and 1980s is the story of the Society’s multi-year effort to restore the historical carousel at Pullen Park in Raleigh, an effort that ended successfully in 1982.

You can view all of the scrapbooks, which were contributed by the Olivia Raney Local History Library, on DigitalNC.

* Thanks to a reader for correcting us on the location of these exhibitions.