The first page of the funeral program for Mrs. Ethel Mae Clegg
The first page of the funeral program for John William Bailey
Hundreds of funeral programs and obituaries from the R. Kelly Bryant Obituary Collection, physically housed at the Durham County Library North Carolina Collection, are now up on DigitalNC. R. Kelly Bryant (1917-2015) was a historian with an extensive knowledge of Durham, North Carolina. In addition to being an active community leader with involvement in many organizations, he also collected the stories of thousands of African American residents told through funeral programs and obituaries.
This collection consists of digitized photocopies of the obituaries and funeral service programs that R. Kelly Bryant assembled over the course of his 70-odd years as a Durham resident. They are grouped together alphabetically according to surname of the deceased. The surnames “Adams,” through “Coachman” are now available, but we will continue to add more names to the digitized collection.
These materials are text searchable, and often contain genealogical information on their subjects including birth and death dates, maiden names, names of relatives, past residences, and places of burial. They cover funerals held from 1934-2013, and provide rich documentation of the African American community in Durham during this time. To learn more about Mr. Bryant and view his archival collection at Durham County Library, visit the finding aid. To see all of the digitally available programs, visit the R. Kelly Bryant Obituary Collection exhibit page.
Also please take a look at other materials from the Durham County Library that are up on DigitalNC by visiting their partner page.
A page of photographs from the funeral program of Edward Beckford “Pe Wee” Boyd
Elementary school class portrait on steps of an unidentified building
The William Franklin Warren Durham City School Slide Collection, featuring almost 600 lantern and Kodachrome slides, is now available on DigitalNC. This collection is from Durham County Library, and show images of Durham city schools, both White and African-American, from the 1930s and 1940s. The slides include images of classroom scenes, school celebrations, exterior shots of school buildings, a high school class trip to Williamsburg and Richmond, VA, group portraits of sports teams, portraits of teachers and school administrators, and more. Schools highlighted include Hillside High School and Durham High School, as well as many elementary and junior high schools that no longer exist. Rosenwald schools are also featured in the images. In addition there are slides from various school presentations that report district valuations and statistics, and images of other locations in Durham such Duke University, downtown Durham, mills and factories, the Durham Athletic Park, and residential neighborhoods, including Hope Valley. These slides provide rich documentation of segregated Durham school life through the Great Depression and World War II.
Elementary school students taking care of class rabbits
The slides were most likely taken by William Franklin “Frank” Warren (1887-1979), the superintendent of Durham city schools from 1933-1947. In the early twentieth century, Durham’s schools were organized in two separate systems, the county schools and the city schools. Durham city schools originated with the establishment of a graded school system in 1882, with the first white graded school opening in 1882 followed by the first Black graded school in 1885. As elsewhere in the South, the schools at this time were segregated.
Durham High School girls’ gym class
Click here to browse all of the slides in this collection, and here to take a look at Durham County Library’s finding aid. Learn more about Durham County Library by visiting their partner page or website.
Durham has long been a center of the arts in the Triangle, with dance being no exception. The American Dance Festival (ADF) has been a part of the Durham community since 1978. The ADF began in 1934 at Bennington College in Vermont and moved to several other New England campuses, until it finally settled at Duke University, where it has remained for almost forty years. This event helped to foster the many dance and performance organizations in the area and increase the popularity of dance in the local Durham community, as well as around the Triangle.
The “Arts in Durham” television broadcast documented several studios and clubs that stemmed from this popularity during the late 1970’s. Although the ADF focused primarily on modern dance, many different genres were represented in these broadcasts, including disco, ballet, jazz, and clogging. Below are three “Arts in Durham” broadcasts from DigitalNC’s North Carolina Sights & Sounds Collection, highlighting the wonderful and weird dance styles from the Durham community.
Arthur Hall teaching technique at the American Dance Festival.
Arthur Hall, founder of the Dance Company with his name sake, came to the ADF from Philadelphia to teach techniques based in traditional African movements. Trained under a Ghanaian instructor, Hall dedicated his life to creating a space for Black dancers to practice and perform traditional and original choreography. Outside of dance, Hall created a museum, cultural center and archive in Germantown. He has been called the “father of the Black arts movement in Philadelphia,” and his techniques inspired the Durham Arts community during his time with ADF.
Although ADF showcased professional dancers and choreographers, professional dance was not all that existed during this period in Durham. C’est La Vie Disco embraced the disco craze of the seventies in a way that amateurs and professionals alike could enjoy. Located in Durham’s old Five Point Neighborhood, C’est La Vie Disco was housed in a restaurant that made room for DJs and dancers in the evenings. The broadcast features several professional teachers, demonstrating disco techniques, but the true highlights are the intro and concluding pieces that showcase community members busting some moves.
Probably the most entertaining of all of the dance-related audiovisual material on DigitalNC, this broadcast features the New Performance Dance Company, once located on Chapel Hill Street in Durham. The company choreographed and performed in the area and taught classes of various styles. The broadcast features several modern performances, disco choreography, and children’s classes. Many of these dance styles are quite unique and definitely worth watching!
You can see all of the dance-related moving images at the links below or continue exploring the Arts in Durham . Many thanks to the Durham County Library for contributing these pieces of history from the Triangle.
One of the more frequently used newspapers on our site is The Carolina Times, a weekly newspaper from Durham. We recently added more issues, covering the years 1973-1982.
As mentioned in earlier posts, The Carolina Times was edited and published by Louis Austin. The paper covered and addressed issues most pressing to the African American community in Durham, with local news as well as national coverage.
This title was suggested for digitization by the Durham County Library. You can view other items digitized for the Library on DigitalNC, and also check out their own rich online collections.
Born Joseph Blair in Baltimore in 1929, Yusuf Salim was a lifelong Jazz pianist and composer, performing in several bands in Baltimore, New York City, and Durham. Salim was a well-known figure in Durham, but apart from his small collection of archival material, his memory now resides mainly in the hearts of Durhamites who knew him. He served as a resource for the growing jazz community and often helped and hosted musicians who were settling in or passing through the Triangle. He was also known as a humanitarian and community activist, promoting peace among the rapidly diversifying population in the Triangle.
In the film, Watts askes Salim “Why did you choose Durham?” (3:14)
“Durham chose me.” Salim continued to describe his love of the Triangle area. He discussed the many “points of reference” by which he compared his experience. One such moment was his time as a Marine in Eastern North Carolina. Even in his full Marine uniform he was forced to walk in the dirt to let white people pass. But times had changed in the Triangle and Salim’s attitude and outlook were positive, which he credits to his Islamic faith. Salim also spoke openly about his struggle with heroin and how his faith freed him from his addiction. He went cold-turkey upon his move to Durham in 1974 and was clean from then on.
More than half of the moving image is dedicated to what Salim did best– jazz performance. The film documents 15 minutes of Salim’s skill on the jazz piano.
Two other moving image items from the the Durham Public Library that also feature Salim are available on DigitalNC:
Salim died in 2008 after a battle with prostate cancer. His memorial was held at the Hayti Heritage Center in Durham. This moving image offers a warm memory of a beloved Durham jazz icon and captures a moment of the art scene in the Triangle during the 1970’s. For more information and research about Yusuf Salim and his life in Durham, please visit Duke University’s Rubenstein Library where his collection is housed. It holds many of the original scores that he composed. Related material about Jazz in Durham can be found at the Durham Main Library in the Bus Brown Collection. You can also view many other materials shared by Durham County Library on DigitalNC or in their own digital collections.
Yearbooks and campus publications from Durham County Library are now available online at DigitalNC.org.
The Messenger or Durham Public School Magazine was initially the title of a monthly publication edited by Durham High School students. It contained editorials, essays, fiction and poetry as well as information on class events like Commencement, sporting events, and meetings.
In 1917, it looks like The Messenger became a yearbook as we think of it today.
An early 20th-century scrapbook from the Durham County Department of Health is now available at digitalnc.org. The scrapbook features a variety of forms, certificates, permits, and public notices from 1913-1950, including a quarantine warning sign and sanitation violation notices.
Also included are descriptions and signs for Grades “A” and “B” Raw Milk. One post lists dairy barn guidelines for Grade “A” Milk, including descriptions of acceptable lighting, floors, air space, toilets, and water supplies.
Another notable public notice is the “Stop That Spitting!” sign, which states that under Article II, Section 14, Sanitary Code, of the County and City of Durham it is “unlawful for any person to expectorate upon any paved sidewalk, or upon the floor of any public building, or any store, or upon the pavement adjacent to any public building…” Violators were fined $1.00.
Included with the scrapbook are some blank forms for the medical history of and the investigation into typhoid and paratyphoid carriers during an influenza pandemic. The original scrapbook is in the North Carolina Collection at the Durham County Library.
A large collection of property appraisals and photographs from the Durham Urban Renewal Records in the Durham County Library is now available on DigitalNC. The online collection contains nearly 1,500 items, most of which are photographs and appraisals for properties slated for demolition during renewal projects in the 1960s and 1970s. These records provide a fascinating look at the history of Durham, enabling users to view and study houses and even whole neighborhoods that no longer exist.
Learn more about the collection — and Durham history in general — at the North Carolina Collection in the Durham County Library.
Walgreen Drugs at 102-104 W Main Street, 107 N Mangum Street
A large collection of urban renewal records from Durham County Library’s North Carolina Collection will be digitized by the North Carolina Digital Heritage Center and published on DigitalNC.org. These records include property appraisals and photographs taken in the 1960s and 1970s, and include a significant amount of information about Durham’s historically Black neighborhoods, including Hayti.
Thanks to our partner Durham County Library, three indexes for the Independent Weekly newspaper (formerly The North Carolina Independent and now known as the INDY Week) are now online and full text searchable. The indexes cover 1983-2004 and can be found here.
This blog is maintained by the staff of the North Carolina Digital Heritage Center and features the latest news and highlights from the collections at DigitalNC, an online library of primary sources from organizations across North Carolina.
