A page from Hill’s Burlington and Graham City Directory [1957]
These directories are a great primary source for learning about the folks living Alamance County, North Carolina during the mid 1930’s through the ’60s. These directories provide the names, addresses and phone numbers for residents and businesses in Burlington and Graham City. City directories are a fantastic genealogical resource for researchers. All directories are text-searchable.
To view the directories, follow the links below
An advertisement for Burling Coca-Cola Bottling Company Inc.
It may help to take a moment for context: 1972 was a big year for national an international news—against the backdrop of the Vietnam War, there was also the Watergate scandal, the launch of Apollo 16, and Bloody Sunday. Meanwhile, high school students were still dealing with the classic problems of being a teenager (trying out for sports, forming relationships, staying out of the principal’s office, etc.). Apparently, these elements combine to form one of the most exciting times to be a high school yearbook editor.
Joyce Warren and Alfred Garland. From the 1972 edition of the Doe-Wah-Jack (Walter M. Williams High School).
The Credit Guide was originally a resource used by loaners to check if an individual was trustworthy enough to pay them back. Essentially, the guide functioned as a physical credit history checker, but instead of having credit score numbers individuals received labels such as prompt pay, fair pay, slow pay, and considered honest but unfortunate circumstances prevented paying me. Today, the guide is a gold mine for those looking for information on people in cities located in or near Alamance County. The Credit Guide not only includes an indication of how likely someone is to pay back their loan, but also an individual’s name, occupation, and address.
The front cover of the Doe – Wah – Jack yearbook for Walter M. Williams High School in 1971.
Thanks to our partner, Alamance County Public Library, 16 high school yearbooks are now available on Digital NC. Along with the yearbooks, the Burlington Telephone directory is also available. Each yearbook comes from several different high schools in Alamance County during the late 1960s and early 1970s. Yearbook titles include the Doe – Wah – Jack (1971) from Walter M. Williams High School in Burlington and the Aries (1970) from Northeast Guilford High School in McLeansville. These yearbooks join previous years such as the Sylvanian (1960) from Sylvan High School in Snow Camp and the Reg-O-Ala (1959) from E.M. Holt High School in Burlington.
To view our collection of high school and college yearbooks from North Carolina, visit our collection here.
The front cover of Northeast Guilford High School yearbook, Aries in 1970.
Over 100 new images of Alamance County are available on DigitalNC, thanks to our partners at Alamance County Public Libraries. The collection of photographs and postcards was compiled by Don Bolden, author of several books about Alamance County. They document various towns including Burlington, Alamance, Graham, Saxapahaw, Elon, Gibsonville, Mebane, and Whitsett.
The images range in date from around 1880 to 1936. Many focus on the communities’ rich industrial heritage, though other subjects shown include education, local businesses, and railroads, even a parade to celebrate the end of World War I. The town made a replica of L’Arc de Triomphe for the occasion, shown below.
The batch also includes images of several local mills, such as Elmira Cotton Mill, May Hosiery Mill, Aurora Cotton Mills, Whitehead Hosiery Mills, Daisy Hosiery Mill, and others.
Additionally, there are several photos of the Whitsett Institute, a co-ed school in Whitsett, North Carolina. Image subjects include students, teachers, the baseball team, the orchestra, and others.
To see all of the photos and postcards in this batch, click here. To learn more about the Alamance County Public Libraries, visit their partner page here, or their website here. To browse Don Bolden’s publications, click here.
A new batch of materials from Alamance County Public Libraries (ACPL) is now online at DigitalNC. The materials, which include several publicity scrapbooks, three photo albums, and a collection of loose photographs, detail the Western Electric Company’s involvement in the US Army’s Nike Missile Program during the 1950s and 1960s. Throughout that period, the Western Electric Company manufactured guidance equipment for the Nike missiles, which were part of a large anti-ICBM defense network then under development by the US Military. The company operated a major manufacturing facility in Burlington, NC, a plant that features heavily in the ACPL materials. In 2016, the old plant was officially listed as part of the National Register of Historic Places by the National Park Service.
WE equipment at White Sands Missile Range, NM, 1952
The scrapbooks were donated to ACPL by longtime Western Electric employee Raymond Donnell (1921-2002) and include a wealth of press clippings, memos, and photographs concerning the Tarheel Army Missile Plant in Burlington, NC and Western Electric’s missile-related activities in general. Many of the clippings relate to the political battles surrounding the Nike Program and the program’s effects on Burlington and the surrounding area.
Burlington Times News, January 30, 1954
The photographic materials relate both to Western Electric’s production of missile guidance equipment and the US Military’s use of it. Many of the photographs provide views of the working environment at the Tarheel Army Missile Plant during 1953, while the three albums detail various tests at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico and facilities at the Kwajalein Pacific Missile Test Range.
Workers at the Tarheel Army Missile Plant, 1953
The newly digitized materials are an addition to the considerable amount of ACPL materials already online at DigitalNC. Visit ACPL’s DigitalNC partner page here or head to their website for more information.
An exterior shot of Walter Williams High School in 1968.
A new batch of yearbooks from Alamance County is now available on DigitalNC, courtesy of our partner, the Alamance County Public Libraries. Included are nearly 20 yearbooks from schools across Alamance County during the middle of the 20th century. This batch also includes a 2002 booklet to commemorate and reminisce about the Class of 1944 at Aycock High School, assembled by Rachel Hawkins Cole.
These yearbooks contain individual and class portraits, class histories, honorifics and photographs of school activities, class clubs, and athletic teams. Some of the yearbooks also include important or notable events throughout the school year, poems or songs dedicated to the class, and pages dedicated to certain classes.
The booklet dedicated to the Aycock High School Class of 1944 is also included. It details the history of Aycock High School, honors various teachers and administrative figures present at the school at that time, and includes photographs of classmembers taken from that time period. It also included a program taken from a commemorative service in 2002 where classmates were invited to come together to remember their classmates and time spent at Aycock High School.
Follow the links below to browse the yearbooks from the schools included in this batch:
Alamance County Prison Farm Inmates use Bookmobile
More than 30 new objects are now available on DigitalNC thanks to our partner, Alamance County Public Libraries. Items in this collection are more additions within the 6 month in-depth digitization effort documenting underrepresented communities in North Carolina.
Charles Richard Drew: Alamance County Memorial, page 3
This batch of materials tells important and powerful stories from Black communities in Burlington, Graham, and other townships in Alamance County. Below are highlights from the batch.
Several documents in the batch tell the story of Dr. Charles Richard Drew and his tragic connection to Alamance County. Drew was an internationally-renowned Black physician credited for developing improved blood storage techniques, which was important for establishing large-scale blood banks during World War II. He was considered to be the most prominent African American in his field and actively protested racial segregation in blood donation as it lacked any scientific foundation.
Tragically, Drew was killed in a car accident, while driving through the Haw River area of Alamance County in 1950. Many myths surrounded his death, all of which are covered in some of the materials in this batch. Learn more about Dr. Drew, his life, death and memory through the links below:
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 affected many communities in North Carolina ,especially with regard to school integration. This batch also includes several primary and secondary sources relating to the desegregation in Alamance county. Linked below, you can find a copy of the letter sent to parents of students in Burlington City Schools, announcing the upcoming change. In addition, there are several newspaper articles that document some of the lasting reactions. These items could be excellent tools for teachers who are looking for documents to support curriculum goals. Learn more about integration in Alamance County at the links below:
Responses to change are not always peaceful, as was the case in Burlington after integration. This batch also includes a selection of newspaper clippings that document the violence that occurred in May, 1969. A night of riots resulted in the death of 15 year old Leon Mebane, which is documented in several of the articles below. Material like these and others from this batch tell the important stories of many community members who are often underrepresented in mainstream formats. These items and all of the new additions are full-text searchable and available for research and teaching. Learn more about Leon Mebane, his family, and the Burlington race riots below:
Other highlights from this batch also include information about Alamance County Bookmobiles, Alex Haley’s Roots and connections to the county, genealogy in the African American community, and the legacies of segregated high schools in the area. Browse these materials at the links below:
To learn more about about the items included in this batch and other materials from Alamance County Public Libraries, please visit the contributor page or the website. To learn more about DigitalNC’s current digitization effort focusing on underrepresented communities in North Carolina, please view this blog post.
Pages 436-437 of the Alamance County Farmers Mutual Fire Insurance Records Book B. These page covers the years 1909 – 1920.
Ledgers belonging to the Alamance County Branch of The Farmers’ Mutual Fire Insurance Association of North Carolina are now available online. The ledgers include bills paid, endorsement reports, and statements of Mortgagee Clauses with Full Contribution. Also included is a Records Index for three of the ledgers (Volumes 1 & 2 and Book C). Related to these fire insurance ledgers is a selection of letters, insurance policies, and a list of insured schools. The objects’ dates range from 1903 to 1934.
This might be of interest to genealogists, as the volumes list names and property locations that are text searchable.
Fire Insurance Policy of John A. Trolinger, April 18, 1903
Browse more items from Alamance County Public Libraries here.
Student studying at Southern High School in Graham, NC. From the 1961 Southerner yearbook
Yearbooks from the following schools in Alamance County are now available online on DigitalNC courtesy of Alamance County Public Libraries. The yearbooks added cover the early 1960s at these schools.
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.
