Thanks to our partner, Person County Museum of History, the 1959 Helena High School yearbook, ambulance ledger, and additional city directories are now available to view in our latest batch!
An amazing 1911-1912 pocket edition of Seeman’s Durham Directory is included in this batch. The directory, separated by race, provides invaluable genealogical and research information particularly for the Black community in Durham and townships in Durham County during a period of intense growth and change. These townships include Lebanon, Patterson, Carr, Oak Grove, Mangum, Cedar Fork, and Durham (outside east and west Durham).
Though unlisted for individual townships, the most interesting section of the directory is the list of Black businesses in the city. These can shed light on the Black community of Durham—what types of businesses were open, popular professions, geographic concentration of Black businesses, who was involved in what, potential wealth of individuals, owner names, and more. However, entries can also leave you with more questions than you started with, like who was Mrs. M. H. Adams and how did she become manager of The Victoria?
Before you know it, you find yourself down the research rabbit hole searching DigitalNC for answers. Suddenly you now know that Mrs. Mary H. Adams was born in North Carolina in 1878 and was able to both read and write. She lived with her husband George W. Adams, a cashier at Mechanics and Farmers Bank, at 406 Pine Street along with two female boarders who worked as teachers in 1910. And now you have even more questions!
To learn more about the Person County Museum of History, please visit their website.
To view more materials from Person County Museum of History, view their contributor page here.
To view more city directories from North Carolina, please visit our North Carolina City Directories Collection here.
To view more yearbooks from across North Carolina, please view our North Carolina Yearbooks collection linked here.
