Viewing entries posted in 2014

Anson County Town and Property Maps Now Available on DigitalNC

Detail from a 1961 map of downtown Wadesboro, N.C.

Detail from a 1961 map of downtown Wadesboro, N.C.

We’ve recently finished work on group of mid 20th-century town and property maps from Anson County. The maps are held by the library at South Piedmont Community College in Polkton, N.C.

There are 48 maps now available online, ranging in date from the 1940s through the early 1970s. A few of the maps show the town of Wadesboro, but the majority detail the boundaries of specific properties, including factories, churches, cemeteries, and schools.


More Johnston County High School Yearbooks Now Available on DigitalNC

Yearbook staff from the Johnston County Training School, 1947.

Yearbook staff from the Johnston County Training School, 1947.

We’ve just completed digitizing a new batch of materials from the Johnston County Heritage Center in Smithfield. Among the new materials are:

These yearbooks, combined with contributions from the Benson Museum of Local History and the Hocutt-Ellington Memorial Library in Clayton, add up to more than 200 yearbooks from Johnston County alone. The yearbooks span more than four decades and come from 18 different schools.


Yearbooks from the Museum of the Albemarle now Online

Weeksville High School Yearbook 1958

From the 1958 Bow Wow, Weeksville High School

Twelve yearbooks for Pasquotank, Camden, Gates, and Perquimans Counties, and a class reunion book are now online, contributed by the Museum of the Albemarle.

With this addition, DigitalNC holds quite a long run for Elizabeth City High School: 1921-1958, with just 6 years missing (1932-1933, 1939-1942).

You can also view all items from the Museum of the Albemarle.


More History of Robeson Community College Just Added to DigitalNC

Robeson Community College Scrapbook ExcerptWe’ve recently helped Robeson Community College add a number of additional items documenting the school’s history to DigitalNC. Among those are:

Coverage of events, profiles of staff, changes in curriculum, and advice to students are common in the newsletters, which were published by the school under a variety of names.

The scrapbooks include a number of newspaper clippings documenting the College’s beginnings as an extension of Fayetteville Technical Institute (FTI). Some of the first classes offered were in the evening, and were weighted toward agricultural interests like Ornamental Horticulture, Farm Business Management, Tractor Electrical Systems, and Fertilizers and Lime. New courses were gradually added, including those in trades, allied health care, and business, as the College grew quickly and became independent from FTI.

All of these items, as well as RCC yearbooks, can be seen on DigitalNC.

 

 


Wilkes Community College Items Now Online–Plus a History of MerleFest

In addition to the excellent music reviews and the hottest fashion tips of 1999, the recently uploaded student newspapers from Wilkes Community College offer an insider’s history of the annual music festival MerleFest. MerleFest began in 1988 and honors the memory of Eddy Merle Watson, son of music legend Doc Watson. What started out as a one-time event to fund a garden for people who are blind (Merle Watson Garden of the Senses) is now a huge source of income for the county and region. It is estimated that the “traditional plus” festival brings over $10 million to the region (source: Wilkes Journal-Patriot). Watch the festival grow through the years in these photographs and articles from the newly-digitized Cougar Cry student newspaper.

To view all items from Wilkes Community College, including yearbooks from 1968-1995, click here.


Scrapbooks from the Raleigh Fine Arts Society now Online

Raleigh Fine Arts Society Scrapbook, 1982Scrapbooks 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.Raleigh Fine Arts Society Scrapbook, 1979

 

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


Early issues of The Wake Forest Student now on DigitalNC

Wake Forest Student title page 1882Beginning in 1882, the Euzelian Society at Wake Forest University published a literary magazine, The Wake Forest Student, addressing timely topics on campus and beyond. We’ve just added issues dating from 1882-1891 to DigitalNC.

The stated purpose of the Student was “to advance the educational interests of the State, to encourage and develop the taste for literary effort in the students and alumni of the College, and to be a means of instruction and pleasure to all who may read it.” (1882, p. 32)  Issues begin with several essays by local authors. Following those are reprints of well-known stories and poems. The “Editorial” section contains traditional editorials along with news items from the College and North Carolina. Alumni were asked to write in, giving a brief account of their activities to be included in each installment.

As a side note, the first issues were edited in part by Thomas Dixon, “who later gained infamy for his novel that decried Reconstruction and equality for African-Americans and formed the basis for the film “The Birth of a Nation.” (magazine.wfu.edu/remember/) The very first issue includes an essay on slavery in America.

You can also view yearbooks, catalogs, and commencement programs from Wake Forest University on DigitalNC. For now, we’ll leave you with this early sentiment of school pride – and lament – from one of the editors.

Wake Forest Student excerpt, October 1887 p. 39


Images, a Rare Newspaper, and More now Online from the Round House Museum in Wilson, NC

Statue of a Seated Man, Oliver Nestus Freeman

Statue of a Seated Man, Oliver Nestus Freeman

We’ve recently partnered with the Oliver Nestus Freeman Round House Museum to add items from their collection to DigitalNC. We visited the Museum back in June, and learned about Mr. Freeman and the impact he had on Wilson, NC. Freeman, a local builder and stonemason, incorporated found materials into many of the objects and structures he created. A number of these still exist around town. Among them is the Round House, which is now a museum dedicated to local African American history and culture.

A photographer in Wilson Library’s Digital Production Center shot a number of tools and objects from the Museum. We also scanned photographs of Freeman, his family (including one of Freeman’s bears, Topsy), and his creations.

Another interesting item included in this batch was an 1907 recommendation for Freeman based on his work as a stonemason at The Presidio in San Francisco. In it, Freeman is described as “Reliable and a strictly temperate man who [the recommender, J. K. Dalmas] would employ in Preference to nine tenths of the Mechanics who have worked here.”

The Museum holds a photocopy of a rare issue of an African American newspaper from 1897 – The Wilson Blade. Our friends in Wilson Library’s North Carolina Collection helped us try to find out more details about this paper. We believe it was only published for a few years (perhaps 1897-1900), by S. A. Smith. We also believe this was the same S. A. Smith who was elected principal of the Wilson Colored Graded School in 1896 (The Daily Times, Wilson, NC, 1896-05-29). The issue contains items typical of papers from this time period: state, local, and personal news; advertisements; a train schedule. There’s also an article on a meeting of the Freedman’s Aid Society and Southern Education Society.

Special thanks goes to Wilson County Public Library, whose staff helped facilitate getting these items online. You can view all of the items digitized for the Museum on DigitalNC.


Additional Cary High School Yearbooks Added to DigitalNC

Photo from the 1917 ChsiteA new partner, the Page-Walker Arts & History Center of Cary, has just contributed 6 additional yearbooks for Cary High School, including the earliest volume on our site to date (1915).

Cary High School was originally located in downtown Cary, in the building that now houses the Cary Community Arts Center. The photo above, from the 1917 Chsite, shows quite a different view of Cary than what we think of today.

You can now view 22 yearbooks for Cary High dating from 1915 to 1962 on DigitalNC in our High School Yearbooks collection.

 


United Confederate Veterans Ledger now Online

Confederate Veterans Ledger Page

Page 32 lists the results of an election of officers.

Our longtime partner, Wilson County Public Library, recently dropped off a very interesting ledger for digitization. Now on DigitalNC, the ledger for the Jesse S. Barnes Camp of the United Confederate Veterans dates from 1906-1923 and contains minutes, rosters, and other information .

Camp members faithfully recorded their activities, changes in membership, as well as the passing of many of their Camp members. There are also several documents related to the national United Confederate Veterans organization. Especially of interest to genealogists are 11 sheets containing the “Record of Lineal Descendants of Confederate Soldiers,” collected in 1918 by a Wilson chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy.

You can view all items from Wilson County Public Library here.


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