Viewing entries by Shannon Young

New Materials from the Montgomery County Public Library now on DigitalNC

The Montgomery County Public Library recently provided the North Carolina Digital Heritage Center with a wide variety of materials to digitize and publish on DigitalNC. Coming directly from the library is a photo album from the 1980s depicting the library’s various activities and programs, including arts and crafts, a quiz bowl, summer reading programs, and a library luncheon.

Summer reading program--"Book a Trip to Africa"

Summer reading program– “Book a Trip to Africa”

In our Images of North Carolina collection, we also recently added a few maps and blueprints of various areas of interest around Montgomery County, pictures related to prominent members of the community, and four photographs from Candor School of Miss Elizabeth Currie and her fellow faculty members and pupils. In the North Carolina Memory Collection there are two more items related to Miss Currie: a music recital program and a piano recital program. Also from a school in Montgomery County are two play programs put on by a class in Troy Elementary.

Survey map for land dispute

Survey map for a land dispute between Matilda Owens and Elijah Needham

Jewel Callicutt

Jewel Callicutt and friends outside of one of her greenhouses

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A number of election returns from Montgomery County in the 1880s were included, and they show how the districts in Montgomery voted on such matters at what to do about public debt and who to elect for president, representation, and state officials.

Election returns

Election returns from Montgomery County for State Officials

 

Furthermore, we have added booklets written by local historian Catherine Watkins McKinnon: History of Sharon and First Presbyterian Church, Mt. Gilead, 1795-1970 and The History of Big Oak Christian Church in Eagle Springs. For a bit of more recent history, we have a copy of a booklet printed by the American Legion listing all of the service men and women from Montgomery County who served in the World Wars. Also added in this batch are some items about the various activities of some of the clubs in Montgomery County. A number of yearbooks from the Woman’s Club of Biscoe list their events and programs throughout the year, and each one contains a copy of both their constitution and bylaws. There is also a program from the Charter Night for the Rotary Club of Star, North Carolina, sponsored by the Troy division of the Rotary Club.

Woman's Club of Biscoe Yearbook

Woman’s Club of Biscoe Yearbook, 1942-1943

Finally, the Montgomery County Public Library provided issues from the 1960s of The Smoke Signal (West Montgomery High School’s student newspaper), two funeral programs (for Othar C. Hunsucker and Juanita Auman Wallace) and some newspaper clippings about the town of Troy winning the Sandhills Area Development Association’s community development contest. For more information about the Montgomery County Public library and their materials, visit their contributor page on DigitalNC, the library’s website, or see these previous blog posts from DigitalNC.


Scrapbooks and Newspapers from the High Point Museum Added to DigitalNC

Ten new scrapbooks by the High Point Woman’s Club and a number of Point-Crest Newspapers, a periodical published by the High Point Weaving Company and Hillcrest Throwing Company, have been digitized and uploaded to DigitalNC. The scrapbooks give details of the club’s activities throughout the years 1957 to 1958 and 1961 to 1971.

High Point Woman's Club Scrapbook

Cover of the 1970-1971 High Point Woman’s Club Scrapbook

The High Point Woman’s Club took part in a wide variety of activities and made it a point to become involved in a number of local and even international issues that were of great importance at the time. They hosted a number of speakers, including Ralph Nader, who discussed a variety of issues such as homeland security, national affairs, and travel. The group was also involved with the United Nations, and UNICEF in particular.

Club Delegates To Consider Obscenity, Air Pollution, Arts

Newspaper clipping about some of the Club’s various activities

The Point-Crest newspapers cover the years 1945 to 1947 and, as the product of the companies listed above, much of the content is related to the textile industry and the doings of these particular companies. However, the newspaper is not all business and work. The paper notes extracurricular activities in which the companies were involved as well, such as the Hillcrest Girls’ Softball Team, who won their league championship.

Picture from the Point-Crest Newspaper featuring war materials

Picture from the Point-Crest Newspaper featuring war materials

For more information about the High Point Woman’s Club and the other materials that DigitalNC has digitized from them and the High Point Museum, see this previous blog post.


New Francis B. Hays Scrapbooks Online

Volumes 53 through 63 of the Francis B. Hays Collection of scrapbooks have been uploaded to our DigitalNC website. From the Granville County Public Library, these scrapbooks cover a wide variety of topics on Oxford and Granville County life. Some cover the histories of different religious denominations in the county, including the Episcopal Church, Presbyterian Church, Methodist Church, and one that is an amalgamation of information about all of the religious groups in the county. The Oxford Methodist Church also has a scrapbook completely dedicated to its history. Covering more general Oxford history, one scrapbook contains old copies of The Morning Clarion from the year 1876.

Front page of an 1876 copy of the Morning Clarion

Front page of an 1876 copy of the Morning Clarion

 

Two of the scrapbooks contain information about the businesses and industries in Oxford, one taking clippings specifically from an industrial newspaper, and the other from the regular paper. Both of these scrapbooks have an emphasis on the tobacco industry in the county, and specific focus is given to the owners of tobacco warehouses. Continuing with the theme of business, Mr. Hays also put together a scrapbook concerning real estate and construction in Granville County.

Granville County Court House Centennial

Program Cover for the Court House Centennial Celebration

Library a Vital Factor

Newspaper clipping from the Oxford Public Ledger

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The last two scrapbooks in this batch cover special topics pertaining to Granville County. The first is dedicated to the centennial celebration of the Granville County Court House and the Granville County bicentennial celebration. The final scrapbook in this batch is a collection of newspaper clippings discussing the creation and growth of the Granville Library and its importance to the community.

For more information about the other scrapbooks available in this collection, as well as about Francis B. Hays himself, visit the Francis B. Hays Collection page, or see this previous blog post.


New Photographs from the Benson Museum of Local History Now Available

A new batch of photographs from the Benson Museum of Local History has been added to DigitalNC. These photographs depict a wide variety of people and places, and range in time from the late 1800s, when the family from whom the town of Benson received its name was alive, up to the Bicentennial of the American Revolution.

Men outside of a store in Benson, N.C.

A group of men standing outside of a store in Benson, N.C.

Many of the individuals captured in these photographs appear in multiple images, and certain surnames, such as Barefoot, Parrish, and Godwin, make regular appearances.

The family from whom the town of Benson received its name

The family from whom the town of Benson received its name

These photographs taken as a whole provide a rich and interesting view into the town of Benson. Multiple street views of the town show the progression of building and development, and the photographs of regular people going about their business gives a sense of the culture and everyday lives of the town throughout its history.

World War II Veterans' Program

World War II Veterans’ Program

For more information about the town of Benson, N.C. and what the Benson Museum of Local History has to offer, visit their website. DigitalNC also has a number of other items from the museum, including yearbooks, scrapbooks, and a city directory.


Site Plans for the Bellamy Mansion Now Available Online

The Bellamy Mansion Museum has provided a number of site plans for their building to be digitized and added to DigitalNC. These plans show details of the building’s floor layout, utility centers, ventilation, heating, and cooling systems, lighting layouts, and mechanical details of the building. All of the plans were drawn up in part by Boney Architects, a family firm located in Wilmington. Consulting engineers were also involved in making the plans. Roughly half of the documents were done by David Sims & Associates, another Wilmington firm, and the others were done by Cheatham & Associates. All firms are still in business today.

Third Floor Mechanical Plan of Bellamy Mansion

Third Floor Mechanical Plan of Bellamy Mansion

The plans were all drawn up in 1992, after Preservation North Carolina had come into ownership of the building. They began an intensive restoration project  that sought to repair damage from a fire that had been set by arsonists twenty years earlier. The project was a success, and today the house is open to the public. For more information on the Bellamy Mansion Museum, visit their website.


New Material in the R.J. Reynolds and Katharine Smith Reynolds Correspondence Exhibit

New pieces of correspondence from Katharine Reynolds Smith and the Reynolds children have been digitized and uploaded to DigitalNC. This sizable batch of letters and postcards includes both personal correspondence and business transactions between the years of 1906 and 1938. These recent additions round out the earlier batch, with letters to addressees beginning with letters M-Z. In these letters Mrs. Reynolds discusses everything from politics to the planning and construction of the Reynolda House compound and school.

Capture

Part of a letter to Mrs. Reynolds discussing a political speaker

The children’s correspondence predominantly contains postcards from various family members and letters to their father while he was in Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore and a hospital in Philadelphia. Many of the postcards are from their mother while she was on her honeymoon throughout Europe with her second husband, Edward Johnston.

Letter from Mary Katharine Reynolds to her father

Letter from Mary Katharine Reynolds to her father

Postcard from Mrs. Reynolds to Mary Reynolds, 1921

Postcard from Mrs. Reynolds to Mary Reynolds, 1921

Buckingham Palace

Postcard from Mrs. Reynolds and Mr. Johnston to Mary and Nancy Reynolds, 1921

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All of the material from the R.J. Reynolds and Katharine Smith Reynolds Correspondence Exhibit is provided by the Reynolda House Museum of American Art. For more information on the Reynolds family, visit their website, or DigitalNC’s exhibit page for this collection.


New Kron Collection Materials Added from the Stanly County Musem

More materials from the Stanly County Museum have now been digitized and posted online at DigitalNC. Most of the material that has been added in this batch comes from the Dr. Francis Joseph Kron Collection. There are a number of papers and letters concerning the many legal battles that the Kron family were involved in, mostly concerning rights to land and contesting wills. Later letters display Dr. Kron’s frustrations with the unceasing attacks, in one declaring that North Carolina is a “vast lunatic asylum” for allowing these suits.

Letter written by Dr. Kron

Portion of a letter written by Dr. Kron

Also included in this batch are a number of miscellaneous letters from the Kron family and letters from people enslaved by the family (Elizabeth and Adele Kron, who kept the surname Kron) and a variety of legal documents including birth certificates for some of the members of the Kron family who were born in Europe, and statements of allegiance to the United States.

Kron Legal Documents

Pledge of allegiance to the United States, signed by Dr. Kron

For more information on the Dr. Francis Joseph Kron Collection, see the exhibit website, or this previous blog post.

Unrelated to the Kron papers but also provided by Stanly County Museum are three panoramic photographs. Two of these photographs feature factory workers. The third is a photo that was taken at the 1912 Young Women’s Christian Association Conference, and it includes representatives from a number of women’s colleges.

YWCA Conference

YWCA Conference

All of the Stanly County Museum materials available on DigitalNC can be viewed here.

 


High Point Women’s Club Scrapbooks and Yearbooks Now Online

New scrapbooks from the High Point Women’s Club have been added to DigitalNC. These four books cover the years 1940 to 1942, 1953 to 1954, 1955 to 1956, and 1956 to 1957. They show the range of activities that the women’s club participated in, including attending national conventions of women’s clubs, having guest speakers from various levels of government and academia, hosting fund raisers for the Red Cross and March of Dimes, and their annual talent show, among other things.

Title Page for the 1955-1956 Scrapbook

Title Page for the 1955-1956 Scrapbook

The scrapbook that covers the years 1940 to 1942 pays particular attention to World War II and issues that affected the home front. The women’s club was very involved with learning and educating others about home defense and action to help the war effort. They also had a number of activities meant to help the soldiers who were overseas.

Page concerning public defense

Page concerning public defense and keeping faith in troubled times of war.

The High Point Women’s Club was a division of the North Carolina Federation of Women’s Clubs as well as the General Federation of Women’s Clubs. The North Carolina Division is now known as the North Carolina General Federation of Women’s Clubs, and for more information you can visit their website. The High Point Club is still in operation to this day.

These scrapbooks were contributed to DigitalNC by the High Point Museum. Also digitized with these materials were two William Penn High School yearbooks from the Heritage Research Center at High Point Public Library, years 1957 and 1958. To see more materials from the museum, visit their contributor page. To browse more Heritage Research Center materials, visit their page here. To browse more yearbooks, visit our North Carolina Yearbooks collection.


Scrapbooks from Minor League Baseball Player Bobby Wilson now Online

Four new scrapbooks have been digitized and uploaded from the Wayne County Public Library. These scrapbooks follow the career of Bobby Wilson (full name Robert Monroe Wilson) as he played baseball for three baseball teams, the Wilkes-Barre Barons (in 1945 and 1946), the Baltimore Orioles, and the San Diego Padres.

Bobby Wilson's Speed Keeps Orioles Alive

Newspaper clippings from Wilson’s time with the Orioles

Although he played baseball around the country, Bobby Wilson was born in Goldsboro, North Carolina. He played second base and shortstop, and many newspaper clippings discuss Wilson’s speed and his ability to steal bases. As seen in the image above, his base running skills occasionally played a big role in his team’s performance. 

Cartoons depicting Bobby Wilson's base running abilities

Cartoons depicting Bobby Wilson’s base running abilities

The Wayne County Public Library has contributed a number of other scrapbooks pertaining to baseball and local baseball players. To browse all of the material Wayne County Public Library has contributed, you can visit their contributor’s page.


Salem College Boarding School Ledger from 1805 Now Online

We have recently digitized a ledger from the Boarding School for Female Education from Salem, N.C., covering the years 1805 to 1809. This school would evolve to become Salem College, which houses the ledger today. Inside there are a number of entries concerning the students at the school, as well as a number of businessmen who were involved with the school. One such man is Charles Cist, a printer and publisher in Philadelphia from whom the school bought a number of books for the library.

Library entry

Library entry showing purchases from Charles Cist

As an all-girls school, the majority of the names inside are women’s names. The few men in the ledger appear to be part of the school administration, people whom the school paid for services, or fathers who had paid the school for care of their daughters.

Entry page for Anna Kirkland and Sally Sanders

Entry page for Anna Kirkland and Sally Sanders

 

Salem College previously worked with the Digital Heritage Center to share college yearbooks and catalogs going back as far as the 1850s.


DigitalNC Blog Header Image

About

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.

Social Media Policy

Search the Blog

Archives

Subscribe

Email subscribers can choose to receive a daily, weekly, or monthly email digest of news and features from the blog.

Newsletter Frequency
RSS Feed