The Latest Records from Raleigh Fire Department Now Findable Online! →
Viewing entries by Sophie Hollis
Remove Filter

Bulletins, Photos, Histories & More Available from First Presbyterian Church of Mount Holly

Posted on by

memorabilia photos

A black-and-white photo of First Presbyterian Church of Mount Holly. The church building is primarily brick with a set of white columns at the front entrance.
First Presbyterian Church of Mount Holly. This building was erected in 1927 according to one of the histories.

Our North Carolina Community Contributors collections have expanded to include materials from First Presbyterian Church of Mount Holly. This batch includes several types of items relaying the history of the church and the broader community, including bulletins, photos of church leaders, guest books with lists of visitors, and short histories of the church. These materials span most of the history of First Presbyterian, beginning around 1890 and carrying through the present day (c. 2017).

In addition to providing information about the church’s history and participation in the Mount Holly community, this collection of bulletins may prove useful for genealogists interested in the Gaston County area. The bulletins frequently list a directory of church staff, including Sunday School teachers, fellows, and scouts. Weekly activity leaders and other members of the congregation are frequently listed as well.

You can browse all of the materials in this batch here or by navigating to the First Presbyterian Church of Mount Holly digital exhibit. You can also explore all of our collections from North Carolina Community Contributors here.

Fall Back Into 1972 With Alamance County Yearbooks

Posted on by

yearbooks

A black-and-white photograph of an adult smiling at the camera while bending over to smell a flower growing on a long vine.
Nita Onufrak. From the 1972 edition of the Yell-O-Jak (Gibsonville High School).

A recent batch of yearbooks from Alamance County Public Libraries gives a special look into the life of high school students in the area in the early 1970s—especially 1972, a year with four yearbooks from across the county. The four high schools with editions from this year—Western High School, Hugh M. Cummings High School, Walter M. Williams High School, and Gibsonville High School—show a distinctive time in both student life and yearbook editing.

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.

Two high school students side by side, smiling at the camera. The person on the left is wearing a white dress, and the other is wearing a light suit and tie.
Joyce Warren and Alfred Garland. From the 1972 edition of the Doe-Wah-Jack (Walter M. Williams High School).

In addition to the embrace of hyphenated yearbook titles, 1972 was a year of dramatic openings, bold new fonts, collages, and—you guessed it—the mandatory iteration of the hit folk song “Turn, Turn, Turn.” But compared to yearbooks of past decades, 1972 has a lot to offer in terms of student photography, which is probably part of the reason that they are so fun to look at.

You can see the full batch of yearbooks here. You can also browse our entire collection of high school yearbooks by location, school, and year in our North Carolina Yearbooks collection. To see more materials from Alamance County Public Libraries, you can visit their partner page and their website.

New Partner Materials Highlight Life in Pink Hill

Posted on by

memorabilia newspapers photos scrapbooks yearbooks

A color portrait of a dance team posing in front of an old white house. The team consists of about 20 children wearing white uniforms and holding batons. The front row is holding a red banner that says "Twirlettes."
The Pink Hill Twirlettes.

Thanks to our new partner, the Pink Hill Public Library (a branch of the Neuse Regional Library), we’ve expanded our geographic coverage and added some new materials from the Lenoir County area. This batch includes an exciting variety of community-generated materials, including photographs, scrapbooks, newspaper clippings, yearbooks, and two newspaper titles that are new to our site.

A color photo of a brick, one-story house and a child's yellow car toy in the front yard. The photo is taped to a piece of white paper, and below, a child has written, "This is my house. And I like it!"
From Thomas Whitfield’s 1991 masterpiece, “My Community, Pink Hill”

Two of the most delightful items in this batch (besides the adorable Twirlettes, of course) are a couple of scrapbooks made by Michael and Thomas Whitfield in the early 1990s documenting some of the major landmarks around town. In addition to short newspaper clippings and the occasional map, these two young historians took care to document the local homes and businesses. Below a photo of the fire department, Thomas writes, “Pink Hill Fire Dept, was formed before World War II. George Turner was the first fire chief in 1946.” Similarly, under a photo of a brick storefront, he writes, “Classy Cats. Owned by Ronda Stroud. Started in May 25, 1986.” These scrapbooks are great resources for anyone wondering who the Town Clerk was from 1991-1993 (Carol Sykes) or wondering who the best dog in town is (Gibbet).

You can see the full batch of Pink Hill materials here. You can also browse both Pink Hill newspaper titles, The Chronicle (1966-1971) and The Pink Hill Review (1975-1980). To learn more about the Pink Hill public library, you can visit their partner page and their website.

Play the Game of Student Life with 80 Yearbooks From Randolph County

Posted on by

yearbooks

A high school student in a suit and bow tie standing behind another student seated in a chair. The seated student is wearing a strapless dress with a full skirt.
Miss Oak Leaf (Pat Reynolds) and Mr. Acorn (D.J. Cagle) in the 1955 edition of “Oak Leaves” (Star High School).

Eighty high school yearbooks from Randolph County have been added to our site thanks to our partner, the Randolph County Public Library. This batch includes yearbooks from 15 schools: Trinity High School, Randleman High School, Star High School, Asheboro High School, Gray’s Chapel High School, Eastern Randolph Senior High School, Franklinville School, Coleridge High School, Biscoe High School, Farmer High School, Seagrove High School, Ramseur High School, Staley High School, Bennett High School, and Troy High School.

These yearbooks also span several decades of the county’s history, starting in 1944 with The Ash-Hi-Life and running through 1973, with four yearbook editions from Trinity, Randleman, Asheboro High, and Eastern Randolph.

Some of the special features in these yearbooks include a homecoming court straight out of a Ralph Lauren ad, the requisite reference to The Byrds, and pages of heartfelt notes from classmates. But one yearbook staff got especially creative, designing a board game that students can play with just their yearbooks and a coin to toss.

A spread of two blue yearbook pages with a winding yellow path called "The Game of Student Life." Each space on the path describes an event in the life of a high schooler and directs the player to make their next move.
The Game of Student Life from the 1972 “Links” (Eastern Randolph Senior High School).

The game, presumably modeled after the game Life, describes events that still sound familiar to contemporary high school students. One square reads, “Back to school. Laugh at sophomores — get lecture on maturity. Lose 1 turn.” Others are less relatable: “Term papers: your typist charges you $1.50 a page and you run out of money on page 2 — Lose turn.” While the board does seem to be weighted toward academic and social pitfalls, at least all players start with a credit (since “Everybody passes biology first time around!”).

You can see all 80 yearbooks (so many!) here. You can also explore all of our digitized high school yearbooks by school name, location, and year in our North Carolina Yearbooks collection. To see more from Randolph County Public Library, visit their partner page and their website.

Chatham County Scrapbooks Document Cultural Moments of the 1950s

Posted on by

memorabilia scrapbooks

Newspaper clippings describing a "weird incident" of "mental telepathy" during the Civil War. The article was published in the Sanford Herald in 1952.
Newspaper clippings from Chatham County Scrapbook [Book 1]. The article was published in the Sanford Herald on July 14, 1952.

Two more scrapbooks on the history of Chatham County are now available on our site thanks to the Chatham County Historical Association. These scrapbooks primarily include newspaper clippings from The Sanford Herald and The Chatham Record, many of which are authored by Esther Womble Adickes. These articles recount local events and histories, several of which are retrospective.

One of the striking things about this collection of articles is how often they reflect on the Civil War in a romanticized way. Adickes sometimes refers to it as the “war between the states” and reminisces about some of the institutions of Chatham county before the war, including the Taylor Plantation. These kinds of articles are significant because they are from the 1950s—almost 100 years after the Civil War ended—documenting a resurgence of racism during the Jim Crow era.

This kind of rose-tinted retrospection has been in the news recently in relation to Confederate statues and monuments, many of which were erected during the early 20th Century. These newspaper clippings give some context to the historical moment in which many of these monuments were constructed.

You can see both scrapbooks in this batch here. To see more from the Chatham County Historical Association, you can visit their partner page and their website.

Hendersonville HS Yearbooks Show Longstanding Community Ties

Posted on by

campuspublications yearbooks

A young teacher sitting at a desk with a stack of papers in his hand. He is wearing a tie and suit jacket, and he seems to be laughing.
Tom Orr in 1972

More Henderson county high school yearbooks are now available on our site thanks to one of our newest partners, the Hendersonville High School Alumni Association. Included in this batch are 12 yearbooks from the Bearcats spanning from 1954-1972.

One of the main characters of this stretch of yearbooks is longtime teacher and alumnus Tom Orr, who graduated in 1957 and came back to teach at his alma mater after attending UNC Chapel Hill and Western Carolina. The HHSAA recently posted a scholarship announcement honoring his contributions to the school as well.

A black-and-white yearbook portrait of Tom Orr, a young, white man with dark hair. He is wearing a white shirt.
Tom Orr in 1955

Since these yearbooks span a few decades, you can see Mr. Orr back when he was still a student in 1955. Back then, he was on the business staff of The Red and White as one of the ad men. Perhaps this is what later inspired him to pursue teaching English as a career.

His obituary notes that he taught at the school for 32 years, and in that time, he received several teaching awards, both for English and Drama.

You can see the full batch of yearbooks here. You can also browse all of our digital yearbooks by location, school, and date in our North Carolina Yearbooks collection. To learn more about the Hendersonville High School Alumni Association, you can visit their partner page and their website.

Nearly 6 Decades of Southwestern CC Catalogs Available on Our Site

Posted on by

A banner of covers from Southwestern Community college. The first two have circles in the middle with scenes of mountains inside them. The middle one has a photo of a student studying. The second from right is an abstract blue and purple cover. The one on the right has a photo of a student in a dark blue graduation cap and gown.

Course Catalogs from Southwestern Community College are now available on our site thanks to our recent partnership with the school. The catalogs range from 1965 (the school’s first full year open) to 2022.

As their website notes, the impact of Southwestern CC is widespread in the southwestern mountain communities of North Carolina. Based in Sylva, the college has a wide alumni base, especially in Jackson, Macon, and Swain counties. It is the second-most western community college in North Carolina (after Tri-County Community College in Murphy), and it is the only community college with a scientific partnership with NASA.

Along with these catalogs, which were digitized by our partners at Southwestern, we have also recently added a batch of other items from the school, including photographs, scrapbooks from campus organizations, blueprints for some of the school’s buildings, yearbooks, and issues of the student literary magazine.

You can explore all of Southwestern’s digitized materials on their partner page and in our North Carolina Community College Collections digital exhibit. To learn more about Southwestern CC, you can also visit their website.

Look Forward to Summer Travel with Chapel Hill Girl & Boy Scouts

Posted on by

memorabilia photos

Six teenagers laying in a line on a sandy beach. They are all wearing bikinis, and several have on sunglasses and hats.
Girl Scouts at Sunset Beach, 1978.

More materials from Boy Scout Troop 835 and Girl Scout Troop 59 from Chapel Hill, N.C., are now available on our site thanks to the Chapel Hill Historical Society. This batch primarily includes photographs of the two troops’ trips during the 1970s.

Over the decade, the two groups did quite a bit of globetrotting, including visits to Newfoundland, Williamsburg, Sunset Beach, Philmont Scout Ranch, Camp Graham, Savannah, the New River, Fort Bragg, the Appalachian Trail, Glacier National Park, and Pisgah Forest, among others. Looking through these albums might make you want to set out on a summer adventure yourself.

A photo of the side of a low mountain covered in dirt and shrubs. At the base is a row of white tents. A lone scout in a red plaid shirt is walking in the foreground.
A scout at Philmont, July 1976.

One of the most iconic destinations is, of course, Philmont, which many former scouts would probably recognize. Located in New Mexico, the ranch has long been a testing ground for wilderness survival skills and troop bonding. Based on the camp’s photo archive, it doesn’t look like a whole lot has changed since these troops visited.

You can see the full batch of materials here, including photographs, certificates, a pennant flag, a scrapbook, and some artwork. You can also see previous batches of materials from Troop 835 and Troop 59 on the partner page of the Chapel Hill Historical Society. To learn more about CHHS and their materials, you can also visit their website.

Tuscola High School Students Stay on Theme in 1973 “The Mountaineer”

Posted on by

yearbooks

A black-and-white photograph of students forming a human pyramid. There are five students across the bottom, four in the middle, and three on top with their hands raised, with one person standing on the side.
The Sub-Deb club from the 1973 issue of The Mountaineer. This photo is actually from a two-page spread of human pyramid photos.

One more edition of Tuscola High School’s The Mountaineer has been added to our digital collections thanks to our partner, the Haywood County Public Library. This edition is from 1973, giving us a continuous run of the Waynesville school’s campus publications from 1967-1973.

Tuscola High School’s mascot, the Mountaineers (colloquially referred to as “The Mounties”) is appropriate for this campus, which is nestled in the North Carolina mountains (as you can see in the photo to the left). According to the school’s website, the school is “affectionately referred to as ‘The Hill’ due to our commanding view of the Smoky and Balsam Mountain ranges.”

In addition to the sweeping mountain views, a common sight in the 1973 edition of The Mountaineer is students arranging themselves into the shape of mountains. Apparently, this was the hottest formation for taking your club photo—especially if you got to be on the top.

A black and white photo of six students on their hands and knees forming a human pyramid.
The 1973 chorus officers

Who can say why so many students felt the need to literally climb on top of each other this year? Maybe they were trying to camouflage in their mountainous surroundings. Perhaps it is a social commentary on relationships or teamwork. Though we may never know for sure, there are plenty of examples in this yearbook for the intrepid researcher.

You can see all editions of Tuscola High School’s The Mountaineer here. You can also browse our entire collection of high school yearbooks by school, location, and date in our North Carolina Yearbooks collection. To see more from the Haywood County Public Library, you can visit their partner page and their website.

Chowan Scrapbooks Capture Student Activities from 1920s and ’80s

Posted on by

campuspublications memorabilia

A set of distinctive scrapbooks from Chowan University (née Chowan College) in Murfreesboro has just been added to our site. These scrapbooks span a long range of the school’s history beginning in the 1920s and then jump ahead to the 1980s.

A black-and-white photo of a group of students standing together outside and holding pendant flags. They are wearing long skirts and sweaters.
A photo from Chowan College Scrapbook [1924-25]

The oldest scrapbook of the collection shows a bit of Chowan’s origin story as a women’s college. Though it’s not a formal yearbook, someone took the time to write in the names of students, their home towns, nicknames, birthdays, ambitions, and happy memories of them. They even pasted a little picture next to some of their entries. For instance, Jewel Askew was from Lewiston, N.C., her friends called her “Juke,” her birthday was December 5 (she was a Sagittarius), and her ambition was to have a “rose garden” (unclear why that’s in quotes or what the hidden meaning there might be). She must have had some good times with the scrapbook’s owner, since one of them wrote beside her entry, “Dear pal, don’t forget the ireeb-eus [?] of Feb. 14-16, 1925.”

Two scrapbook covers. On the left is a wooden one with a black etching of Johannes Gutenberg and a printing press with the greet letters Phi Theta Kappa and Iota Delta. On the right is an illustration of a man on the surface of the Earth, squatting down, and meeting the reflection of his hand.
Covers of the 1982-23 (left) and 1981-82 (right) Phi Theta Kappa scrapbooks

The more recent scrapbooks are somewhat more legible, and it’s clear that the Iota Delta Chapter of Phi Theta Kappa had a dedicated artist on their side. The 1982-1983 scrapbook, which was encased in wood covers (approx. 2′-3′), had an etching of Johannes Gutenberg, inventor of the printing press.

You can see the full batch of scrapbooks here. To see more materials from Chowan University, you can visit their partner page and their website.

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

Tags

10 for 10 12daysofncdhc audio behind the scenes behindthescenes campuspublications directories howto maps memorabilia moving images NCDHC East NCDHC Impact news newspapers onsite oral histories photos scrapbooks underrepresented use yearbooks

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