Thanks to our partner, Alamance Community College, batches containing over 70 new records featuring Melville Dairy materials, Hopalong Cassidy ephemera, livestock equipment, ritual objects, and more are now available on DigitalNC.

Hopalong Cassidy is a fictional character created by Clarence E. Mulford who was brought to life by actor William Boyd who appeared as the character in 66 movies between 1935 and 1943. When television started to become popular in the late 1940s, Hopalong Cassidy became the first cowboy hero series with Boyd making 106 television shows and 104 radio shows.

Unlike Mulford’s books, Boyd portrayed the character as a clean living cowboy who didn’t smoke, drink, curse, or gamble. The cowboy’s popularity amongst children’s Western heroes allowed Boyd to become “King of Cowboy Merchandisers.” He endorsed over 2,000 items, several of which can be seen in this batch, including a lunchbox, thermos, shirt, commemorative plates, and even a board game!

To learn more about Alamance Community College, visit their website here.

To view more materials from Alamance Community College, visit their contributor page here.

To view more materials from The Scott Family Collection, view our exhibit here.

Information about Hopalong Cassidy and William Boyd was gathered from the Oklahoma Historical Society’s encyclopedia entry linked here.