Thanks to our North Carolina Community Contributors, new materials have been added to the First Presbyterian Church of Mount Holly digital exhibit. This batch expands the exhibit to include minutes for the Woman’s Auxiliary from 1915 to 1932, volumes five through seven of the First Presbyterian Church of Mount Holly, and a copy of the First Presbyterian Church’s 1892 deed.

The Ladies’ Aid Society minute books are a fascinating resource for learning not only about women’s public life and women’s societies, but noted challenges in Mount Holly and how they were being addressed by a portion of the community. These minute books also feature lists of member names, attendance records, constitution and by-laws, mission statements, and handwritten documents detailing the history of the Society and its different iterations from 1896 to the 1920s.

The Ladies’ Aid Society of the Mount Holly Presbyterian Church was started on October 13, 1896 when the reverend called a meeting of the ladies of the church to organize. The Society was fairly active from 1896 to 1899 with members of the Society making bonnets, aprons, quilts; using dues to help pay for church improvements and debts; and donating to the Barium Springs Home for Children.

Around 1900, there was a period of inactivity until early January of 1906, when the ladies of the church met with the pastor to revive the Society. From 1906 to 1917, the revived Society continued to help pay for improvements to the church and property including the (partial) purchase of a bookcase for the Sunday school; a plate and baptismal bowls; two Psalms and hymns with music for the choir; and a manse. In addition to these improvements, the Society made several donations of clothes to the Barium Springs Home for Children.

In November of 1917, the ladies organized the Missionary Society. Extremely active in their first year, they bought a service flag for the church, pieced a quilt for Barium Springs Home for Children as well as donated to their dining room fund, raised $300 to help build a new church, and sent collection to foreign missions. Nothing is noted about the activities of the Society in the period between 1918 to 1923 in a document outlining the history of the Woman’s Auxiliary found between the pages of the Woman’s Auxiliary Minutes [1928-1932]. However, the Minutes of Missionary Society [1918-1924] fills in the silence of this period with detailed accounts of their meetings and planned activities such as raising money for the dining fund, finishing quilts, appointing ladies to clean up the church on a monthly rotation, and more. The Missionary Society was eventually disorganized in 1923.

However, by the end of 1923, the Woman’s Auxiliary was organized with sixteen enrolled members and contributions given to seven different causes. Similar to previous iterations, the Women’s Auxiliary continued to raise money for various causes and improvements for the church through successful fundraising and events such as the circa 1928 picnic supper at the Kiwanis Club of Gastonia.

To view more materials from the First Presbyterian Church of Mount Holly, view the exhibit page here.

To explore more materials from North Carolina Community Contributors, visit their contributor page here.

Thanks to our partners at the Ocracoke Preservation Society, DigitalNC is proud to announce decades worth of Ocracoke history are now available online! This upload is a collection in multiple parts and includes The Mullet Wrapper newsletter, a compilation of marriage records, half a century’s worth of obituaries and funeral programs, books detailing Ocracoke’s cemeteries, and a detailed list of historic sites from the National Register of Historic Places. Almost every aspect of island life is represented within these records: from parades and exhibits, to local nuptials and obituaries, to the discovery, exploration, and conservation of historic sites.

One of the best ways to become acquainted with the history of Ocracoke Island is to read through The Mullet Wrapper, Ocracoke Preservation Society’s biannual newsletter. Named after the practice of wrapping freshly bought fish in newspapers, The Mullet Wrapper provides a detailed glimpse into the myriad efforts made to preserve Ocracoke history. Within its pages are articles teaching historic home preservation, profiles on notable locals, and news on upcoming educational talks and events. Our collection spans from The Mullet Wrapper’s inception in 1997 to 2017, and even includes two years of newsletters published before The Mullet Wrapper received its name! A highlight of this period is seeing the development of historians understanding of Fort Ocracoke, a sunken structure resting underneath Ocracoke’s bay. The Mullet Wrapper’s publication begins around the fort’s discovery, and as the issues progress more and more articles are released detailing information, eventually ending in the construction of a Civil War memorial near the site.

Additional context is provided for Ocracoke’s history in the form of an extensive report from the National Register of Historic Places. This report details every single historic building, landmark, or structure within Ocracoke’s Historic District, a neighborhood nestled around the bay’s shores. Two maps (one highlighted and one untouched) provide an essential key for understanding the layout of the island, and are themselves a part of preservation history. If you desire additional context, we’ve also uploaded two books containing records of the island’s over eighty historic cemeteries. Each book includes records of the interred, maps of cemetery layouts, and additional context for family or particular sites.

The society’s records also include almost four decades of deaths in or around Ocracoke Island. Funeral programs, obituaries, and hand-written eulogies have been collected and collated for every Ocracoke native’s death, including those occurring hundreds of miles away. Beginning in 1973 and ending in 2021, each year contains a list of every recorded death alongside any related written material. This includes articles published outside of Ocracoke (in the instance of former state senator George Warner), prayer cards for the deceased, and a massive collection of eulogies written by local pastor Jimmy Creech. Reading through these records imparts the sense of just how interconnected community becomes on an island.

Whenever you need a break from the weight of death, refresh with a wedding! Our uploads include a log of local marriages in and around Ocracoke Island that extends as far back as 1735, featuring an extensive list of nuptials, dates, and locations. More recent marriages also include copies of individual marriage certificates from the deed of registers, dating back to the middle of the twentieth century. A personal highlight of the collection are a pair of authentic marriage records from a ceremony taking place in 1912: one between E. Spencer and N. Gaskill, and the other between Albert Stephen and Marnie Spencer.

You can access this absolute bumper crop of history online at DigitalNC here. Still not satisfied? Read more about Ocracoke’s history and preservation at our partners website here, or look through more Ocracoke material on their partner page.

Thanks to our partners at the Raleigh Fire Museum, we’re proud to announce that a new collection of fire records are now available on DigitalNC! This batch contains annual financial reports, fire protection reports, and even a booklet detailing the rules and regulations of Raleigh’s fire department. Ranging from as early as 1948 to as late as 1984, these documents capture the development and growth of Raleigh through the eyes of its firefighters.

Perhaps the most interesting document in the batch is a collection of internal receipts, forms, and records collected over thirty years from Raleigh’s Emergency Rescue Squad. This collection of ephemera reflects the various needs and duties of the rescue squad: fire engine upkeep and maintenance, flyers for events show public outreach, and preserved news reports highlight the pride in a job well done. Many of these documents have handwritten notes on them, giving the reader a closer connection to the firefighters handling the documents.

You can look at more documents from our partners at the Raleigh Fire Museum here. You can also visit their website and learn more about Raleigh’s history with fire here.