Nearly a dozen new scrapbooks from the Nashville Business and Professional Women’s Club are now digitized and online at DigitalNC, courtesy of our partner, the Harold D. Cooley Library in Nashville, NC.

A 1981 clipping from the Nashville Graphic about the Nashville BPW setting up for the Stonewall Christmas Open House.

One clipping advertising the Nashville Opry, put on by the Nashville BPW, featuring an Elvis impersonator Tim Bunn.

Chartered in 1921, the National Federation of Business and Professional Women’s Clubs was designed to promote the professional and business interests of women, extend professional opportunities to women, “elevate the standards for women”, and more. This batch includes the articles and bylaws of incorporation for the BPW Club, as well as over 12 years of scrapbooks for the group. Inside these scrapbooks are documents, photos of members and of state conventions and functions, newspaper clippings about local events, and newsletters all about the clubs and its members.

Having this material on our website is crucial to preserving information about social clubs and increasing representation online. To see more materials from Harold D. Cooley Library, please check out their contributor page or visit their website.

Nine new scrapbooks from High Point have been digitized and are now available at DigitalNC, courtesy of our partner, the Heritage Research Center at High Point Public Library. These scrapbooks are from throughout the 20th century, with a few dating from 1920-1940, while others date from 1963-1974. They join previously digitized collections, dating back to 1952.

Clippings from a 1967 issue of the Greensboro Daily News, where a new Anheuser-Busch brewery was to be built in Jamestown

These scrapbooks contain newspaper clippings from the High Point Enterprise and the Greensboro Daily News, arranged in chronological order. In many cases, articles were pasted and taped into the scrapbooks overlapping each other, so digitizing these required taking multiple images of each page. Some of the scrapbooks also contained handwritten indexes in the front for easy navigation. Many of the newspaper clippings related to local events in High Point and Greensboro. For example, one page contained articles about the selection of police officers in High Point, city employees attending a safety meeting, changes made to the High Point City Hall offices, and more. Other events covered included political events and local races, and decisions about town planning. Every so often, national and international events are also included.

To learn more from the Heritage Research Center at High Point Public Library, please visit their partner page, or check out their website.

A batch of scrapbooks documenting Durham’s United Fund Campaign are now online at DigitalNC courtesy of our partner Durham County Library. These scrapbooks hold newspaper clippings and advertisements for the United Fund for the years 1953 and 1955 to 1960. Efforts to develop a United Fund for Durham officially began in 1953, so these scrapbooks document the early days of the fund and its subsequent growth.

The United Fund Story from the 1953 United Fund Scrapbook.

The United Fund joined the campaigning efforts of more than 30 Durham community organizations in an effort to lessen the fundraising burden of each and increase the funds raised for all. The scrapbooks detail the ways in which many local businesses and citizens donated to the United Fund. Monies collected went to support organizations like the Girl Scouts, the Red Cross, and to fight diseases such as polio, cancer, tuberculosis, and heart disease.

An advertisement from a local newspaper encouraged citizens to “Give Once For All” for Durham’s United Fund and detailed many of the organizations included. 

Some of the clippings promise that displaying evidence of earlier contribution “provides the basis for immunity from further solicitation” by any of the organizations included in the United Fund.

This clipping promises “immunity from further solicitation” once donations were made to The United Fund. 

Others communicate the fund’s urgency in some interesting ways … like by asking if participants will need “victory whistles or crying towels” at the next meeting.

United Fund contributors were invited to the first annual meeting. 

These scrapbooks detail times of considerable change in Durham, and join an already substantial collection from Durham County Library. To access more from Durham County Library, visit their partner page or their website.

Auxiliary Officers from a Raleigh Times clipping in 1953-1954 scrapbook

Image from the Ladies’ Auxiliary of the Raleigh Fire Fighters Association Scrapbook [1951-1953]

This group of scrapbooks contains images, correspondence, programs, news clippings, and more documenting both firefighting and social events organized by the Ladies’ Auxiliary. These scrapbooks are organized chronologically and according to type of materials contained within. From the scrapbooks, you get a sense of the social culture surrounding firefighting from the perspective of the spouses and families of firefighters.

To learn more about our partner, the Raleigh Fire Museum, visit their DigitalNC partner page or take a look at their website!