Catalog page from Pulaski Furniture’s “Keepsakes” line, circa late 1970s.

The American Society of Furniture Designers (ASFD), a DigitalNC partner based in High Point, N.C., has contributed newspaper clippings, catalogs, and brochures that document a particular trend of furniture design in the 1970s and 1980s: one driven by nostalgia. American furniture buyers were ready for something new — or, rather, something old-made-new-again — to mix up their modern interiors.

In 1976, Pulaski (then based in Pulaski, Va.) debuted the “Keepsakes” collection in its showroom at the Southern Furniture Market in High Point. The line of golden oak furniture was created for Pulaski by designer Leonard Eisen, a graduate of Syracuse University’s industrial design program. For the collection, Eisen drew on the look of country interiors from the 1890s to 1920s. “Keepsakes” turned out to be a hit, especially among buyers 25-40. “I went to the West Coast antique shops and saw kids buying that type of stuff like crazy,” he is quoted as saying in a 1976 article in the Cleveland Plain Dealer, discussing his original inspiration for the “Keepsakes” line.

Article from the Akron Beacon Journal, October 6, 1977.

Next, Eisen designed a new line for Pulaski called “Apothecary,” this time basing his designs on what promotional materials described as the “romance” of the Edwardian era (1901-1910). “Apothecary” debuted at the High Point Southern Furniture Market in 1977. The 1980s continued to be a time of growth for Pulaski, and Eisen developed more lines of traditional-style furniture for the company.

The newly digitized materials from ASFD includes 10 articles and ads clipped from various newspapers around the United States between 1975-1977, mostly reviewing the “Keepsakes” and “Apothecary” lines and featuring interviews with Eisen about his design ideas — and the appeal of “nostalgic” pieces among 1970s consumers. (In one article, “Eisen Has the Last Laugh,” he notes that while his parents found his furniture unremarkable, “The kids think its funky.”) The materials on DigitalNC also include undated catalogs, brochures, and other promotional materials for a number of different Pulaski Furniture collections.

To learn more about the American Society of Furniture Designers, visit their website. To see all their items available on DigitalNC, take a look at their contributor page.

Cover of Pulaski Furniture catalog, circa late 1970s.

Cross-section of the base of a human skull, from a Rex Messenger cover article introducing Rex Hospital’s new CT scanner, January 1982

From an article on the benefits of breastfeeding (Nursing Perspectives, September 1992)

A newly digitized collection of newsletters from Rex Healthcare Library in Raleigh, N.C., are now available on DigitalNC. The six newsletters range from 1977-2008. The Rex Healthcare Library collection reflects major changes in the life of a hospital over the the past four decades, from attitudes toward smoking, holiday celebrations, recycling, and childcare; to the advent of computers and new medical technology.

Rex Hospital opened in Raleigh in 1894. After relocating to different Raleigh sites in 1909 and 1937, it moved to its current location at  Lake Boone Trail, Raleigh, in 1980. In 1995, Rex Hospital changed its corporate name to Rex Healthcare to reflect the variety of care facilities it provides. Today, the private, not-for-profit Rex is part of the UNC Healthcare system. It is one of the largest employers in Wake County, N.C.  You can learn more about the history of Rex by looking at materials the NCDHC has digitized from them, including this history published in 1957.

Stanza from a poem in the August 1995 issue of Nursing Perspectives

Three of the newsletters — the Rex Messenger, the Rex Hotline, and Pulse — focus on general hospital staff, employees, and friends. The Messenger is the oldest newsletter in the collection, spanning 1977-1998. It includes extensive pieces on the history of the hospital and covers the hospital’s centennial celebration in 1994. Two other newsletters, Nursing Perspectives and CaREXpress, center on the patient care division of the hospital; while RCare  specifically treats the hospital’s move to electronic record-keeping. The newsletters also ran employee profiles, gave updates on hospital procedures, printed poetry and fiction by hospital workers, and published letters from patients; and they report on activities Rex Hospital sponsored in the surrounding Raleigh community.

One feature in the January 1987 issue of the Messenger asked reporters to imagine what life would be like for Mandy Foster — the first child born at Rex Hospital in the new year — when she became a teenager in the year 2000. Several people suggested Mandy might work in the space program. Others speculated on how technologically savvy she would be. An RN reflected, “I’m not sure what the year 2000 will bring to the new baby, but I surely hope it will include the ‘human’ touch and won’t be all ‘machine-to-machine’ conversations or fetch-and-carry robots or ‘push-button everythings.’ ” (Read the full feature here .)

To learn more about Rex Healthcare Library, please visit their contributor page or the website. To see all of the newsletters available from the NC Digital Heritage Center, please visit here.

A Rex Hospital Data Control worker stands next to a horoscope bulletin board she designed (Rex Messenger, February 1979)

From the Rex Hotline (March 2, 2001)

Full Scale Details of 5″ Letters

We have worked with Kings Mountain Historical Museum to digitize many large, detailed blueprints as well as other documents regarding the construction of the post office in Kings Mountain, North Carolina. These are now available on DigitalNC. There are 46 blueprints from the 1930s and 1960s, showing features of the floor plans for the post office as well as details such as mechanical and electrical plans, entrances, windows, lettering, lock boxes, and even the locations of plants. Additionally, there are documents about the construction of the post office and maintenance and repair over the years, giving insight into the communications between the federal government and a smaller, local institution in the 1930s and 1960s.

More materials from the Kings Mountain Historical Museum can be found through their contributor page, and you can learn more about them from their website and previous blog posts about a Civil War diary and Red Cross World War II scrapbook.

First Floor Framing for Kings Mountain Post Office

North Carolina Masonic Mutual Life Insurance Co.

St. John’s Lodge in New Bern, part of The Grand Lodge of Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons of North Carolina, has contributed more materials to DigitalNC, including minute books from the 1850s to 1910s, life insurance certificates from the 1860s, an inventory, and rosters. These materials give insight into the life of the Freemasons in the mid to late 19th century. The life insurance certificates from the North Carolina Masonic Mutual Life Insurance Company reveal the names and residences of many members, which can be useful for genealogy research.

Additionally, the Grand Lodge has provided letters written to D.H. Hill, a Confederate General during the Civil War, which are a useful resource for anyone interested in Civil War history. The Southern Historical Collection in Wilson Library at UNC-Chapel Hill contains papers of D. H. Hill, which can be viewed at their site.

You can learn more about The Grand Lodge of Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons of North Carolina from their contributor page, past blog posts, and their website.