Images of students and staff from the Glenwood Elementary and High School are now available on DigitalNC. From the book Glenwood School 1904-1972: Progressing by Fits and Starts by James Lawton Haney, these images are online courtesy the McDowell County Public Library.

The image above is of the 1956 Handicraft Club, taken from page 147.

Color slides featuring library technology from the 1980s are now available at DigitalNC.org. The slides come from the Rockingham County Public Library and feature an early version of a computerized card catalog as well as microfilm and microfiche readers. The slides also feature the audiovisual equipment  available for use in the library, some examples of patrons using the equipment in the Listening Room, and computer terminals available for patron use. 

When it was nearing time to release the 1948 comedy “Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House,” starring Cary Grant and Myrna Loy, the studio had a novel promotion idea. The story features two harried New Yorkers who move to the country and get in over their heads trying to renovate an old house. In what must have been one of the more elaborate promotional stunts of the time, RKO Pictures built 73 “dream houses” throughout the United States, including two in North Carolina, in Greensboro and Rocky Mount.

The dream houses were fully modern buildings, often equipped by General Electric, which used the opportunity to show off many of their new products. The houses were open to public tours for about a month, often with the price of admission going to local charities. They were later sold by raffle.

The dream house in Rocky Mount was located at 1515 Lafayette Avenue. According to the 1950 Rocky Mount city directory, the house was originally owned by Samuel L. Arrington. Local photographer Albert Rabil photographed the interior of the house, probably around the time of its opening. Rabil’s photographs are preserved in the Braswell Memorial Library (Rocky Mount, N.C.), and many of them are available on DigitalNC, including twelve showing the interior of the dream house.

The dream house was clearly a nice promotional opportunity for businesses all over town. The photographs show signs listing the companies that provided everything from the furniture to the windows. Most notable is the kitchen, filled with gleaming GE appliances. The images are not as clear as Rabil’s studio photographs but there is definitely enough detail to get a sense of what a modern “dream house” looked like in 1948.

Thank you to Local History Librarian Traci Thompson at the Braswell Memorial Library for providing information about the Rocky Mount dream house and also for sending links to websites and articles with more information:

• Wikipedia article on the movie Mr. Blandings Dream House, including a list of the locations of all 73 dream houses.
• General Electric Dream House ad from the June 28, 1948 issue of Life magazine.
• Article about the dream house in Spokane, Washington, from HistoryLink.org.
• Article about the dream house in Portland, Oregon, from Vintage Portland.

A portrait of James Madison Tesh

Ten early photographs from Stokes County are now available in the Images of North Carolina collection on DigitalNC. Most of the photos were taken by James Madison Tesh, a photographer based in Danbury and Madison, N.C., in the early 1870s. There is also one portrait of Tesh. All of the photos are portraits of local people, with the exception of a carte-de-visite showing the Stokes County Courthouse around 1870.

More than 500 photographs contributed by Transylvania County Library have been added to the Images of North Carolina collection on DigitalNC. Many of these images center upon school life in Transylvania County, from rural schools of the early twentieth century to Rosman High School, Brevard High School, and Brevard College. These photographs complement earlier contributions of photographs by Transylvania County Library that feature scenes of community life.

Quebec School Number One, before school taxes.

Lakeside School (also known as Hogback Valley or Pea Ridge).

Rosman High School cheerleading, February 2, 1954.

Brevard High School, Most Original Robert Hunter and Carolyn Kizer, 1947.

Brevard College, Clarion Loyalty Campaign.

With our hot summer weather just around the corner, I hope you’ve planned ahead, as the folks behind this sign suggested:

I’m pleased to announce that we have just loaded a dozen historic photos of Clayton, N.C. into the Images of North Carolina collection.  Primarily from the early 20th century, these show businesses, schools, and a few people.  My favorite is the photo of the Robertson Mule Company, with its large images of mules right on the front.

Robertson Mule Stable