A set of church, family, and county histories from the library at Edgecombe Community College are now available on DigitalNC. These papers were written primarily by students at the college at include several family histories and histories of churches in and around Tarboro.
My favorite is “We Recollect. . . .” An Anecdotal History of Nash County, which was compiled by seventh and eighth grade students at Southern Nash Junior High. The history contains excerpts from oral history interviews with older residents of Nash County. The interviews contain great anecdotes about life in mill villages, schools, and professions. One passage caught my eye when I was paging through:
Q: How do you kill hogs the old way?
A: First, you shoot them between the eyes.
It’s from an interview with Sherwood Smith, whose store at Dortches was renowned for its traditionally-processed fresh meat. The interview starts on page 10 and includes Smith’s method for curing ham and the recipe for his famous sausage.
404 E. Park Avenue, 2001
404 E. Park Avenue, 2002
Some excellent photos of the historic homes of Tarboro have just been added to our site thanks to our partner the Edgecombe County Memorial Library. These photos document many of the buildings of downtown Tarboro—some of which are no longer standing—and include some information about the structure’s history.
While many of the photos from the early 2000s are standard color prints, several of the older buildings, which have since been demolished, are preserved on color slides.
The Dennie Cox (?) House (1880s). Located on Highway 64, “half way to Rocky Mount,” before it was demolished.
Bridgers School (demolished)
This batch also included another ledger from W. S. Clark’s store. This ledger, from 1913, joins five other ledgers already on our site from Clark’s Tarboro store. Additionally, we’ve uploaded six minute books from the Edgecombe Magazine Club ranging from 1911-1952, as well as the 1928 Maccripine yearbook from South Edgecombe High School.
You can see the full batch of photographs, minute books, and the store ledger here. To see more materials from Edgecombe County Memorial Library, visit their partner page and their website.
M.S. Brown: Miscellaneous Baseball Photos, Image 87
Regular followers of DigitalNC are likely familiar with M.S. Brown and the growing collection of photographs he took around Edgecombe County available on the site. Another batch is now available online, courtesy of our partner, Edgecombe County Memorial Library.
This batch features additions to the pageants, boy scouts, and basketball objects and several new objects including auto wrecks, baseball, and children. One object that some might find interesting contains photos published in the “Home Front News.” Members of the Oxford community published this local newspaper during WWII and shipped it local men serving around the country and abroad. It often featured single women in the area that were interested in writing letters to
soldiers. The set includes many of the proofs that M.S. Brown shot for the paper.
Also completed in this batch are several documents and publications relating to the “Tobacco Perspectives” project. The project consisted of an exhibition of tobacco memorabilia and a series of public forums examining the role of tobacco in Edgecombe County’s economy. Organizers hoped to inspire community discussion about the crop’s harmful effects and the county’s dependency on its growth. DigitalNC is also host to several videos of the discussions.
Tobacco Perspectives Brochure
You can view the new materials relating to “Tobacco Perspectives” at the links below:
Items in this blog post come from the Images of North Carolina Collection and the North Carolina Memory Collection. Check them out for more items like these. To learn more about the Edgecombe County Memorial Library, please visit the contributor page or the website.
Thanks to our partner, Edgecombe County Memorial Library, The Tarborough Southerner is now available on our website. This batch includes 47 issues, spanning from January 9, 1908 to December 24, 1908. Based in the center of Edgecombe County in Tarboro, North Carolina, The Tarborough Southerner prided itself on providing stories covering politics, news, and literature while giving “especial attention to matters of the latest local and general interests.”
The paper was first published under the name The Tarborough Southerner beginning in 1875, but has gone by several names since the paper’s first title, Free Press, in 1824. Following Free Press, the paper’s title has been: North-Carolina Free Press (1830-1832), N. Carolina Free Press (1832-1833), Tarborough Free Press (1833-1834), Tarboro Press (1835-1851), The Southerner (1852-1867), The Tarboro Southerner (1863-1874), The Enquirer (1871), The Tarborough Southerner (1875-19??), and lastly in the early 1900s, Weekly Southerner (19??-19??).
To learn more about the Edgecombe County Memorial Library, visit their website.
To view all issues of The Tarborough Southerner, visit here.
This holiday season our staff brainstormed about things we feel many of our current or potential partners may not know about us! We don’t mean that we love YoPo and baby yoda (though we do). We mean services we provide, or projects we’ll take on, or tools our partners can use to get the best out of their DigitalNC collections. So for the next two weeks join us here on the blog for the 12 Days of NCDHC. We’ll be posting short entries that reveal something you may not know about us. You can view all of the posts together by clicking on the 12daysofncdhc tag. And, as always, chat with us if you have questions or want to work with us on something new. Happy Holidays!
Day 1: Each of our Partner Institutions Has Its Own Landing Page
When we partner with a cultural heritage organization to scan items from their collections, the images and information all go into DigitalNC.org where everything can be searched together. BUT, there’s also a quick and easy way to find just what we’ve scanned from any particular institution – their landing page. If you click on any of the contributor names on this page you’ll get to their landing page, which will look something like this:
From the landing page you can search or browse just that organization’s scanned collections. It’s a great way to narrow down your search. There are also links to blog posts related to that organization and links back to their own web presence. If you’re a current partner, we hope you’ll link to your landing page on your own website.
Check back on Monday as we reveal Day 2 of the 12 Days of NCDHC!
A view inside the Coca-Cola Bottling Company in Edgecombe County
A new batch of over 50 photographs from the M.S. Brown Collection is now available on DigitalNC, courtesy of our partner, the Edgecombe County Memorial Library. Click here to view the photos.
People posing in front of the booth for WCPS, the radio station still running in Tarboro. M.S. Brown is 2nd from the right
Many of these photos reflect on daily life in Tarboro or in Edgecombe County in the 1930s and 1940s. There are many photographs and portraits of local citizens included. Some other photos are of businesses and public common areas in Tarboro, while there are several of local figures, including a photo of the Carolina Power and Light Director’s Meeting and a few photos of the Edgecombe 4-H Clubs meeting in Tarboro.
To learn more about M.S. Brown, check out all of his photos available on his DigitalNC exhibit page. To see all of the items contributed by the Edgecombe County Memorial Library, visit their partner page or their website.
Over 300 new photos from the M.S. Brown Collection are now on DigitalNC courtesy of the Edgecombe County Memorial Library. M.S. Brown was an avid amateur photographer, and these new additions document a wide variety of aspects of daily life in Tarboro and Edgecombe County. Included are new photographs of Tarboro High School, the Tarboro town clock, businesses in Tarboro, portraits of Tarboro citizens, additions to Edgecombe County Officials, and much more.
Students showing of projects in a woodworking class
The Tarboro tobacco drive-in
A folder of M.S. Brown memorabilia is also now available, which includes “The M.S.B. March”, an original piece of music composed by Roy L. Russel and dedicated to M.S. Brown in light of all of his important contributions to the Tarboro community.
The M.S.B. March
To learn more about the MS Brown collection, view previous posts about materials digitized from it here. To learn more about Edgecombe County Memorial Library, visit their partner page here.
DigitalNC has added more photographs to the M.S. Brown Collection, provided by the Edgecombe County Memorial Library. Milton Steele Brown, perhaps best known for opening a Coca-Cola bottling plant in Tarboro, was also an amateur photographer. This latest batch of photographs is the last of the collection that is housed by the Edgecombe County Memorial Library. Mr. Brown photographed a large variety of events and subjects, providing a glimpse into the lives of Tarboro and Edgecombe County citizens.
High School Dance
Tarboro High School Majorettes
United Daughters of the Confederacy Arch at Old Town Cemetery
Tarboro Open Air Market
More photographs of some of Mr. Brown’s more common subjects are included in this batch, including the Tarboro High School Band and Majorettes, many events where Coca-Cola was served or promoted, homes and businesses around the county, and much more.
Man standing by an iced cart of Coca-Cola
Girls at pool sitting on the Coca-Cola truck
For more information about what is included in the M.S. Brown Collection, visit the exhibit page or see these previous blog posts.
M.S. Brown on the far left presenting an award at WCPS Radio Station.
The North Carolina Digital Heritage Center has recently scanned and made available online a new batch of photographs from Tarboro photographer M.S. “Coca-Cola” Brown. Brown managed the local Coca-Cola plant, hence the nickname. For more information on him and the photos that are in his collection, view the M.S. Brown exhibit page.
Beard-growing for the Tarboro Celebration
The latest batch of digitized photographs from Mr. Brown depict a wide variety of activities surrounding the lives of Tarboro citizens, including more photographs of swimmers, a man growing a beard for a Tarboro celebration (seen above), a local chicken farm, and two local radio stations. Many of the pictures feature individuals drinking Coca-Cola from the classic glass bottles.
Swim Team Awards
The photographs in this exhibit are part of an ongoing project with the Edgecombe County Memorial Library. For more information and a look at other batches of photos from this collection, there are two previous blog posts about the M.S. Brown exhibit which can be found on our website, “New M.S. Brown Photos Online: Tarboro Community Pool, Bathing Beauties and More,” and “Photographs from the M.S. Brown Collection Now Available.”
M.S. Brown (center) sitting with community pool-goers.
Over 200 new photos from Edgecombe County Memorial Library’s M.S. Brown Collection have just been added online! Included in this batch of photos are shots from the Tarboro Community Pool featuring a swim meet, a Bathing Beauty Contest, and the activities of regular pool-goers around the time of the mid 1900s.
M.S. Brown, locally known as “Coca-Cola Brown,” was an enthusiastic amateur photographer, as can be seen by the number and variety of his photographs. To learn more about Brown, see a previous blog post about his collection. To browse more photographs, visit the M.S. Brown Collection digital exhibit, made available on DigitalNC.
