A 1961 newspaper headline from an article about foreign language classes being introduced to the school curriculum
A new batch of scrapbooks from the McDowell County Public Library are now available on DigitalNC. These scrapbooks include three volumes about McDowell County schools and two volumes about hospitals in McDowell county. Mary Margaret Greenlee (1892-1965), an educator and historian who began her career in McDowell County, began the compilation of these scrapbooks, which were then continued and completed by her family members.
The McDowell County School scrapbooks span 1960-1992, and include newspaper clippings about school facilities, administration, student activities and clubs, and more. The Hospitals in McDowell County scrapbooks span 1908-1992 and include clippings about hospital staff, expansions, programs and news.
A newspaper clipping showing school children performing a puppet show about car safety
To view these scrapbooks, click the links below:
To take a look at other materials from the McDowell County Public Library, including the first five volumes of McDowell County school scrapbooks, visit their partner page. You can also learn more about McDowell County Public Library at their website.
McDowell County Schools, Volume 2, page 219
Thanks to our partner, the McDowell County Public Library, 5 new scrapbooks are now available in the North Carolina Memory Collection!
The 5 scrapbooks feature newspaper clippings that, together, cover nearly a century of history of the McDowell County School System. They document the schools, students, administrators, and events in the area. Mary Margaret Greenlee (1892-1965) and her relatives complied the scrapbooks. Greenlee was a well-known educator and advocate of historical preservation in McDowell, Iredell, and Catawba counties.
These scrapbooks, which are full text searchable using Optical Character Recognition (OCR), are excellent resources for those interested in genealogical or historical research in McDowell County. They would be useful for studying change over time in the education system in North Carolina.
You can view each other digitized scrapbooks at the links below:
Visit the McDowell County Public Library’s contributor page or home page to learn more about their collections, events, and other services. To see more scrapbooks like these, browse the North Carolina Memory Collection.
McDowell County Schools Scrapbook, Volume 1, page 195
Photo from the McRae Public Library Scrapbook, page 13
The latest batch of items from the Rockingham County Public Library contains several scrapbooks that document the history of several branch libraries in the county. A highlight from this group is the General Publicity scrapbook, which documents a history of activism for libraries in both Rockingham County and around the state– especially through bookmobiles.
The first bookmobile in Rockingham County, General Publicity, page 14
The first bookmobile came to North Carolina in 1936 to serve the largely rural population that had little access to library services within their communities. At the time, the North Carolina Library Association (NCLA) and the Citizens’ Library Movement estimated that more than 1 million people in NC had no access to libraries. NCLA combated this problem by purchasing the state’s first book truck. The truck traveled around to rural counties in the state, demonstrating how small, local libraries could better serve their populations. This idea quickly caught on in Rockingham County and a community member donated a bookmobile to the county in 1937 (pictured above).
The second bookmobile in Rockingham County, General Publicity Scrapbook, page 15
The new bookmobile was widely successful, making 106 stops weekly around the county. It ran as the soul “locomotive library” for more than a decade before it was replaced by another, more unusual edition in 1949. The second book truck (pictured at left) featured machine-powered shelves that extended several feet behind the truck, which allowed space for more than 1200 volumes of books. This was more than double the amount of the previous truck.
The popularity of the bookmobile grew so rapidly that the county added a second bookmobile to the fleet in 1953. The newest model was a refurbished delivery truck that was as large as a “room on wheels.” The new, larger bookmobile (pictured below) allowed for the library to better serve rural patrons, no matter the weather, which had been a problem for the previous model. The older bookmobile went on to serve the McRae Libraries in Rockingham County, which served the African American community (featured photo at the top of the page), providing access to a previously under-served population in the county. The McRae Library scrapbook also offers a look into the vibrant history of library services for the Black community in Rockingham County. If you are interested in learning more about the Rockingham County Bookmobile, check out this unique film from 1939. It demonstrates the first bookmobile in action!
The third bookmobile in Rockingham County, General Publicity scrapbook, page 16
In addition to the scrapbooks containing information about the bookmobiles, this batch also includes several informational booklets about various textile mills in the county, various memorabilia items, and historical information about the area from the early nineteenth century.
You can see several of the other highlights from this batch below:
To learn more about the Rockingham County Public Library and its branches, please the website. To see more items from the library on DigitalNC, please visit their contributor page.
Four scrapbooks featuring baseball players who went into the big leagues from Wayne County are now online on DigitalNC.
From Sunday Star Sports, a Washington, D.C. paper on April 17, 1949. President Harry Truman threw the opening pitch at the game that day.
Two of the scrapbooks feature Ray Scarborough (1917-1982), a pitcher from Mount Olive, NC who played for the Chicago White Sox, Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, Detroit Tigers, and Washington Senators, and he served as a scout for the Baltimore Orioles. During his time on the Yankees, they went to the 1952 World Series and Scarborough was a scout with the Orioles when they went to the World Series in 1966. The scrapbooks have a mix of materials from his baseball career and as a boy growing up in Wayne County and as a student at Wake Forest University. The materials in the scrapbook are a mix of photographs, letters, and newspaper clippings and cover the 1940s through 1980s.
Tim Talton and his rival for top batting average in the Eastern League Pedro Gonzalez in 1960.
The other two scrapbooks feature Marion (Tim) Talton of Pikeville, N.C., who played as catcher for the minor league teams the St. Cloud Rox in Fargo, ND and the Springfield Giants in Springfield, MA. Known for his exceptional hitting, Talton had the second highest batting average in the Eastern League in 1960 with a .331. One scrapbook covers his time on the St. Cloud Rox in 1959 and the other, his time on the Giants in 1960. Talton moved up to the major leagues in 1966 and played for the Kansas City Athletics.
The scrapbooks were made available through Wayne County Public Library. To view more baseball materials in DigitalNC, visit here.
Issues of the Erwin Chatter and The Cooleemee Journal newspapers have just been added to DigitalNC. Both titles were recommended for digitization by Davie County Public Library.
The Cooleemee Journal was a weekly community paper. We’ve added issues from 1965-1970. The later issues are especially full of large and candid photographs of local events and citizens. The entire run contains local Cooleemee news.
Front page, Cooleemee Journal, September 23, 1970
Cooleemee Picnic, August 1970
The Erwin Chatter was a publication of The Erwin Cotton Mills Company. Like many company newspapers, it describes the activities of the employees both at the mill and beyond – with reports from the different departments alongside announcements of marriages, events, and local school news. We’ve posted monthly issues from 1944 until the Chatter was discontinued as a cost-cutting measure in March, 1954.
One of the more recent items we’ve digitized from the Stanly County Museum is the “Copy of Robert E. Lee’s Farewell Address and Parole Slip of Confederate Soldier E. S. Swaringen, 1865.” It’s a self-explanatory title, and despite the historic nature of Lee’s address the Parole was probably of equal or more import to Swaringen. The well-worn parole pass is pictured below.
Dated April 10, 1865 at Appomattox Court House, Va., the pass reads: “The Bearer, Sargt E. S. Swaringen of Co. “I” 52nd Regt. of N. C. D., a Paroled Prisoner of the Army of Northern Virginia, has permission to go to his home, and there remain undisturbed.” It is signed S[amuel]. Lilly.
After Lee’s surrender, over 28,000 parole passes like this one were given out to Confederate soldiers who agreed not to fight — who would give up their arms and proceed home. The blank passes were printed in the field, the operation being directed by Major General John Gibbon who recalled the difficulty of producing so many in such a short period of time. It’s interesting to think about printing logistics compared with an event as momentous as the end of a war. Printing and filling out those passes would be like supplying every person in the city of Sanford NC with a small form within 24 hours.
E. S. Swaringen, the bearer of the pass, was Eli Shankle Swaringen or Swearingen (1836-1913) of Stanly County, North Carolina. The Swaringen family was and is prominent in Stanly County; William Swaringen was one of the first justices of the peace. During the Civil War, the 52nd Regiment, of which Eli was a part, was organized on 22 April 1862 near Raleigh. You can read a more extensive description of the Regiment’s activities in Volume 3 of the Histories of the Several Regiments and Battalions from North Carolina, in the Great War 1861-’65, p. 223 [271 online].
Swaringen and family are buried at Randall United Methodist Church in Norwood, North Carolina, and his tombstone, albeit slightly hard to read, is pictured here.
You can see more Stanly County Museum items at digitalnc.org.
We’ve added a number of newly scanned items from the Stanly County Museum to DigitalNC.org. It’s a wide variety of content:
- Archer’s BBQ Restaurant scrapbook, 1956-1959
- Delta Kappa Gamma Society minutes, booklets, and histories, 1951-1979
- Minute books and ledgers from the Blackmer Masonic Lodge, 1850-1928
- The Stanly Mason newspaper, several issues from 1955, 1959, 1960
- The Full Moon, Albemarle High School’s student newspaper, issues dating from 1931-1990
- Sketch of Hydrants and Hose Houses, Badin, NC, 1924
- Commencement Exercises from Millingport High School, 1939-1940
- Copy of Robert E. Lee’s Farewell Address and Parole Slip of Confederate Soldier E. S. Swaringen, 1865
You can see all of Stanly County Museum’s items in DigitalNC.
Early high school yearbooks from Wilson County are now available on DigitalNC. The Wilson County Public Library contributed 35 yearbooks from its local history collections to be digitized. The yearbooks range in date from 1927 to 1963 and represent several different schools, including:
A photograph of James Bracken Watlington and his sister, Mary Jane Watlington has been digitized and is now available online along with several other artifacts from the collection of the Museum & Archives of Rockingham County. The photograph of the Watlington children is a particularly interesting because the dress worn by James has also been digitized and is likewise hosted on DigitalNC.org. The photograph provides context for the garment, and the garment adds to the level of detail visible in the photograph, which is decidedly a win-win for all. The digitized garment shows the rich blue and gold colors and embroidery in the dress as well as many details that were not captured in the 1895 photograph of James and Mary Jane. James’ dress, which is contemporary with the portrait of the children, is approximately 125 years old and in impressive shape considering its age.
Mary Jane and James Bracken Watlington, were born in the 1880s to a prominent Caswell County family. The photograph of the siblings showcases the differences between boys’ and girls’ dresses; James’ dress is navy blue with masculine, nearly nautical details, and features a bow tie. Mary Jane’s costume, by contrast, is lacy with ruffles at the shoulders and sleeves, of a light color, and completed with a girlish hat. Historically, boy’s dresses were worn by toddlers and young boys for convenience’s sake; they were more practical than breeches, which often involved complicated latching mechanisms too difficult for little hands to maneuver. Dresses were practical for young children of all ages as it was easier to extend the hem as the child grew to increase the longevity of the garment – an important quality when garments were so much more expensive than they are today. James’ dress, like all boys’ dresses in general, has masculine features that differentiate it from girls’ dresses, such as the color or cut of the neckline and sleeves. Boys were presented their first pair of pants in a breeching ceremony, typically between the ages of around 4 and 7.
