Early high school yearbooks from Rockingham County are now available on DigitalNC. The Rockingham County Public Library contributed 20 yearbooks from its local history collections to be digitized. The yearbooks range in date from 1935-1963 and represent several different schools, including:
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.
Also available are color slides featuring other aspects of the Rockingham County Public Libraries in the 1970s and 1980s, including storytimes,library staff, and library spaces (such as Stoneville Library’s Genealogy Area, Reidsville Library’s card catalogs, and Madison Library’s circulation desk).
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.
The Museum & Archives of Rockingham County recently worked with the North Carolina Digital Heritage Center to photograph and display online several historic artifacts from their collection. The Museum, located in the historic county courthouse in Wentworth, N.C., documents all aspects of county history through its extensive collections of artifacts, documents, and more.
Photographing museum artifacts can be challenging. The 19th-century wedding dresses from the museum were especially difficult to prepare for digitization. The Digital Production Center in Wilson Library has a dressmaker’s mannequin used for photographing historic clothing, but the dresses from the museum were so small — especially in the waist — that they wouldn’t fit. We ended up simply using a hanger to hold them up and used a little tissue paper to give them a fuller appearance. With expert help from one of the Digital Production Center photographers, we were able to capture images that show all of the fine details of the dresses and put them online so that users can zoom all the way in to the high resolution images. Here are some examples:
Other items photographed from the collection include milk bottles from local dairies, an old adding machine from a local store, Christmas cards from a local schoolteacher, and a fragile, somewhat scary-looking doll from the 1920s.
Sixth grade students at West Elementary School in Kings Mountain, 1959-60. Contributor: Kings Mountain Historical Museum
We are very excited to announce that our site has expanded to include four new sets of primary source teaching resources available for any teachers, researchers, or curious explorers to use. Each of these sets focuses on a particular topic in North Carolina history and includes a curated selection of 15-20 primary sources from our 300+ partners around the state. Within each set is a blend of visual materials (photographs, videos), written materials (newspaper articles, speeches, letters), and audio materials (interviews, oral histories) from the DigitalNC collections.
Each set also comes with short context blurbs for each item, as well as general background information, a timeline, a set of discussion questions, and links to genre-specific worksheets (ex. How to Analyze a Newspaper Clipping). While some of these topics are more concentrated in particular regions, our goal is to connect these broad themes in history to local examples that students can recognize. Here’s a look at the four initial primary source sets:
From the 1971 Gohisca yearbook from Goldsboro High School. Contributor: Wayne County Public Library
While you may be familiar with some of the national stories around school integration after Brown v. Board of Education, this teaching set samples North Carolina yearbooks, photographs, newspapers, and oral histories to ground this topic in familiar places. It draws primarily on our collections from historically Black high schools, many of which were closed during this period (though their alumni associations remain strong!). This collection also implements local materials from the Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Supreme Court case over busing.
A cartoon from The Front Page in Raleigh, N.C. (1980). Contributors: Duke University & UNC Charlotte
This set was inspired by the popular NCPedia page, “Analyzing Political Cartoons,” which explains some of the strategies for understanding cartoons in their historical context. Here, we’ve selected examples from over a century of newspapers that include topics such as the 1898 Wilmington Coup, women’s suffrage, economics, and a few contemporary political issues. Each example comes with a bit of historical context and some background on the newspaper itself.
Textile workers marching in Gastonia, N.C. in 1929. Contributor: Gaston County Museum of Art & History
North Carolina’s history of labor is inextricably tied to the legacy of the textile industry. This set uses photographs, memorabilia, speeches, and newspaper clippings of two famous examples—the Loray Mill strike of 1929 and the activism of Crystal Lee Sutton—to weave together an understanding of North Carolina’s economy and culture through one of its major industries of the 20th century.
A postcard from the American Tobacco Company cigarette plant in Reidsville, N.C. Contributor: Rockingham County Public Library
It would be impossible to fully understand the history of North Carolina in the 20th century without talking about the tobacco industry. This set uses photographs, newspapers, videos, and oral histories to explore the lives of tobacco farmers and factory workers as well as the major families who controlled the vast tobacco wealth. Additionally, it includes examples of how the industry affected culture, including a new generation of advertising that attempted to combat public health concerns.
New materials from the Rockingham County Public Library are now available on DigitalNC. This batch includes photographs, remembrance books, neighborhood histories, newspaper clippings, and a football schedule poster.
Photographs include the one above of Lowes Methodist Church, now Lowes United Methodist, in Reidsville, and one of Charlie Jackson Bennett laying in state in 1953. There are remembrance books for the same Bennett, as well as Carrie Lee H. Bennett and Sylvia Bennett Brown. The funeral home where Sylvia Bennett Brown was laid to rest also created a remembrance plaque, included in this batch of items.
Other items include a variety of materials documenting the history of Mayodan and Stoneville, North Carolina, mostly from the twentieth century. The Carolina Heights neighborhood in Eden, North Carolina, is also represented here by a leaflet sharing its history. Carolina Heights was formerly in Spray, which was consolidated into Eden in 1967. To see all materials on DigitalNC from Spray, click here.
DigitalNC is thankful to our partner, Rockingham County Public Library, for enabling access to these materials online. To learn more about the Rockingham County Public Library, visit their partner page here or their website here. To see all items in this batch, click here, and to see everything contributed by the library, click here.
The Fieldcrest Mill Whistle provided Spray, North Carolina residents with a community newspaper and also doubled as a source of information for Fieldcrest Mills employees. Fieldcrest Mills was a textile mill that produced items such as blankets, towels, and bed sheets.
Doll party at the Rockingham County Library, from January 10, 1949.
Employees are celebrated at a Safety Barbecue, October 23, 1978.
An example of fillers for blank spaces in the paper, January 10, 1949.
To view more material from Rockingham Community College, click here, or for the entire issue catalog of The Fieldcrest Mill Whistle, click here.
We’ve taken a look back at this year’s top 5 most viewed items on DigitalNC, and they may not be what you expect! Here they are in order of popularity.
The most viewed single item on DigitalNC was this photo:
Want to know more about Madison Beach? We did, and found this page in a Rockingham County Public Library volume by local author John T. Dallas to help us out.
This picture of Jim Thornton and his band includes Congressman Harold D. Cooley and singer Mozelle Phillips. The band played at dances and events, as well as on the radio and a live country music television show out of Raleigh entitled “Saturday Night Country Style.”
From the 1880s, this postcard shows the bridge spanning Contentnea Creek in Wilson County, with “Wiggin’s Mill” and the reservoir waterfall in the background. Wiggin’s Mill was a sawmill, and can be found in newspapers of that era as a local landmark both on land and on the creek. The Wilson Advancedescribes the Wiggin’s Mill bridge floating away in a “freshet” in June 1891.
Taken together, yearbooks are the most popular items available on our site. It’s not surprising that one made the top 5 list. This 1976 Yackety Yack has spectacular photographs with 1970s style.
For the curious, here are some overall numbers for DigitalNC for 2017. Here’s looking forward as we work with partners to share even more of North Carolina’s cultural heritage in 2018!
The exhibit, Transylvania: The Architectural History of a Mountain County, features nearly 1,500 images taken during an architectural survey done of the county in the early 1990s. Architectural surveys are inventories of built, intact structures in a given area. These images document structures and communities in Brevard, Rosman, Lake Toxaway, Cedar Mountain, Pisgah Forest, and other areas. The County was founded in 1861 as an agricultural community, which is evident through the survey. Hundreds of images depict homes, barns, spring houses, smokehouses, chicken houses, silos, and many other structures that reflect the activities and roots of the rural community.
In addition to farms, the survey also documents churches, cemeteries, local businesses, and schools, some of which have since been demolished. These resources include corresponding data that describe locations, family names, and historical information that could serve as excellent resources for genealogists or researchers.
This blog is maintained by the staff of the North Carolina Digital Heritage Center and features the latest news and highlights from the collections at DigitalNC, an online library of primary sources from organizations across North Carolina.
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