Judge Rules Bill of Rights Belongs to North Carolina
On January 23, 2004, the State of North Carolina moved another legal step closer to
recovery of its long-missing original copy of the Bill of Rights. Chief Judge Terrence W.
Boyle of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina ruled that the
disputed document belonged to the State as a public record. However, he ordered the
U.S. marshal in Raleigh to retain possession pending final resolution of any appeals. Even-tually,
State officials hope to transfer the Bill of Rights to the State Archives, to resume the
rightful place of honor from which it was removed 139 years ago.
The priceless document has a mysterious and peripatetic history, much of it spent out of
the public eye. It is one of fourteen original copies of the proposed amendments to the U.S.
Constitution—collectively known as the Bill of Rights—prepared by three federal clerks
in 1789. A copy was scrivened for the governor of each state to peruse as the adoption of
the twelve amendments (only ten of which were then approved) to the Constitution was
debated; the other copy was for the federal government. After the ratification of the first
ten amendments in 1791, North Carolina retained custody of its copy of the document
for the next eight decades. The secretary of state kept the Bill of Rights with other valu-able
state documents in the State Capitol. In April 1865, as Gen. William T. Sherman’s
victorious army passed through Raleigh in relentless pursuit of Gen. Joseph E. Johnston’s
retreating Confederates, a soldier from Ohio along with his
comrades removed numerous official documents from the
State Capitol. The unidentified thief later returned with his
unusual spoil of war to his home in Tippecanoe (present
Tipp City), in Miami County, Ohio. Approximately one
year later, the veteran sold his trophy to Charles A.
Shotwell, who then lived at the county seat, Troy.
Carolina
Comments
VOLUME 52, NUMBER 2 APRIL 2004
Published Quarterly by the North Carolina Office of Archives and History
North Carolina’s original copy of the Bill of Rights, missing since
1865, was recovered by the Federal Bureau of Investigation last
March. (Photo courtesy of the U.S. Attorney General’s Office and
Karen Blum, N.C. Department of Justice.)
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A Message from the Deputy Secretary
Culminating nearly a year of intense legal maneuvering,
federal judge Terrence Boyle ruled on January 23, 2004,
that North Carolina should get back its original copy of
the Bill of Rights. Out of an abundance of caution, how-ever,
Judge Boyle ordered federal authorities to retain cus-tody
of the document until the case is finally adjudicated.
While Boyle’s decision is not the final chapter in the
document’s 139-year saga, it underscores two important
principles. The first affirms that North Carolina will not pay
to have its public records returned. The second principle rein-forces
the first: public records created by the state belong to the
people of North Carolina. Ownership of those documents cannot be alienated with-out
legislative approval. Over the years leaders of the Office of Archives and History
have maintained those principles, often in the face of criticism, or when expediency
might have dictated a different course. This agency’s responsibility for managing the
state’s public records is mandated by G.S. 121 and G.S. 132.
Before 2003 North Carolina’s copy of the Bill of Rights, which was stolen from
the State Capitol by a Union soldier in 1865, had come to light three times. In 1897,
Dr. Cyrus Thompson, the North Carolina secretary of state, learned that the state’s
copy of the Bill of Rights was on display in Indianapolis, Indiana. Working with the
Indiana secretary of state and a newspaper publisher, Thompson tried without success
to secure the document.
In 1925 the Bill of Rights appeared again. When an agent tried to sell the docu-ment
to the State of North Carolina, Robert B. House, secretary of the North
Carolina Historical Commission, refused. He argued that “title to it has never passed
from . . . North Carolina to any individual.”
The Bill of Rights next surfaced in 1995 when a lawyer tried to open negotiations for
its purchase. Officials of the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources again
declined to buy back a public record that belonged to the people of North Carolina.
Judge Boyle reaffirmed those principles in his decision. He specifically cited North
Carolina v. B.C. West Jr. (1977) to make his ruling. In that case the North Carolina
Supreme Court had decided by a vote of five to two that public ownership of records
could never be broken. The case centered on two colonial legal documents signed by
William Hooper when he was a Crown attorney. Hooper later signed the Declaration
of Independence. The West case established a precedent for the return of public records
to the custody of the state. As an immediate consequence of that decision, a letter dated
August 26, 1790, from President George Washington to the governor and Council of
State also was returned to the state. In that letter, Washington welcomed North
Carolina into the Union upon its ratification of the federal Constitution.
The driving force behind the West case was Dr. Thornton W. Mitchell, then state
archivist. His courage, foresight, and resolve ensured that the state’s public records
would always belong to the people of North Carolina.
At this writing the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit has not ruled.
The case could go all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. The Office of Archives
and History looks forward to the day when it can receive the Bill of Rights and
celebrate its return with the citizens of North Carolina.
Jeffrey J. Crow
Some thirty years later, Shotwell was working in the Board
of Trade Building in Indianapolis, Indiana, proudly dis-playing
the unique relic on the wall of his office. On
May 10, 1897, the Indianapolis News ran an article about
Shotwell and his souvenir that, in the journalistic fashion
of the day, was picked up and reprinted in its entirety by
the Raleigh News and Observer on June 10. State supreme
court justice Walter Clark saw the article and wrote to
North Carolina Secretary of State Cyrus Thompson, ask-ing
that he take appropriate measures to recover the docu-ment,
which “on its face . . . belongs to the State of N.C.
and to your office & the State can reclaim it anywhere &
at any time.” At Clark’s suggestion, Thompson wrote to
his counterpart in Indiana, William D. Owen. For three
months, there was no response. Finally, on September 25,
Thompson wrote to the Indianapolis News to see if the facts as reported in the article of
May 10 were true. He also mentioned to the newspaper that he had made unanswered
inquiries to the secretary of state. Within a few days, he received two letters from Owen,
the first apologizing for his failure to answer the earlier letter and explaining his inability to
get in contact with Shotwell. Owen’s second letter, dated September 30, detailed his
interview with Shotwell, whom he had found in a bad humor as a result of the adverse
publicity he was receiving from the local press. Shotwell claimed to have been personally
acquainted with the soldier from whom he had purchased the manuscript, “an honorable
gentleman whose integrity could not be called in question,” but who had admitted to tak-ing
the Bill of Rights “and other articles from the State House at Raleigh as souvenirs.”
Despite Owen’s judgment that “with genteel and courteous treatment, he will not be
unreasonable in the matter,” Shotwell refused to part with the document and soon disap-peared
from public view.
Twenty-eight years passed with no further word of Shotwell or the purloined Bill of
Rights. Then, in February 1925, Professor J. G. deRoulhac Hamilton of the University of
North Carolina received a curious letter from Charles I. Reid of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
Reid requested some background information concerning the theft of the North Carolina
copy of the Bill of Rights. He claimed to represent an old man (presumably Shotwell)
who had bought it from a Union soldier soon after the war. Interestingly, Reid and
Shotwell’s son Grier had served together in the U.S. Army during World War I. Hamilton
referred the letter to Robert B. House, secretary of the North Carolina Historical Com-mission.
After being rebuffed in an attempt to sell the document to a private collector in
Durham, Reid offered it to the commission, but House refused to buy stolen State prop-erty.
In a memorable phrase, House declared: “So long as it remains away from the official
custody of North Carolina, it will serve as a memorial of individual theft.” Reid, his mys-terious
client, and the Bill of Rights again disappeared.
In 1991, Charles A. Shotwell’s descendants contacted attorney Charles Reeder to facili-tate
the sale of the Bill of Rights. Reeder approached Sotheby’s Auction House in New
York, which sent representatives to Indiana to view the document and to hear the account
of its removal from the Capitol in Raleigh. Sotheby’s declined to get involved because of
questions about North Carolina’s claims to title to the document. Reeder then turned his
attention to an auction house in Chicago, Illinois. The owner of the house also had con-cerns
about the title and requested that the commission be increased from 20 to 30
V O L U M E 5 2 , N U M B E R 2 , A P R I L 2 0 0 4 3 9
The Board of Trade Building in
Indianapolis, Indiana, circa 1900.
Charles A. Shotwell displayed
the North Carolina copy of the
Bill of Rights in his office in this
building. (Photo courtesy of the
Library of Congress.)
percent; the business relationship soon ended. (North Carolina officials did not learn of
these attempted sales until after the recovery of the Bill of Rights in 2003).
In 1995, North Carolina’s copy of the Bill of Rights resurfaced and the State was again
given the opportunity to purchase it. Reeder had eventually come into contact with
prominent antiques dealer Wayne E. Pratt, who used his agent, attorney John L. Richard-son
of Washington, D.C., to broker a sale between his unnamed clients and the State. As
before, North Carolina officials refused to even consider paying the asking price of $2 mil-lion
for the return of State property.
Wayne Pratt, Inc., bought an option to purchase the Bill of Rights from the Shotwell
heirs in September 1997. But Pratt wanted to authenticate the manuscript prior to purchase.
One afternoon in early 2000, three men and a young woman with an oversized cardboard
container visited the offices of the First Federal Congress Project at George Washington
University in downtown Washington. They had an appointment to have a document
appraised for authenticity. The foursome refused to identify themselves; two of them did not
speak at all but had the appearance of bodyguards (as in fact they were). Project director
Charlene Bickford and two members of her staff were first shown photographs, and then the
actual document was removed from the cardboard art box. Bickford and her colleagues
immediately realized they were looking at an original Bill of Rights, but were unable to
determine which of the missing copies it was, as the document was mounted and framed,
preventing an examination of the critical docketing information on the back. (Altogether,
five of the original fourteen copies—those belonging to Georgia, Maryland, New York,
North Carolina, and Pennsylvania—were then missing. Two are suspected to have burned,
while unidentified copies are housed in the New York Public Library and the Library of
Congress.) Bickford advised the visitors, who refused to disclose where they had obtained
the manuscript, that they would have enormous difficulty in selling an alienated document
that was both priceless and worthless. She had the impression that she was merely confirming
what they already knew of the provenance of the manuscript. Bickford also recommended
that they have an expert conservator remove the backing from the document to permit an
inspection of any endorsements on the reverse. The mysterious visitors quickly packed up
and departed. In February 2000, soon after this encounter, Wayne Pratt, Inc., purchased the
North Carolina Bill of Rights from two Shotwell descendants for $200,000.
Manuscripts expert Seth Kaller of New York was approached in 2002 by the agent of a
client (Wayne Pratt, Inc.) that wished to sell an original copy of the Bill of Rights. Kaller
suggested the National Constitution Center, then under construction in Philadelphia, as a
likely customer. He had no doubt been informed that the center was looking for just such
an item—preferably Pennsylvania’s missing copy—to display at the opening of the center
on July 4, 2003. Soon thereafter, center president Joseph Torsella and board member and
attorney Stephen J. Harmelin were contacted by a broker offering to sell the center a copy
of the Bill of Rights. The broker sent a notebook detailing the history of the document,
with photographs of the front and back. Torsella contacted Charlene Bickford to authenti-cate
the manuscript. From the photographs of the back of the document, handwriting
expert Helen Veit of the First Federal Project Congress staff quickly concluded that the
document belonged to North Carolina. Bickford also noticed that information she had
supplied to the mysterious visitors during her previous appraisal of an original Bill of
Rights was contained in the notebook. Torsella then notified Pennsylvania governor Ed
Rendell, who was also a member of the museum board, of the offer to sell the stolen doc-ument.
Governor Rendell contacted his counterpart in North Carolina, Michael F. Easley,
to see if he would like to share the cost of purchase. Consistent with the State’s stance
since 1897, the governor refused to even consider buying what rightfully belonged to
North Carolina. He sought the advice of North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper
4 0 C A R O L I N A C O M M E N T S
and the Office of the U.S. Attorney in Raleigh. Soon, the U.S. Marshal’s Service and the
Federal Bureau of Investigation were laying plans for a sting operation to recover the
stolen manuscript.
On March 18, 2003, John L. Richardson arrived at the law offices of Dilworth Paxson,
LLP, on Market Street in Philadelphia. In the firm’s conference room on the thirty-second
floor, he met attorney Harmelin, purportedly representing the National Constitution Cen-ter,
to transact the sale of the copy of the Bill of Rights belonging to Pratt. Seth Kaller was
also present to certify the authenticity of the manuscript. Richardson was shown a check
for $4 million; he confirmed by phone the transfer of the funds to his bank account.
Assured that the money was in hand, he called a courier in the lobby of the building to
bring up the document. The courier brought in the same cardboard art box that Charlene
Bickford had seen three years before. The manuscript was removed from the box and
placed on the conference table. After Kaller pronounced the document to be a genuine
original copy of the Bill of Rights, Harmelin left the room, supposedly to bring in
Torsella, as agent for the center. Instead, five FBI agents rushed in and took custody of the
document, which Richardson had already tendered. The agents also served a civil seizure
warrant signed by Judge Boyle (who later concluded that the Bill of Rights had already
been voluntarily transferred before service of the warrant).
As the State prepared its brief for the civil suit against all other claimants, prosecutors
requested further evidence that would tie the recovered Bill of Rights irrefutably to North
Carolina. George Stevenson Jr., private manuscripts archivist at the North Carolina State
Archives and an acknowledged expert on eighteenth-century paper and handwriting, was
summoned to the U.S. Marshal’s Office in Raleigh to examine the document. Drawing
upon his extensive knowledge of the records in the archives, Stevenson compared the
handwriting of the endorsement on the back of the Bill of Rights with that on the reverse
of the October 2, 1789, letter of transmittal from President George Washington to North
Carolina governor Samuel Johnston. He also compared the endorsement on the back of
North Carolina’s original copy of the eleventh amendment to the U.S. Constitution,
received in 1795. He determined that all three notations were in the same hand. From
previous research, Stevenson knew that Pleasant Henderson of Granville County had
served as one of the engrossing clerks in the 1789 assembly, and as assistant clerk to the
House of Commons in 1795. He compared numerous samples of Henderson’s handwrit-ing
with the endorsements on the Bill of Rights, the letter of transmittal, and the 1795
amendment. He concluded that all three were by the hand of Pleasant Henderson and
attested to such in an affidavit filed in federal court on August 8, 2003.
On September 11, a deal was struck between Pratt, the United States, and the State of
North Carolina that seemingly secured possession of the Bill of Rights to North Carolina.
Pratt agreed to relinquish his claim and give the document to the State. In return, the
State declined further prosecution of its civil forfeiture suit, United States of America v. North
Carolina’s Original Copy of the Bill of Rights, and the United States promised to refrain from
criminal proceedings against Pratt. Apparently, only one legal issue remained unresolved:
Robert V. Matthews, Pratt’s erstwhile business partner and purported co-owner of the
document, demanded a $15 million tax write-off for his half of the “gift,” which has an
estimated value of $30 million. U.S. Attorney Frank Whitney suggested that that was a
private matter to be settled between Matthews and Pratt.
At a hearing on November 21, Judge Boyle issued an order that seemingly signified the
court’s intention to return all matters of litigation to status quo ante, including the release of
the Bill of Rights to Richardson as prior possessor. Erstwhile defendant Pratt filed a
motion for clarification in federal court. Pratt’s lawyer suggested that Richardson was
merely the representative of his client, who had since assigned his “title” to the document
V O L U M E 5 2 , N U M B E R 2 , A P R I L 2 0 0 4 4 1
to North Carolina. Therefore, the Bill of Rights should be returned to the State, not to
Richardson. On December 12, the State initiated legal proceedings in Wake County
Superior Court. Attorney General Cooper and Deputy Secretary of the Department of
Cultural Resources Jeffrey J. Crow asked for a declaratory judgment proclaiming the dis-puted
document a public record, petitioned for the return of that record to its proper cus-todians,
and moved for a temporary restraining order to prevent the Bill of Rights from
being damaged, hidden, or removed out of state.
Matthews’s lawyers have appealed Judge Boyle’s decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals
for the Fourth Circuit, in Richmond, Virginia. They have also requested that the Fourth
Circuit order the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina to return
the parties to the status quo ante by releasing the Bill of Rights to Matthews in Connecti-cut.
There the matter rests until the State can one day reclaim its patrimony.
State Archivist Cathy Morris and Editor Hank Jordan Retire
The Office of Archives and History lost nearly sixty-eight years of experience with the
retirement of two longtime employees this winter. After more than thirty-two years of
state service and nearly four years as state archivist and records administrator of North
Carolina, Catherine J. Morris retired at the end of February. Morris began her career with
the Department of Archives and History as a typist in the Historic Sites and Museums Sec-tion
in 1972, progressively assuming more responsible positions within the agency. With
experience as supervisor of the agency’s Technical Services Branch from 1987 to 1994, she
became supervisor of the Records Services Branch of the State Archives in 1994. Upon the
promotion of David J. Olson to assistant director of the Division of Archives and History in
2000, Morris was named state archivist and records administrator.
Morris is a graduate of Wake Forest University, a certified public manager, and a certi-fied
archivist. She has been active in numerous professional and civic organizations, including
the North Carolina Society of Certified Public Managers, the National Association of Gov-ernment
Archives and Records Administrators, the Southeastern Archives and Records
Conference, the Society of North Carolina
Archivists, and the Friends of the Archives.
A retirement party was held on the after-noon
of February 23 at the North Carolina
Museum of History where friends, family,
and fellow employees gathered to wish Mor-ris
farewell. David Brook, director of the
Division of Historical Resources; Jeffrey J.
Crow, deputy secretary of the Office of
Archives and History; H. G. Jones, former
curator of the North Carolina Collection and
former director of the Department of
Archives and History; William S. Price, for-mer
director of the Division of Archives and
History; David J. Olson, deputy secretary for
Arts and Libraries; and Jerry Cashion, chair-man
of the North Carolina Historical Com-mission,
were among those who took part in
the ceremonies. Morris was given a formal
certificate of retirement by Cashion, and
4 2 C A R O L I N A C O M M E N T S
Dr. Jerry Cashion (right) presents Cathy Morris
(left) with a formal certificate of retirement at a
ceremony in her honor at the Museum of
History.
Crow presented her with the Order of the Long Leaf Pine award on behalf of Gov.
Michael F. Easley.
Weymouth T. (Hank) Jordan Jr. retired from the Historical Publications Section at the
end of January. Prior to entering state service, he performed intelligence duties with the
U.S. Air Force in England from 1957 to 1960. He received his B.A. and M.A. degrees in
history from Florida State University in 1963 and 1964, respectively. He did postgraduate
work there in 1965, was an instructor of history at Auburn University (1965-1966),
worked towards a doctorate at the University of Virginia (1966-1967), and then served on
the staff of the reference division at the University of Virginia Library from 1966 through
March 1968.
In April 1968, Jordan began his career with the Department of Archives and History in
the Archives and Records Section. He became editor of the Civil War Roster Project in
1970, having co-edited Volume III with Louis Manarin. During the course of his long
career, Jordan edited Volumes IV through XV. He was working on Volume XVI at the
time of his retirement. His assistant, Matthew Brown, was promoted into the position of
editor, effective March 1.
Hank Jordan was one of the most meticulous people ever to work for the Historical
Publications Section. One of the greatest contributions he made to the series was the
expansion of the regimental histories. His twelve volumes of the roster project will remain
the standard of excellence and a testament to his thorough research, and will continue to
enrich the study of Civil War history for years to come. He too was honored with the
Order of the Long Leaf Pine.
QAR Conservation Lab Dedicated at East Carolina University
A facility in Pitt County that once
broadcast the message of freedom
behind the Iron Curtain is now
home to thousands of artifacts associ-ated
with the pirate Blackbeard. On
January 15, the QAR Conservation
Lab was dedicated on the West
Research Campus of East Carolina
University (ECU), at the former site
of a Voice of America station. The
ceremony featured exhibits of arti-facts,
tours of laboratories, a buffet
luncheon, and a ribbon cutting.
Approximately 250 people—scien-tists,
businessmen, archaeologists, and university and government officials—were in
attendance, including William E. Shelton, chancellor of ECU; Lisbeth Evans, secretary of
the Department of Cultural Resources (DCR); Dr. Timothy Runyon, director of the Mar-itime
Studies program at ECU; Dr. David Nateman, director of the North Carolina Mari-time
Museum; and James T. Cheatham III, a major benefactor of the Queen Anne’s
Revenge (QAR) recovery effort.
A Memorandum of Agreement between DCR and ECU answered the critical need for
a dedicated laboratory to handle the nearly one million artifacts projected to be salvaged
from the wreckage of the QAR. The space available in the Fort Fisher conservation lab
was limited, and the temporary arrangement for the use of the UNC Institute of Marine
Sciences facility in Morehead City was about to expire. Construction at the Voice of
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Artifacts from the wreckage of the Queen Anne’s Revenge
on display at the new conservation lab at East Carolina
University.
America site began in February 2003, with funding
for equipment and staff provided by a federal Save
America’s Treasures grant. Project conservator
Sarah Wilkins-Kenney, formerly with the British
Museum, was hired last March. Wendy Walsh,
manager of the laboratory, moved with the artifacts
from Fort Fisher in July. The laboratory team was
completed with the addition of Eric Nordgren, who
formerly worked with the Institute of Nautical
Archaeology in Egypt, as assistant conservator.
Graduate assistants David Krop and Danielle LaFleur
of the Maritime Studies program worked on the
project during the fall semester.
The conservation facility consists of two laboratories—a wet dirty lab and a clean dry
lab—two small offices, and a 4,000-square-foot warehouse for the storage and treatment of
large artifacts. Approximately 11,000 of the 16,000 artifacts recovered thus far from the
QAR—a mere 2 percent of the estimated one million items to be gleaned from the
wreckage—have been sent to the laboratory from Morehead City and Fort Fisher. Among
the items salvaged to date are five cannons, navigational and medical instruments, pieces of
the ship, and personal effects. Conservationists confront two major areas of concern in
treating remains recovered from the ocean floor: the removal of concretions of calcium
carbonate, shells, and sand; and the removal of soluble salts, particularly sodium chloride.
After treatment, each item must be dried and covered with a protective coating. Finally,
identifying information about each artifact, such as physical characteristics, condition, site
of recovery, and conservation procedures utilized, is entered into a database maintained at
the Office of State Archaeology in Raleigh. The artifacts are then sent to the North
Carolina Maritime Museum at Beaufort for display, storage, and further study.
Brunswick Town Opens New Exhibit Area
Friday the thirteenth of February proved to be a great day for Brunswick Town State
Historic Site. After years of frozen funds, budget cuts, and seemingly futile planning, new
exhibits were officially opened to the public. Approximately one hundred invited guests,
including past and present members of the North Carolina legislature, the North Carolina
Historical Commission, the Brunswick County Board of County Commissioners, and
Secretary of DCR Lisbeth Evans, attended the opening
reception. The ceremony began with an introduction by
site manager Jimmy Bartley and brief remarks by Kay
Williams, director of the Division of State Historic Sites,
and Mrs. Frances Allen, president of the Friends of
Brunswick Town. Former site archaeologist Dr. Stanley
A. South of the University of South Carolina gave the
keynote address (left). After telling many “war stories” of
the earliest days of Brunswick Town as a state site,
where he led the uncovering of many of the features of
the colonial town and the remnants of the earthworks of
Fort Anderson, Dr. South joined other dignitaries to cut
the ribbon to the exhibit area.
More than five years ago, Brunswick Town received
notice that funds had been secured to renovate
4 4 C A R O L I N A C O M M E N T S
Wendy Walsh, manager of the QAR
laboratory, explains conservation
techniques to visitors during the
dedication program on January 15.
“temporary” exhibits that had been in place since the visitor center opened in 1967, and
to refurbish the center. Renovation began in early 1999. Site staff returned to a new visi-tor
center with 1,800 square feet of exhibit space in 2000, but the exhibit project had been
put on hold because of budget cuts. Summer after summer the staff urged visitors to return
next year to see new exhibits. Former representative David Redwine worked hard to pro-tect
the $770,000 appropriation needed to make the dream come true. Now, finally, visi-tors
can walk through some of the most attractive historical exhibits in the state.
The new exhibits present the pre-colonial, colonial, and Civil War eras. A furnished
colonial house facade, a Civil War bomb-proof,
275 artifacts, and freestanding exhib-its,
as well as kiosks, all are part of the
display. To provide a “you are there”
experience and to fully engage visitors’
senses, several exhibit areas are augmented
by appropriate sounds. Crackling noises
invite the guest to a campfire, while he
reads about the Cape Fear Indians. For the
first time, the Native American presence in
the region is fully explored. An original
piece of dugout canoe and other native
artifacts are displayed.
Brunswick Town was attacked in 1748
by Spanish seamen, who ransacked the
town. One of their ships, the Fortuna, blew
up after being fired upon by the colonists.
In the 1980s a cannon from the Fortuna was recovered from the Cape Fear River. It is on
display in the front of the exhibit area, under a rare mosaic by North Carolina artist
Claude Howell that depicts the attack.
Smithsonian Features Spencer Shops and Salisbury in Major Exhibit
The Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History (NMAH) has a
massive new exhibit, America on the Move, which includes Salisbury and Spencer Shops in
1927 as a major thematic part of the display. The section on the two Rowan County
towns is one of eighteen different thematic centers in the exposition, each with a represen-tative
topic, date, and place in America since 1876. The exhibit, which encompasses
26,000 square feet and cost $22 million to create, replaces several outdated exhibits on
railroads, roads, and civil engineering built decades ago. It is expected to be maintained in
the Smithsonian for at least twenty years.
The most massive artifact in the exhibit, Southern Railway steam locomotive No. 1401,
was built in 1926 and for decades carried passengers through parts of North Carolina. A
4-6-2 Pacific-type locomotive, No. 1401 weighs about two hundred tons and is ninety
feet long. It is so large and heavy that a portion of the NMAH was of necessity built
around it in the 1960s.
The locomotive rests outside a replica facade of the Salisbury depot in 1927. In the
depot is a mannequin of African American educator Charlotte Hawkins Brown, which
tells the story of Brown being forced out of a Pullman sleeping coach by white ruffians for
violating Jim Crow laws about 1920. The thematic center also features images, stories, and
artifacts (several loaned by the N.C. Transportation Museum, or NCTM) of Spencer
Shops, which employed some 2,500 railroad workers in the late 1920s. “An Economy in
Motion” tells how Salisbury, a representative town of the era, depended heavily on
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The new exhibits at Brunswick Town include
this thirty-two-inch-tall Iberian olive jar, which
was unearthed at the site and reconstructed from
numerous sherds by staff archaeologists.
railroads, which in the late 1920s carried 70 percent of U.S. intercity passenger traffic and
75 percent of intercity commercial freight. In the depot is an area depicting the rail-cen-tered
mail order catalog business of the day.
A delegation from Spencer and Salisbury attended a pre-opening tour of the exhibit and
reception in late November. Among the guests were several staff members from the
NCTM, Sturges Bryan, president of the NCTM Foundation, and various officials from
Salisbury and Spencer. The Smithsonian has agreed to have NCTM brochures available
near the exhibit. The gigantic display features an accompanying book and an elaborate
website, http://americanhistory.si.edu/onthemove/.
Wooden Boat Show at Maritime Museum to Celebrate Thirtieth Year
Since 1975, the North Carolina Maritime Museum’s Wooden Boat Show has encour-aged
owners and builders of wooden boats to come together to show and operate their
boats. Professional boat builders who work with traditional designs or materials will find a
receptive audience for their products. Amateur builders and traditional wooden boat
enthusiasts will be at the show to share their boats and experiences.
Registration is limited to boats of twenty-five feet or less in length, of home or profes-sional
construction, and constructed primarily of wood. Larger vessels may be exhibited
only by pre-arrangement. The registration fee is $35. The same applicant may register
additional boats for $5 each. Commercial or non-commercial exhibits related to the mari-time
theme of the show require submission of photographs and pre-approval by the
exhibit panel.
While the exhibition of wooden boats will take place on Saturday, May 1, the preced-ing
week will be awash with events leading up to show day. As part of the thirtieth anni-versary
of this museum-sponsored show, additional maritime-related programs, exhibits,
and events will be available for visitors. Activities will begin on Sunday, April 25, with
demonstrations of traditional maritime trades and skills in the museum’s Harvey W. Smith
Watercraft Center.
Boatbuilding skills classes will be held throughout the week, beginning with a Build A
Boat In A Day class on April 25, from 9:00 A.M. until 3:00 P.M. This course is designed for
six teams of four persons each. At least one of the team members must be a child aged
eight or older (two children are permissible). The cost for the class is $225 per team, $200
for Friends of the Museum (FOM). A two-day Woodworking Joints class will be conducted
on April 27-28, from 9:00 A.M. to 4:30 P.M. each day. Students will be taught the proper
use of a variety of tools. Step-by-step procedures for cutting accurate mortise and tenon
joints, bridle joints, and lap joints are demonstrated, as well as the correct way to lay out,
measure, and mark for tight-fitting joints. Registration is $75, $65 for FOM. Students in
the Oar Making class on April 29-30 will complete a pair of well-balanced box loom oars.
The cost for the class is $95 per person, $85 for FOM. Reservations are required for all
three classes. Visitors that prefer to watch will find the observation deck in the Watercraft
Center a great vantage point.
On Friday evening, April 30, from 5:30 until 8:00 P.M., the museum’s nearby Gallants
Channel property will be the location for fascinating tales of maritime life in Carteret
County shared by renowned local storyteller, Rodney Kemp. The site, home to the
repository of artifacts from Blackboard’s flagship, Queen Anne’s Revenge, will provide an
eclectic mix on this evening, as visitors will get to view artifacts, enjoy pizza and beer, and
listen to Kemp’s stories inside a huge tent. This undeveloped thirty-six-acre site offers
enormous possibilities for future development of the N.C. Maritime Museum. The prop-erty
is accessible by either boat or car. Tickets for the evening are $10 per person.
4 6 C A R O L I N A C O M M E N T S
On May 1, Exhibition Day, as many as fifty wooden boats will be on display in the
water, inside the Watercraft Center, on Front Street, and on the museum grounds. There
will be maritime skills demonstrations, a ship model exhibition, children’s model-building
classes, radio-controlled model boats, and tours of the museum’s small-craft collection.
There is no admission charge for the show or to visit the museum. On the water will be
rowing and sailing races and opportunities to sail on Taylors Creek in one of the
museum’s traditional watercraft. This is a one-of-a-kind opportunity to sail with an expe-rienced
captain on board spritsail skiffs or sharpies from the museum’s collection. A dona-tion
of $5 per person is suggested, and an adult must accompany children.
To register a boat or submit an exhibit, contact Jane Wolff at the N.C. Maritime Museum,
315 Front Street, Beaufort, NC 28516, call (252) 728-7317, or e-mail maritime@ncmail.net.
News from Historical Resources
Archives and Records Section
The Government Records Branch was reorganized on November 1, 2003. The
arrangement and description function for state agency records was transferred from the
former Records Description Unit into a newly reorganized State Agency Services Unit.
The latter’s new, combined functions are to store and protect non-current records of state
agencies; to destroy non-current records without permanent or archival value, in
accordance with approved records and disposition schedules; and to preserve, arrange,
describe, and make available for research the permanently valuable records of North
Carolina state agencies. In addition, the functions of the Local Records Unit and the
county records component of the now defunct Records Description Unit were merged
to form a reorganized Local Records Unit. The unit provides services to local officials,
including consulting on records management issues, analyzing records and writing reten-tion
schedules, providing advice on records preservation at the local level, transferring
records to the State Archives for permanent preservation, and arranging and describing
those records.
The North Carolina State Historical Records Advisory Board (SHRAB) received notifi-cation
in December that it had been conditionally awarded an NHPRC grant for its pro-posed
statewide archival training initiative, “Archival Education for the 21st Century.”
Amounting to $50,621 in federal funds, matched by $60,753 in in-kind contributions by the
Archives and Records Section, the SHRAB grant will underwrite an ongoing series of prac-tical
training workshops that address both the need for instruction in basic archival principles
and practices and intermediate-level education in specific areas of archives and records
work. The project will fulfill a need identified at the SHRAB’s statewide conference on
records, “Charting Our Future,” held in November 2001. Recommendations and evalua-tions
received from the conference were analyzed and reviewed by the board in 2002 and
V O L U M E 5 2 , N U M B E R 2 , A P R I L 2 0 0 4 4 7
2003, and provided the framework for this educational initiative. The North Carolina
SHRAB has worked closely with the American Association for State and Local History
(AASLH), and archival/historical societies in New York, Ohio, and Michigan, in develop-ing
a workshop curriculum. After the two-year SHRAB project is complete, the Society
of North Carolina Archivists (SNCA) has agreed to continue the training program.
In March, the section’s Information and Technology Branch added several reference
sources to the Archives’ website and online catalog, MARS (Manuscript and Archives Ref-erence
System). Images of more than 187 early North Carolina map images were added to
the descriptions available in MARS. These images represent more than 265 scans, in excess
of 93 gigabytes of information. The public may view these maps by going to
http://www.ncarchives.dcr.state.nc.us/, and doing a search on North Carolina Colony and State
Maps. The Archives also has posted a new website containing more than 96 finding aids for
private collections, photograph collections, and organizational records. These are available at
http://www.ah.dcr.state.nc.us/archives under the heading, “Information for Researchers.”
The Friends of the Archives (FOA) board met on February 9, and following its meeting
the annual staff appreciation luncheon was held in the Archives and History/State Library
Building’s conference room. This traditional event is one of the most effective ways that
the FOA extends its appreciation to Archives and Records staff for their hard work and
service on behalf of the people of North Carolina throughout the year.
On January 20, Secretary Evans traveled to the Outer Banks History Center (OBHC)
in Manteo to accept a digital collection donated to the center by the Outer Banks Sentinel
newspaper. Secretary Evans personally thanked Sentinel editor Sandy Semans for the gift of
the unique collection, which includes images depicting life on the Outer Banks in 1903,
rare Wright brothers photographs, and First Flight Centennial stories produced for the
centennial of the first flight.
A new local history photographic exhibit at the OBHC gallery opened to a crowd of
nearly one hundred guests on February 17. Aerial Views, Things in the News, the Beach of
Yesteryear, and Past Happenings Here: Black &
White Photographs by Roger P. Meekins fea-tures
approximately fifty black-and-white
images of Dare County and the surrounding
region, dating from 1949 to 1954. Roanoke
Island resident Roger P. Meekins chronicled
the Outer Banks in aerial shots, landscapes,
and scenes of everyday people. Photos of
square dancing in Hatteras, net mending at
Stumpy Point, boxing matches at the Nags
Head Casino, and huge hauls of fish being
unloaded at the Wanchese docks convey a
sense of community life in the days before
the area became a tourism Mecca.
Meekins grew up on Roanoke Island,
where his father was the founder and editor
of the local newspaper, the Coastland Times.
After obtaining a pilot’s license at the age of
seventeen, Meekins took to the air with an
army surplus camera, taking shots for the
newspaper. He often flew to cover stories on
Hatteras Island or mainland Dare in the days
4 8 C A R O L I N A C O M M E N T S
Lisbeth Evans (left), secretary of the Department
of Cultural Resources, accepts from Sandy
Semans, editor of the Outer Banks Sentinel, a
digital collection of photographs and stories from
the First Flight Centennial celebration.
before bridges connected the remote areas of the county. Combining his interest in photog-raphy
with a passion for flying, Meekins began an aerial photography service. He also photo-graphed
local weddings, christenings, and family reunions, eventually assembling a collection
of over eight hundred negatives that are unparalleled in the way they document the area.
These negatives were donated to the OBHC in 1994 and, until this exhibit, many have
never been developed into prints. The OBHC staff designed and produced the exhibit.
Sarah Downing selected the images,
developed the interpretive themes,
conducted essential research, and wrote
the text. Kelly Grimm printed the neg-atives
to exhibit-quality standards.
Together they added colorful design
elements that further highlight the
visual impact of Meekins’s work.
Aerial Views, Things in the News, the
Beach of Yesteryear, and Past Happenings
Here will be on display through August.
The gallery is open seven days a week,
with hours varying seasonally. The
OBHC is located across from the
Manteo waterfront at Roanoke Island
Festival Park. For more information
contact the center at (252) 473-2655.
Recent Accessions by the North Carolina State Archives
During the months of December 2003 and January and February 2004, the Archives
and Records Section made 204 accession entries. The Archives accessioned original
records from Columbus, Cumberland, Henderson, New Hanover, Pamlico, Randolph,
and Rockingham Counties. The Archives received security microfilm of records for
Alamance, Beaufort, Cabarrus, Catawba, Chatham, Cumberland, Davie, Durham, Frank-lin,
Gaston, Gates, Greene, Guilford, Halifax, Harnett, Henderson, Hertford, Hyde,
Iredell, Macon, Madison, Mecklenburg, Nash, Onslow, Person, Robeson, Rockingham,
Rowan, Stokes, Transylvania, Wake, Watauga, Wayne, and Wilson Counties; and for the
municipalities of Asheville, Mooresville, Northwest, Rocky Mount, Sunset Beach, Topsail
Beach, and Wake Forest.
The section accessioned records from the following state agencies: Department of
Commerce, 2 reels; Department of Environment and Natural Resources, 31 reels; Depart-ment
of Health and Human Services, 489 cubic feet and 1 fiche envelope; Department of
Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, 5 reels; General Assembly, 34 reels; Gover-nor’s
Office, 16.45 cubic feet, 42 Fibredex boxes, and 2 folders; Secretary of State, 3 reels;
and Supreme Court, .4 cubic foot fiche box.
The John W. Gould Letters, the Hannibal M. Little Papers, and the Clyde R. Hoey
Papers were accessioned as new private collections. Additions were made to the Black
Mountain College Miscellaneous Collection, the Ruth P. Barbour Papers, the William
Joslin Papers, and the Janis R. Ramquist Papers. The Hannibal M. Little Account Book
and John Calvin Rich Account Book were added to the collection of account books.
Two rare volumes, the Journal of a young man of Massachusetts . . . (1816) and The Cherokee
Physician . . . (1849), were added to the vault collection. Other records accessioned
included school records for the Miller-Motte Business School (6 cubic feet) and the Mann
Travel Academy (2.5 cubic feet) added to Academic Records; 2 Bible Records; 101 audio
V O L U M E 5 2 , N U M B E R 2 , A P R I L 2 0 0 4 4 9
A visitor examines one of the photographs from the
Roger P. Meekins collection on display at the Outer
Banks History Center.
and 23 videotaped interviews, and 9 other items, added to the Military Collection; records
of the United Daughters of the Confederacy (J. Johnston Pettigrew Chapter) and the
Tuesday Afternoon Book Club (addition), accessioned as Organization Records; 7 issues
added to the Newspaper Collection; and 2 original prints and 10 videotapes added to the
Non-textual Materials Collection.
Historical Publications Section
Volume III of The Papers of James Iredell
has been released nearly thirty years after the
first two volumes were published. Edited by
Donna Kelly and Lang Baradell, this volume
provides a comprehensive view of Iredell’s
life in the years immediately preceding his
appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court.
During this period (1784-1789), Iredell prac-ticed
law, served on the North Carolina
Council of State, prepared a revisal of the
state’s laws, supported the launching of the
University of North Carolina, served in the
Constitution ratification convention, and had
a county named for him. Copies of Volume
III of The Papers of James Iredell may be pur-chased
for $37.10, which includes tax and shipping.
On the evening of March 2, approximately fifty members and guests of the North
Carolina Supreme Court Historical Society attended a gathering at the Carolina Country
Club to honor James Iredell. A collection of rare books and manuscripts used or written by
Iredell was on display. Following a buffet dinner, Willis Whichard, dean and professor of law
at Campbell University, presented the keynote address. Jeffrey J. Crow then introduced
Kelly and Baradell, who made brief remarks about their editorial work on Volume III. The
Honorable I. Beverly Lake Jr. presented each of them a plaque of appreciation for their con-tributions
to the legal history of North Carolina through their editing of the third and
fourth volumes of Iredell’s papers. The fourth volume is forthcoming.
Volume II of the Colonial Records of North Carolina [Second Series] is back in print after
seventeen years. First published in 1968, North Carolina Higher-Court Records, 1670-1696
has been out of print since 1987. Edited by Mattie Erma Edwards Parker, the volume
contains records that shed light on many aspects of life in colonial North Carolina, includ-ing
sources of immigration, business relations with other colonies,
occupations of early settlers, and social customs. This reprint of Vol-ume
II of the Colonial Records of North Carolina (533 pages, indexed,
clothbound) costs $58.50, including tax and shipping.
The 2004 catalog of publications is now available free of charge
(left). It lists over 160 titles, including 5 new ones: The North Carolina
State Fair: The First 150 Years, by Melton A. McLaurin; The Papers of
James Iredell, Volume III, 1784-1789; Paving Tobacco Road: A Century of
Progress by the North Carolina Department of Transportation, by Walter R.
Turner; Searching for the Roanoke Colonies: An Interdisciplinary Collection,
edited by E. Thomson Shields Jr. and Charles R. Ewen; and Volume
XV of North Carolina Troops, 1861-1865: A Roster, edited by
Weymouth T. Jordan Jr.
5 0 C A R O L I N A C O M M E N T S
Editors Donna Kelly (left) and Lang Baradell
(right) of the Historical Publications Section
accept plaques from the Honorable I. Beverly
Lake Jr., chief justice of the Supreme Court,
(center), in recognition of their work editing the
papers of James Iredell.
All of these books may be ordered from the Historical Publications Section, Office of
Archives and History, 4622 Mail Service Center (CC), Raleigh, NC 27699-4622. For
credit card (VISA and MasterCard) orders visit the online store at http://store.yahoo.com/
nc-historical-publications/ or call (919) 733-7442. For walk-in purchases visit the office at
120 West Lane Street, Raleigh, weekdays from 8:30 A.M. to 5:00 P.M.
News from State Historic Sites and Properties
Capitol Section
The Capitol Section was affected by a reorganization of the Raleigh-based offices of the
division. As of March 1, the Museum and Visitor Services Branch was elevated to section
status. The State Capitol was removed from its affiliation with Tryon Palace in the Capitol
Section and placed in the Museum and Visitor Services Section. C. Edward Morris will
serve as chief of the new section. Tryon Palace Historic Sites & Gardens resumes its status
as an independent section.
North Carolina Transportation Museum
The North Carolina Transportation Museum (NCTM) is moving closer to completing
a major goal of acquiring and restoring a large aircraft for display in the Back Shop. The
plane is an original DC-3, named the Potomac Pacemaker, which once flew for North
Carolina’s Piedmont Airlines. The twin-propeller-driven DC-3 was the last of its kind to
carry Piedmont Airline passengers; it flew 48,000 hours before being taken out of service
in 1963. Now, after more than twenty-five years mounted on large pylons outside the
Museum of Life and Science in Durham, the plane is being moved by NCTM personnel.
In January museum staff traveled to Durham to examine DC-3 N56V. The purpose of
the trip was to appraise the aircraft to determine what tools, lifts, and cranes would be
required to facilitate the move. Master mechanic John Bechtel devised a six-weeks disas-sembly
plan (at least two days a week), which was soon set in motion.
Retired Piedmont Airlines executive and NCTM supporter Ronnie Macklin coordi-nated
removal of the propellers, the first step in disassembly. He arranged for assistance and
the loan of special tools. Then workers removed the engine covers, engines, and wheels,
using a rented lift and a forklift with a boom. The rest of the plan will carry the process
through extraction of the control surfaces—ailerons, elevators, rudders, and trim tabs.
After that will come disassembly of the outer wing panels, a process that will require a
rental crane and the dropping of a nearby power line. The next major step is removal of
parts between the fuselage and the horizontal stabilizer, and between the fuselage and the
center wing section.
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Finally the museum team will lift the aircraft
from the pylons and complete the final disassembly.
A crane and riggers will raise the plane from its
supports and place it on the ground. The horizontal
stabilizer is then removed, and the fuselage sepa-rated
from the center wing section. All components
will be loaded onto trucks and moved to Spencer
for reassembly. The transport of small components
will be accomplished with the museum’s rollback
truck. Larger items will be moved with trucks pro-vided
by the North Carolina Department of
Transportation.
Northeastern Historic Sites Section
Historic Bath has been awarded funding for a summer intern through the Alderson
Internship Program, administered by the American Association of State and Local History.
The intern will work with staff from Historic Bath and the division office in Raleigh to
complete two small exhibits that will be mounted at the site during its 2005 tri-centennial
year. These exhibits—John Lawson and the Beginning of Bath and Blackbeard: Bath’s Most
Notorious Resident—will complement special programming at Bath in 2005. The intern will
be responsible for researching topics to be covered in the exhibits, working with site staff
to choose and research objects and illustrations for the exhibits, writing labels, and assisting
exhibit design staff to create text panels and design the layout for exhibits. The intern will
also work with the educational staff to create a simple activity or handout related to each
exhibit appropriate for elementary school students. To apply for the internship, send a
letter of interest and vitae postmarked by April 15 to Dr. Patricia Samford, Historic Bath,
Box 148, Bath, NC 27808. For further information, call (252) 923-3971, or e-mail
patricia.samford@ncmail.net.
Camden County Middle School won first place in the regional history bowl held at
Historic Edenton in February. Coach John Hill and his teams have participated in nine of
the ten Edenton competitions since 1995. Students on the winning team were Jarrod
Brothers, Chris Lawson, Ben Kornegay, Khristian Ortiz, and Heather Wolsiefer. Hertford
Middle School, coached by Wallace Johnson, took second place. Other schools competing
this year included Central Middle School, Janet McElfresh, coach; Chowan Middle
School, Phyllis Copeland, coach; Currituck Middle School, Kim Jackson, coach; and First
Flight Middle School, Colleen Vaughan, coach. Regional history bowls at other state
historic sites will continue until the state championships in late April.
Piedmont Historic Sites Section
The Spitting Image: A History of Spittoons and Cuspidors, an unusual collection of recepta-cles
used by tobacco chewers and snuff dippers, opened as a new temporary exhibition at
Duke Homestead State Historic Site and Tobacco Museum on February 28. The unique
exhibit will remain on display until December 1.
5 2 C A R O L I N A C O M M E N T S
Retired Piedmont Airlines executive Ronnie Macklin
(left) assists Chic Ayers (right) in the removal of a propeller
from a DC-3 at the Museum of Life and Science in
Durham. The plane is being disassembled and moved to
the North Carolina Transportation Museum in Spencer.
Extensive research revealed that spittoons and
cuspidors, common in much of nineteenth-century
America, have never before been featured as a
stand-alone museum exhibit, nor has there been a
definitive history written on the topic. B. W. C.
“Ben” Roberts, a charter member of the Duke
Homestead Education and History Corporation,
initiated the concept of a spittoon display. With his
wife, Snow, he began collecting different models at
area antique stores. His search eventually extended
out-of-state and onto the Internet via eBay. As
word of the project spread, numerous individuals
also contributed spittoons. Apparently among the
largest in the country, the collection now includes
more than fifty different spittoons, ranging from an
1890s turtle-shaped version that opens when its head
is pressed, to a brass cuspidor used in the N.C.
Senate chamber in the State Capitol until 1961. The
Spitting Image: A History of Spittoons and Cuspidors is made possible by the Duke Homestead
Education and History Corporation, the Division of State Historic Sites and Properties,
and Ben and Snow Roberts.
Like several other state historic sites, the Charlotte Hawkins Brown Museum sponsored
a number of special events and activities for Black History Month in February, including
lectures and workshops. Activities included an exhibit and forum by the African American
Quilt Circle of Durham. Dr. Freddie Parker, Department of History chair at N.C. Central
University, led a special workshop that examined major themes of the black experience in
America and concepts not often emphasized in the public school curricula. Topics included
desegregation, Brown v. Board of Education, African Americans before 1900, reparations for
slavery, and the leadership of Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. The museum’s own
Brown Memorial Singers presented a concert of traditional spirituals and gospel music.
The museum also offered special programs for Women’s History Month in March,
including an exhibit, Achievements of Women, and a lecture series sponsored by the Char-lotte
Hawkins Brown Historical Foundation and Louis Raiford.
Roanoke Island Festival Park
On February 14 and 15, a Civil War Living History Weekend commemorated the 142nd
anniversary of the Battle of Roanoke Island. The fourth annual event featured re-enactors
portraying Union and Confederate soldiers and
sailors, artillery demonstrations, blacksmithing,
quilting, rope-making, woodworking, leather-work,
presentations, and lectures.
Author Barbara Smith of Washington,
N.C., signed copies of her book, Burning Rails
As We Pleased, in the museum store during
the Civil War weekend. The book is a
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This turtle-shaped spittoon is one of
more than fifty varieties on display at
Duke Homestead.
Author Barbara Smith with some of her
great-grandfather’s letters that she compiled and
published as Burning Rails As We Pleased.
compilation of letters her great-grandfather, William Garrigues Bentley, wrote to his fam-ily
during the war. Her late grandmother, who kept them in a box, passed on the letters to
her. Smith recalls how her grandmother “would get out this box full of letters and she
would read them to me” during the summers she spent with her. Many years later, while
visiting a Civil War battlefield, she told her own daughter about the letters. This conversa-tion
led to a New Year’s resolution to transcribe the material, which became an obsession
to which she often devoted twelve to fourteen hours a day, scanning letters on her
computer.
Two old paintings, recently restored at the N.C. Museum of Art, are on loan to
Roanoke Island Festival Park from Robert Midgette of Manteo. They are displayed in the
administration building. Midgette inherited the art from his father in 2000. Apparently the
paintings had come down through the family from Pat Ethridge, a lighthouse keeper at
Rodanthe. According to Midgette’s family history, the two portraits were salvaged from
shipwrecks, whose contents often washed up on shore. Portrait of a Lady is an eighteenth-century
work, painted over an older portrait visible in x-rays taken during the conservation
process. The older painting shows a woman more mature of face but in similar clothes.
There is no history of the artist or the subject. During restoration, the painting was
cleaned, surface cracks repaired, and the canvas support stabilized. Portrait of a Man, appar-ently
a nineteenth-century copy of an older work, is signed “Om. Breit, après, V. Steen.”
Again, the artist and subject are unknown.
Tryon Palace Historic Sites & Gardens
On February 19, Tryon Palace Historic Sites & Gardens hosted a free showing of the
documentary February One, which tells the story of the 1960 Woolworth store sit-in at
Greensboro, a seminal event in the history of the Civil Rights movement. Using contem-porary
photos and first-hand accounts by participants, the hour-long film traces the causes
and consequences of the sit-in, which inspired other non-violent protests across the nation
and ultimately changed public accommodation laws.
Inspired by the four Greensboro students—Ezell Blair Jr. (now Jibreel Khazan), Frank-lin
McCain, Joseph McNeil, and David Richmond—who began the sit-in, young African
Americans in New Bern staged a similar protest at the local Kress store lunch counter.
Charles Bell, now a Newark, New Jersey Municipal Council member, was one of the par-ticipants.
After the screening, Bell and producer Rebecca Cerese led a discussion about the
film and the effects of the sit-in on both the participants and the nation.
February One, produced by Video Dialog, Inc., of Durham, was awarded the Human
Rights Award at the River Run Film Festival in Winston-Salem and received the first
annual Global Peace Film Festival Award in Orlando, Florida. The screening is part of the
African American History Lecture Series, sponsored jointly by the James City Historical
Society and Tryon Palace Historic Sites & Gardens.
Western Historic Sites Section
The experts have finished the interior and exterior work, furniture will soon be moved
back in, and a sneak peak for the press of the refurbished Asheville boardinghouse is
scheduled for April. Closed for almost six years, the Thomas Wolfe Memorial State His-toric
Site in Asheville is set to reopen the weekend of May 28, after more than two years
of complex and painstaking restoration.
Reopening festivities will include a rededication ceremony, living history tours, a for-mal
banquet, the performance of a Wolfe play, guided trolley tours of Asheville, and a
special Authors Evening featuring several prominent southern writers. (Participants have
5 4 C A R O L I N A C O M M E N T S
not yet been disclosed.) Site staff members anticipate that during the four-day reopening
extravaganza, the Thomas Wolfe Memorial will host scores of visitors eager to see what
the house looks like after restoration.
Memorialized by the famed writer in his classic novel, Look Homeward, Angel, the “Old
Kentucky Home” was victimized by an arsonist the night of June 24, 1998. The fire began
in the dining room and raged through floors,
walls, ceilings, and woodwork, severely
damaging the house and furnishings. Even-tually,
the roof collapsed into the 1883
boardinghouse. Water and smoke also took
a terrible toll.
But soon American literature lovers
throughout the world will have a chance to
see the famous home rise anew from the
ashes. Thanks to the meticulous $2.4 mil-lion
restoration, the house now much more
closely resembles the way it looked during
the ten years that Wolfe lived there, begin-ning
in 1906, when his mother bought the
building and started to rent rooms to board-ers.
Historians and restorers have returned it
to 1916, the year Wolfe left Asheville to
study at the University of North Carolina in
Chapel Hill. The exterior of the rambling
boarding-house has been repainted yellow to match its color during the period of Wolfe’s
residence. New interior color schemes, roofing, wall treatments, and landscaping also
reflect the house Wolfe thinly fictionalized as “Dixieland” in Look Homeward, Angel. Even
the loud lime green trim in one of the downstairs bedrooms is true to the period.
Historians consulted on the project chose 1916 because it was the year Julia Wolfe
made the last substantial changes to the boardinghouse. She added eleven rooms, bringing
the total to twenty-nine, encompassing approximately 6,000 square feet. To enhance the
period feel, some artifacts from later years that were previously displayed in the
house—such as Wolfe’s Harvard diploma—have been reinstalled in the visitor center
exhibit hall. Because of the efforts of numerous firefighters and volunteers, three-quarters
of the eight hundred artifacts in the house at the time of the fire were rescued. Since the
disaster, Historic Sites curatorial staff members and other experts have worked tirelessly to
restore these artifacts to their former glory. In some cases, they’ll look even better than
before. For example, once it was cleaned, a roll-top desk revealed that it was made from a
gorgeous piece of burl wood, its brilliance previously dimmed by age. Other artifacts
given new life through painstaking restoration include Julia and W. O. Wolfe’s cot-tage-
style bed, in which all of their children were born, and a stunning gilt-edged pier
mirror in the downstairs hall.
When he began work on the project, restoration architect Joseph K. Oppermann
received precise orders from longtime site manager Steve Hill: “When you get done here,
I don’t even want to know you were ever here.” As a result of the commitment to histor-ical
authenticity, it appears that not even Tom Wolfe himself would now know the fire
had ever happened.
V O L U M E 5 2 , N U M B E R 2 , A P R I L 2 0 0 4 5 5
This cottage-style bed, in which Thomas Wolfe
and his siblings were born, is among the
furnishings that survived the fire at the Wolfe
Memorial and have been completely restored by
the curatorial staff.
News from State History Museums
North Carolina Museum of History
As part of the two-year Celebration of North Carolina Craft, the museum showcases a
stunning selection of silver pieces. Highlighting the exhibit are objects by Paul Revere II and
William Waldo Dodge Jr., an Asheville silversmith who gained a national reputation for his
work. Crafted from Silver: Objects in the Museum’s Collection, on view through May 9, also fea-tures
several recent acquisitions, including a ladle made in the early 1800s by Raleigh silver-smith
Jehu Scott. Many of the exhibit items were purchased by the Museum of History
Associates, the statewide support group, for the museum’s permanent collection.
A new traveling exhibition, Women of Our Time: 20th-Century Photographs from the
National Portrait Gallery, will be on display from May 28 to August 1. This collection of
photographic portraits celebrates seventy-five women whose brilliance, courage, style, and
unflagging spirit have helped shape America. The exhibition, organized by the Smithso-nian’s
National Portrait Gallery, is on national tour while the gallery is closed for major
renovation. On June 5, Ann Shumand, curator of photographs at the National Portrait
Gallery, will present an illustrated lecture in conjunction with the exhibit.
The N.C. Museum of History has been awarded a $301,000 teacher training grant from
the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). The grant will underwrite four five-day
teacher workshops in African American history and culture titled, “Crafting Freedom:
Thomas Day and Elizabeth Keckly, Black Artisans and Entrepreneurs in the Making of
America.” Teachers from North Carolina and elsewhere may apply to attend workshops
to be offered in June and July. Sessions will be held at the museum and other sites in the
Triangle area. The workshops are part of NEH’s new Landmarks of
American History Teacher Workshop initiative, and are
designed and conducted by the Thomas Day Education Pro-ject,
an independent multicultural education initiative
based in the Research Triangle Park. For more informa-tion,
visit www.thomasday.net, call toll-free
1 (877) 438-1599, or e-mail tdek04@aol.com.
Staff Notes
5 6 C A R O L I N A C O M M E N T S
This photographic portrait of Helen Keller, taken in 1904
by Charles Whitman, is one of seventy-five images of
prominent twentieth-century American women included in
the traveling exhibition from the National Portrait Gallery
to be on display at the North Carolina Museum of History.
(Photo courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery,
Smithsonian Institution).
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Upcoming Events
April 12 Historic Halifax. Halifax Day. Celebrate the 228th anniversary of the
adoption of the Halifax Resolves, with tours and living history activities,
and a patriotic observance sponsored by the North Carolina Society of the
Sons of the American Revolution.
April 14, 21 Aycock Birthplace. Living History. Visitors can experience old-fashioned
spinning and weaving, and the making of butter, lye soap, and candles.
9:30 A.M. to 12:30 P.M.
April 17 North Carolina Museum of History. Writer’s Block: Hugh Morton’s
North Carolina. Photojournalist Hugh Morton discusses his new book,
which features his own personal favorites from the thousands of
photographs snapped during his sixty-year career. A book signing will
follow the program. 3:00 to 4:00 P.M.
Polk Memorial. Mexican War Encampment, 1847. Living history
program presented by the 12th U.S. Infantry and the 1st U.S. Dragoons.
Re-enactors depict camp life, period uniforms and equipment, weapons
demonstrations, and a mustering-in station. 10:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M.
April 18 Historic Bath. Bath Fun Day. Historic Bath will complement this annual
municipal celebration with hands-on colonial activities, such as rope-making,
games, and cornhusk dolls. 1:00 to 5:00 P.M.
April 19 North Carolina Museum of History. This Far by Faith: Stories from the
African-American Religious Experience. Journalist Juan Williams discusses
the role that inspiration fueled by religious faith played in the Civil Rights
movement. A reception will follow the program, which is funded by the
Mary Duke Biddle Foundation and GlaxoSmithKline. 7:00 to 8:00 P.M.
Register by April 16 at (919) 715-0200, ext. 283.
April 22 North Carolina Museum of History. Harriet Jacobs: A Life. Author Jean
Fagan Yellin discusses her new biography of the author of Incidents in the
Life of a Slave Girl. A reception will follow the lecture. 7:00 P.M. Register
by April 19 at (919) 715-0200, ext. 283.
April 24 Bennett Place. Living History. Program includes a military encampment,
drill demonstrations, music, and children’s activities. 10:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M.
House in the Horseshoe. Militia Muster. Features a militia encampment
and demonstrations of eighteenth-century crafts and activities.
April 27-28 Reed Gold Mine. Heritage Days. Area fourth-graders and their teachers
experience the life-styles and crafts of the past in this annual event. Group
reservations required for panning and underground tours. 9:00 A.M. to
2:00 P.M. Fee for panning.
May 1 Museum of the Albemarle. History of Lifesaving. Program explores the
history of lifesaving and lighthouses along the North Carolina Outer Banks
with lectures, exhibits, and demonstrations. 10:00 A.M. to 3:00 P.M.
USS North Carolina Battleship Memorial. Battleship Alive. Living history
interpreters demonstrate daily duties, drills, and inspections aboard a World
War II battleship. Special tours of the Living History areas and exhibits of
home-front activities are featured. 8:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M.
May 1-2 Museum of the Cape Fear Historical Complex. Military Through the
Ages. Learn about the evolution of weapons, tactics, and uniforms from
re-enactors camped on the arsenal grounds representing a variety of mili-tary
units. Saturday, 10:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M., and Sunday, 1:00 to 5:00 P.M.
North Carolina Transportation Museum. Rail Days. Annual event
showcases the importance of railroads in the state, and features steam and
diesel train rides, caboose rides, musical entertainment, food vendors, and
children’s activities. Fee. For more information, call (704) 636-2889.
5 8 C A R O L I N A C O M M E N T S
May 2 Roanoke Island Festival Park. Seventh Annual Mollie Fearing Memorial
Art Show. Opening reception for this annual showing of local paintings,
drawings, sculptures, photography, and stained glass. Produced by the Dare
County Arts Council in honor of its founder. 4:00 to 6:00 P.M. Show runs
through May 26.
May 8 Bentonville Battleground. Confederate Memorial Day. Memorial service
near the Confederate mass grave, co-hosted by the Harper House-Bentonville
Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy. 11:00 A.M.
Fort Fisher. Confederate Memorial Day. Program recognizes and honors
the builders and defenders of Fort Fisher.
State Capitol. National Historic Preservation Week Celebration.
Includes lectures, special tours of the Capitol and Union Square, trolley tours
of Raleigh, and costumed interpreters. Cosponsored by the Raleigh Historic
Districts Commission. 10:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M.
May 12 North Carolina Museum of History. History à la Carte: Blackbeard: The
Man Behind the Legend. Author Margaret Hoffman, who has spent years
separating the myths surrounding the pirate from the reality of his life, will
share some facts about Blackbeard more fantastic than fiction. 12:10 P.M.
May 14 North Carolina Maritime Museum, Beaufort. Blackbeard Fest
Symposium. Special event features tours of artifact exhibits, lectures about
pirates and the discovery and recovery of the Queen Anne’s Revenge, and a
boat ride to the site of the wreck and Cape Lookout. 9:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M.
May 15 North Carolina Museum of History. The Lost Light: The Mystery of the
Missing Cape Hatteras Fresnel Lens. Author Kevin P. Duffus discusses his
book about the lens from the Cape Hatteras lighthouse that was hidden from
the Union navy in 1861 and went missing for 140 years. A book signing will
follow the program. 3:00 to 4:00 P.M.
May 15-16 Alamance Battleground. 233rd Anniversary of the Battle of Alamance.
Annual event features demonstrations of colonial domestic and military life,
and concludes with special commemorative activities. Saturday, 10:00 A.M. to
5:00 P.M., Sunday, 1:00 to 9:00 P.M.
May 16 Historic Bath. Open House. Held in conjunction with National Tourism
Day, open house will feature free tours of the Palmer-Marsh and Bonner
Houses, an open hearth cooking demonstration, and hands-on craft activities
for children and adults. 1:00 to 5:00 P.M.
May 22 North Carolina Maritime Museum, Roanoke Island. Sail Training and Boat
Handling. One-day course using traditional small sailing craft. $85 fee. To
register or for further information, call Scott Whitesides at (252) 475-1500.
May 28-31 Thomas Wolfe Memorial. Grand Reopening Gala. Festive reopening of
Wolfe’s “Old Kentucky Home” includes special tours, living history
programs, dramas, visiting authors, a banquet, and a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
May 30 Mountain Gateway Museum. Steel Rails Hummin’. Bill and Kristin Morris
share songs and stories about the Western North Carolina Railroad. 3:00 P.M.
May 31 State Capitol. Memorial Day Ceremony. Military encampment on the
Capitol grounds represents three centuries of American military tradition, and
a wreath laying ceremony at the Veteran’s Memorial honors North
Carolinians who serving during times of war. 11:00 A.M. to 2:00 P.M.
USS North Carolina Battleship Memorial. Memorial Day Observance.
Traditional Memorial Day ceremony features guest speaker, all-service color
guard, a gun salute, Taps, and a memorial wreath cast upon the waters of the
Cape Fear River. 5:45 P.M.
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June 5 Duke Homestead. Herb, Garden, and Craft Festival. Historical
outdoor herb festival includes displays on traditional uses of herbs, craft
demonstrations, herb and craft vendors, live music, children’s games, and
refreshments. 10:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M.
North Carolina Museum of History. Curator’s Talk. Women of Our
Time. In conjunction with the traveling exhibit from the National Portrait
Gallery, Ann Shumard, curator of photographs at the gallery, presents an
illustrated lecture about path-breaking women of the twentieth century.
2:00 to 3:00 P.M.
June 6 Roanoke Island Festival Park. Penland School of Crafts Show.
Opening reception for showing of works by Penland artists in a variety of
media, including blacksmithing, textiles, and glass art. 4:00 to 6:00 P.M.
Show will run through June 30.
June 7-11 Museum of the Cape Fear Historical Complex. Summer Kids Excellent
Adventure: Carolina Crafts Fest. In conjunction with the statewide
celebration of North Carolina craft, this year’s free summer camp provides
children ages 9 to 12 hands-on opportunities to learn about such domestic
crafts as candle making, weaving, rope-making, pottery, and storytelling.
For more information, call (910) 486-1330 or e-mail mcfhc@infionline.net.
June 9 North Carolina Museum of History. History à la Carte: An
Astronomer Recalls Her Early Career. Jaylee Montague Mead, who
joined NASA in 1959 as one of the first female astronomers, reflects on the
challenges facing America’s early space program and on her own exciting
career. 12:10 P.M.
June 12 Charlotte Hawkins Brown Museum. African American Heritage
Festival. Outdoor event celebrates African American music, crafts, art, and
dance, and features a Bronco League baseball tournament and live
performances. 9:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M.
June 12-13 State Capitol. Civil War Encampment on Capitol Square. Weekend
encampment includes lectures, period music, and demonstrations of
military drills and camp life. Saturday, 10:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M., Sunday,
12:00 to 5:00 P.M.
June 13 Historic Bath. Palmer-Marsh House Summer Music Series. In this
first concert of the series, pianist Heidi Souza and cellist Brent Selby, both
of Bath, will perform. Seating is limited to thirty persons. Advance tickets
may be picked up at the Visitor Center. 2:00 p.m., free of charge but
donations accepted. For more information, call (252) 923-3971 or e-mail
bath@ncmail.net.
June 14-July 4 State Capitol. Historic Flag Exhibit: “The American Spirit.” The
rotunda will be filled with a display of historic replica flags, including the Star
Spangled Banner. The exhibit is sponsored by Bayer Cropscience.
June 15, 17 Historic Bath. Past Times Day Camp. Children ages 5 to 10 will learn
basic life skills used by our forefathers. They will have an opportunity to
cook biscuits in Dutch ovens, make herbal tea from herbs in the garden,
make brooms, see how fishnets were mended, and participate in other
historical activities. 9:00 A.M. to 12:00 P.M. $10 fee for the two-day session.
June 21-July 17 Historic Bath. Summer Ventures in Archaeology. On weekday
mornings, visitors can watch and learn how archaeologists work, as high
school students enrolled in the Summer Ventures program work with East
Carolina University archaeologist Dr. Charles Ewen and Historic Bath staff
to uncover Bath’s buried history.
June 22 USS North Carolina Battleship Memorial. Battleship Hootenanny.
Fourth annual event on the fantail of the battleship features local musicians,
including John Golden and Eric Bruton. $10 fee will benefit Friends of the
Battleship. 8:00 P.M.
In the Division of State Historic Sites and Properties, Justin Chambers has resigned as
division exhibits designer to accept a similar position with the Holocaust Museum in
Washington, D.C. Jemi Johnson has separated as public affairs coordinator at the North
Carolina Transportation Museum. At Tryon Palace, Brian Bowden, horticultural techni-cian
and section gardener, and Priscilla Speed Hunter, information communications spe-cialist
and grant writer, have both resigned. Gordon Hale has separated as site assistant at
Vance Birthplace. New site assistants have been named at House in the Horseshoe, Polk
Memorial, and Reed Gold Mine: Jeff Rieves, Courtney Hybarger, and Rebecca Lewis
(transferred from the N. C. Museum of History), respectively. Marie Sharpe has been
transferred to the division office as special projects curator.
David Brook has been named director of the Division of Historical Resources, remov-ing
the “acting” status from the position that he has held since November. Anne Miller,
editor of the North Carolina Historical Review, has been appointed to the executive commit-tee
of the Conference of Historical Journals, publishers of the newsletter, Editing History.
Several staff changes have occurred within the Archives and Records Section over the last
several months. Dick Lankford has been named interim state archivist and records admin-istrator,
succeeding Cathy Morris, retired. Ed Southern was promoted to head of the
Government Records Branch and assistant state records administrator on January 1, 2004.
Lisa Maxwell resigned as records management analyst I. Chris Black started work in
February as a processing assistant IV with the Correspondence Unit of the Public Services
Branch, but resigned later in the month to accept the vacant records analyst position.
Douglas Brown was hired as an archivist I in the Local Records Unit. Charles Michael
Duncan was hired as a processing assistant IV in the State Agency Unit. In the Public
Services Branch, Tom Vincent began work as an archivist I and Hilary Kanupp as a
processing assistant IV. In the Collections Management Branch, Charles Murray was
promoted from processing assistant IV to photo lab tech II. Lea Walker was hired as
an administrative secretary III within the section’s Administrative Branch.
At the North Carolina Museum of History, Michael Daul has been named multimedia
producer.
Colleges and Universities
Campbell University
Dr. James I. Martin has been appointed chairman of the Department of Government,
History, and Justice. Two full-time faculty members, Dr. Stephen M. King and Professor
Catherine B. Cowling, have joined the department for the 2003-2004 academic year.
6 0 C A R O L I N A C O M M E N T S
June 26 Bentonville Battleground. Summer Seasonal Living History Program
and Artillery Demonstrations. Costumed interpreters demonstrate
routine activities of the common North Carolina soldier during the Civil
War, such as small arms fire, close order drill, and the firing of a three-inch
rifled cannon, and discuss the uniforms and equipment used during the
war. 10:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M.
July 4 State Capitol. Independence Day Celebration. Traditional, family-oriented
celebration with patriotic concert and picnic on the grounds.
12:30 to 3:30 P.M.
USS North Carolina Battleship Memorial. Battleship Blast. One of the
largest choreographed fireworks displays in the state may be viewed from
Wilmington’s historic downtown area. 9:05 P.M.
University of North Carolina at Greensboro
The Division of Continual Learning, in cooperation with Old Salem, is again offering
four courses this spring and summer in the fields of historic preservation, archaeology, and
museum studies. The first course, “Field Methods in Preservation Technology,” is
cosponsored by the State Historic Preservation Office. It offers lectures by craftsmen and
preservation specialists, and hands-on fieldwork in Old Salem using such techniques as
masonry restoration, wood and stone conservation, wood shingle and slate roofing, re-glazing
and repairing old windows, and paint analysis. The class runs from May 17 to
June 4. A second course, “Research Methods in Historical Archaeology,” also provides
participants with field experience. Students will be shown the basics of excavation, map-ping,
artifact analysis, photography, measurement, and record keeping, as they participate
in the exploration of the site of the 1766 “Builders House,” the first building constructed
at Old Salem. The class begins on May 19 and concludes on June 16. The university cam-pus
will be the site of the third course, “Identification and Evaluation of the Historic Built
Environment.” The two basic methods of documentation and analysis of historic build-ings—
field surveys and National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) nominations—will
be introduced. Students will learn to conduct field documentation, archival research, and
oral interviews as they prepare an actual NRHP nomination for a building in Greensboro.
The dates for the course are June 10 to July 15. The final offering, “Southern History and
Material Culture,” will focus on the collection of Old Salem’s Museum of Early Southern
Decorative Arts (MESDA) within its historical setting. This year’s course will emphasize
the history and material culture of the Chesapeake region before 1820. Instructors will
examine current methods of research, interpretation, preservation, and analysis of decora-tive
arts and architecture from the period. The class will run from June 20 to July 16. The
application deadline for these courses, each of which carries three credits, is April 20. To
register or to obtain further information, call the Division of Continual Learning at (336)
334-5414, or visit their website, www.uncg.edu/hpms.
State, County, and Local Groups
Cape Fear Museum
A new exhibit at the museum explores the use of campaign buttons and jewelry in
American elections. Push Your Buttons: Politics in Action features a thousand buttons from
the museum’s collection or on loan from the public. The exhibit covers the century of
political campaigns from 1896 to 1996, and includes buttons of all the presidents and many
of the unsuccessful candidates during the period, as well as state and local office seekers. The
evolution of voting machinery, from ballot box to voting booth, is also illustrated. An
Optech Magnifier and interactive display cases allow visitors to closely inspect the campaign
memorabilia. The exhibit opened on January 16 and will run through November 28.
Chapel Hill Historical Society
Dr. Trudier Harris-Lopez, J. Carlyle Sitterson Professor of English at the University of
North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill, was the featured speaker at the monthly meeting
of the society on February 1. She discussed the role of George Moses Horton, an illiterate
Chatham County slave who could compose poems in his head, in the development of
African American poetry. Horton’s first volume of poems, The Hope of Liberty, was pub-lished
in 1829 before he was taught to write by the wife of a UNC professor. The histori-cal
society has recently published a new collection of his works, titled Naked Genius. Dr.
Harris-Lopez is the founder of the George Moses Horton Society for the Study of African
American Poetry.
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Greensboro Historical Museum
The museum acknowledged Black History Month with book-signings by the authors of
two recent publications concerning African Americans. On February 8, Jim Carrier dis-cussed
some of the historic sites in the Southeast that are noted in his A Traveler’s Guide to
the Civil Rights Movement. The International Civil Rights Center and Museum of Greens-boro
cosponsored the event. The African American community of Greensboro is the focus
of a recent publication by photographer Otis L. Hairston Jr., who spoke at the museum on
February 15. Greensboro North Carolina, a number in the Black America Series by Arcadia
Publishing, was conceived as a tribute to his late father, Dr. Otis L. Hairston Sr., pastor of
Shiloh Baptist Church from 1960 until his death in 2000. A selection of Hairston’s photo-graphs
over the past forty years will be exhibited at the museum through May 10.
Lincoln County Historical Association
In conjunction with the Downtown Development Association of Lincolnton, the histori-cal
association is hosting the fifth annual (but the first week-long) Historic Preservation
Week, May 17-22. This year’s theme, “New Frontiers in Preservation,” suggests the eclectic
nature of topics to be covered, with seminars on digitization, metadata, disaster planning,
conserving museum collections, and collecting church and local histories. Dr. Jeffrey J.
Crow, deputy secretary of the Office of Archives and History, will be the keynote speaker at
the kickoff dinner on May 17, discussing the various ways the office can assist local organiza-tions.
The distinguished panel of speakers scheduled to participate includes Dr. Gary Freeze,
Tim Pyatt, Kathy Wisser, Kevin Cherry, Pat Ryckman, David Goist, and Carol Kammen.
The event is sponsored by the Lincoln County Board of Commissioners and the City of
Lincolnton. The cost for the six-day conference is $150 if registered by May 3; the rate for
early registrants (by April 15) is $125. To register or for further information, contact Jason
Harpe at the Lincoln County Historical Association, 403 East Main St., Lincolnton, NC 28092.
Montford Point Marine Museum
A new museum has been established in Jacksonville to preserve the legacy of the only
U.S. Marine Corps boot camp for African Americans during World War II. The mission
of the Montford Point Marine Museum is to collect and preserve in a museum environ-ment
photographs, documents, and artifacts that reflect the unique history of the camp and
the 23,000 soldiers who passed through it from 1942 to 1949, the first of their race to earn
the title “marine.” The museum acquisition committee is currently seeking such materials,
either by gift or loan. The museum is located in Building M101 on the Camp Johnson
Marine Corps Base, former site of the Montford Point camp, at Jacksonville. It is currently
open only on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. Groups are encouraged to schedule visits
in advance by calling (910) 347-4930. For further information, visit the museum’s website
at www.montfordpointmarines.com, or e-mail Finney Greggs, director, at
montfordpointmuseum@earthlink.net.
New Bern Historical Society
The society sponsored three events during the winter that reflected its involvement in
the New Bern Battlefield Preservation Project, the effort to expand and preserve the site
of the 1862 Battle of New Bern. On January 26, a general meeting at the New Bern
Craven County Library presented the community with a status report on the project.
Mark Mangum, architect Paul Stephens, and historian Richard Lore were the featured
speakers. Project coordinators and volunteers spruced up the battlefield during the ninth
6 2 C A R O L I N A C O M M E N T S
annual Park Day on February 21, trimming bushes and cutting down trees. On March 27,
a Civil War Adventure Day for children offered a walking tour of the grounds, demonstra-tions
and drills by Civil War re-enactors, and period craft activities. The society has recently
purchased an additional 2.63 acres of the original battlefield for parking facilities and a visitor
center. More than twenty-six acres are now under the society’s protective care.
Phoenix African American Historical Society of Edgecombe County
On February 21, at its annual Black History Month program, the society presented the
Helen Gordon Quigless Jr. African American History Award to St. Paul AME Zion
Church for the church’s efforts to recover, record, and promote its unique history. Orga-nized
in 1866, St. Paul AME Zion Church is the oldest African American church in
Tarboro. The church’s edifice was damaged by the floodwaters of Hurricane Floyd in
1999 and demolished in 2002. Thereafter, the congregation erected monuments on the
site to commemorate the church’s existence and its contributions to the community. The
four granite monuments include an obelisk stating the origin of the church and highlight-ing
several outstanding members; an upright ledger documenting the church’s destruction
by the floodwaters on September 16, 1999; a headstone denoting the site of the Tarboro
Colored Institute, established in 1869 (the first school for African Americans in Tarboro,
sponsored by the church); and a slab anchoring the church’s 1883 bell. The society’s
annual award has been named for Helen Gordon Quigless Jr., who died in February, to
honor her exemplary service. She was the first president of the organization that was
started in April 2001. Through the years, she was an avid supporter of African American
history and historic preservation at the national, state, and local levels.
Weymouth Center for the Arts and Humanities
The nonprofit Friends of Weymouth recently agreed to act as fiscal agent for a
fund-raising effort, the “Bring Sam Home Fund,” to purchase a portrait bust of Sam
Ragan for the center. Ragan, who died in 1996, was Poet Laureate of North Carolina, the
first secretary of the Department of Cultural Resources, and the first chairman of the
North Carolina Arts Council. He was also instrumental in the preservation of the
Weymouth Center as a nonprofit arts venture, and in the establishment of the North
Carolina Literary Hall of Fame in the center. A remarkable bronze likeness of Ragan has
been cast by Gretta Bader of Alexandria, Virginia, whose works are displayed in the
National Portrait Gallery. Marsha Warren, executive director of the Paul Green Founda-tion,
and writer Charles Blackburn are serving as co-chairpersons of the campaign. All
tax-deductible contributions will be acknowledged in a celebration at the center when the
goal of $25,000 has been realized. To make a contribution or for further information,
contact Charles Blackburn at (919) 547-5212, or by e-mail at cblackburn@sigmaxi.org.
Obituaries
With the death of Thomas Custis Parramore on January 13, North Carolina history lost
one of its stalwarts, a teacher and scholar with a determined commitment to ferret out
little-known aspects of the state’s past. Since retiring from the history department at
Meredith College in 1992, Parramore had dedicated his energy to researching the history
of flight in North Carolina; he lived to see the centennial commemoration of the Wright
Brothers’ exploits on the Outer Banks. In recent years, he also had taken an interest in the
story of Hannah Crofts, once the property of John Hill Wheeler of Murfreesboro, and the
author of a recently discovered slave narrative.
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It was characteristic of Tom Parramore to take an interest in Crofts and to generously
volunteer to assist out-of-state scholars in fixing the historical context of the narrative.
Parramore was born in Winton, Hertford County, and displayed a lifelong interest in the
history of northeastern North Carolina, contributing substantially over the years to the
work of the Murfreesboro Historical Commission. He joined the Meredith faculty in 1962
upon completing his graduate training at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Parramore was a prolific author, publishing fifteen articles in the North Carolina Historical
Review, contributing to The Way We Lived in North Carolina series, and penning major
works on the history of freemasonry and of Norfolk, Virginia. The culminating work of
his career was First to Fly: North Carolina and the Beginnings of Aviation, published by the
University of North Carolina Press in 2002. Parramore did not hesitate to challenge con-ventional
wisdom, reveling in taking contrary positions and staking out uncharted
scholarly ground.
Tom Parramore’s name, like that of his wife Barbara, is familiar to a generation of
eighth-grade students, by virtue of the widespread adoption in the public school system of
their two North Carolina history textbooks. But his work extended well beyond the class-room,
leading him to accept speaking engagements across the state and the Southeast and
to participate in a host of professional organizations. In his private life, Tom Parramore
demonstrated a commitment to the ideals he held close, among those civil liberties, peace,
and the values of the Baptist Church and the Democratic Party. Parramore was 71. A ser-vice
was held in his honor at Pullen Memorial Baptist Church in Raleigh on January 24.
* * *
Historian Jaquelin Drane Nash of Tarboro died on February 16. The highlight of her
long, productive career was the publication of a history of Calvary Episcopal Church on
the occasion of the bicentennial of Tarboro in 1960. She co-authored Three Centuries of
Customs Houses and A Few Unsung Women: Colonial and Pioneer, both published by the
National Society of Colonial Dames. Mrs. Nash also contributed fourteen articles to the
Dictionary of North Carolina Biography. In 1994, at the age of eighty-four, she served as
project historian for the excavation of Eden House in Chowan County. She served on the
Edenton Historical Commission, and was founding director of the Edgecombe County
Historical Society, which named its honorary award for her. In 1976, she was named a
fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland in recognition of her research on colonial
governor Gabriel Johnston. She was elected to the North Caroliniana Society in 1987, and
received the Gertrude S. Carraway Award from Preservation North Carolina in 1995.
Fittingly, Mrs. Nash was buried at Calvary Church, where she had been a faithful and
active member for many years.
* * *
G. E. “Pete” Nash of Charlotte, a loyal and generous supporter of Reed Gold Mine for
decades, died on December 19, 2003. Pete and his brothers, Harold and Robie, were
good friends to the mine. Harold located and/or restored many of the major machinery
artifacts, as well as the ten-stamp mill, preserved at the mine today. Pete was known for his
expertise in panning and for years could be found volunteering at the mine, sharing his
skills and fascinating stories with schoolchildren.
6 4 C A R O L I N A C O M M E N T S
“The Birth of a North Carolina Symposium”
By Claudia S. Slate
EDITOR’S NOTE: Dr. Claudia S. Slate (right) is professor of English at
Florida Southern College in Lakeland, Florida. Her teaching and research focus on
American and African American literature. She recently participated in a National
Endowment for the Humanities Summer Institute at Harvard University entitled,
“African American Struggles for Freedom and Civil Rights, 1866-1965.”
During the summer of 2000, on our way back to Florida from the
Outer Banks, my husband and I visited Edenton, North Carolina, population 5,300, a
charming town filled with stunningly preserved antebellum homes and a real commitment
to history. I sought out Edenton because it was the hometown of Harriet Jacobs, the
author of an 1861 slave narrative that I include in my American and African American lit-erature
classes. Little did I know that this visit at the beginning of a new century would be
the catalyst for a three-year project, culminating on April 4-5, 2003. What I envisioned
walking the streets of Edenton and discovering the buildings, such as St. Paul’s Episcopal
Church and the Old Jail, that were instrumental in Jacobs’s life was a symposium dedicated
to Jacobs, held right there in her hometown. Thanks to Jacobs, I knew the stories that
those walls could tell, and I ached for everyone passing by to hear them as well. In pursu-ing
this vision, I discovered the essential elements for the planning of a successful humani-ties
project, which I would like to pass along: a unique mission; objectives that include all
segments of the community; and cooperative, enthusiastic individuals.
Harriet Jacobs was a unique individual who told an exceptional and distinctive story.
She was born a slave in 1813, escaped from Edenton in 1842, and eventually became a
writer, abolitionist, and reformer. The story of her life, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl:
Written by Herself, published in 1861 under the pseudonym Linda Brent, helped build
Northern sentiment for emancipation during the Civil War and was the only slave narra-tive
to deal frankly with sexual as well as racial oppression. Jacobs told about the seven
years spent hiding in the crawl space of her grandmother’s storeroom in Edenton, watch-ing
through a peephole as her children grew up. Literary critic Henry Louis Gates says,
“Jacobs’s autobiography is one of the major works of Afro-American literature.”1
The Harriet Jacobs symposium would be a milestone, the first time that scholars of his-tory
and literature knowledgeable about Jacobs and her work, in particular, and slavery in
North Carolina, in general, gathered for such a focused endeavor. For two days, humani-ties
scholars, college students, middle and high school teachers and students, the people of
Edenton, Chowan County, other parts of North Carolina, and from around the nation
would engage in and discuss the historical and literary aspects of Jacobs. This would be
accomplished through lectures, panel discussions, and question-and-answer sessions for
open discussion and debate. Other events would include music (such as the singing of tra-ditional
Negro spirituals), a walking tour, and an essay contest for Edenton eighth-grade
schoolchildren.
The symposium sought to accomplish several objectives. One was to work as a catalyst
for an ever-increasing presence of Harriet Jacobs in Edenton, both for its present and
V O L U M E 5 2 , N U M B E R 2 , A P R I L 2 0 0 4 6 5
New Leaves
future residents as well as for its many visitors. The symposium was organized at an oppor-tune
time for the Edenton community. Not until 1987, when Jean Fagan Yellin authenti-cated
details and authorship of Incidents, was Jacobs clearly identified as the slave narrative’s
author, and it has taken time for the details of her remarkable life to work their way into
the public consciousness. Several years ago a state highway historical marker commemorat-ing
Jacobs was placed in front of the Historic Edenton Visitor Center. Jacobs also features
prominently in a recently published walking tour provided by the visitor center staff, and
an exclusive Harriet Jacobs tour is provided upon request. Recently, a local committee has
published an African American guide map to Edenton, including mention of Jacobs.
However, the Edenton community desired to do more.
According to the visitor center staff, an increasing number of visitors were asking for
information about Jacobs, and local high school students were beginning to learn about
her in their classes. Joe Sliva, a local historian and member of the planning committee,
spoke for the citizens of Edenton: “A symposium dedicated to a better understanding of
Jacobs’s life and times would not only inform and enlighten the public but would help us
become better stewards of her legacy.”
Another objective of the symposium was to promote cooperation and collaboration
among the black and white communities of Edenton and Chowan County. Many in the
community recognize what Martha Norkunas notes, “What is needed is an acknowledgment
that power must be shared with minority populations and that the prevailing perspective on
the past must be radically altered. . . . The communitymust then have the courage to enact
these new insights on the public landscapes of history and tourism.”2 By making the sympo-sium
free to the public, with the citizens of Edenton and the surrounding communities of
Hertford, Elizabeth City, and Murfreesboro as the primary target audience, the hope was for
a racially, educationally, and economically diverse audience that would include leaders of the
religious community, teachers, and local middle and high school students. Public school chil-dren
were encouraged to enter an essay contest that focused on Jacobs and the period in
which she lived. Organizers also strove to draw students from Chowan College, College of
the Albemarle, Edgecombe Community College, Elizabeth City State University, and East
Carolina University, as well as from colleges and universities in the Raleigh, Durham, and
Chapel Hill area. Having leaders on the planning committee who represented different seg-ments
of the target audience was beneficial for both their input and outreach. In addition,
diversity was evident in the choice of symposium speakers: they included black and white,
male and female professors from five universities.
The third objective of the symposium was to educate the people of North Carolina
about the importance of Harriet Jacobs and her work. As convinced as many are now
about the authenticity of Jacobs’s account, questions still remain concerning the accuracy
of many of the narrative’s details and about how much abolitionists, especially Lydia
Child, contributed to or altered Jacobs’s writing. Giving voice to questions of historical
validity by probing the existing evidence and encouraging lively debate was an important
aspect of the symposium. Scholars of history and literature were to be the catalysts and
moderators for discussion of Incidents as history, autobiography, and/or slave narrative.
The most vital element for the success of the Harriet Jacobs Symposium was the coopera-tion
of individuals who were passionate about the project. My dedication to the symposium
was engendered by my background, which made me acutely aware of the African American
struggle for their rights. My father, John Herbers, was a New York Times correspondent dur-ing
the civil rights era, and on several occasions my three sisters and I were exposed to the
injustices predominant, especially in the South, at that time. For example, Dad drove the
whole family to St. Augustine, Florida, in 1964 to visit the beach while he reported on local
6 6 C A R O L I N A C O M M E N T S
events. By the time we arrived, Martin Luther King and Ralph Abernathy had been jailed
for attempting to eat in a local restaurant, and King had informed the White House that “all
semblance of law and order has broken down.” Not only did my family see the results of
that breakdown on the city square, but we also experienced it firsthand when we were
awakened by vehicles circling the motel and by shots being fired each time the cars passed
our room. The local KKK-type group wanted to frighten my father out of town. I will
never forget the terror I felt nor the empathy it engendered. I now realize that I was expe-riencing
only a small portion of what African American citizens felt routinely. In relating
my experiences to my students, I inform them not only about the fifties and sixties in the
South, but I also pay tribute to the efforts of brave freedom-fighting individuals, both
black and white, of the Civil Rights movement. As an English professor, I have an obliga-tion
and privilege to ensure that students are exposed to a portion of literature that was
neglected in my college education: the rich African American literary tradition as a critical
and dynamic part of our country’s literary heritage. That is how I came upon Harriet
Jacobs and, subsequently, developed such a curiosity about her hometown.
Fortunately, I discovered many other individuals who shared my enthusiasm and zeal.
Since I live and work in Florida, a network of people in North Carolina was essential,
though I also received help from others throughout the country. In general, these amazing
persons fell into five categories: academic, governmental, ecclesiastic, business, and media.
My background and current job lie in academia, so that seemed a logical place for me
to begin. After all, it was preparation for teaching the course, “Survey of African American
Literature,” including Jacobs’s narrative, that drew me to Edenton in the first place. His-tory
and literature are the two humanities disciplines most appropriate to the study of
Jacobs. These disciplines often intersect, and that is certainly the case with Harriet Jacobs,
whose book is considered by most scholars to be not only a true depiction of slavery in the
South in the mid-nineteenth century, and of life as an escaped slave in the North, but also
a work of literature that combines the attributes of the slave narrative with characteristics
of the sentimental novel so popular at the time. Consequently, most of the scholars helpful
to the project specialize in the areas of history or literature.
Two scholars in particular served as models and inspiration for me: Dorothy Redford,
site director at Somerset Place in Creswell and author of Somerset Homecoming, and Jean
Fagan Yellin, the English professor emeritus who authenticated Incidents in the Life of a
Slave Girl and has studied and written on Jacobs for twenty years. Considering the connec-tions
during the years of slavery between Creswell and Edenton and intrigued by the
tenacity of Redford in tracing her ancestry to the large plantation at Somerset, I met and
interviewed her. I also arranged with my college’s Multicultural Affairs Office for her to
give a public lecture at Florida Southern College for Black History Month in February
2002. Knowing that Jean Fagan Yellin is a friend of Redford, I invited Yellin to come up
from Sarasota for the lecture. To my delight, Yellin and her husband stayed in our home,
and I was able to share with her my hopes for a Harriet Jacobs Symposium in Edenton.
She applauded the project and showed interest in participating.
In addition to my contact with Redford and Yellin, I spent several weeks in North
Carolina gleaning ideas from meetings with nine scholars in history and literature at
Chowan College, Elizabeth City State University, Duke University, North Carolina State
University, the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, and the N.C. Office of
Archives and History. Several of the scholars agreed to speak or moderate a session if a
symposium was held. I was granted a sabbatical from Florida Southern College for
2002-2003 (meaning that I taught part-time) to be the project director and to apply for a
North Carolina Humanities Council (NCHC) grant.
V O L U M E 5 2 , N U M B E R 2 , A P R I L 2 0 0 4 6 7
Billy C. Hines, professor of music and director of the Elizabeth City State University
Concert Choir, agreed to the choir performing traditional Negro spirituals during the
symposium. These songs echo the religious beliefs expressed by Jacobs in her book’s spiri-tual
references and also represent both the anguish and hope of enslaved people who,
unlike Jacobs, were not able to achieve literacy. As such, this music added an element to
the symposium that mere words could not.
Another scholar—Jennifer Edwards of the NCHC—gave me invaluable advice as I pur-sued
the grant to finance the project. This was my first experience at grant writing, and it
was a daunting one; Edwards and Harlan Gradin made sure that I was up to the task. I
found budget formulation particularly challenging, given that words, not numbers, are my
specialty. Edwards and I spent hours on the phone fleshing out details of the symposium.
Ultimately, the hard work paid off as NCHC approved the grant that provided the sym-posium’s
major funding.
Local support for the symposium was absolutely essential. Joe Sliva was extremely
important to the project. Long before I had ever set foot in Edenton, Sliva conducted his
own unofficial walking tour about Jacobs for the visitor center, bolstered by his extensive
study of her time in Edenton. He also fought hard against some local opposition and suc-ceeded
in having a state highway marker for Jacobs placed on Broad Street in front of the
visitor center. Willing to help in any way he could, Sliva used his impressive technological
skills to establish an official Harriet Jacobs Symposium website, write and design a bro-chure,
and send out dozens of e-mails to publicize the event.
Edenton eighth-grade schoolteachers not only taught from Letters from a Slave Girl, the
juvenile version of Incidents, but also supervised an essay contest about Jacobs, narrowing
winning finalists down to ten. The members of Sigma Tau Delta, an international English
honor society at Elizabeth City State University, judged the final ten essays. The first, sec-ond,
and third place winners were announced and awarded prizes during the symposium.
The teachers also planned a collage project on slavery, and the creative, colorful results
were displayed in the visitor center over the weekend.
Another group of individuals important to the project were those affiliated with gov-ernmental
agencies, both local and state. For example, one of the symposium sponsors was
the Office of Archives and History, an agency of the Department of Cultural Resources,
which promotes North Carolina’s artistic and cultural treasures. The office encourages the
sharing of North Carolina history through educational and research programs such as
North Carolina History Day, which spurs students on to develop historical research skills.
The agency was one of the sponsors for The 1898 Wilmington Racial Violence and Its
Legacy, a symposium held in 1998, which brought together for the first time scholars most
knowledgeable about the violence in Wilmington to share that knowledge with the pub-lic.
The Office of Archives and History agreed to videotape the Jacobs symposium sessions
for use by teachers and students in the local public schools, and for possible broadcasting
on UNC-TV. Jeffrey J. Crow, deputy secretary of the Office of Archives and History, was
instrumental in obtaining additional funding for the symposium and helping with publicity
efforts. He also chaired a session of the symposium.
Crow was also responsible for convincing Ginny Culpepper, the local heritage tourism
development officer with the Department of Commerce, to form an ad hoc committee of
Edenton community leaders to develop the symposium. Culpepper was born and raised in
Edenton and commands a great deal of respect there. She is also an extremely hard worker
with lots of energy and creative ideas. In May 2002, I met with the Edenton committee
that she had called together to begin serious planning. Nancy Nicholls, tourism director of
the Edenton-Chowan Chamber of Commerce, also came on board. Once the project had
6 8 C A R O L I N A C O M M E N T S
local sponsors and the NCHC grant was obtained, I was able to procure speakers and
work with the local committee on final details and on publicity.
Another governmental agency that sponsored the symposium was the Edenton Histori-cal
Commission, created by the General Assembly in 1961 to “effect and encourage pres-ervation,
restoration, and appropriate presentation of the Town of Edenton and Chowan
County, as an historic, educational and aesthetic place.” The members of the commission
include the chairman of the board of county commissioners, the mayor of Edenton, the
secretary of the Department of Cultural Resources, and citizens appointed by the gover-nor.
The commission has sponsored the Elizabeth Vann Moore Biennial Series for Preser-vation
Studies and has funded Dabney Narvaez’s grant writing for funds to restore the
108-year-old Kadesh AME Zion Church. Without a doubt, the commission is interested
in the rich history of Edenton, including that involving Harriet Jacobs. Beverley
Kirchmier, the commission’s executive director, was a member of the committee formed
to plan and promote the symposium.
Judy Chilcoat, operations manager, and the staff and volunteers at the Historic Edenton
Visitor Center, part of the Division of State Historic Sites, were indispensable to the sym-posium.
They developed a Harriet Jacobs walking-tour brochure that they included in
packets for symposium participants, and also worked very hard on a self-guided walking
tour for the first morning of the symposium that featured interpreters at several Jacobs
sites. In addition, site personnel, with assistance from the home office in Raleigh, devel-oped
and installed a permanent exhibit in the visitor center showcasing Harriet Jacobs’s
life. The display contains a first edition of Jacobs’s book, a Japanese edition of the book, a
trophy awarded posthumously to Jacobs as a North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame
inductee, and replicas of dolls that Jacobs made after escaping to the North.
Individuals connected to a historic Edenton church were the first indicators of support
from some of the town’s involved and prominent African American citizens. Kadesh AME
Zion Church became a sponsor in the early stages of the symposium by graciously offering
its historic sanctuary as a venue. The congregation of the church founded the Edenton
Normal and Industrial College, a beacon of educational opportunity for African Americans
from 1895 to 1928. The present church building, the third in which the congregation has
worshiped, was constructed in 1895 and is on the National Register of Historic Places. Its
sanctuary has descending curved pews, original
choir and bishop chairs, chandeliers, and lovely
stained glass windows. Pastor Edna Lawrence,
also on the planning committee, is a native of
Edenton. She contributed her artistic talents in
the creation of the symposium logo, an interpre-tation
of how a young Jacobs might have
appeared. The congregation of Kadesh enthusi-astically
embraced the symposium not only by
proudly sharing their sanctuary but also by par-ticipating
as ushers. About a month before the
symposium, I addressed the congregation and
was encouraged by the members’ warm
response. Several Edenton ministers also
V O L U M E 5 2 , N U M B E R 2 , A P R I L 2 0 0 4 6 9
Kadesh AME Zion Church in Edenton, site of the
Harriet Jacobs Symposium in April 2003. The
sanctuary was severely damaged by Hurricane Isabel
in September and subsequently condemned.
announced the symposium from their pulpits and included notices in their bulletins and
newsletters.
The Edenton business community also cooperated fully. Downtown shopkeepers
agreed to display posters publicizing the symposium, and bed-and-breakfast owners offered
discounted rates for attendees. All Edenton residents, associated with a business or not,
welcomed the weekend visitors with their extraordinary southern hospitality, helpfulness,
and kindness.
As remote as Edenton is, media attention was imperative. Newspapers, newsletters, and
television spread the word about the upcoming event. Gregory Kane of the Baltimore Sun,
who has a syndicated column that runs nationally, wrote a piece about the symposium
during Black History Month. Dee Langston of the Virginia Pilot did a feature story both in
WaterColors magazine and in the daily newspaper edition. A local Greensboro television
station ran a community news segment. The Chowan Herald, Edenton’s news source,
included a notice about the symposium. The Office of Archives and History mentioned
the symposium in their quarterly newsletter Carolina Comments, and had the departmental
Public Affairs Office disseminate news releases. Heritage NewsWatch, a publication of North
Carolina’s Northeast Partnership of the Department of Commerce, and the North
Carolina State Historic Sites newsletter gave extensive coverage to the event.
The results of the hard work and dedication of all the aforementioned individuals were
evident in the spring of 2003, three years after my first visit to Edenton. A huge banner
across Edenton’s main street read, “Harriet Jacobs Symposium, April 4-5.” On Friday,
April 4, 329 symposium participants attended book signings by some of the speakers and
took the new walking tour, with interpreters posted at each Jacobs historical site. Partici-pants
showed particular interest in the home site of Jacobs’s grandmother, where Jacobs
hid from her owner for seven years and watched through a peephole as her grandmother
raised her young children. Another popular site was the Old Jail, where Jacobs’s children
were imprisoned for two months in an effort to coerce her out of hiding.
The program for the rest of the weekend consisted of speakers on Jacobs, slavery in gen-eral,
and runaway slaves in particular. The keynote address was delivered by Jean Fagan
Yellin, author of a new biography of Jacobs. [Professor Yellin will discuss her book, Harriet
Jacobs: A Life, at the North Carolina Museum of History on April 22.] Yellin was warmly
introduced by Dorothy Redford. Other participants who delivered papers or moderated ses-sions
were Trudier Harris-Lopez of UNC-Chapel Hill, Lucinda H. MacKethan of N.C.
State University, Freddie Parker of N.C. Central University, Anne B. Warner of Spelman
College, and Jeffrey J. Crow. At Kadesh AME Zion Church, the Elizabeth City State Uni-versity
Concert Choir sang traditional Negro spirituals, including “Has Anybody There Seen
My Jesus?” It was such a powerful culmination to the symposium that tears flowed among
the attendees, including one who remarked, “Harriet Jacobs was right there.”
The number of registrants for this event, free to the public, was impressive considering the
remoteness of Edenton. The audience consisted of townspeople, other North Carolinians,
and visitors from as far away as Connecticut, Florida, Maine, Minnesota, and New York.
North Carolina counties represented were Brunswick, Camden, Carteret, Chowan, Colum-bus,
Craven, Dare, Iredell, Lenoir, New Hanover, Pasquotank, Scotland, Wake, Washing-ton,
Watauga, and Wilson. Mixed by race, age, and education, attendees included high
school students, educators, and retirees. The question-and-answer sessions following scholars’
presentations proved lively, with discussions of Jacobs’s Edenton family, her religious beliefs,
the plight of runaway slaves, and the power of literacy, not only for nineteenth-century
slaves but for the present generation. Two members of the audience who shared a passion
for Jacobs’s story were a woman who has just completed a musical, Hatty, based on Jacobs’s
7 0 C A R O L I N A C O M M E N T S
life, and an author who has written a young adult historical novel about Jacobs. A film pro-ducer
from WNET, a Public Broadcasting System station in New York, who is interested in
including Jacobs’s story in a documentary on slavery, was also in attendance.
The positive comments from participants on evaluation forms indicated that we met
our objectives of increasing Jacobs’s presence in Edenton, of achieving diverse participa-tion,
and of educating the public about Jacobs and slavery. In terms of the selection of
Edenton for the event, a local resident wrote, “As an Edentonian, I am so proud and
pleased that this symposium took place.” Another said that he/she had been previously
“unaware of Edenton’s place in slave history.” Someone from Iredell County remarked,
“Having it in Edenton was wonderful! The location gave it a relevance and immediacy
available nowhere else,” while a New York City attendee wrote, “Celebrating ‘native
daughter’ in her own hometown was inspiring.” Two persons from Watauga County
commented on local community involvement: “Wonderful integration of community and
academic interests. The level of energy and enthusiasm at the community level was inspir-ing—
a refreshing change from the usual academic conference”; “Great community
involvement, pride and enthusiasm; appeal to a broad range of people.” One Chowan
County resident alluded to a changing Edenton: “[The symposium] reinforced that racism,
though still with us, is being dealt with and that communities can be transformed.”
Lots of people seemed pleased with the diverse audience. They said that the strength of
the symposium was “the integration of the races,” “the variety of people, teachers, schol-ars,
historical, locals, students,” “an audience that contained both scholars and novices,”
“attendance by students at the symposium,” and “the diversity of participants—in terms of
disciplines, race, locale and academics.”
Many attendees commented on what they had learned at the symposium: “My sense of
Jacobs’s life was enlarged and deepened”; “Each of the writers shed light not just on Har-riet
Jacobs, but on how we today are affected by her story. This symposium was extremely
well organized, the staff were helpful and friendly, and the presentations were wonderful”;
“As an African American I realize I need to learn more about this part of history and today
gave me a good understanding of what I do not know.” Several persons commented that
the information given about female runaway slaves was new to them. One person wrote:
“I gained an understanding and respect for the empowering role of black enslaved
women.” Another commented: “The sessions enlightened further understanding of not
only negative behaviors but also faith, endurance, perseverance, struggles of life.”
Some persons remarked on the importance of audience discussion by saying that the
strength of the symposium was “the question-and-answer sessions [because] they gave
everyone an opportunity to take part. They also motivated my quest to read and study
more African American history,” and “The questions were fabulous, and meeting so many
different people from different vocations and avenues was very enriching to my under-standing
of Incidents and the period of Harriet Jacobs.”
The attendance and the apparent success of the symposium can be attributed in large
part to the overwhelming “can do” attitude of all North Carolinians involved in this
project and of the network of accomplished Edenton citizens, who share a commitment to
preserving and understanding their rich and complex past. The ripple effect of their many
hours of work will endure in the hearts and minds of all those informed and enlightened
by the Harriet Jacobs Symposium 2003.
1. Scott Veale, “New and Noteworthy Paperbacks,” New York Times Book Review, September 10,
2000, at 7:44.
2. Martha Norkunas, The Politics of Public Memory: Tourism, History and Ethnicity in Monterey,
California (Albany: SUNY Press, 1993), 99.
V O L U M E 5 2 , N U M B E R 2 , A P R I L 2 0 0 4 7 1
Carolina Comments
Published quarterly by the Office of Archives and History
North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources
Raleigh, North Carolina
Jeffrey J. Crow, Editor in Chief
Kenrick N. Simpson, Editor
Historical Publications Section
Office of Archives and History
4622 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, NC 27699-4622
Telephone (919) 733-7442
Fax (919) 733-1439
www.ncpublications.com
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