In mid-century America, beauty pageants were a hit. The golden age of pageants began in the 1950s, when the Miss America competition in Atlantic City, New Jersey was first broadcast live on television to millions of excited viewers. State and local pageants, though smaller in scale, also experienced a streak of popularity. In North Carolina, a Wilmington resident named Hannah Block played a critical role in the pageant world. Block judged and directed numerous pageants across North Carolina and routinely coached and chaperoned pageant contestants to better their chances of success. Block even had a hand in securing the first and only Miss America win for a North Carolina contestant. 

During the 1950s, Hannah Block coached and chaperoned several Miss North Carolina winners, including Faye Arnold of Raleigh and Joan Melton of Albemarle, to compete in the Miss America competition. Although both Arnold and Melton were state winners, neither could snag the Miss America title. Nothing stopped Hannah Block’s enthusiasm, however. Quoted in a 1958 newspaper interview after losing that year’s Miss America, Block said of the pageant: “It is one of the most thrilling things I know of.”

It wasn't until the 1960s that a North Carolina contestant found success on the national level. After Maria Beale Fletcher of Asheville won the Miss North Carolina pageant in 1961, Hannah Block coached Fletcher for the upcoming competition in Atlantic City. Fletcher ultimately won the title of Miss America 1962. As winner, Fletcher received all the benefits of Miss America: an academic scholarship, a full schedule of social appearances, and hearty congratulations from family, friends, and fans. Block’s contributions were also well-applauded. When Special Collections staff organized Hannah Block’s Miss America records, dozens of congratulatory telegrams, cards, and letters were found and preserved. They serve as warm reminders of Block’s efforts, even 65 years later.

Hannah Block was an active figure in the Miss North Carolina and Miss America pageants, but she was also a coach, chaperone, judge, producer, and director at numerous regional and local pageants. The Hannah Solomon Block Collection features materials that show the depth of her involvement, and includes items like correspondence, pageant program books, nametags, newspapers, and photographs. Also present in the collection is evidence of Block's support of the Wilmington community; for example, the Hannah Block Historic USO at 120 South Second Street bears her name to commemorate Block's work coordinating performances for troops during World War II. To view these materials and other items related to Block's life, visit our Reading Room or contact us. 

Sources

• Newspapers, 1952-1967, Folder: 47, Box: 2. Hannah Solomon Block Collection, SC-MS-181, Center for Southeast North Carolina Archives and History.
• Correspondence, 1960-1961, undated, Folder: 5, Box: 3. Hannah Solomon Block Collection, SC-MS-181, Center for Southeast North Carolina Archives and History.

Flashback to a hundred years ago—it's the summer of 1926 and you’re riding the trolley from downtown Wilmington to Wrightsville Beach. The car rattles along the tracks, the air thick and humid, a warm breeze reaching you every now and again. As you cross Bradley Creek, the sun sets in the west behind you. You can hardly tell, though, as a second sun seems to rise from the ocean in the darkening distance.

But that’s no sun—that's Lumina [pictured¹].

When Lumina opened near the end of the Wrightsville Beach electric trolley line in 1905, over a thousand incandescent bulbs lit up the new entertainment pavilion. Built by Hugh MacRae, owner of the local electric utility, he hoped its brightness would encourage more people to use electricity. It did allow ships to navigate by it and was soon nicknamed "The Palace of Light."

Lumina had three levels of recreational activities for white leisure-seekers, like bowling at the ground floor lanes, dancing in the second-floor ballroom [pictured²], or taking in the sweeping ocean views from the top-level promenade. From there, you could also watch movies on the large, over-water screen [pictured³] or look down upon the dance floor below. The pavilion also featured restaurants, dressing rooms, and a dress code for the ballroom that staff enforced diligently.

After 1940, the pavilion faced several difficulties, like the closure of the trolley, increased automobile access to the beach, and newer entertainment options. It was damaged by Hurricane Hazel in 1954 and continued to decline through the 1960s, until it was finally condemned in 1972 and later demolished in 1973. The pavilion was located near what is now the Sandpeddler Inn & Suites on S. Lumina Avenue.

Though gone for over 50 years, Lumina continues to be a fond memory for those who once visited "The Palace of Light." A North Carolina historical marker (D-97) for Lumina, dedicated in 1992, can be found on Waynick Boulevard between Nathan Street and Iula Street.

For more information on Lumina and Wrightsville Beach history, visit the CSENCAH reading room to view these published works:

• Wrightsville Beach: A Pictorial History by Greg Watkins, 1997
• Cape Fear Lost by Susan Taylor Block, 1999
• Hometown Memories--Wilmington Tales: A Treasury of 20th Century Memories by Bob Lasley and Sallie Holt, 2002
• Lumina: Illuminating the Forgotten Past by the UNCW Department of Sociology, 2003

Image Sources:

Teaser: "Lumina" Wrightsville Beach, N.C., James Evans Postcard Collection

1. Lumina by Moonlight, Wrightsville Beach, Wilmington, N.C., James Evans Postcard Collection
2. Interior of Lumina Dancing Pavilion at Night, Wrightsville Beach Near Wilmington, N.C., James Evans Postcard Collection
3. Movies "Over the Waves" at Lumina, Wrightsville Beach, N.C., James Evans Postcard Collection

You can view these images and more in the digital collection of the James Evans Postcard Collection.

The City of Wilmington’s roots in the film industry reach back to at least 1983, when producer Frank Capra, Jr., selected several local spots as filming locations for his project, Firestarter. The Center’s collections offer a treasure trove of information on the film industry in North Carolina, featuring documents such as scripts, casting headshots, posters and publicity material, original artwork, and production files for both feature films and television shows.

One of the Center’s most extensive collections related to the film industry is MS 175 Fincannon and Associates Script Collection. Fincannon and Associates, a casting agency based in Wilmington, was founded in 1979 by Craig Fincannon, later assisted by his brother, Mark. The company has been involved with numerous major motion pictures and television shows over its 40-plus years of operation, collaborating with major industry leaders such as Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, and Dino DeLaurentiis.  

One such project was 1999’s Muppets from Space, filmed locally at Screen Gems Studios in Wilmington, located out near the airport. Shooting began in the fall of 1998. It was the second Jim Henson production to be shot in Wilmington, after Elmo in Grouchland, which wrapped earlier that summer. Muppets from Space centers on the character Gonzo, who discovers his extraterrestrial origins after years of referring to himself as “a whatever.” In addition to Screen Gems Studios, other filming locations included the Dixie Cement Company and Fort Fisher; the house shared by the Muppets in the film was located on North Seventh Street. Stars such as Jeffrey Tambor, Andie MacDowell, and Ray Liotta traveled to Wilmington to shoot scenes alongside local cast members and extras. The film must have been a fun challenge for Fincannon and Associates to cast, due to the large number of cameo appearances made by major celebrities (for which the Muppets franchise is well known).

Below are some samples of documents from the production, all reproduced from the Fincannon and Associates Script Collection. If you’d like to learn more about this region’s connection to the film industry, check out the Center’s subject guide, Hollywood East: Film in Southeast North Carolina. Or you can visit our reading room to view these original documents in person. 

As anyone who has spent time in the secluded, closed stacks of a university archive will know, boxes upon boxes of sometimes-unorganized, sometimes-processed collections are interspersed within the shelves of special and rare books. Since September, I have been assisting with reprocessing the Herman Blizzard Rotary Archive, the archive of the Wilmington Rotary Club, which was established in Wilmington in 1915 as the first Rotary club in the area.

Prior to last semester, I knew vaguely of Rotary clubs, in that I knew they existed, but that was where my knowledge of the subject ended. Thanks to my work on the collection these last several months, I can now say that I am well-versed in their organizational functions and humanitarian causes.

My role with Special Collections has focused primarily on identifying what's contained in certain segments of the collection, and then organizing that information in a way that will make it accessible to someone who is not as familiar with it as I now am. Basically, that means I have spent an extraordinary amount of time working in Microsoft Excel spreadsheets the last six months, as you can see here:

There’s a lot of variety in the contents of the collection; most of it being various types of paper goods, but also a lot of artifacts. Particularly, there are numerous trading banners from Rotary clubs all over the world. I think this is one of my favorite parts of the collection, and of Rotary as a whole. As someone who studies and works with material culture, I love the tangible nature of giving a banner to a guest. Two people might not speak the same language, but Rotary connects them and allows them to experience the other’s culture, carrying a little piece of it home.

While here, I've also worked with the club's minutes, newsletters, handbooks, rosters, photographs, and material related to District 7730 and Rotary International. Because the collection is so broad, I’ve stumbled across many memorable items. Personal favorites have included a file folder containing three different books about the Uruguayan beef industry, a trading banner declaring Fremont, Michigan, to be “the baby food capital of the world” (pictured below), and many humorous, occasionally gossipy letters between members.

After all of this time spent with the collection, I now feel invested in the continued success of the Wilmington Rotary Club. However, as one might expect from the kind of person who happily spends hours out of their week typing notes into Excel, I’m not much of a socializer. My current plan is to get my dad to join and then report back. Wish me luck!

To learn more about the Wilmington Rotary Club, be sure to check out the Herman Blizzard Rotary Archive finding aid, or view digitized collection material in the Herman Blizzard Rotary Archive digital collection.

This post was contributed by Hannah Gaydeski, a student worker in the Center's Public Services unit.

The Center for Southeast North Carolina Archives and History holds a mysterious manuscript item entitled “Diary (author unknown)” written from 1859 to 1864. I first consulted this diary during the Fall 2025 semester, when I researched Victorian hair jewelry for my final project for the English department’s Victorian Literature class. Given that this diary was labeled as having a significant overlap with the Civil War, I was hopeful that there might be some mention of hair jewelry or hair wreaths, which were connected to the era's mourning practices. I did come across a mention of “wreaths” on January 28, 1859. This was obviously not a focus of the diary, but it did contain some valuable insights. 

The author of the diary was a schoolteacher at the Glen Anna Seminary, and had just arrived for her first semester. The author documents her daily activities. She focuses on irregular but necessary activities, such as laundry or food preservation. My interest quickly expanded to other mentioned instances of material culture, such as wax replicas, painting, and letter-writing. As to the physical properties of the diary, it is bound in a cloth hardcover. The pages have browned and the ruling has faded. Towards the end of the diary there is a small envelope and a poem, with an accompanying dried flower wrapped between the slit envelope. At the very back there is a blotting paper. Some pages at the end of the diary have been cut out, but the final known entry is contained in its entirety on the last page. 

I was curious about the author’s identity and conducted a quick internet search for the school, as the author had not signed her name to the  book. This turned up two digitized Glen Anna Seminary catalogs, one of which dates from 1858-1859, which overlaps with the diary’s creation. The school, a girl’s seminary, was described as “not sectarian. There are nine branches of the christian [sic] church represented, and we have teachers of different denominations." I expanded my research to include instances of the author’s interpersonal relationships at this point, hoping to uncover her identity. The documentation of her friendships and the information in the catalog led me to believe that the author was one “Miss Maggie Clewell.” The diary author could not be P.L. Lathrop, Jennie Jenks, S.T. Ray, nor S.A. Burch, as the author had written about all of these women. This left the two assistant pupils, or Maggie Clewell, the “Teacher of Mathematics and English Branches” as potential authors. Clewell seemed the most likely choice as she had made mention of teaching algebra before. Furthermore, a second search turned up a related collection in our archives! The Clewell Family Collection (MS 365) contains manuscripts relating to Margaret (Maggie) Clewell Jenkins and her brother, Francis Christian Clewell. The diary’s author had mentioned writing to “Frank,” a common nickname for Francis. 

After cross-referencing with the Clewell Family collection, I determined that the diary was definitely connected to this collection. This collection contains a family history entitled Endurin’ The War and a series of letters from Francis (Frank) Christian Clewell written to his family during his service in the Civil War and up until his death in 1867. Frank’s letters are not originals, unlike the diary, but were instead transcribed on a typewriter some time afterwards. Whoever transcribed the letters included notes describing family relations, errors in the accounts, and even physical descriptions of the paper that the letters were written on! This editor confirmed that Maggie taught at the Glen Anna Seminary and was Frank’s sister. The editor also mentioned that she married a Robert Alexander Jenkins, Jr. From this, I was able to successfully cross-reference events between the letters and the diary. It would appear that the diary and letters were separated from each other at some point after being donated to UNCW Library and were never reunited, since connecting the diary to the family collection would require a familiarity with the family. Both collections state the “method and date of acquisition unknown,” but the digitization of other records has happily provided enough evidence to connect the collections back to each other. 

[Update: Thanks to Hannah's research, Special Collections staff were able to reunite this orphaned diary with its parent collection in April 2026. It can now be found as part of MS 365 Clewell Family Collection (finding aid linked below)]

Sources

• MS 365 Clewell Family Collection
• Catalogue of the officers and students of Glen Anna Seminary, at Thomasville, North Carolina 1858/1859

Further Reading

• The Church and Private Schools of North Carolina: A Historical Study, by Charles Lee Raper (1898)
• Transcripts of Clewell family letters posted to the blog Spared and Shared 7
• "Women's Colleges in North Carolina, a Postal History," by Tony L. Crumbley, from the North Carolina Postal Historian vol. 36, no. 3 (Summer 2017)

For decades, Southeast North Carolina has had a diverse and culturally rich community of artists that call the region home—or ones that just stopped by to say hello! From 1984-1998, WHQR Public Radio’s program Sounds Local featured interviews with musicians, painters, actors, and more, highlighting local exhibits, area performances, and new creations. 

In honor of Black History Month this month, Special Collections has chosen a selection of Sounds Local episodes that include segments with Black artists talking about their work and lived experiences. The audio of each episode can be accessed by clicking on the hyperlinked date. 

January 17, 1986 – Minnie Evans (1892-1987)

Interview with artist Minnie Evans, North Carolina Museum of Art Curator Mitchell Kahan, and former St. John's Museum of Art Director Alan Aiches regarding Evans, her work, and an exhibit on display at the North Carolina Museum of Art. 

October 13, 1989 – Nnenna Freelon (1954- )

WHQR's Saturday morning jazz host, Maggie Pate, interviews vocalist Nnenna Freelon about her background and career as a singer, during her year-long residency at Brunswick Community College. 

October 11, 1991 – Jawole Zollar (1950- )

Interview with artistic director Jawole Zollar about the performance by Urban Bush Women dance troupe of Praise House, a tribute based on the life of Minnie Evans as part of "In Praise of Minnie Evans: A Community Celebration" held in Wilmington. 

October 18, 1991 – Jimmy Heath (1926-2020)

Interview with jazz saxophonist Jimmy Heath about his career as a musician and composer ahead of the celebration of his 65th birthday with the Heath Brothers Quartet in Thalian Hall. 

August 03, 1996 – Cynthia Tyson (1954-2004)

Interview with writer Cynthia Tyson on her jazz musical, Bessie, Billie and Me, directed by Tyhm Kennedy and sponsored by the Wilmington Jazz Collective, on stage at Kenan Auditorium at UNC Wilmington.

October 17, 1998 – Doug (1936-2006) and Frankie (1937-2024) Quimby

Interview with Doug and Frankie Quimby, The Sea Island Singers, ahead of their Gullah performance at UNC Wilmington's Kenan Auditorium for a Tapestry Theatre Company benefit.

Additional episodes featuring Black artists can be found by browsing the WHQR Public Radio Archive finding aid and listened to online via the WHQR Public Radio Archive Digital Collection. 

To learn more about artist collections held by Special Collections, browse the following subject guides: 

• The Arts in Southeast North Carolina
• Hollywood East: Film in Southeast North Carolina
• Southeast North Carolina Writers

This post was contributed by Sarah Creel, a student employee in the Center's Special Collections unit. Sarah is working to preserve and describe scrapbooks held in the Edwin E. Kirton Family Private Papers this academic year. 

Holiday cards are a way for us to connect with those we care for in our lives  —  to remind them of our appreciation or to simply say, “I was thinking of you.” Additionally, holiday cards are often saved by people as special mementos, and they can make their way into the archive. The Edwin E. Kirton Family scrapbooks, full of personal newspaper clippings, correspondence, and ephemera, provide a sneak peek into this holiday tradition during the mid-twentieth century in Wilmington. 

For Rev. Edwin Kirton and Mrs. Eunice Kirton, Christmas was a busy yet special time for them. Both Edwin and Eunice belonged to the Episcopal tradition, and Edwin served as the Rector of St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in downtown Wilmington for over twenty years. The card below displays an illustration of a Christmas nativity scene, an image that would have resonated with the Kirton family as well as many in their community. 

The Kirton Family Scrapbooks also contain examples of homemade holiday cards with some creative flair. The card below was sent to the Kirtons by the Bluethenthal family, and it is constructed with white card stock and a piece of dried seaweed from Kure Beach attached to it. While quite different from the “typical” holiday card, it was a unique way for the Bluethenthal family to send their season’s greetings. 

Lastly, other holiday cards in the Edwin E. Kirton Family scrapbooks display the family’s connections outside of Wilmington. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Rev. Edwin E. Kirton was a member of the Governor’s Committee on Employment of the Handicapped. His active involvement in this state commission gave him a relationship with North Carolina Governor Dan Moore and his family. The card below is from the Governor who wishes the Kirton family a happy New Year. 

Overall, the Edwin E. Kirton Family scrapbooks contain a variety of holiday cards from the twentieth century. These cards show the different relationships the Kirton family had within and outside Wilmington, as well as the different types of holiday cards one could encounter in twentieth-century Wilmington. Finally, their preservation in the family scrapbooks also demonstrate the sentimental nature of holiday cards. 

Sources: MS 042 Edwin E. Kirton Family Private Papers, Center for Southeast North Carolina Archives and History.

Wilmington has been synonymous with the East Coast film industry for over four decades now, since producer Frank Capra, Jr. (1934-2007) [pictured¹] arrived in southeast North Carolina in the fall of 1983 to shoot Firestarter (1984), based on the 1980 novel by Stephen King and starring a young Drew Barrymore.

Capra, Jr. eventually decided to form a Wilmington-based company, De Laurentiis Entertainment Group, with Universal Pictures’ production head Dino De Laurentiis (1919-2010). The company would work out of their newly built Carolco Studios, better known as EUE/Screen Gems Studios after its acquisition in 1996. At the same time, Capra, Jr. was named the President of EUE/Screen Gems in Wilmington. The studio facility would change its name again in 2023, when it was bought by Cinespace Studios.

Beyond work, Capra Jr. took quickly to the Port City, buying a house in the Hancock Park area of town and marrying a local, Deborah Ann Sprunt, who had previously been married to Kenneth Sprunt, Jr. of the Sprunt family. Capra, Jr. also joined the Wilmington Rotary Club [pictured²] in March 1997...

...though per this memo [pictured³] from January 4, 1999, his attendance in the two years since was lax, leading the Attendance Committee to note he should be dropped from the club's membership. However, he was listed again on the club's 1999-2000 roster for that next membership year and did not fall off until 2000-2001.

Capra, Jr. was the son of famed Golden Age director Frank Capra (1897-1991), best known for films like Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) and It’s A Wonderful Life (1946). For many years, Capra, Jr. held an annual screening of his father’s holiday classic in town. To learn more about the filming of Firestarter and Capra, Jr.’s time in Wilmington, take a look at the Frank Capra, Jr. Collection.

Sources:

1. MS 250 Frank Capra, Jr. Collection, Center for Southeast North Carolina Archives and History
2. MS 215 Herman Blizzard Rotary Archive, Center for Southeast North Carolina Archives and History
3. MS 215 Herman Blizzard Rotary Archive, Center for Southeast North Carolina Archives and History