Summer has arrived to campus, no matter what the seasonal calendar says! It has been, as it always is, a busy year of processing manuscript collections, staffing our Reading Room, teaching with primary sources and rare books, creating catalog records, growing the Center’s digital collections, navigating technology upgrades, and countless other tasks.

The Center aims to connect the people and communities and Southeast North Carolina to the sources of their history and culture by collecting materials, providing access to those materials, sharing collections with the campus and broader region, encouraging and engaging scholarship on the region, and supporting and partnering with regional cultural heritage groups. You can see some of this history and culture, as well as the work we do to make it accessible, in blog posts completed by the Center across the year, discussing a variety of topics including:  

• Government Information librarian Elisabeth Garner wrote a series of posts about the North Carolina Manual’s history and content, starting here.
• University Archivist Adina Riggins wrote about records management at the University: how employees can tackle their records and the assistance that the University Archivist can provide. Also, if you’re reading this in May, check out June’s State Archives workshop specifically for higher education records management.
• Center specialist Isabella Walker used those University records to write about vocational education and the unexpected history of football on campus.
• Special Collections Specialist Nicole Yatsonsky complied clips from WHQR’s Sounds Local episodes that highlighted interviews with Black artists in honor of February’s Black History Month.
• Special Collections Librarian Rebecca Baugnon highlighted the materials available in Special Collections overall, and graduating student worker Sarah Creel shared holiday cards preserved in scrapbooks from the Reverend Edwin E. Kirton Family Private Papers collection.
• Public Services Archivist Samantha Crisp highlighted all kinds of materials, including two posts of fashion images in honor of Fashion Week on campus and (underrated?) film Muppets from Space, shot in town.

While the blog goes on hiatus for the summer, we will be continuing our work behind the scenes, providing access to collections through the Reading Room - by appointment - and preparing for August. I know it doesn’t seem like it but any academic librarian knows, the first day of classes is right around the corner! 

The book Just Yesterday: North Carolina People and Places features photography produced by Bruce Roberts, described as "a prominent twentieth-century photographer." These prints cover everyday life, from ordinary tasks to people doing all kinds of work, capturing "the essence of life in North Carolina in the mid-to late twentieth century." The photographs have been divided by four geographic regions across the state of North Carolina: the Outer Banks, the East, the Piedmont, and the Mountains. For those who grew up in North Carolina or have lived here for quite some time, several of the images may be recognizable and nostalgic.

Beginning with the Outer Banks, there are countless photos of this unique area of our state. Some of the photos include images of many fishermen partaking in a time-honored tradition to our coastal areas. The Cape Hatteras lighthouse features prominently over a few pages, along with the Bodie Lighthouse surrounded by a light blanket of rare snow. One Stacy Franklin Guthrie was highlighted in a photograph, depicting the elderly gentleman next to one of many boats he crafted on his own property. Images from shrimping and fishing boats are brilliantly captured in both black and white and color, depicting large net catches of the highly valued seafood.

Closer to Wilmington's geographic area of southeastern North Carolina, the book next focuses on the East, with a full-page black and white photograph taken in Robeson County from 1959. It shows a father and son walking together next to a large oak tree, as the father holds a hoe. In his description, Roberts states that the son will assuredly use newer methods of farming, namely a tractor. Let us not forget that tobacco was once king in North Carolina, with photos depicting many instances of this crop and how it was farmed. Men walking through tobacco houses at an auction, women separating dried tobacco leaves as a result of the "flue-cured" process, and stories of men placing bricks in the bottom of their tobacco piles since "it was paid for by the pound."

The battleship USS North Carolina is also featured, in a photograph from 1961 returning to Wilmington "after being mothballed since World War II in the naval reserve fleet." Roberts talks about the statewide fundraising, where "thousands of students contributed dimes and quarters to the effort" of bringing the ship to Wilmington. 

Another notable photo in this section devoted to "the East" depicts Suzy Sterling, a white 18-year-old college student with a very young African American child sitting on her lap, staring into each other’s eyes. Sterling had "joined ninety-nine other North Carolina college students in the opening battle of a statewide interracial war on poverty." The photo was taken in Rockingham, NC, in an old two-room schoolhouse in which Sterling had been sent to work in a daycare, playing with and teaching the young students. The little boy in her lap had just fallen and was seeking attention when Sterling pulled him up onto her knees and they proceeded to have a staring contest. This image went on to be included as a full page "in the state of North Carolina’s official history book for eighth graders in 1992" and Roberts exhibited it at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.

This book shares beautiful photos of people and places throughout the Piedmont and mountain areas of our state. It is worth a leisurely look at, to  appreciate the varied aspects of our state’s history over the last several decades.

As America celebrates 250 years as a nation in 2026, it seems worthwhile to venture into the history of the state of North Carolina as well. We’ll be taking a closer look at the publication from 1971 entitled North Carolina and the War of 1812 by Dr. Sarah McCulloh Lemmon. A quick review as to why the U.S. Congress declared war on Great Britain in 1812: the practice of "impressment" upon American sailors was being deployed by the British navy. Essentially, they were taking American sailors from commercial ships and forcing them to serve in the British navy against England’s war with France.  This North Carolina state publication highlights key aspects of the war such as geographical perspectives, and how troops and supplies were raised to help support the war effort.

Dr. Lemmon tells us that there was a great need for men to serve in the U.S.'s army at this time. "When the war began, there were only 6,686 officers and men in the regulars…" The "regulars" were made up of men who were entirely volunteers. By the end of the War of 1812, the "number had grown to 38,186-an increase occasioned entirely through recruiting volunteers." Additionally, “Governor Hawkins (of North Carolina) issued an appeal to volunteers either for a twelve-month term or for a lifetime career in the army.” Ideals like "bravery and patriotism" and "golden opportunity," and promises of equipping volunteers with "rifle dress and giving you your favorite weapon," were pitched to attract men to serve in the army.  Also, 160 acres of land were promised to those who enlisted, delivered once the war had come to an end.

Regarding North Carolina and its role in the war, "militia companies from Bladen, Brunswick, New Hanover, and Duplin counties went to Fort Johnson, while companies from Lenoir, Craven, Beaufort, and Onslow (counties), reported to Fort Hampton." All of these militia groups were sent upon the request from Major General Thomas Pinckney, who had been stationed in Charleston, SC. Additionally, one Robert Cochran, a customs officer living in Wilmington at the time, wrote to Governor Hawkins, stating that he did not believe there was a huge threat to the city of Wilmington, but he still asked for some artillery.  Eventually, "two small cannon(s) were obtained for harbor defense."

Furthermore, North Carolina provided its fair share of privateers to the war effort. For example, Edenton, New Bern, Beaufort, and Wilmington all supplied privateers. During war time, these private ships carry official documents from governments, which gives them the right to act as if they were actual warships. If it were during a time of peace however, they would be called pirates. Many privateers were eager to help serve in this war effort since for them, it would provide a chance to capture enemy British ships, return them to coastal ports, and they could then sell the retrieved goods and retain the profits.

Otway Burns was North Carolina’s greatest privateer. He was from Beaufort and his ship was the Snap Dragon. Burns recruited men along the coastline of southeastern North Carolina, much to the chagrin of store owners and other merchants who opposed the war. They feared their small towns would be attacked and damaged and therefore resented Burns' efforts to recruit men for the war effort. However, many men were more than eager to join up and serve on the Snap Dragon as they saw this as a way to make their fortunes. Ironically, at the first attempt to chase a British ship, "some of those men who had been very brave in port, turned pale."

Overall, this publication is a brief and highly informational read on the War of 1812 and North Carolina’s role in it. It is a fascinating way to learn more about the war in general and how our state contributed to federal efforts in the war, which eventually led to a draw with the signing of the Treaty of Ghent.

This week's edition of our blog focuses on a document from our North Carolina state government publications entitled, A History of African Americans in North Carolina. The volume was first published by the North Carolina Department of Archives and History in 1992, with revisions in 2002 and 2011; the Library has copies of all three versions. It tells the history of African Americans in our state from the colonial origins of slavery to the rise of African American political power. 

Considering the Center's focus on southeastern North Carolina, this post will highlight topics such as the simple act of attending church in Duplin County for enslaved Black people and how they were manipulated in New Hanover County. There are many more topics that are discussed within this resource regarding the history of African Americans across the state, therefore it may warrant a visit to the Center's reading room to discover the history that is highlighted throughout this book. 

“In New Hanover County in 1763 approximately 55% of the households owned enslaved people. Enslaved people, moreover, constituted 73% of the taxables in New Hanover County in 1767 and more than 80% in (neighboring) Brunswick County.” According to the authors, the city of Wilmington commissioners were harsher on these people living in this area of the state. An example of this is highlighted by the selling of farm produce in the markets, but there was no way of ensuring enslaved people were returning any monies they may have earned back to their enslaver. Some enslaved people kept part, or even all earnings from the sale of the produce. As a result “as early as 1745, the General Assembly empowered Wilmington commissioners to monitor the role of enslaved people in the markets. To sell produce, the enslaved people needed to carry tickets, (issued to them), from their enslavers…in 1765 Wilmington commissioners promulgated a set of even stricter ordinances, including a ten o’clock curfew each night.” More instances are listed in the book regarding how these commissioners made it even more difficult for the lives of enslaved people living in the Wilmington area.

Regarding religion and church attendance, “before the War of 1812, African Americans-enslaved and free-made up about one-third of the Methodists in North Carolina. Around that same time, “separate African churches had been established in Wilmington, New Bern, Fayetteville, and Edenton." Of course, enslaved people were not allowed “to be exposed to potentially subversive information or hear the wrong kind of preaching,” especially after 1830 when the education of enslaved people became strictly prohibited. Furthermore, “all meetings of (enslaved people), even for religious purposes, were supposed to be supervised, and ministers were expected to support the system of slavery. Lizzie Baker, who grew up in Duplin County, reported that her parents were taken with the enslaver's family ‘to the white folks’ church. They said the preachers told them they had to obey their 'missus and master.’” Baker went on to describe “secret prayer meetings arranged by (enslaved people)…. even after patrollers found them and beat them.”

In 1910 the state of education for African American students began to improve somewhat as elementary schools for Black children "began receiving state funds....three years later the state established the office of supervisor of rural elementary schools to promote the education of Black (children)...with Nathan C. Newbold becoming the first state agent for these schools." Additional funds were secured from such philanthropic agencies as the "Peabody, Rosenwald, Jeanes, and Salter funds, along with the General Education Board," that all supported Newbold's work. The book goes on to state that resources from the Jeanes Fund "made possible the hiring of supervisors for rural schools, and the Rosenwald Fund financed the construction of schools." As evidenced by the accompanying photo, Newbold would go on to highlight the great discrepancies in schools for Black and white children. 

To reiterate, these are just a few examples of the long history of African Americans in the state of North Carolina. The book goes into detail regarding other areas of African American history in our state such as the effects on the practice of slavery by the American Revolution, Emancipation, Reconstruction, and Black Life in the Age of Jim Crow. Contributions to the book were made by members of the North Carolina Office of Archives and History and professors of history at Shaw University, Wake Forest University, and St. Augustine College.

This edition of the Center's blog focuses on the North Carolina state publication entitled Fostering Perspectives. As the title suggests, it offers a variety of articles related to the perspectives of those who work within the state's foster care system. This publication is published twice per year, generally in spring and fall.  Its publication is sponsored by the NC Department of Health and Human Services and the Family and Children’s Resource Program.  Here at the Center for Southeast North Carolina Archives & History, we receive it in print and electronic form.  The following paragraphs summarize information from the May 2025 edition, specifically from Dr. Sarah Norris, Ed.D, MBA, M.Ed. Chief Program Officer with Crossnore Communities for Children, based out of Winston-Salem and Crossnore, NC, about the current state of foster care in North Carolina and the Bridging Families Program which is a "family-focused and team-based model of care designed to directly address the obstacles to family reunification."

In Dr. Norris’ article, “Bridging Families©, The Way Home-One Step Toward Child Welfare Transformation,” she begins by stating that “the child welfare system is in deep crisis.” Essentially, the system as it is currently set up was never meant to face the overwhelming challenges that are presented today, regarding the foster care system.  The Bridging Families© program came to light in 2021 after much thought and reflection, being “grounded in research and practical application…” Quite rapidly, funders began donating money to the program that expanded across three of Crossnore’s primary locations in the western part of North Carolina.  The model was formally adopted by the NC DHHS as “the state’s only endorsed professional foster parenting model with the support of a 2-year, $1.8 million state contract, alongside an additional $3.75 million investment from the Leon Levine Foundation.”

The Bridging Families© approach “positions (foster parents) as full-time, professional partners working alongside the birth families and their children throughout the process.” Since the goal for children in foster care is reunification with their birth parent(s), the program seeks to support families by removing “common structural barriers like fragmented services, inconsistent and limited visitation, and adversarial co-parenting dynamics by embedding professional parenting within a therapeutic, team-driven framework.” Bridge Family parents are fully compensated and act as “an extension of the case-planning team,” along with DSS social workers.  Additionally, “over the next several years, the Bridging Families© model will expand across North Carolina through the work of the Bridging Families© Institute, which provides training, coaching, consultation, and readiness support to child placement agencies committed to implementing the model with fidelity.”

Additionally, the Fostering Perspectives publication typically includes a section entitled "Writing Contest" where questions are asked by the editors and children in foster care are free to write in with their responses. For this edition the question asked the children how they were able to speak up and advocate for themselves at a time when they needed to. One child, aged 9, spoke about how when he gets mad, his “foster mother Christina will always help me by telling me to get to the ‘calm down’ corner or take deep breaths. After I calm down sometimes, we play a board game or do fun things…. whenever I am sad, my foster mother will always ask me what’s wrong and I will tell her what happened so she can understand and help me out.” There are several more responses included in this edition, from various children currently in foster care, at different ages with differing stories to tell.

Overall, Fostering Perspectives is an important publication that the state of North Carolina provides to citizens, specifically those who are interested in or currently navigating the intricacies and challenges of foster care.  The Center for Southeast North Carolina Archives & History currently has editions of this publication in print dating back to 2012. It is also available online from our library catalog: Fostering Perspectives. If you are interested in reading through these editions in person, please feel free to visit the Center’s Reading Room during open hours, Monday-Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

This post continues from an earlier post, that centered on The North Carolina Manual. We’ll now look at the 1913 edition of The Manual specifically. This edition was published by the North Carolina Historical Commission, made up of members such as J. Bryan Grimes, chairman from Raleigh, and D.H. Hill, also from Raleigh. Hill, you may recall, has a library named after him at North Carolina State University. The 1913 edition offers readers some interesting pieces of information from that time, and we will be highlighting this in today’s post. For instance, in 1913, Governor Locke Craig earned a whopping $5,000 for his annual salary; the then-Attorney General earned $3,000. There were 41 official Standing Committees in the state Senate during this time, notably Committees on "Insane Asylums, Institutions for the Blind, Institutions for the Deaf, and on Shellfish." The House had a similar Standing Committee for “Shellfish" and a committee on "Oyster Interests." 

There is brief mention of "Pensions for Confederate Veterans" and for those Confederate veterans who were "totally blind and disabled," the law allowed $120 per year, per veteran, which totaled $13,280.00 in the year 1907. For years 1911-1912, the number of teachers in the state totaled 11,914 and the average monthly salary of all teachers was only $35.80.  Additionally, the veterinary division of the Department of Agriculture was responsible for developing an anticholera serum" and, according to the 1913 edition, "ninety-five percent of the hogs vaccinated escaped cholera….and it is expected that the scourge of cholera will be much abated." One other item of note from the 1913 edition mentions a "Hall of History" that was created in 1903 as part of the NC State Museum. It housed "a collection of objects illustrating every period of the life of North Carolina, as Province, Colony, and State…particularly rich in objects of the Colonial and Revolutionary periods and that of the Civil War…already exceeding $1,500 in value." Regarding these materials, The NC Historical Commission stated that they "are thoroughly protected against injury by moths or other insects and are set before the public in the most attractive way."

Additionally, in 1913 the NC State Library held "no works of fiction, unless they be by North Carolina authors, or portray North Carolina life…" There were 32,246 total volumes in the library in addition to 5,852 "Government Books." Instruction as we know "library instruction" today, was in its nascent stages. The Chairman of the Library Commission for the state would "give a course in library methods as a regular department of the Summer School of the State University." It was a course taught for those who were librarians in public school libraries. 

The 1913 Manual also discusses a few different schools and colleges from 1913. The North Carolina State Normal and Industrial College, now known as UNC Greensboro, was originally established in 1891 and its main purpose was "to give young women such education as shall fit them for teaching; to give instruction to young women in drawing, telegraphy, typewriting, stenography, and such other industrial arts as may be suitable to their sex and conducive to their support and usefulness." It should be noted that this institution was only open to enrolling "the white women of North Carolina." None other than Andrew Carnegie himself donated the money to build the library at this institution. Appalachian State University and East Carolina University, previously known as Watauga Academy or Appalachian Training School, and East Carolina Teachers Training School respectively, were also mentioned in the 1913 edition of the NC Manual, listing number of enrolled students, leaders of the schools, and how many acres the schools possessed in the early 1900s, among other information. Finally, the State School for the Blind and the Deaf was established in 1845, and by 1913, had "a very neat and convenient library that was constructed, entirely fireproof, at a cost of $5,000…" per the Manual. There were two schools for the deaf and blind; one for white children and one for "the negro deaf and blind children of the state…which has grown to be the largest and best equipped school for the negro deaf and blind in the South." 

Many more details about these and other schools are listed than can be described here, but we invite you to contact us at UNCW Library to learn more.

In October, the Center for Southeast NC Archives and History is excited to host an open house! Mark your calendars for Thursday, October 30, from 4-5:30pm and come join us!

In the Center’s Reading Room (Discovery Hall 2095), we will have items on display related to our collecting areas: government information, manuscript collections, rare and special publications, and University records. Our team will be on hand to chat about the Center’s collections and services – we are available for use by faculty, staff, students, community members, and all kinds of information-seekers looking for information about the history of Southeast North Carolina!

We will also be celebrating the library’s 60th year of being part of the Federal Depository Library Program, which helps the public access federal government information. 

Folks from all around may find this open house helpful: students, faculty, staff, community members of all kinds. Our collections document the University and its history and Southeastern North Carolina encompassing New Hanover County and the surrounding region including Bladen, Brunswick, Columbus, Duplin, Pender, Onslow, and Sampson counties. 

Off-campus visitors may find this information about visitor parking on campus useful. Please email csencah@uncw.edu with any questions. 

Light refreshments will be served. Please stop by, for 5 minutes or 50 – and bring your research questions! 

The history of North Carolina is interesting, varied, and far-reaching, insomuch as it dates to our initial ties with England, well before Independence was declared. As a native of “the Old North State,” I have come to appreciate that history. If any North Carolinian ever faced the need or desire to learn about the history of this great state, then The North Carolina Manual would be one of the best resources to use. Fortunately, here at the Center for Southeast North Carolina Archives and History, we have almost every edition of The North Carolina Manual in print, ranging from the years 1913-2008.

According to J.D. Lewis, from his site The North Carolina Manual, The Manual was first printed in 1874 as a result of post-Civil War Reconstruction “and the resulting total rework of the North Carolina State Constitution in 1868.”  During that time, many North Carolinians were elected to public office for the first time and had no real concept of how state government operated. These newly elected officials needed a resource to consult that would provide “essential information about all branches of government, of which they were now a part.” The provenance and subsequent publication of The Manual is interesting, and merits a brief retelling of its own, before highlighting the contents and specific editions of The Manual in future blog posts.

As stated earlier, The Manual was first published in 1874, but the appropriations that were needed to continue printing it were not reauthorized. Not until 1903 was its second iteration published. At that time, it was authorized to be printed on a biennial, or every other year, basis. Again, according to Lewis, the manual was to contain the Constitutions of the United States and North Carolina, and “the names of all the Governors and other executive officers of the State, Judges of the Supreme and Superior Courts, members and officers of the two Houses of the General Assembly, with such other chronological and statistical information as may be deemed useful.”

There were to be 1,000 copies printed of The Manual and each Senator and Representative were to receive four each. One copy would also go to each officer of both houses of the General Assembly. A copy would be given to each State officer, including Judges of the Supreme Court and Superior Courts, one to the Governor of each state, and the NC State Library would receive ten copies. Any remaining copies would “be equally distributed in the several counties of the State to such parties as the said Secretary may elect.” It was also resolved “that in no edition of said ‘Manual’ after the first shall any name be reprinted except the names of those actually in office.”

In 1913, with the printing of that edition of The Manual, the General Assembly appropriated funds allowing for a thorough researching of the history of North Carolina’s government “since the early colonial era.”  There was, however, one stipulation included with the appropriations needed for that research: that in subsequent printings, most of that history would not be reprinted. As Lewis shares, the early twentieth century saw many changes within North Carolina’s government, namely, the creation of new agencies, boards, and commissions to help support a rapidly growing population. As we will see in future posts about it on this blog, The Manual became a vital resource for those serving in public roles, at both state and local levels.