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.

44 years ago this week, a lecture on the newly established Wiccan religion was held at UNCW. The speakers, Gavin and Yvonne Frost, were invited by psychology faculty member Antonio Puente in support of a class on the psychology of consciousness, which studied the concepts of self-awareness and the conscious mind. The Frosts’ talk was entitled “Witchcraft: The Way to Serenity.” It was extremely popular – over 175 people packed into King Hall auditorium to hear the Frosts speak. They demonstrated some traditional Wiccan healing practices and explained the basic tenets of their church, afterwards passing out newsletters to the attendees.

The Frosts were the archbishop and archbishopess of the Church and School of Wicca, which they had founded in 1968. It was the first federally recognized Wiccan church in the United States. In the early days of the church, the Frosts developed a correspondence course to teach interested followers about the Wiccan religion.  

The Frosts moved their church to New Bern, North Carolina, in 1974, where the church’s headquarters remained until they relocated to West Virginia in 1996. During that time, the Church and School of Wicca attracted quite a following, and a large population of Wiccan/Pagan-identifying folks still reside in or near New Bern to this day.