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! 

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! 

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.