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)

Introduction

UNCW Library’s Special Collections unit is housed within the Center for Southeast North Carolina Archives and History, located on the second floor of Discovery Hall. Special Collections focuses on collecting cultural and historical materials pertaining to the eight-county region known as southeast North Carolina (SENC), including Bladen, Brunswick, Columbus, Duplin, New Hanover, Onslow, Pender, and Sampson counties. The Center is also home to federal and state government resources and records documenting the history of the University.

When thinking about archival materials, what comes to mind first is most likely old things – whether that’s rare books or letters and deeds from generations past – and it is true, we do collect those items; however, our collections especially reflect the contemporary growth of the SENC region during the 20th and 21st centuries. They trace economic development, environmental concerns and coastal area management, and politics at all levels of government, as well as the cultural output that uniquely defines the Cape Fear area. Special Collections staff curate, process, describe, and provide access to a wide variety of materials falling into two primary categories – Rare Books and Manuscripts Collections.  

Rare Books

There are four primary collections of published materials held in Special Collections. 

The Southeast North Carolina Collection consists of books and other published items pertaining to our eight-county region. From church histories and broadsides to county records and scientific reports, this collection contains a wide variety of rare and unique items that document all historical aspects of this region.

The Local Authors Collection contains the creative output of SENC writers, including works of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and more. You might recognize names such as Clyde Edgerton, Philip Gerard, and Nina de Gramont.

Special Collections also collects locally published magazines, newsletters, newspapers, and other similar publications – a group of materials that libraries collectively call periodicals. This collection includes out-of-print titles such as Encore and Life Around Wilmington, as well as active titles, including current regional newspapers. The unit collaborates with the Library’s Digital Initiatives team and state and local partners to digitize and make available newspapers such as Carolina Beach’s Island Gazette and Columbus County’s News Reporter. 

Finally, the Special Books Collection contains publications that meet one or more of the following criteria: items pertaining to North Carolina history, items published before 1850, and rare items owned by less than 50 libraries. An additional (and very neat!) sub-collection within Special Books is a collection of miniature books measuring less than 5 inches by width or height.

Pictured here is a selection of rare books ranging in size from Mark Catesby’s 23-inch folio, Natural History of Carolina, Florida, and the Bahama Islands, to the miniature book, Lute & Lyre and Other Musical Instruments of the 6th Century A.D., a generous 1 inch in height. 

Manuscripts and Archives

Manuscript collections differentiate the Center’s Special Collections unit from other libraries and archival repositories due to their inherently unique character; manuscript collections reflect their creators and owners and often contain materials that were not kept or organized by anyone else. As mentioned previously, the Special Collections unit collects and documents the cultural and historical output of the SENC region. Our collecting scope includes subjects such as the arts, business, development, education, environmental history, faculty research, local history, politics, religion, and war and military history. Researchers can discover physical items such as diaries, letters, and photographs, as well as digital items including electronic documents, audiovisual content, and more.

The Center's collections document the lives and careers of individuals such as Dr. Hubert Eaton, Sr., and Hannah Block, the operations of organizations such as the local USO chapter and the North Carolina Coastal Federation, and events such as the USS North Carolina battleship homecoming and the Southport 4th of July Festival.

Items pictured include a letter from James R. Womble to his father describing the fall of Fort Fisher during the Civil War; a button Wilmington citizens wore while advocating for funding for a new bridge over the Cape Fear River during the 1950s and prior to the construction of the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge; and marines stationed at Camp Lejeune during the 1960s enjoying a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

Access and Research

All of the materials mentioned here and more are available to be explored by researchers near and far. Visit the Center’s website to learn more about finding materials, planning a visit, or requesting research assistance. 

Every year, October marks American Archives Month, an advocacy initiative of the Society of American Archivists. Archival institutions across the country highlight their collections with activities and events to promote awareness of archival materials and the importance of maintaining historical records.

Here in North Carolina, the Society of North Carolina Archivists (SNCA) selects an annual theme for archivists across the state to follow when showcasing the work they do in making primary sources accessible to the public.

This year’s theme is North Carolina’s 250th, in honor of the nation approaching its 250th anniversary in 2026, and celebrates the “different peoples of North Carolina and the part they played in the history of the country” since 1776. Special Collections’ manuscript collections contain primary and secondary material that document significant national moments from the last 250 years. Here are some of the people of southeast North Carolina that have made an impact over the years:

18th Century

The Declaration of Independence was signed by three men from North Carolina: Joseph Hewes, John Penn, and William Hooper (1742-1790). Hooper lived in Wilmington at the time, where he’d been practicing law since 1764, and owned a house [pictured¹] on the Masonboro Sound from 1773-1801. He represented New Hanover County on the first Committee of Correspondence, coordinating patriot opposition to British policies in advance of the American Revolution. This work would lead to his election to both the First and Second Continental Congresses. Though he missed the approval of the Declaration on July 4, 1776, he returned to Philadelphia on August 2 and signed not far below John Hancock.

19th Century

The World's Columbian Exposition, commonly referred to as the World’s Fair, was held in Chicago in 1893 and was one of the largest of the fairs, with more than 27 million visitors from across the globe. Florence Hill Kidder (1850-1917) was appointed a "lady manager" for the state of North Carolina by the World's Columbian Commission and helped with the many North Carolina exhibits that were displayed in the subject-specific halls. Her colonial exhibit won an award [pictured²], and upon her return to North Carolina, she established the North Carolina chapter of the National Society for the Colonial Dames of America in 1894. Kidder lived with her husband, George, at 308 Dock Street in downtown Wilmington, where the home, known as the Kidder House, still stands today.

20th Century

Amidst the national civil rights movement, the New Hanover County school system faced community pressure and legal action for its lack of progress towards desegregating schools, as mandated by the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Brown V. Board of Education of Topeka in 1954. Integration finally happened in 1968 and included the closure of the Black high school, Williston, where long-time educator and community leader Bertha Boykin Todd (1929-) [pictured³] worked as a librarian before moving to an administrative role at Hoggard High School. Racial tensions post desegregation ultimately led to violence and riots in 1971, when ten individuals, known as the Wilmington Ten, were accused of setting a grocery store on fire. Todd worked to sow peace and amity within the schools during this tumultuous time and later helped to exonerate the Wilmington Ten, all part of her ongoing activism and efforts to build multicultural relationships in New Hanover County. You can learn more about her life in the Bertha Boykin Todd Papers. 

Sources

1. MS 418 Relvin Vaughn (R.V.) Asbury, Jr. Papers, Center for Southeast North Carolina Archives and History

2. MS 083 Kidder Award and Certificate of Membership, Center for Southeast North Carolina Archives and History

3. MS 408 Star-News Image Archive, Center for Southeast North Carolina Archives and History

In October 1954, Hurricane Hazel struck near Calabash, North Carolina, and lashed its way up the coast, creating 100 mph wind gusts and a storm surge that destroyed thousands of homes and other beach structures. The damage was so significant that the area around the Cape Fear coast was given the nickname “Hurricane Alley.” To this day, Hazel remains the strongest hurricane in North Carolina history and is the only Category 4 hurricane to have made landfall in the state. 

Though hurricane season runs from June through November, it peaks late August into September, so it's no surprise that September has historically been the busiest hurricane month for coastal North Carolinians. While recent storms like Florence in 2018 are still in recent memory, the pain of September hurricanes goes back decades. 

Let’s travel back in time via the WWAY Television News Archive to look at some you may have forgotten (or weren’t alive for yet!)... 

HURRICANE FRAN - 1996 

Not yet fully recovered from Hurricane Bertha in July, the Cape Fear coast took another hit on September 5, 1996, when Hurricane Fran landed as a Category 3. At the time, Fran was the costliest hurricane for North Carolina since Hurricane Hazel in 1954, due largely to a 10+ foot storm surge that destroyed homes and businesses from Kure Beach to Emerald Isle. Famously, Fran swept away the temporary North Topsail Beach police station. 

This clip shows trees being replaced in Downtown Wilmington three months after the storm destroyed many:

Source: "Wilmington Downtown Tree Planting to Repair Damage after Hurricane Fran," WWAY Television News Archive, Center for Southeast North Carolina Archives and History

HURRICANE HUGO – 1989

On September 22, 1989, Hurricane Hugo—a Category 4 with winds as high as 140 mph—made landfall just north of Charleston, South Carolina, before moving up through North Carolina. The storm's intensity produced hurricane-force gusts that reached as far as western North Carolina and a historic storm tide nearing 20 feet. At the time, it was one of the strongest and costliest hurricanes to hit the East Coast. 

This clip shows the storm’s damage to Yaupon Beach in Oak Island just three days after: 

Source: "Yaupon Beach Damage from Hurricane Hugo," WWAY Television News Archive, Center for Southeast North Carolina Archives and History

HURRICANE DIANA - 1984 

Hurricane Diana was the first hurricane to strike Southeast North Carolina since Hurricane Donna in 1960 and the first major hurricane since Hurricane Hazel in 1954. As the strongest hurricane of the 1984 season, Diana hit along the coast on September 13 as a Category 2, making landfall at Bald Head Island. Both New Hanover County and Brunswick County were met with flooding and overflowing lakes, the result of over a foot of rainfall. 

This clip shows residents of Bald Head Island who took shelter in the Old Baldy Lighthouse rather than evacuate the island: 

Source: "Bald Head Island Residents Evacuate during Hurricane Diana while Some Take Shelter in Lighthouse," WWAY Television News Archive, Center for Southeast North Carolina Archives and History

As a final fun fact, all three hurricanes were severe enough that their names were retired from the official hurricane name list, which is maintained by the Hurricane Committee of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). 

You can search the WWAY Television News Archive digital collection for more hurricane-related videos, or check out the Calhoun Collection of Hurricane Preparedness Research and the North Carolina Coastal Federation Papers for guides and research on hurricane mitigation, evacuation plans, and recovery steps. 

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.

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)

So long, 2025! After spending nearly two years planning, preparing, and moving Special Collections materials into our new digs in Discovery Hall, it felt great to settle in last year and resume day-to-day collection management activities. This was especially true for the largest collection under the stewardship of Special Collections staff—manuscripts.

Last year, staff spent time catching up on processing new accessions and reprocessing older collections to improve discoverability. We also made significant strides towards processing portions of the largest manuscript collections in our care. This work included:

• Completion of a preliminary inventory of folders (over 25,000!) in the Star-News Image Archive (shout out to student employees Sarah, Hannah, Ry, Bella, and Kenzie for their hard work on this project!)
• Time spent preserving and describing materials in scrapbooks held in the Edwin E. Kirton Family Private Papers.
• Work towards (re)processing materials in the Herman Blizzard Rotary Archive with the assistance of a student funded through a donation from the Wilmington Rotary Club.
• Publication of a digital collection containing descriptions of 457 episodes of WHQR’s long-running program, Sounds Local, which is part of the WHQR Public Radio Archive.

In addition to the work described above, staff also completed processing for the following collections, which are now available for research use in the Center’s reading room. Learn more about how you can access these materials here. 

MS 110 The Hawk’s Eye: This collection contains material relating to "The Hawk's Eye," a regular feature article about Wilmington College published in the Wilmington Star-News during the late 1940s and the 1950s.

MS 211 John Jay Burney Jr. Personal Papers: This collection contains the personal papers of John Jay Burney, Jr. (1924-2010), a Wilmington attorney and former North Carolina state senator. Content represents all aspects of his life--personal, professional, and political--from his time serving in World War II in the 1940s to his North Carolina-based political and legal career that lasted into the early 2000s.

MS 392 St. Stephen A.M.E. Church Records: This collection contains material belonging to St. Stephen A.M.E. Church in Wilmington, North Carolina, from the mid-1800s through 2020. Material includes a poster of the officers of the church in 1896, a photograph of the church's interior, historical ledgers of meeting minutes and conference records, souvenir booklets and programs, newsletters, flyers, calendars, and construction funding paperwork. The majority of the material is focused around regular church services and special events, like Women's Day and Men's Day, from the 1980s to 2020.

MS 393 Earl Sheridan Papers: This collection contains materials relating to Dr. Earl Sheridan, a former Wilmington City Council member, UNC Wilmington professor, and NAACP chapter president. Much of this collection consists of newspapers and newspaper clippings (1981-2009) of articles written by or about Dr. Sheridan. Many articles discuss local and national civil rights issues for African Americans. Of note are stories that report on the NAACP’s opposition of the 1994 New Hanover County school bond referendum and on the police shooting of John Franklin Jones in 1989.

MS 399 Wilmington and New Hanover County Naval Affairs Committee Collection: This collection contains the materials of the Wilmington-New Hanover County Naval Affairs Committee, a City of Wilmington subcommittee responsible for coordinating the visits of foreign and American military ships to Wilmington during the 1980s to the early 2000s. Much of the records in this collection document the visits of military vessels to the Wilmington area between 1983 and 2000. Although most of these records center on the visits of foreign ships, especially British Royal Navy vessels, a small number focus on the arrival of American ships.

MS 400 Larry Kessler's Research Papers on Charlie Soong: This collection contains the research materials of Dr. Lawrence "Larry" D. Kessler (1936-2020), an author, researcher, and professor of East Asian and Chinese history. Part of Dr. Kessler's research papers focuses on China-North Carolina history, including certain significant individuals like Charlie Soong and Dr. Ma Haide. Other records include Kessler's research papers on the American missionary site of Jiangyin Mission Station and two missionary families.

MS 402 Gilbert H. Burnett Papers: This collection contains the papers of Gilbert H. Burnett (1925-2020), the Chief Judge of the 5th Judicial District of North Carolina from 1970 to 1991. This collection consists of materials related to Judge Burnett’s judicial career and community service advocacy, his publications and local television show, and his personal life, including life history, hobbies and interests, and military experience. Of note are newspaper clippings and correspondence documenting Burnett’s role as the preliminary hearing judge in the Wilmington Ten case.

MS 406 Bellamy Mansion Collection: This collection contains historical records from the mid-1800s to mid-1900s of members of the Bellamy family, down the Dr. John D. Bellamy (1817-1896) line, and related family members. A large portion of these records are related to the business dealings and financial matters of the Hargrove family, connected via Emma May Hargrove Bellamy, wife of John D. Bellamy, Jr. (1854-1942). Material also pertains to the Bellamy family home, the Bellamy Mansion on Market Street in Historic Downtown Wilmington.

MS 413 Marsden Bellamy Family Collection: This collection contains material related to members of the Bellamy family, mainly down the Marsden Bellamy (1843-1909) line, including photographs, correspondence, newspaper clippings, ephemera, and two family Bibles. Content largely relates to major life events, such as marriages and deaths, as well as Bellamy family ancestry, with an emphasis on material related to Chesley Calhoun Bellamy (1887-1957), son of Marsden, and Chesley's wife, Caroline Louise Mallett Bellamy (1891-1978). 

MS 420 Harry Bethea World War II Papers: This collection contains documents pertaining to the World War II service of Harry E. Bethea of Wilmington, North Carolina. Bethea served as a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Air Force as a bomber pilot in both the European and Pacific theaters. Included are documents from 1944 pertaining to his training and service in the United States before deploying to the European Theater. 

MS 423 Tolis Vardakis Collection of World War II Photographs: This collection contains approximately 165 photographs from World War II. Photographs document the European and Pacific Theaters, with emphasis on the invasion of Poland, Greece, and France, as well as on various types of bomber aircraft used during the war. Most photographs credit the Associated Press or International News Photos Inc. and are stamped as being part of "The Evening Bulletin Reference Library," the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania newspaper from which they were originally generated. Photographs date from 1939 to 1945.

Lower Cape Fear Historical Society Photograph Collection: This collection, on loan to the Center by the Historical Society, contains photographs of the Lower Cape Fear area around Wilmington, dating from approximately 1860 to 2007. The images capture people, places, artworks of Wilmington and its inhabitants, and notable area landmarks across that time. They also document members of and activities undertaken by the Lower Cape Fear Historical Society, with particular emphasis during the 1980s-1990s. This collection is also available to view through its digital collection counterpart. 

If you're looking for inspiration for UNCW Fashion Week, check out these images of historical resources from the Center's Special Collections. This post highlights our manuscript and archival collections. Part 1 of this series features inspiration images from the Center's book and periodical collections. 

Want to see any of these resources in person? You can find them in the CSENCAH reading room on the 2nd floor of the library. Contact us for more info!

Original costume designs from MS 181 Hannah Solomon Block Collection

Foundational costume corset worn by actress Linda Darnell in The Walls of Jericho, 1948

WWAY news clips related to the fashion industry in the 1980s

Wilmington Downtown Riverfront Modeling of Gowns from Fashion Designer Tim Cobb, 1983 (more info)

Southeast North Carolina Clothing Retailer Discusses Fall Fashions, 1985 (more info)

Fashion icons from the Lower Cape Fear Historical Society Photograph Collection, presented courtesy of the LCFHS

Introduction

UNCW Library’s Special Collections unit is housed within the Center for Southeast North Carolina Archives and History, located on the second floor of Discovery Hall. Special Collections focuses on collecting cultural and historical materials pertaining to the eight-county region known as southeast North Carolina (SENC), including Bladen, Brunswick, Columbus, Duplin, New Hanover, Onslow, Pender, and Sampson counties. The Center is also home to federal and state government resources and records documenting the history of the University.

When thinking about archival materials, what comes to mind first is most likely old things – whether that’s rare books or letters and deeds from generations past – and it is true, we do collect those items; however, our collections especially reflect the contemporary growth of the SENC region during the 20th and 21st centuries. They trace economic development, environmental concerns and coastal area management, and politics at all levels of government, as well as the cultural output that uniquely defines the Cape Fear area. Special Collections staff curate, process, describe, and provide access to a wide variety of materials falling into two primary categories – Rare Books and Manuscripts Collections.  

Rare Books

There are four primary collections of published materials held in Special Collections. 

The Southeast North Carolina Collection consists of books and other published items pertaining to our eight-county region. From church histories and broadsides to county records and scientific reports, this collection contains a wide variety of rare and unique items that document all historical aspects of this region.

The Local Authors Collection contains the creative output of SENC writers, including works of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and more. You might recognize names such as Clyde Edgerton, Philip Gerard, and Nina de Gramont.

Special Collections also collects locally published magazines, newsletters, newspapers, and other similar publications – a group of materials that libraries collectively call periodicals. This collection includes out-of-print titles such as Encore and Life Around Wilmington, as well as active titles, including current regional newspapers. The unit collaborates with the Library’s Digital Initiatives team and state and local partners to digitize and make available newspapers such as Carolina Beach’s Island Gazette and Columbus County’s News Reporter. 

Finally, the Special Books Collection contains publications that meet one or more of the following criteria: items pertaining to North Carolina history, items published before 1850, and rare items owned by less than 50 libraries. An additional (and very neat!) sub-collection within Special Books is a collection of miniature books measuring less than 5 inches by width or height.

Pictured here is a selection of rare books ranging in size from Mark Catesby’s 23-inch folio, Natural History of Carolina, Florida, and the Bahama Islands, to the miniature book, Lute & Lyre and Other Musical Instruments of the 6th Century A.D., a generous 1 inch in height. 

Manuscripts and Archives

Manuscript collections differentiate the Center’s Special Collections unit from other libraries and archival repositories due to their inherently unique character; manuscript collections reflect their creators and owners and often contain materials that were not kept or organized by anyone else. As mentioned previously, the Special Collections unit collects and documents the cultural and historical output of the SENC region. Our collecting scope includes subjects such as the arts, business, development, education, environmental history, faculty research, local history, politics, religion, and war and military history. Researchers can discover physical items such as diaries, letters, and photographs, as well as digital items including electronic documents, audiovisual content, and more.

The Center's collections document the lives and careers of individuals such as Dr. Hubert Eaton, Sr., and Hannah Block, the operations of organizations such as the local USO chapter and the North Carolina Coastal Federation, and events such as the USS North Carolina battleship homecoming and the Southport 4th of July Festival.

Items pictured include a letter from James R. Womble to his father describing the fall of Fort Fisher during the Civil War; a button Wilmington citizens wore while advocating for funding for a new bridge over the Cape Fear River during the 1950s and prior to the construction of the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge; and marines stationed at Camp Lejeune during the 1960s enjoying a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

Access and Research

All of the materials mentioned here and more are available to be explored by researchers near and far. Visit the Center’s website to learn more about finding materials, planning a visit, or requesting research assistance. 

So long, 2025! After spending nearly two years planning, preparing, and moving Special Collections materials into our new digs in Discovery Hall, it felt great to settle in last year and resume day-to-day collection management activities. This was especially true for the largest collection under the stewardship of Special Collections staff—manuscripts.

Last year, staff spent time catching up on processing new accessions and reprocessing older collections to improve discoverability. We also made significant strides towards processing portions of the largest manuscript collections in our care. This work included:

• Completion of a preliminary inventory of folders (over 25,000!) in the Star-News Image Archive (shout out to student employees Sarah, Hannah, Ry, Bella, and Kenzie for their hard work on this project!)
• Time spent preserving and describing materials in scrapbooks held in the Edwin E. Kirton Family Private Papers.
• Work towards (re)processing materials in the Herman Blizzard Rotary Archive with the assistance of a student funded through a donation from the Wilmington Rotary Club.
• Publication of a digital collection containing descriptions of 457 episodes of WHQR’s long-running program, Sounds Local, which is part of the WHQR Public Radio Archive.

In addition to the work described above, staff also completed processing for the following collections, which are now available for research use in the Center’s reading room. Learn more about how you can access these materials here. 

MS 110 The Hawk’s Eye: This collection contains material relating to "The Hawk's Eye," a regular feature article about Wilmington College published in the Wilmington Star-News during the late 1940s and the 1950s.

MS 211 John Jay Burney Jr. Personal Papers: This collection contains the personal papers of John Jay Burney, Jr. (1924-2010), a Wilmington attorney and former North Carolina state senator. Content represents all aspects of his life--personal, professional, and political--from his time serving in World War II in the 1940s to his North Carolina-based political and legal career that lasted into the early 2000s.

MS 392 St. Stephen A.M.E. Church Records: This collection contains material belonging to St. Stephen A.M.E. Church in Wilmington, North Carolina, from the mid-1800s through 2020. Material includes a poster of the officers of the church in 1896, a photograph of the church's interior, historical ledgers of meeting minutes and conference records, souvenir booklets and programs, newsletters, flyers, calendars, and construction funding paperwork. The majority of the material is focused around regular church services and special events, like Women's Day and Men's Day, from the 1980s to 2020.

MS 393 Earl Sheridan Papers: This collection contains materials relating to Dr. Earl Sheridan, a former Wilmington City Council member, UNC Wilmington professor, and NAACP chapter president. Much of this collection consists of newspapers and newspaper clippings (1981-2009) of articles written by or about Dr. Sheridan. Many articles discuss local and national civil rights issues for African Americans. Of note are stories that report on the NAACP’s opposition of the 1994 New Hanover County school bond referendum and on the police shooting of John Franklin Jones in 1989.

MS 399 Wilmington and New Hanover County Naval Affairs Committee Collection: This collection contains the materials of the Wilmington-New Hanover County Naval Affairs Committee, a City of Wilmington subcommittee responsible for coordinating the visits of foreign and American military ships to Wilmington during the 1980s to the early 2000s. Much of the records in this collection document the visits of military vessels to the Wilmington area between 1983 and 2000. Although most of these records center on the visits of foreign ships, especially British Royal Navy vessels, a small number focus on the arrival of American ships.

MS 400 Larry Kessler's Research Papers on Charlie Soong: This collection contains the research materials of Dr. Lawrence "Larry" D. Kessler (1936-2020), an author, researcher, and professor of East Asian and Chinese history. Part of Dr. Kessler's research papers focuses on China-North Carolina history, including certain significant individuals like Charlie Soong and Dr. Ma Haide. Other records include Kessler's research papers on the American missionary site of Jiangyin Mission Station and two missionary families.

MS 402 Gilbert H. Burnett Papers: This collection contains the papers of Gilbert H. Burnett (1925-2020), the Chief Judge of the 5th Judicial District of North Carolina from 1970 to 1991. This collection consists of materials related to Judge Burnett’s judicial career and community service advocacy, his publications and local television show, and his personal life, including life history, hobbies and interests, and military experience. Of note are newspaper clippings and correspondence documenting Burnett’s role as the preliminary hearing judge in the Wilmington Ten case.

MS 406 Bellamy Mansion Collection: This collection contains historical records from the mid-1800s to mid-1900s of members of the Bellamy family, down the Dr. John D. Bellamy (1817-1896) line, and related family members. A large portion of these records are related to the business dealings and financial matters of the Hargrove family, connected via Emma May Hargrove Bellamy, wife of John D. Bellamy, Jr. (1854-1942). Material also pertains to the Bellamy family home, the Bellamy Mansion on Market Street in Historic Downtown Wilmington.

MS 413 Marsden Bellamy Family Collection: This collection contains material related to members of the Bellamy family, mainly down the Marsden Bellamy (1843-1909) line, including photographs, correspondence, newspaper clippings, ephemera, and two family Bibles. Content largely relates to major life events, such as marriages and deaths, as well as Bellamy family ancestry, with an emphasis on material related to Chesley Calhoun Bellamy (1887-1957), son of Marsden, and Chesley's wife, Caroline Louise Mallett Bellamy (1891-1978). 

MS 420 Harry Bethea World War II Papers: This collection contains documents pertaining to the World War II service of Harry E. Bethea of Wilmington, North Carolina. Bethea served as a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Air Force as a bomber pilot in both the European and Pacific theaters. Included are documents from 1944 pertaining to his training and service in the United States before deploying to the European Theater. 

MS 423 Tolis Vardakis Collection of World War II Photographs: This collection contains approximately 165 photographs from World War II. Photographs document the European and Pacific Theaters, with emphasis on the invasion of Poland, Greece, and France, as well as on various types of bomber aircraft used during the war. Most photographs credit the Associated Press or International News Photos Inc. and are stamped as being part of "The Evening Bulletin Reference Library," the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania newspaper from which they were originally generated. Photographs date from 1939 to 1945.

Lower Cape Fear Historical Society Photograph Collection: This collection, on loan to the Center by the Historical Society, contains photographs of the Lower Cape Fear area around Wilmington, dating from approximately 1860 to 2007. The images capture people, places, artworks of Wilmington and its inhabitants, and notable area landmarks across that time. They also document members of and activities undertaken by the Lower Cape Fear Historical Society, with particular emphasis during the 1980s-1990s. This collection is also available to view through its digital collection counterpart. 

In October 1954, Hurricane Hazel struck near Calabash, North Carolina, and lashed its way up the coast, creating 100 mph wind gusts and a storm surge that destroyed thousands of homes and other beach structures. The damage was so significant that the area around the Cape Fear coast was given the nickname “Hurricane Alley.” To this day, Hazel remains the strongest hurricane in North Carolina history and is the only Category 4 hurricane to have made landfall in the state. 

Though hurricane season runs from June through November, it peaks late August into September, so it's no surprise that September has historically been the busiest hurricane month for coastal North Carolinians. While recent storms like Florence in 2018 are still in recent memory, the pain of September hurricanes goes back decades. 

Let’s travel back in time via the WWAY Television News Archive to look at some you may have forgotten (or weren’t alive for yet!)... 

HURRICANE FRAN - 1996 

Not yet fully recovered from Hurricane Bertha in July, the Cape Fear coast took another hit on September 5, 1996, when Hurricane Fran landed as a Category 3. At the time, Fran was the costliest hurricane for North Carolina since Hurricane Hazel in 1954, due largely to a 10+ foot storm surge that destroyed homes and businesses from Kure Beach to Emerald Isle. Famously, Fran swept away the temporary North Topsail Beach police station. 

This clip shows trees being replaced in Downtown Wilmington three months after the storm destroyed many:

Source: "Wilmington Downtown Tree Planting to Repair Damage after Hurricane Fran," WWAY Television News Archive, Center for Southeast North Carolina Archives and History

HURRICANE HUGO – 1989

On September 22, 1989, Hurricane Hugo—a Category 4 with winds as high as 140 mph—made landfall just north of Charleston, South Carolina, before moving up through North Carolina. The storm's intensity produced hurricane-force gusts that reached as far as western North Carolina and a historic storm tide nearing 20 feet. At the time, it was one of the strongest and costliest hurricanes to hit the East Coast. 

This clip shows the storm’s damage to Yaupon Beach in Oak Island just three days after: 

Source: "Yaupon Beach Damage from Hurricane Hugo," WWAY Television News Archive, Center for Southeast North Carolina Archives and History

HURRICANE DIANA - 1984 

Hurricane Diana was the first hurricane to strike Southeast North Carolina since Hurricane Donna in 1960 and the first major hurricane since Hurricane Hazel in 1954. As the strongest hurricane of the 1984 season, Diana hit along the coast on September 13 as a Category 2, making landfall at Bald Head Island. Both New Hanover County and Brunswick County were met with flooding and overflowing lakes, the result of over a foot of rainfall. 

This clip shows residents of Bald Head Island who took shelter in the Old Baldy Lighthouse rather than evacuate the island: 

Source: "Bald Head Island Residents Evacuate during Hurricane Diana while Some Take Shelter in Lighthouse," WWAY Television News Archive, Center for Southeast North Carolina Archives and History

As a final fun fact, all three hurricanes were severe enough that their names were retired from the official hurricane name list, which is maintained by the Hurricane Committee of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). 

You can search the WWAY Television News Archive digital collection for more hurricane-related videos, or check out the Calhoun Collection of Hurricane Preparedness Research and the North Carolina Coastal Federation Papers for guides and research on hurricane mitigation, evacuation plans, and recovery steps. 

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)

If you're looking for inspiration for UNCW Fashion Week, check out these images of historical resources from the Center's Special Collections. This post highlights our manuscript and archival collections. Part 1 of this series features inspiration images from the Center's book and periodical collections. 

Want to see any of these resources in person? You can find them in the CSENCAH reading room on the 2nd floor of the library. Contact us for more info!

Original costume designs from MS 181 Hannah Solomon Block Collection

Foundational costume corset worn by actress Linda Darnell in The Walls of Jericho, 1948

WWAY news clips related to the fashion industry in the 1980s

Wilmington Downtown Riverfront Modeling of Gowns from Fashion Designer Tim Cobb, 1983 (more info)

Southeast North Carolina Clothing Retailer Discusses Fall Fashions, 1985 (more info)

Fashion icons from the Lower Cape Fear Historical Society Photograph Collection, presented courtesy of the LCFHS

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.

Every year, October marks American Archives Month, an advocacy initiative of the Society of American Archivists. Archival institutions across the country highlight their collections with activities and events to promote awareness of archival materials and the importance of maintaining historical records.

Here in North Carolina, the Society of North Carolina Archivists (SNCA) selects an annual theme for archivists across the state to follow when showcasing the work they do in making primary sources accessible to the public.

This year’s theme is North Carolina’s 250th, in honor of the nation approaching its 250th anniversary in 2026, and celebrates the “different peoples of North Carolina and the part they played in the history of the country” since 1776. Special Collections’ manuscript collections contain primary and secondary material that document significant national moments from the last 250 years. Here are some of the people of southeast North Carolina that have made an impact over the years:

18th Century

The Declaration of Independence was signed by three men from North Carolina: Joseph Hewes, John Penn, and William Hooper (1742-1790). Hooper lived in Wilmington at the time, where he’d been practicing law since 1764, and owned a house [pictured¹] on the Masonboro Sound from 1773-1801. He represented New Hanover County on the first Committee of Correspondence, coordinating patriot opposition to British policies in advance of the American Revolution. This work would lead to his election to both the First and Second Continental Congresses. Though he missed the approval of the Declaration on July 4, 1776, he returned to Philadelphia on August 2 and signed not far below John Hancock.

19th Century

The World's Columbian Exposition, commonly referred to as the World’s Fair, was held in Chicago in 1893 and was one of the largest of the fairs, with more than 27 million visitors from across the globe. Florence Hill Kidder (1850-1917) was appointed a "lady manager" for the state of North Carolina by the World's Columbian Commission and helped with the many North Carolina exhibits that were displayed in the subject-specific halls. Her colonial exhibit won an award [pictured²], and upon her return to North Carolina, she established the North Carolina chapter of the National Society for the Colonial Dames of America in 1894. Kidder lived with her husband, George, at 308 Dock Street in downtown Wilmington, where the home, known as the Kidder House, still stands today.

20th Century

Amidst the national civil rights movement, the New Hanover County school system faced community pressure and legal action for its lack of progress towards desegregating schools, as mandated by the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Brown V. Board of Education of Topeka in 1954. Integration finally happened in 1968 and included the closure of the Black high school, Williston, where long-time educator and community leader Bertha Boykin Todd (1929-) [pictured³] worked as a librarian before moving to an administrative role at Hoggard High School. Racial tensions post desegregation ultimately led to violence and riots in 1971, when ten individuals, known as the Wilmington Ten, were accused of setting a grocery store on fire. Todd worked to sow peace and amity within the schools during this tumultuous time and later helped to exonerate the Wilmington Ten, all part of her ongoing activism and efforts to build multicultural relationships in New Hanover County. You can learn more about her life in the Bertha Boykin Todd Papers. 

Sources

1. MS 418 Relvin Vaughn (R.V.) Asbury, Jr. Papers, Center for Southeast North Carolina Archives and History

2. MS 083 Kidder Award and Certificate of Membership, Center for Southeast North Carolina Archives and History

3. MS 408 Star-News Image Archive, Center for Southeast North Carolina Archives and History

Introduction

UNCW Library’s Special Collections unit is housed within the Center for Southeast North Carolina Archives and History, located on the second floor of Discovery Hall. Special Collections focuses on collecting cultural and historical materials pertaining to the eight-county region known as southeast North Carolina (SENC), including Bladen, Brunswick, Columbus, Duplin, New Hanover, Onslow, Pender, and Sampson counties. The Center is also home to federal and state government resources and records documenting the history of the University.

When thinking about archival materials, what comes to mind first is most likely old things – whether that’s rare books or letters and deeds from generations past – and it is true, we do collect those items; however, our collections especially reflect the contemporary growth of the SENC region during the 20th and 21st centuries. They trace economic development, environmental concerns and coastal area management, and politics at all levels of government, as well as the cultural output that uniquely defines the Cape Fear area. Special Collections staff curate, process, describe, and provide access to a wide variety of materials falling into two primary categories – Rare Books and Manuscripts Collections.  

Rare Books

There are four primary collections of published materials held in Special Collections. 

The Southeast North Carolina Collection consists of books and other published items pertaining to our eight-county region. From church histories and broadsides to county records and scientific reports, this collection contains a wide variety of rare and unique items that document all historical aspects of this region.

The Local Authors Collection contains the creative output of SENC writers, including works of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and more. You might recognize names such as Clyde Edgerton, Philip Gerard, and Nina de Gramont.

Special Collections also collects locally published magazines, newsletters, newspapers, and other similar publications – a group of materials that libraries collectively call periodicals. This collection includes out-of-print titles such as Encore and Life Around Wilmington, as well as active titles, including current regional newspapers. The unit collaborates with the Library’s Digital Initiatives team and state and local partners to digitize and make available newspapers such as Carolina Beach’s Island Gazette and Columbus County’s News Reporter. 

Finally, the Special Books Collection contains publications that meet one or more of the following criteria: items pertaining to North Carolina history, items published before 1850, and rare items owned by less than 50 libraries. An additional (and very neat!) sub-collection within Special Books is a collection of miniature books measuring less than 5 inches by width or height.

Pictured here is a selection of rare books ranging in size from Mark Catesby’s 23-inch folio, Natural History of Carolina, Florida, and the Bahama Islands, to the miniature book, Lute & Lyre and Other Musical Instruments of the 6th Century A.D., a generous 1 inch in height. 

Manuscripts and Archives

Manuscript collections differentiate the Center’s Special Collections unit from other libraries and archival repositories due to their inherently unique character; manuscript collections reflect their creators and owners and often contain materials that were not kept or organized by anyone else. As mentioned previously, the Special Collections unit collects and documents the cultural and historical output of the SENC region. Our collecting scope includes subjects such as the arts, business, development, education, environmental history, faculty research, local history, politics, religion, and war and military history. Researchers can discover physical items such as diaries, letters, and photographs, as well as digital items including electronic documents, audiovisual content, and more.

The Center's collections document the lives and careers of individuals such as Dr. Hubert Eaton, Sr., and Hannah Block, the operations of organizations such as the local USO chapter and the North Carolina Coastal Federation, and events such as the USS North Carolina battleship homecoming and the Southport 4th of July Festival.

Items pictured include a letter from James R. Womble to his father describing the fall of Fort Fisher during the Civil War; a button Wilmington citizens wore while advocating for funding for a new bridge over the Cape Fear River during the 1950s and prior to the construction of the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge; and marines stationed at Camp Lejeune during the 1960s enjoying a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

Access and Research

All of the materials mentioned here and more are available to be explored by researchers near and far. Visit the Center’s website to learn more about finding materials, planning a visit, or requesting research assistance. 

So long, 2025! After spending nearly two years planning, preparing, and moving Special Collections materials into our new digs in Discovery Hall, it felt great to settle in last year and resume day-to-day collection management activities. This was especially true for the largest collection under the stewardship of Special Collections staff—manuscripts.

Last year, staff spent time catching up on processing new accessions and reprocessing older collections to improve discoverability. We also made significant strides towards processing portions of the largest manuscript collections in our care. This work included:

• Completion of a preliminary inventory of folders (over 25,000!) in the Star-News Image Archive (shout out to student employees Sarah, Hannah, Ry, Bella, and Kenzie for their hard work on this project!)
• Time spent preserving and describing materials in scrapbooks held in the Edwin E. Kirton Family Private Papers.
• Work towards (re)processing materials in the Herman Blizzard Rotary Archive with the assistance of a student funded through a donation from the Wilmington Rotary Club.
• Publication of a digital collection containing descriptions of 457 episodes of WHQR’s long-running program, Sounds Local, which is part of the WHQR Public Radio Archive.

In addition to the work described above, staff also completed processing for the following collections, which are now available for research use in the Center’s reading room. Learn more about how you can access these materials here. 

MS 110 The Hawk’s Eye: This collection contains material relating to "The Hawk's Eye," a regular feature article about Wilmington College published in the Wilmington Star-News during the late 1940s and the 1950s.

MS 211 John Jay Burney Jr. Personal Papers: This collection contains the personal papers of John Jay Burney, Jr. (1924-2010), a Wilmington attorney and former North Carolina state senator. Content represents all aspects of his life--personal, professional, and political--from his time serving in World War II in the 1940s to his North Carolina-based political and legal career that lasted into the early 2000s.

MS 392 St. Stephen A.M.E. Church Records: This collection contains material belonging to St. Stephen A.M.E. Church in Wilmington, North Carolina, from the mid-1800s through 2020. Material includes a poster of the officers of the church in 1896, a photograph of the church's interior, historical ledgers of meeting minutes and conference records, souvenir booklets and programs, newsletters, flyers, calendars, and construction funding paperwork. The majority of the material is focused around regular church services and special events, like Women's Day and Men's Day, from the 1980s to 2020.

MS 393 Earl Sheridan Papers: This collection contains materials relating to Dr. Earl Sheridan, a former Wilmington City Council member, UNC Wilmington professor, and NAACP chapter president. Much of this collection consists of newspapers and newspaper clippings (1981-2009) of articles written by or about Dr. Sheridan. Many articles discuss local and national civil rights issues for African Americans. Of note are stories that report on the NAACP’s opposition of the 1994 New Hanover County school bond referendum and on the police shooting of John Franklin Jones in 1989.

MS 399 Wilmington and New Hanover County Naval Affairs Committee Collection: This collection contains the materials of the Wilmington-New Hanover County Naval Affairs Committee, a City of Wilmington subcommittee responsible for coordinating the visits of foreign and American military ships to Wilmington during the 1980s to the early 2000s. Much of the records in this collection document the visits of military vessels to the Wilmington area between 1983 and 2000. Although most of these records center on the visits of foreign ships, especially British Royal Navy vessels, a small number focus on the arrival of American ships.

MS 400 Larry Kessler's Research Papers on Charlie Soong: This collection contains the research materials of Dr. Lawrence "Larry" D. Kessler (1936-2020), an author, researcher, and professor of East Asian and Chinese history. Part of Dr. Kessler's research papers focuses on China-North Carolina history, including certain significant individuals like Charlie Soong and Dr. Ma Haide. Other records include Kessler's research papers on the American missionary site of Jiangyin Mission Station and two missionary families.

MS 402 Gilbert H. Burnett Papers: This collection contains the papers of Gilbert H. Burnett (1925-2020), the Chief Judge of the 5th Judicial District of North Carolina from 1970 to 1991. This collection consists of materials related to Judge Burnett’s judicial career and community service advocacy, his publications and local television show, and his personal life, including life history, hobbies and interests, and military experience. Of note are newspaper clippings and correspondence documenting Burnett’s role as the preliminary hearing judge in the Wilmington Ten case.

MS 406 Bellamy Mansion Collection: This collection contains historical records from the mid-1800s to mid-1900s of members of the Bellamy family, down the Dr. John D. Bellamy (1817-1896) line, and related family members. A large portion of these records are related to the business dealings and financial matters of the Hargrove family, connected via Emma May Hargrove Bellamy, wife of John D. Bellamy, Jr. (1854-1942). Material also pertains to the Bellamy family home, the Bellamy Mansion on Market Street in Historic Downtown Wilmington.

MS 413 Marsden Bellamy Family Collection: This collection contains material related to members of the Bellamy family, mainly down the Marsden Bellamy (1843-1909) line, including photographs, correspondence, newspaper clippings, ephemera, and two family Bibles. Content largely relates to major life events, such as marriages and deaths, as well as Bellamy family ancestry, with an emphasis on material related to Chesley Calhoun Bellamy (1887-1957), son of Marsden, and Chesley's wife, Caroline Louise Mallett Bellamy (1891-1978). 

MS 420 Harry Bethea World War II Papers: This collection contains documents pertaining to the World War II service of Harry E. Bethea of Wilmington, North Carolina. Bethea served as a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Air Force as a bomber pilot in both the European and Pacific theaters. Included are documents from 1944 pertaining to his training and service in the United States before deploying to the European Theater. 

MS 423 Tolis Vardakis Collection of World War II Photographs: This collection contains approximately 165 photographs from World War II. Photographs document the European and Pacific Theaters, with emphasis on the invasion of Poland, Greece, and France, as well as on various types of bomber aircraft used during the war. Most photographs credit the Associated Press or International News Photos Inc. and are stamped as being part of "The Evening Bulletin Reference Library," the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania newspaper from which they were originally generated. Photographs date from 1939 to 1945.

Lower Cape Fear Historical Society Photograph Collection: This collection, on loan to the Center by the Historical Society, contains photographs of the Lower Cape Fear area around Wilmington, dating from approximately 1860 to 2007. The images capture people, places, artworks of Wilmington and its inhabitants, and notable area landmarks across that time. They also document members of and activities undertaken by the Lower Cape Fear Historical Society, with particular emphasis during the 1980s-1990s. This collection is also available to view through its digital collection counterpart. 

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.

Every year, October marks American Archives Month, an advocacy initiative of the Society of American Archivists. Archival institutions across the country highlight their collections with activities and events to promote awareness of archival materials and the importance of maintaining historical records.

Here in North Carolina, the Society of North Carolina Archivists (SNCA) selects an annual theme for archivists across the state to follow when showcasing the work they do in making primary sources accessible to the public.

This year’s theme is North Carolina’s 250th, in honor of the nation approaching its 250th anniversary in 2026, and celebrates the “different peoples of North Carolina and the part they played in the history of the country” since 1776. Special Collections’ manuscript collections contain primary and secondary material that document significant national moments from the last 250 years. Here are some of the people of southeast North Carolina that have made an impact over the years:

18th Century

The Declaration of Independence was signed by three men from North Carolina: Joseph Hewes, John Penn, and William Hooper (1742-1790). Hooper lived in Wilmington at the time, where he’d been practicing law since 1764, and owned a house [pictured¹] on the Masonboro Sound from 1773-1801. He represented New Hanover County on the first Committee of Correspondence, coordinating patriot opposition to British policies in advance of the American Revolution. This work would lead to his election to both the First and Second Continental Congresses. Though he missed the approval of the Declaration on July 4, 1776, he returned to Philadelphia on August 2 and signed not far below John Hancock.

19th Century

The World's Columbian Exposition, commonly referred to as the World’s Fair, was held in Chicago in 1893 and was one of the largest of the fairs, with more than 27 million visitors from across the globe. Florence Hill Kidder (1850-1917) was appointed a "lady manager" for the state of North Carolina by the World's Columbian Commission and helped with the many North Carolina exhibits that were displayed in the subject-specific halls. Her colonial exhibit won an award [pictured²], and upon her return to North Carolina, she established the North Carolina chapter of the National Society for the Colonial Dames of America in 1894. Kidder lived with her husband, George, at 308 Dock Street in downtown Wilmington, where the home, known as the Kidder House, still stands today.

20th Century

Amidst the national civil rights movement, the New Hanover County school system faced community pressure and legal action for its lack of progress towards desegregating schools, as mandated by the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Brown V. Board of Education of Topeka in 1954. Integration finally happened in 1968 and included the closure of the Black high school, Williston, where long-time educator and community leader Bertha Boykin Todd (1929-) [pictured³] worked as a librarian before moving to an administrative role at Hoggard High School. Racial tensions post desegregation ultimately led to violence and riots in 1971, when ten individuals, known as the Wilmington Ten, were accused of setting a grocery store on fire. Todd worked to sow peace and amity within the schools during this tumultuous time and later helped to exonerate the Wilmington Ten, all part of her ongoing activism and efforts to build multicultural relationships in New Hanover County. You can learn more about her life in the Bertha Boykin Todd Papers. 

Sources

1. MS 418 Relvin Vaughn (R.V.) Asbury, Jr. Papers, Center for Southeast North Carolina Archives and History

2. MS 083 Kidder Award and Certificate of Membership, Center for Southeast North Carolina Archives and History

3. MS 408 Star-News Image Archive, Center for Southeast North Carolina Archives and History

In October 1954, Hurricane Hazel struck near Calabash, North Carolina, and lashed its way up the coast, creating 100 mph wind gusts and a storm surge that destroyed thousands of homes and other beach structures. The damage was so significant that the area around the Cape Fear coast was given the nickname “Hurricane Alley.” To this day, Hazel remains the strongest hurricane in North Carolina history and is the only Category 4 hurricane to have made landfall in the state. 

Though hurricane season runs from June through November, it peaks late August into September, so it's no surprise that September has historically been the busiest hurricane month for coastal North Carolinians. While recent storms like Florence in 2018 are still in recent memory, the pain of September hurricanes goes back decades. 

Let’s travel back in time via the WWAY Television News Archive to look at some you may have forgotten (or weren’t alive for yet!)... 

HURRICANE FRAN - 1996 

Not yet fully recovered from Hurricane Bertha in July, the Cape Fear coast took another hit on September 5, 1996, when Hurricane Fran landed as a Category 3. At the time, Fran was the costliest hurricane for North Carolina since Hurricane Hazel in 1954, due largely to a 10+ foot storm surge that destroyed homes and businesses from Kure Beach to Emerald Isle. Famously, Fran swept away the temporary North Topsail Beach police station. 

This clip shows trees being replaced in Downtown Wilmington three months after the storm destroyed many:

Source: "Wilmington Downtown Tree Planting to Repair Damage after Hurricane Fran," WWAY Television News Archive, Center for Southeast North Carolina Archives and History

HURRICANE HUGO – 1989

On September 22, 1989, Hurricane Hugo—a Category 4 with winds as high as 140 mph—made landfall just north of Charleston, South Carolina, before moving up through North Carolina. The storm's intensity produced hurricane-force gusts that reached as far as western North Carolina and a historic storm tide nearing 20 feet. At the time, it was one of the strongest and costliest hurricanes to hit the East Coast. 

This clip shows the storm’s damage to Yaupon Beach in Oak Island just three days after: 

Source: "Yaupon Beach Damage from Hurricane Hugo," WWAY Television News Archive, Center for Southeast North Carolina Archives and History

HURRICANE DIANA - 1984 

Hurricane Diana was the first hurricane to strike Southeast North Carolina since Hurricane Donna in 1960 and the first major hurricane since Hurricane Hazel in 1954. As the strongest hurricane of the 1984 season, Diana hit along the coast on September 13 as a Category 2, making landfall at Bald Head Island. Both New Hanover County and Brunswick County were met with flooding and overflowing lakes, the result of over a foot of rainfall. 

This clip shows residents of Bald Head Island who took shelter in the Old Baldy Lighthouse rather than evacuate the island: 

Source: "Bald Head Island Residents Evacuate during Hurricane Diana while Some Take Shelter in Lighthouse," WWAY Television News Archive, Center for Southeast North Carolina Archives and History

As a final fun fact, all three hurricanes were severe enough that their names were retired from the official hurricane name list, which is maintained by the Hurricane Committee of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). 

You can search the WWAY Television News Archive digital collection for more hurricane-related videos, or check out the Calhoun Collection of Hurricane Preparedness Research and the North Carolina Coastal Federation Papers for guides and research on hurricane mitigation, evacuation plans, and recovery steps. 

Every year, October marks American Archives Month, an advocacy initiative of the Society of American Archivists. Archival institutions across the country highlight their collections with activities and events to promote awareness of archival materials and the importance of maintaining historical records.

Here in North Carolina, the Society of North Carolina Archivists (SNCA) selects an annual theme for archivists across the state to follow when showcasing the work they do in making primary sources accessible to the public.

This year’s theme is North Carolina’s 250th, in honor of the nation approaching its 250th anniversary in 2026, and celebrates the “different peoples of North Carolina and the part they played in the history of the country” since 1776. Special Collections’ manuscript collections contain primary and secondary material that document significant national moments from the last 250 years. Here are some of the people of southeast North Carolina that have made an impact over the years:

18th Century

The Declaration of Independence was signed by three men from North Carolina: Joseph Hewes, John Penn, and William Hooper (1742-1790). Hooper lived in Wilmington at the time, where he’d been practicing law since 1764, and owned a house [pictured¹] on the Masonboro Sound from 1773-1801. He represented New Hanover County on the first Committee of Correspondence, coordinating patriot opposition to British policies in advance of the American Revolution. This work would lead to his election to both the First and Second Continental Congresses. Though he missed the approval of the Declaration on July 4, 1776, he returned to Philadelphia on August 2 and signed not far below John Hancock.

19th Century

The World's Columbian Exposition, commonly referred to as the World’s Fair, was held in Chicago in 1893 and was one of the largest of the fairs, with more than 27 million visitors from across the globe. Florence Hill Kidder (1850-1917) was appointed a "lady manager" for the state of North Carolina by the World's Columbian Commission and helped with the many North Carolina exhibits that were displayed in the subject-specific halls. Her colonial exhibit won an award [pictured²], and upon her return to North Carolina, she established the North Carolina chapter of the National Society for the Colonial Dames of America in 1894. Kidder lived with her husband, George, at 308 Dock Street in downtown Wilmington, where the home, known as the Kidder House, still stands today.

20th Century

Amidst the national civil rights movement, the New Hanover County school system faced community pressure and legal action for its lack of progress towards desegregating schools, as mandated by the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Brown V. Board of Education of Topeka in 1954. Integration finally happened in 1968 and included the closure of the Black high school, Williston, where long-time educator and community leader Bertha Boykin Todd (1929-) [pictured³] worked as a librarian before moving to an administrative role at Hoggard High School. Racial tensions post desegregation ultimately led to violence and riots in 1971, when ten individuals, known as the Wilmington Ten, were accused of setting a grocery store on fire. Todd worked to sow peace and amity within the schools during this tumultuous time and later helped to exonerate the Wilmington Ten, all part of her ongoing activism and efforts to build multicultural relationships in New Hanover County. You can learn more about her life in the Bertha Boykin Todd Papers. 

Sources

1. MS 418 Relvin Vaughn (R.V.) Asbury, Jr. Papers, Center for Southeast North Carolina Archives and History

2. MS 083 Kidder Award and Certificate of Membership, Center for Southeast North Carolina Archives and History

3. MS 408 Star-News Image Archive, Center for Southeast North Carolina Archives and History

In October 1954, Hurricane Hazel struck near Calabash, North Carolina, and lashed its way up the coast, creating 100 mph wind gusts and a storm surge that destroyed thousands of homes and other beach structures. The damage was so significant that the area around the Cape Fear coast was given the nickname “Hurricane Alley.” To this day, Hazel remains the strongest hurricane in North Carolina history and is the only Category 4 hurricane to have made landfall in the state. 

Though hurricane season runs from June through November, it peaks late August into September, so it's no surprise that September has historically been the busiest hurricane month for coastal North Carolinians. While recent storms like Florence in 2018 are still in recent memory, the pain of September hurricanes goes back decades. 

Let’s travel back in time via the WWAY Television News Archive to look at some you may have forgotten (or weren’t alive for yet!)... 

HURRICANE FRAN - 1996 

Not yet fully recovered from Hurricane Bertha in July, the Cape Fear coast took another hit on September 5, 1996, when Hurricane Fran landed as a Category 3. At the time, Fran was the costliest hurricane for North Carolina since Hurricane Hazel in 1954, due largely to a 10+ foot storm surge that destroyed homes and businesses from Kure Beach to Emerald Isle. Famously, Fran swept away the temporary North Topsail Beach police station. 

This clip shows trees being replaced in Downtown Wilmington three months after the storm destroyed many:

Source: "Wilmington Downtown Tree Planting to Repair Damage after Hurricane Fran," WWAY Television News Archive, Center for Southeast North Carolina Archives and History

HURRICANE HUGO – 1989

On September 22, 1989, Hurricane Hugo—a Category 4 with winds as high as 140 mph—made landfall just north of Charleston, South Carolina, before moving up through North Carolina. The storm's intensity produced hurricane-force gusts that reached as far as western North Carolina and a historic storm tide nearing 20 feet. At the time, it was one of the strongest and costliest hurricanes to hit the East Coast. 

This clip shows the storm’s damage to Yaupon Beach in Oak Island just three days after: 

Source: "Yaupon Beach Damage from Hurricane Hugo," WWAY Television News Archive, Center for Southeast North Carolina Archives and History

HURRICANE DIANA - 1984 

Hurricane Diana was the first hurricane to strike Southeast North Carolina since Hurricane Donna in 1960 and the first major hurricane since Hurricane Hazel in 1954. As the strongest hurricane of the 1984 season, Diana hit along the coast on September 13 as a Category 2, making landfall at Bald Head Island. Both New Hanover County and Brunswick County were met with flooding and overflowing lakes, the result of over a foot of rainfall. 

This clip shows residents of Bald Head Island who took shelter in the Old Baldy Lighthouse rather than evacuate the island: 

Source: "Bald Head Island Residents Evacuate during Hurricane Diana while Some Take Shelter in Lighthouse," WWAY Television News Archive, Center for Southeast North Carolina Archives and History

As a final fun fact, all three hurricanes were severe enough that their names were retired from the official hurricane name list, which is maintained by the Hurricane Committee of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). 

You can search the WWAY Television News Archive digital collection for more hurricane-related videos, or check out the Calhoun Collection of Hurricane Preparedness Research and the North Carolina Coastal Federation Papers for guides and research on hurricane mitigation, evacuation plans, and recovery steps.