Posted in Tar Heelia on September 11, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
The Tar Heel State, The Old North State, The Old Line State, Land of the Longleaf Pine, and on and on. While many of you are probably familiar with these North Carolina nicknames, I’m going to suggest one that I think we need to add: “The Friendly State.” Why you ask? Well, researchers at Cambridge [...]
Posted in History on September 11, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
On September 15, 2008, the North Carolina Collection Gallery will open “Soapboxes and Tree Stumps: Political Campaigning in North Carolina.” The exhibition will examine 100 years of political campaigning in North Carolina, focusing on significant elections from 1890 to 1990 and what they reveal about the state’s political history. This exhibition will use broadsides, posters, [...]
Posted in History, Tar Heelia on September 10, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Our friends and coworkers on the 4th floor of Wilson Library have just posted “A Nursery of Patriotism: the University at War, 1861-1945.” This online exhibit examines how the Civil War, World War I, and World War II impacted students and faculty at the University of North Carolina.
Posted in From the Stacks, Postcards on September 10, 2008 | 2 Comments »
UNC and Duke partisans shouldn’t be too hard on the two skydivers from Virginia-based Aerial Adventures who recently mistook Duke’s Wallace Wade Stadium for Kenan Stadium in Chapel Hill, eight miles away. After all, they are not the first to have confused the two institutions. Hired to deliver the game ball for UNC’s August 30th [...]
Posted in History on September 9, 2008 | 2 Comments »
I am pleased to see that our colleagues at Duke Homestead State Historic Site are adding 282 spittoons to their collection (read the news article), making it the largest in the United States. Although they have virtually disappeared in modern life, spittoons were ubiquitous in nineteenth and early twentieth century America. In a time when [...]
Posted in From the Stacks, History on September 8, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
While preparing a short piece on the origins of scientific forestry for the current “This Month in North Carolina History,” I found an interesting and entertaining source in The birth of forestry in America: Biltmore Forest School, 1891-1913 by Carl Schenck. Schenck, a young, university trained German forester, was hired by George Vanderbilt to manage [...]
Posted in Tar Heelia on September 8, 2008 | 1 Comment »
In most situations it’s hard to do anything in one minute or less. However, the North Carolina Arts Council has instituted its “Museums in a Minute” program to spotlight some of North Carolina’s great museums. A new museum will be featured every week in September; then they’ll follow up with other institutions in later months.
Posted in History, Tar Heelia on September 5, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Read Harry McKown’s most recent “This Month in North Carolina History,” which covers the brief operation of America’s first forestry school.
