Comments on: Sunday link dump offers trio of twofers

By: Nick Graham

Nick Graham — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 18:23:41 +0000

I want to add my thanks to the volunteer “finders” for the NCC. I believe it was Kevin Cherry who first alerted the NCC to the works of truck driver / romance author Rotha Dawkins. The NCC now has nine of her books, and I doubt that you’d find a better collection of trucker romances anywhere in the country.

Here’s a link to Rotha Dawkins’s works in the catalog: http://search.lib.unc.edu/search?N=0&Ntk=Author&Ntt=%22Dawkins%2C+Rotha+J.%22&follow=Author

By: Lew Powell

Lew Powell — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 15:24:07 +0000

Kevin, you are so right to talk up the rewards of microphilanthropy.
No other state can match North Carolina’s lengthy shelf of self-examination (the Gazetteer, the Encyclopedia, the Dictionary of NC Biography, NC Illustrated, the NC Historical Review, The/Our State magazine, etc, etc). And at the heart of it all, since 1844, throbs the North Carolina Collection.
In contrast to, say, Audubon folios or Carolina Elephant Tokens, what I contribute, ephemera, is by definition meant to last only a day. (And often that is an entirely appropriate life span.)
As for “the really nice stuff,” my reach too often exceeds my financial grasp. But I enjoy seeing that it’s out there (and being valued, rather than trashed).

By: Kevin Cherry

Kevin Cherry — Sun, 12 Jun 2011 20:19:23 +0000

I will just point out that the North Carolina Collection, as a state institution, has a difficult time buying materials off of ebay. But if someone were to buy these materials and donate them to the collection, he or she wouldn’t be able to take any better care of them than the NCC staff; he or she could “visit” the donated materials any time that they wish; and he or she could share these materials with others in a safe and secure way.

As Lew and other regular readers of this blog can attest, it is fun being a volunteer “finder” for the North Carolina Collection, and some of the best stuff you find is either free or close to it. Yes, some of us have lifted dated posters from small town diners, filled backpacks with handbills at county festivals, and pulled dusty postcards from old antique mall racks. Lew, on the other hand, goes for the really nice stuff!