Posted in From the Stacks, History, Just A Bite, On This Day, Tar Heelia on November 6, 2012 | 1 Comment »
Edenton kicks off its anniversary celebrations today at noon with the ringing of the Chowan County Courthouse bells 300 times. The town dates its beginning to the passage of an act in the colonial Assembly calling for “building a Court house to hold the Assembly in, at the fork of Queen Ann’s Creek commonly called [...]
Posted in From the Stacks, History, Tar Heelia, Tar Talk on November 5, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
While paper ballots haven’t gone the way of the Edsel, you’d be hard pressed to find ones like those used in North Carolina’s elections in the 19th century. As Douglas W. Jones, co-author of Broken Ballots: Will Your Vote Count notes in his “Brief Illustrated History of Voting”, the first paper ballots were slips provided [...]
Posted in From the Stacks, History, Literature, Tar Heelia, Tar Talk on October 24, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
Benjamin Filene’s curiosity about a children’s book in the North Carolina Collection led him in search of the story behind its creation and the individuals portrayed in it. And this weekend Filene, an historian at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, will share his discoveries during a presentation at the Orange County Public Library [...]
Posted in From the Stacks, History, Tar Heelia, Tar Talk on October 19, 2012 | 1 Comment »
Here’s a story you’re not likely to hear as the announcers rattle on during Saturday’s UNC-Duke football game. Among the schools’ past 98 meetings on the gridiron, there have been only two games that ended with both teams scoreless – in 1930 and in 1931. Fans’ (or at least two reporters’) displeasure with the 0-0 [...]
Posted in Artifact of the Month, History, Memorabilia Moment, Tar Heelia on October 17, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
The 2012 presidential election is so complicated: convoluted electoral equations, Super PACs, televised debates with real-time feedback from undecided voters. Remember when a voter could express his or her support with nothing more than a smiling peanut? Our October Artifact of the Month is a green toboggan supporting Jimmy Carter’s 1976 presidential campaign. The words [...]
Posted in Events & exhibits, History, Tar Heelia on October 11, 2012 | 2 Comments »
We hope you’ll join us this afternoon for a free public lecture by Yale historian Glenda Gilmore. The details: “Knowledge Capital and Human Flourishing: Educating North Carolinians, 1865–1970″ Thursday, Oct. 11, 2012 Wilson Special Collections Library 5:30 pm, Pleasants Family Assembly Room The lecture is the keynote address for the statewide conference New Voyages to [...]
Posted in From the Stacks, History, On This Day, Postcards, Tar Heelia, Tar Talk on October 10, 2012 | 1 Comment »
The North Carolina State Fair is set to open for its 145th year tomorrow in Raleigh. The event has changed over the years. Electricity arrived in 1884 and the first Midway ride was erected in 1891. The first food booths opened in 1900. And the first airplane exhibit was held in 1910, almost seven years [...]
Posted in History, Tar Heelia on October 9, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
If you’re interested in finding out more about Carolina this University Day, consider attending the Dialectic and Philanthropic Societies’ annual Kemp Plummer Battle lecture. Governor James E. Holshouser, Jr., will deliver the lecture at 5:30 p.m. on Friday, October 12, in the Hanes Art Center auditorium. The lecture will focus on University history and traditions. [...]
Posted in History, On This Day, tagged charlotte elmwood cemetery, charlotte nc, circus elephants on September 28, 2012 | 2 Comments »
On this day in 1880: Shortly after being unloaded in Charlotte, The Chief, a circus elephant, turns on his keeper and crushes him to death against a rail car. “The man sank down without a groan,” reports The Charlotte Observer, “and the elephant turned and started up the railroad track, the excited crowd fleeing in [...]
Posted in DigitalNC, History, Tar Heelia on September 18, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
I found this interesting notice in the Highland Messenger, published in Asheville on September 25, 1840:
