Download event flier (pdf)

Gridiron Glory Film Showings
Saturday, Oct. 27, 2012
9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. (continuous 20-minute loop)
Wilson Library, Pleasants Family Assembly Room
Free and open to the public
Information: (919) 962-3765 or wilsonlibrary@unc.edu

The football rivalry between UNC and North Carolina State University will be played out in the archives as well as on the field Oct. 27.

In this third annual Gridiron Glory event, great football moments from UNC’s past will again be on view in the Wilson Special Collections Library, from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The 20-minute film, Gridiron Glory, will run in a continuous loop during the University’s Tar Heel Town pregame festivities.

New this year, the UNC University Archives and the NCSU University Archives will team up for an exhibit of football memorabilia from both schools. Programs from past match-ups between the two, historical photographs of both teams, and student newspapers will be on view. UNC and NCSU have been football rivals since 1894.

A special feature will be materials from the collection of Jack Hilliard, UNC class of 1963, including pennants, ticket stubs, bubble-gum cards, and sheet music for the song “All The Way Choo Choo” about UNC great Charlie “Choo Choo” Justice.

The film showings and exhibit are free and open to the public.

The archival film clips in Gridiron Glory feature highlights from 13 UNC games played between 1934 and 1985. Woody Durham, who retired last year as the “Voice of the Tar Heels,” provides the narration.

Among the highlights are:

• UNC’s first game against #1-ranked Notre Dame at Yankee Stadium in 1949, with a brief appearance by an injured Charlie “Choo Choo” Justice (#22);
• Justice passing, running, and kicking in the 1950 Cotton Bowl game against Rice University;
• All-America #85 Bob Lacey in the 1963 UNC vs. University of Virginia game;
• #20 “Famous Amos” Lawrence rushing against East Carolina in 1978.

Gridiron Glory films are drawn from the University Archives in Wilson Library, where they are part of the records of the UNC Football Office. Most are original 16mm recordings and are badly in need of repair.

To learn more about the University Archives’ football collections and the efforts to preserve UNC’s football films, contact Jay Gaidmore, University Archivist, gaidmore@email.unc.edu or (919) 962-6402.

Related Links

• Gridiron Glory preview (video selections only, no voice-over)
• Photos of Woody Durham recording sound for Gridiron Glory

Gillian and her mom from "The Gillian Film"

The libraries at UNC will screen three films on the topic of “neurodiversity.” The screenings are free and open to the public.

The concept of “neurodiversity” emerged out of the movement for autism rights. The viewpoint considers autism to be a distinct way of being, rather than a disease.

The movies will be:

Asperger Syndrome: A Different Mind (2006)
Wed., June 13, at 1 p.m. (approximately 30 minutes)
Undergraduate Library, Room 205                                                                

The Gillian Film (2011)
Wed., July 11, at 2 p.m. (approximately 44 minutes)
Wilson Library, Pleasants Family Assembly Room

The film features Gillian Fink, daughter of  director Dr. Joanne Hershfield, who is chair of the UNC Department of Women’s Studies. Update 7/11: Gillian Fink and Dr. Joanne Hershfield will be in attendance at the screening to view and discuss their film.

Oops, Wrong Planet: Understanding Asperger’s Syndrome (2008)
Wed., Aug. 8, at 2 p.m. (approximately 55 minutes)
Health Sciences Library, Room 527

The screenings are sponsored by the University Libraries Diversity Committee.

For additional information, contact committee members Shauna Collier (colliers@email.unc.edu, 919-843-5808) or Stephen Brooks (stephen_brooks@unc.edu, 919-962-1128).

Great football moments from UNC’s past will be on view in the Wilson Special Collections Library Sept. 17, from noon to 3 p.m. A 20-minute film, Gridiron Glory, will run in a continuous loop during the University’s Tar Heel Town pregame festivities. The showings are free and open to the public.

The archival film clips in Gridiron Glory feature highlights from 13 UNC games played between 1934 and 1985. Woody Durham, who retired in April as the “Voice of the Tar Heels,” provides the narration. The film loop was first shown in 2010.

Among the highlights are:

• UNC’s first game against #1-ranked Notre Dame at Yankee Stadium in 1949, with a brief appearance by an injured Charlie “Choo Choo” Justice (#22);
• Justice passing, running, and kicking in the 1950 Cotton Bowl game against Rice University;
• All-America #85 Bob Lacey in the 1963 UNC vs. University of Virginia game;
• #20 “Famous Amos” Lawrence rushing against East Carolina in 1978.

Football programs, photographs, and memorabilia from the University Archives and North Carolina Collection will also be on display. A special feature will be materials from the collection of Jack Hilliard, UNC class of 1963, including pennants, tickets, bubble-gum cards, and sheet music for the song “All The Way Choo Choo.”

Gridiron Glory films are drawn from the University Archives in Wilson Library, where they are part of the records of the UNC Football Office. Most are original 16mm recordings and are badly in need of repair.

To learn more about the University Archives’ football collections and the efforts to preserve UNC’s football films, contact Jay Gaidmore, University Archivist, gaidmore@email.unc.edu or (919) 962-6402.

Related Links

• Gridiron Glory preview (video selections only, no voice-over)
• Photos of Woody Durham recording sound for Gridiron Glory

For event information, please contact Liza Terll, Friends of the Library, liza_terll@unc.edu, (919) 548-1203.

September 17, 2011
GRIDIRON GLORY: FILM CLIPS OF TAR HEEL FOOTBALL 1934-1985 (read more)
Encore showing of Tar Heel football film clips, drawn from the University Archives, including footage of Charlie “Choo Choo” Justice and “Famous Amos” Lawrence.
Noon – 3 p.m. (20-minute continuous loop)

September 19, 2011
A TRIBUTE TO HOWLIN’ WOLF (read more)
First in the Southern Folklife Collection’s Blues Legacy Series.
5:30 p.m – Keynote by Peter Guralnick and interview with Knox Phillips, Wilson Library
7:30 p.m. – Concert by Alvin Youngblood Hart, Eddie Shaw and the Wolf Gang (with special guests Jody Williams and Henry Gray), Carolina Union
Purchase concert tickets ($5 – $12.50) through the Carolina Union box office, (919) 962-1449

September 22, 2011
PICTURES, BOOKS, AND SCIENCE: FROM DESCRIPTION TO DIAGRAM IN THE CIRCLE OF GALILEO (read more)
The 14^th Hanes Lecture, presented by the Hanes Foundation for the Study of the Origin and Development of the Book.
5 p.m. – Reception and viewing of the exhibit Meaningful Marks: Image and Text and the History of the Book from the Rare Book Collection
5:45 p.m. – Talk by David Freedberg, Pierre Matisse Professor of the History of Art at Columbia University and director of the Italian Academy for Advanced Studies in America

September 27, 2011
FIRST AMENDMENT DAY: BANNED AND IN THE RARE BOOK COLLECTION (read more)
5 p.m. – Book Display and Reception
5:30 p.m. – Members of the University community read from banned and censored books held by the Rare Book Collection

October 6, 2011
PICTURING THE OLD NORTH STATE: VISUAL DOCUMENTATION OF NORTH CAROLINA’S ARCHITECTURAL HERITAGE (read more)
5 p.m. – Reception and viewing of the exhibit Louis Orr’s North Carolina Etchings, 1939-1951 in the North Carolina Collection Gallery
5:30 p.m. – Talk by architectural historian Catherine Bishir, author of North Carolina Architecture

October 10, 2011
INTO THE LATIN AMERICAN ARCHIVE (HISPANIC HERITAGE MONTH LECTURE) (read more)
5 p.m. – Reception and display of Latin American documents and books from the Rare Book Collection
5:30 p.m. – Talk by Kathryn Burns, professor of history at UNC, and author of Into the Archive: Writing and Power in Colonial Peru

October 18, 2011
SUICIDE, DIVORCE, AND DEBT IN CIVIL WAR ERA NORTH CAROLINA (read more)
5 p.m. – Reception
5:30 p.m. – Talk by David Silkenat, assistant professor of history and education at North Dakota State University and author of Moments of Despair: Suicide, Divorce, and Debt in Civil War Era North Carolina

October 20, 2011
CURATING SOUND: 75 YEARS OF MUSIC COLLECTIONS AT UNC (read more)
In celebration of the 75^th anniversary of UNC’s music library.
5:45 p.m. – Talk by Tim Carter, David G. Frey Distinguished Professor of Music at UNC
6:30 p.m. – Concert : “From Early to Old-Time: Music from our Collections”

October 26, 2011
THE LONG ROAD TO PARCHMAN: NORTH CAROLINA AND THE DESEGREGATION OF INTERSTATE BUSING (read more)
In conjunction with Playmakers Repertory Company’s production of The Parchman Hour.
5 p.m. – Reception
5:30 p.m. – Talk by historian Derek Catsam about the 1947 Journey of Reconciliation and the 1961 Freedom Rides

November 1, 2011
BEYOND BLACKFACE: AFRICAN AMERICANS AND THE CREATION OF AMERICAN POPULAR CULTURE (read more)
5 p.m. – Reception
5:30 p.m. – Talk by W. Fitzhugh Brundage, professor of history at UNC and editor of Beyond Blackface

November 3, 2011
THE MUSIC BIOGRAPHY: FROM GENE AUTRY TO ALEX CHILTON (read more)
5 p.m. – Reception
5:30 p.m. – Talk by music historian Holly George-Warren, author of Public Cowboy No. 1: The Life and Times of Gene Autry and an upcoming biography of Chilton

November 8, 2011
GENERATIONS OF CAPTIVITY IN NORTH CAROLINA: THE BENNEHAN-CAMERON PLANTATIONS, 1776-1865 (read more)
5 p.m. – Reception and viewing of the exhibit Kin and Community: African American Lives at Stagville
5:30 p.m. – Talk by Sydney Nathans, professor emeritus of history at Duke University

November 10, 2011
AUBREY BEARDSLEY AND HIS PUBLISHERS (read more)
5 p.m. – Reception and exhibit of Beardsley books held by the Rare Book Collection
5:30 p.m. – Program with noted Beardsley collector Mark Samuels Lasner

November 16, 2011
CURRICULUM AND CONTROVERSY: TWO CENTURIES OF TEXTBOOKS IN NORTH CAROLINA (read more)
5 p.m. – Reception and viewing of the exhibit Curriculum and Controversy: Two Centuries of Textbooks in North Carolina in the North Carolina Collection Gallery
5:30 p.m. – Panel discussion moderated by Bill McDiarmid, dean of the UNC School of Education

November 17, 2011
TRIBUTE TO REVEREND GARY DAVIS (read more)
Second in the Southern Folklife Collection’s Blues Legacy Series.
5 p.m. – Reception, Wilson Library
5:30 p.m. – Keynote by blues scholar Elijah Wald and panel discussion, Wilson Library
7:30 p.m. – Concert by Stefan Grossman, Ernie Hawkins, and Jorma Kaukonen, Carolina Union
Concert tickets go on sale September 1, 2011. Contact the Carolina Union box office, (919) 962-1449

December 6, 2011
I DREAM OF CHANG AND ENG (read more)
Evening devoted to the lives of the original Siamese twins, Chang and Eng Bunker.
5 p.m. – Reception and exhibit viewing
5:30 p.m. – Talk by playwright Philip Kan Gotanda about his new play I Dream of Chang and Eng, and presentations by UNC undergraduates about their research on the twins

December 8, 2011
19^TH ANNUAL WINTER STORIES PROGRAM FOR CHILDREN OF ALL AGES (read more)
5 p.m. – Reception
5:30 p.m. – Program with storyteller Brian Sturm and UNC musicians.
Attendees are encouraged to bring a new or gently used children’s book to contribute to a book drive for the Book Fairy, an organization that donates books to the Pediatric Oncology Clinic at UNC Hospital

The Southern Historical Collection will host a pre-screening of the forthcoming American Experience television documentary Freedom Riders on April 21, at 12:30 p.m., in the Wilson Special Collections Library.

The free public event will include an introduction by UNC-TV outreach coordinator for Freedom Riders Brynne Tuggle, the screening of a one-hour excerpt from the film, and a brief question-and-answer session.

Freedom Riders, to be broadcast in full by UNC-TV on May 16, details the experience of an interracial group of more than 400 activists challenging the Jim Crow laws that segregated interstate travel during the Civil Rights era. From award-winning filmmaker Stanley Nelson, the two-hour documentary features testimony from the Riders themselves, state and federal government officials, and journalists who witnessed the Rides firsthand. The broadcast will mark the 50th anniversary of the historic Rides.

The event is sponsored by the University Library’s Southern Historical Collection, UNC-TV, and the Carolina Student Union.

Related Links

• Freedom Riders

• American Experience

• Southern Historical Collection

• UNC-TV

• Carolina Student Union

Prof. Bill Ferris

Muddy Water: Bill Ferris and his Return to the River
Monday, April 18, 2011
5 p.m. Reception (Lobby)
5:30 p.m. Program (Pleasants Family Assembly Room)
Wilson Special Collections Library
Free and open to the public
Information: Liza Terll, Friends of the Library, (919) 962-4207

Join UNC professors Bill Ferris and Greg Kable for an exploration of musical history in conjunction with Big River: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, now in performance at PlayMakers Repertory Company.

The evening will feature a screening of Ferris’s documentary Return to the River, which tracks American musical roots along the banks of the Mississippi, following the path traveled by Jim and Huck.

He will then be joined in conversation and an audience discussion with Kable, dramaturg for Big River.

Ferris is Joel Williamson Eminent Professor of History and senior associate director of UNC’s Center for the Study of the American South. He was the founding director of the Center for the Study of Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi, where he taught for 18 years. He also taught at Yale University and Jackson State University and chaired the National Endowment for the Humanities. His most recent book is Give My Poor Heart Ease: Voices of the Mississippi Blues.

Kable is adjunct associate professor of dramaturgy in the Department of Dramatic Art. He has been associate dramaturg at PlayMakers since 1997. He holds an M.F.A. from the Yale School of Drama.

Related Links

• William R. Ferris Collection in the Southern Folklife Collection (finding aid)
• PlayMakers Repertory Company

Download event flier (pdf)

Walker Percy: A Documentary Film with director Win Riley
Thursday, Feb. 17, 2011
5 p.m. Reception | 5:45 p.m. Program
Wilson Special Collections Library, Pleasants Family Assembly Room
Free and open to the public
Information: Liza Terll, Friends of the Library, (919) 962-4207

Filmmaker Win Riley will present his new work Walker Percy: A Documentary Film on Feb. 17 in the Pleasants Family Assembly Room of the Wilson Special Collections Library. The event will also feature a Q&A with Riley and Percy scholar Linda Hobson.

Percy, a doctor turned writer and philosopher, graduated from UNC in 1937. He is best known for his National Book Award-winning novel The Moviegoer (1961). Before his death in 1990, he published five other novels and three works of nonfiction, as well as short stories, book reviews, and philosophical pieces on language, religion, and the intellectual life of the American South.

Riley’s film focuses on Percy’s youth in Birmingham, Ala., and his lifelong friendship with Civil War historian and novelist Shelby Foote.

Riley is a filmmaker and writer based in New Orleans. Linda Hobson, the author of Understanding Walker Percy (1988), is an author and literary critic based in North Carolina.

The program is sponsored by the Wilson Library’s Southern Historical Collection, which is the repository for the papers of both Percy and Hobson. Also in Wilson Library, the Rare Book Collection holds Percy’s working library of more than 2,500 volumes, many annotated by the author. These materials constitute the most comprehensive resource in North America for the study of Percy and his writings.

To learn more about Walker Percy collections at UNC, contact Wilson Library at wilsonlibrary@unc.edu or (919) 962-3765.

Related Links

• Walker Percy: A Documentary Film website
• Walker Percy Papers finding aid from the Southern Historical Collection
• Linda Whitney Hobson Papers finding aid from the Southern Historical Collection

Feb. 1
Home Front on the Hill: Chapel Hill and the University during the Civil War exhibit opens in the Melba Remig Saltarelli Exhibit Room of Wilson Library (3^rd floor). The exhibit launches four years of Library events and exhibits in conjunction with the 150^th anniversary of the Civil War. Learn more.

Feb. 4
Decoration Day in the Mountains: Traditions of Cemetery Decoration in the Southern Appalachians
Folklorist and author Alan Jabbour and photographer Karen Singer Jabbour will speak about their newly published examination of Decoration Day, a ritual that involves cleaning community cemeteries in late spring or summer, decorating them with flowers, and holding a religious service and “dinner on the ground.”
Wilson Library, Pleasants Family Assembly Room. Reception at 5 p.m.; program at 5:45 p.m. Contact: Liza Terll, (919) 962-4207. Learn more.

Feb. 15
Remembering Memphis Musician Jim Dickinson
The late Memphis musician and record producer Jim Dickinson will be remembered in a talk, “The Search for Blind Lemon: Jim Dickinson’s Legacy,” by his widow, Mary Lindsay Dickinson. The program continues with “The (R)evolution of Big Star’s Album Third/Sister Lovers.” Record producer Chris Stamey will interview Big Star’s Jody Stephens and John Fry about their work on the album that Dickinson Produced.
Wilson Library, Pleasants Family Assembly Room. Mary Lindsay Dickinson at 2:30 p.m.; coffee break at 3:30 p.m.; Big Star interview at 3:45 p.m. Contact: Liza Terll, (919) 962-4207. Learn more.

Feb. 16
Gallery Talk for Home Front on the Hill exhibit (see Feb. 1)
Ernest Dollar, director of the Chapel Hill Preservation Society, will describe Chapel Hill at the end of the Civil War in conjunction with the exhibit Home Front on the Hill.
Wilson Library, Melba Remig Saltareli Exhibit Room. 3 p.m. Learn more.

Feb. 17
Di-Phis to Loreleis: A History of Student Organizations at UNC exhibit opens in the North Carolina Collection Gallery on the main floor of Wilson Library. Contact: North Carolina Collection Gallery.

Feb. 17
Walker Percy: A Documentary Film
Filmmaker Win Riley will present his new movie about Percy. The writer, philosopher, and UNC alumnus (class of 1937) was best known for his National Book Award-winning novel The Moviegoer. The event will also feature a Q&A with Riley and Percy scholar Linda Hobson.
Wilson Library, Pleasants Family Assembly Room. Reception at 5 p.m; program at 5:45 p.m. Contact: Liza Terll, (919) 962-4207. Learn more.

Feb. 24
Poets in Person and on the Page: Michael Suarez, S. J.
Poet Michael Suarez, university professor and director of the Rare Book School at the University of Virginia, will inaugurate this poetry series, reading his own work and then James Joyce’s Chamber Music in the 1907 edition held by UNC’s Rare Book Collection. An analysis of both works as voice and printed page will follow.
Wilson Library, Pleasants Family Assembly Room. Reception at 5 p.m.; program at 5:45 p.m. Contact: Liza Terll, (919) 962-4207.

Download event flier (pdf)

It’s Grits! Screening with Filmmaker Stan Woodward
Wednesday, Jan. 19, 2011
5 p.m. Reception | 5:45 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. Program
Wilson Special Collections Library, Pleasants Family Assembly Room
Free and open to the public
Information: Liza Terll , Friends of the Library, (919) 962-4207

Filmmaker Stan Woodward will present his documentary classic It’s Grits! on Jan. 19 in the Pleasants Family Assembly Room of the Wilson Special Collections Library. A discussion with Woodward will follow a screening of the film.

It’s Grits! explores the South through one of the region’s most distinctive foods. Woodward discovers in grits a common thread that connects Southerners across social, economic, political, and racial boundaries.

The film, which premiered in 1980, has been re-mastered and restored in a 30^th-anniversary edition. Additional footage from 2008 confirms the enduring appeal of grits.

When the film aired on PBS in 1980, the New York Times called it “a passionate and amusing testimonial to that hardy staple of Southern cuisine.” Among Woodward’s interviewees was Craig Claiborne, food critic for the Times and a native of Sunflower, Miss., who prepares a grits soufflé on camera.

Woodward, one of South Carolina’s first independent filmmakers, seeks to capture last-generation folklife traditions and communities in the South, with special attention to foodways. His other food-related works include films about Brunswick stew, barbecue, and hash.

The screening of It’s Grits! and discussion with Woodward are sponsored by the Southern Folklife Collection in Wilson Library.

Related Links:

• It’s Grits Web site from filmmaker Stan Woodward
• It’s Grits! clip on YouTube

Gridiron Glory
Friday, Nov. 19, 2010
Wilson Library, Pleasants Family Assembly Room
Noon and 12:30 p.m.
Free and open to the public
Information: (919) 962-3765 or wilsonlibrary@unc.edu

The Wilson Special Collections Library will offer the UNC campus community two lunchtime showings of Gridiron Glory on Friday, Nov. 19, at noon and 12:30 p.m., in the Pleasants Family Assembly Room.

The archival film clips in Gridiron Glory feature highlights from Tar Heel football games past, including footage of football legends Charlie “Choo Choo” Justice and “Famous Amos” Lawrence. The action is called by Woody Durham, “Voice of the Tar Heels,” who recorded the play-by-play in the Wilson Library sound preservation studio.

The films are drawn from the University Archives in Wilson Library, where they are part of the records of the UNC Football Office. In the 1930s, the Football Office began filming games in order to help coaches evaluate and train players and review strategic plays. Many of the films provide unique camera angles and views of the games not captured by broadcasters.

Gridiron Glory was shown during football pre-game festivities on October 2 and 30.

Feel free to bring your lunch and enjoy the show on Friday, Nov. 19!

Related Links

• Archival Films Bring Tar Heel Football History to Pre-Games
• Gridiron Glory preview (video selections only, no voice-over)
• Photos of Woody Durham recording sound for Gridiron Glory