John William Harden (1903-1985) of Greensboro, N.C., was a journalist, newspaper editor, author, advisor to North Carolina governors and textile executives, and founder of the state’s first full-service public relations company. The collection contains materials, 1914-1986, including business records, correspondence, writings, speeches and speech materials, administrative records, newspaper clippings, diaries, scrapbooks, photograph albums, family papers, [...]
[Our final installment of our "welcome back" series.]
Ah, it’s a phenomenon old as time: college-age sons and daughters contacting home to ask for more money. The following letter was sent from James Johnston Pettigrew to his father Ebenezer Pettigrew on 8 February 1846. J.J. needed some money for some new duds. (This letter comes from [...]
(Part 3 of our “welcome back students” series…) It seems that Chapel Hill has seen quite a parade of entertainers and other characters come through town over the years. One such visit from an intriguing 19th-century illusionist named the “Fakir of Ava” is described in the letter below.
strong>William Bagley to Mose G. Pierce, 13 February [...]
In our second installment of our “welcome back” series, we feature a letter from Neil A. Sinclair (a freshman) to his mother, 9 September 1882, in which he recounts his experiences with being hazed by the older boys at Carolina. Hazing was frequent during the early years of the University. In Kemp Plummer Battle’s “History [...]
As our way of welcoming Carolina students back to campus, this week we’ll share a few reflections and experiences of bygone Tar Heels. These letters and diary entries are rich, funny, often surprising accounts of student life in Chapel Hill.
Take, for example, this 21 January 1834 letter from Charles L. Pettigrew to his father in [...]
Once in a while, the SHC acquires intriguing artifactual items. Normally these artifacts are acquired during the acquisition of a greater collection of related manuscript material. One such artifact was acquired at the time of the gift of the Pettigrew Family Papers (SHC Collection #592): a framed portrait, in oils, of General James Johnston Pettigrew.
James [...]
Often, while clicking around in the library catalog, we stumble on these intriguing little pockets of content among the holdings of the SHC. Sometimes it’s a matter of rediscovering what we forgot we had, or finding stuff that seems to be ‘hidden in plain sight.’ These serendipitous finds remind us of the great breadth and [...]
Following yesterday’s festivities in Washington, D. C., we felt it might be nice to share with you a piece of presidential inaugurations past. Shown below is a ticket to the 1937 inauguration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, his second inauguration, and the accompanying invitation to meet with Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt.
From the Frank A. [...]
