Inventory of the Elizabeth Rose Campbell Papers, 1961-2004

Collection Number 5294

Manuscripts Department, University Library of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Contact Information:

Manuscripts Department

CB#3926, Wilson Library

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Chapel Hill, NC 27514-8890

Phone: 919/962-1345

Fax: 919/962-3594

Email: mss@email.unc.edu

URL: http://www.lib.unc.edu/mss/

Descriptive Summary

Repository

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.

Creator

Campbell, Elizabeth Rose.

Title

Elizabeth Rose Campbell Papers, 1961-2004

Call Number

5294

Language of Materials

Materials in English

Extent

Items: About 320

Linear Feet: 24.0

Administrative Information

Restrictions to Access

No restrictions.

Usage Restrictions

This collection may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations. Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.

Acquisitions Information

Received from the estate of Elizabeth Rose Campbell of Chapel Hill, N.C., in September 2006 (Acc. 100493), October 2006 (Acc. 100521), and April 2007 (Acc. 100632).

Processing Information

Processed by: Jessica Sedgwick and Joyce Chapman, December 2007

Encoded by: Jessica Sedgwick and Joyce Chapman, December 2007

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the Elizabeth Rose Campbell Papers #5294, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Copyright Notice

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Online Catalog Headings

These and related materials may be found under the following headings in online catalogs.

Astrologers.

Astrology.

Campbell, Elizabeth Rose.

Chapel Hill (N.C.)--History.

Chapel Hill (N.C.)--Social life and customs.

Diaries.

Psychics.

Sun (Chapel Hill, N.C.)

Tivoli (N.Y.)--History.

Tivoli (N.Y.)--Social life and customs.

Women authors, American--New York (State).

Women authors, American--North Carolina.

Women--New York (State)--Diaries.

Women--New York (State)--Social life and customs.

Women--North Carolina--Diaries.

Women--North Carolina--Social life and customs.

Biographical Note

Elizabeth Rose Campbell (Betsy) was born on 7 March 1952 in Rocky Mount, N.C. She graduated from Weldon High School in 1970 and from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1975 with a B.A. in journalism and studio art. That same year, she married Stephen Blackwell, at which point she began publishing under the name Betsy Campbell Blackwell. She worked as assistant editor for The Southern Economic Journal, 1975-1976, and as assistant editor of The Sun, A Magazine of Ideas, 1977-1981. In 1978, she and Blackwell separated, and she resumed the name Elizabeth Rose Campbell. She built and moved into a small, sparsely equipped house on the land co-owned by her and her husband.

During the 1970s, Campbell's interests in astrology, writing, and new age and alternative arts grew. She also became more involved in writing and publishing her personal, first-person essays in The Sun and other publications. In 1981, she left her position at The Sun and began working as a waitress at Pyewacket, a Chapel Hill, N.C., restaurant. She also sold socks on the side. In 1982, Campbell worked at the Omega Institute for Holistic Studies in Rhinebeck, N.Y., as faculty coordinator, director of marketing, and program coordinator. While working at Omega, Campbell lived in Tivoli, N.Y. In 1984, she began publishing essays and poems in The Rose Reader. In 1985, she began to supplement her income by modeling for art classes. She also started her own astrology consulting service, called Wild Rose Consulting, and did freelance writing under the business name Communications Clarified. In 1987, she did a writer's residency at Edna St. Vincent Millay Colony for the Arts, in Austerlitz, N.Y., and her story "On Dreams" was published in the anthology, Dreams Are Wiser Than Men (North Atlantic Books). After completing her residency, she moved back to Tivoli.

Starting in 1989, Campbell typically spent summers in Tivoli and winters in Chapel Hill. By 1994, Wild Rose Consulting had about 1500 clients and served as Campbell's primary work until her death. She remained involved at the Omega Institute, however, working off and on as an in-house astrologer. In 1996, she began working on "Horsegirl," which was published in the anthology Jo's Girls: Tomboy Tales of High Adventure, True Grit, and Real Life (Beacon Press, 1997). Also in 1996, she did a writer's residency at the Virginia Center for Creative Arts of Sweet Briar, Va., and released Pulses, a video about the creative process that won a PBS award. In 1998, she did another residency at the Ragdale Foundation in Lake Forest, Ill., and in 2003, Random House published her first and only book, Intuitive Astrology: Follow Your Best Instincts to Become Who You Always Intended to Be. Campbell died of cancer on 15 December 2004.

Collection Overview

The collection is primarily diaries documenting the personal and professioal life of astrologer and writer Elizabeth Rose Campbell of Chapel Hill, N.C., and Tivoli, N.Y. Filed within the diaries are letters, drafts of writings, photographs, transcripts of psychic readings and astrological readings, financial records, clippings, printed materials, and other items. The diaries begin when Campbell was eight. Until her college years, they chiefly describe friendships, family, school, boys, and aspects of her daily life. Beginning with college, entries become increasingly spiritual and introspective, documenting personal, romantic, and sexual relationships in great detail. The collection also includes other writings by Campbell, primarily drafts of her articles for The Sun, A Magazine of Ideas, but also drafts, notes, and final copies of writings for other publications. There are also subject files on writing, astrology, and her professional career; videotapes, many of which are self-directed video diaries; and other items.

Arrangement of Collection

1. Diaries
2. Writings and other materials
3. Subject files
4. Videotapes

Items Separated

Videotapes (VT-5294/1-38)
Oversize paper folder (OP-5294/1)
Image folders (P-5294/1-3)
Audiocassette (C-5294/1)

Detailed Description of the Collection