M. Ruth Little Collection Inventory (#20065)

Architectural historian Margaret Ruth Little (Stokes) was born in 1946 in Tacoma Park, Md., and completed her Ph.D. degree with a major in art history and a minor in folklore at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1984. Little has been involved in many projects within North Carolina, including a number of historic architectural surveys, the creation of nominations for National Register of Historic Places registrations, and cemetery surveys. A resident of Raleigh, N.C., she consults with the state's Historical Preservation Office and has her own firm, Longleaf Historical Resources.

M. Ruth Little was awarded the Harriette Merrifield Forbes Award in 2001 by the Association for Gravestone Studies for "an outstanding contribution to the field of gravestone studies" through her book, Sticks and Stones: Three Centuries of North Carolina Gravemarkers (University of North Carolina Press, 1998).

Collection Overview

Survey information, photographs, and other items relating to the National Endowment for the Humanities-funded North Carolina Cemetery as Cultural Artifact Project, 1981-1982, directed by Professor Terry Zug of the Curriculum in Folklore at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with M. Ruth Little as the principal investigator. The Project supported Little's 1984 doctoral dissertation, later published as Sticks and Stones: Three Centuries of North Carolina Gravemarkers (University of North Carolina Press, 1998) with photography by Tim Buchman.

The Project was intended to be "the first investigation in the state of historic cemeteries and graveyards as cultural benchmarks with aesthetic characteristics and iconographical content," and focused on photographic documentation, recording, and cataloging of cemeteries in three counties: Cumberland County, N.C.; Davidson County, N.C.; and New Hanover County, N.C. The intensive survey covered Cumberland, New Hanover, and Davidson counties completely, and Lincoln County, N.C., and Catawba County, N.C., on a selective basis. Other counties were added for comparison. Intended to link demographic and cultural traits with regional practices, one of the Project's primary focus points was to identify gravemarker artisans and carvers throughout the region and to trace their movements within, and influences over, the carving tradition.

Included are master cards with cemetery survey information and topographical maps used in the research and identification process. Each master card contains the cemetery name; location; inclusive dates; topography; landscaping; boundaries; marker descriptions and design motifs; an overall site plan; and a brief history, if known. Photographic materials include black-and-white prints, negatives, and color slides, most relating to specific master cards. Many of the images are of cemeteries or gravemarkers. Also included are research notes; keysort cards; grant materials; audiotapes of an interview with gravestone carver J. Thomas McLean of Lincolnton, N.C.; and other items.

Organization of Collection

Series Descriptions

Master cards with cemetery survey information and topographical maps used in the research and identification process. Each master card contains the cemetery name; location; inclusive dates; topography; landscaping; boundaries; marker descriptions and design motifs; an overall site plan; and a brief history, if known. Areas were surveyed in quadrants, and topographical maps of each quadrant surveyed have research notations on exact locations of cemeteries.

2. Photographic Materials, 1980-1982.

Black-and-white prints, negatives, and color slides, most relating to specific master cards. Most of the images are of cemeteries or gravemarkers. Organization of these materials parallels Series 1 and offers a visual overview of county and regional traits.

Materials labeled "unidentified" did not correlate with specific master cards or counties/quads and appear at the end of the series, along with the slides. Note that original file folder titles have, for the most part, been retained.

Research materials relating to specific counties, including correspondence, research notes, and contact information.

4. General Research and Notes, 1980-1982.

General research materials not related to specific counties. Included are articles on cemetery research, research notes, contact information, M. Ruth Little's primary and secondary notes, and notecards listing bibliographic sources and other research information.

5. Keysort Cards and Results, 1980-1982.

Keysort cards used in the cemetery survey and results from a computerized tally. There is also information about the computer-tally survey system provided by McBee Systems.

Each keysort card, which relates to a specific master card number and gravemarker, includes the following: name of cemetery, master card number, U.S.G.S. code, location, date surveyed, and descriptive elements regarding the stone itself. Most keysort cards also include a copy of the inscription and a sketch of the stone, and a small picture (taken from contact sheets) if applicable.

Grant application and supporting documents about project funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

An interview conducted by M. Ruth Little with J. Thomas McLean, an gravestone carver from Lincolnton, N.C.; newspaper clippings; miscellaneous correspondence; unaffiliated maps; shards from broken gravemarkers; and other materials.

FS-5710 and FS-5711: Interview with J. Thomas McLean, gravestone carver, Lincolnton, N.C., 1982