Restrictions to Access

No restrictions. Open for research.

Copyright Notice

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

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the Elizabeth Oliver Papers #5333, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Received from Billy and Katherine Bernstein in June 2007 (Acc. 100691).

Sensitive Materials Statement

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). 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.

The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.

Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.

• Art teachers--United States.
• Art--Study and teaching.
• Diaries.
• Family--Virginia--Social life and customs.
• Haystack Mountain School of Crafts.
• Oliver family.
• Oliver, Elizabeth, 1940-2000.
• Women art teachers--United States.
• Women artists--United States.
• Women authors, American--20th century.
• Women poets, American--20th century.
• Women teachers--United States--History--20th century.
• Women--New York (N.Y.)--Social life and customs.
• Women--United States--Diaries.
• Women--Virginia--Social life and customs.

Elizabeth Oliver was born in 1940 on her father's dairy farm in Virginia. After attending the University of North Carolina, she moved to New York City, N.Y., and worked as a set designer in the theater. In 1968, she taught craft workshops at the Penland School of Crafts in Penland, N.C. She then moved back to New York City to work as a video producer and editor. In 1977, Oliver was a student at the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in Deer Isle, Me., where she was later invited to teach and serve as a visiting artist. Her primary topics were papermaking and crafts. In the 1990s, she also ventured into poetry and began performing her work. None of her work was published. Around 1997, she was diagnosed with cancer and began three years of treatments. She died on 10 October 2000 in Virginia Beach, Va.

The collection contains correspondence and other papers of artist, crafts teacher, and poet Elizabeth Oliver of Virginia, New York, N.Y., and other locations. Correspondence is primarily with her father, mother, and other family members, as well as with her students, assistants, friends, and other acquaintances. In her letters, Oliver discussed family matters; her health; course information and teaching, including her work at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts; politics; financial matters; and other topics. Some of the letters are drafts and were never sent. Also included are drafts of poems and other writings, diary entries, samples of Oliver's artwork, photographs, class and teaching notes, clippings, programs, and fliers, and other items.