Restrictions to Access

Use of audiovisual materials may require production of listening or viewing copies. Use of some boxes may require staff assistance.

This collection contains additional materials that are not processed and are currently not available to researchers. For information about access to these materials, contact Research and Instructional Services staff. Please be advised that preparing unprocessed materials for access can be a lengthy process.

Copyright Notice

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

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.

• Afro-American families--North Carolina--History.
• Alston family--Genealogy.
• Alston family.
• Alston, Charles Henry, 1907-1977.
• Alston, Macky.
• Documentary films--Production and direction--United States.
• Documentary films--United States.
• Family name (Motion picture).
• Family--North Carolina--Social life and customs.
• Independent filmmakers--United States.
• North Carolina--Race relations--History.
• Opelika Pictures.

Opelika Pictures is a film company founded by New York-based filmmaker Macky Alston (Wallace McPherson Alston III). Alston directed the documentary film, Family Name, which examines the links that early North Carolina history forged between himself and the descendants of former slaves who share the Alston family name.

The collection is comprised of research and genealogy notes, audio and video tapes, film, record albums, publications, photographs, business and personal correspondence, and clippings associated with the making of the documentary film, Family Name. Included are numerous photographs of the work of artist Charles Henry Alston and interviews with his sisters and others who knew him. There are also photographs and taped interviews with Macky Alston and members of his family. The bulk of materials are dated 1986 to 1997, but there is a small number of items dated 1843-1961.