Bart F. Smallwood Papers Inventory (#4883)

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Manuscripts Department, Library of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Collection Information
block Descriptive Summary Including Abstract
block Administrative Information
block Online Catalog Terms
block Biographical Note
block Collection Overview
block Organization of Collection
plus Series Descriptions
block Items Separated
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/
Processed by:
Meg Phillips
Date Completed:
December 1997
Encoded by:
Linda Sellars
Revisions:
Finding aid updated in January 2000 by Linda Sellars.
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Descriptive Summary Including Abstract

Title
Bart F. Smallwood Papers (#4883) 1959-1998
Creator
Smallwood, Bart F. (Bart Fearing), d. 1985.
Extent
About 5500 items (9.0 linear feet)
Repository
Southern Historical Collection
Abstract
Bart Fearing Smallwood was an African-American community organizer in the Windsor and Indian Woods communities of Bertie County, N.C., in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. He was responsible for establishing the Blue Jay Recreation Center, the Blue Jay Baseball team, and the Blue Jay Volunteer Fire Department to serve the recreational and fire protection needs of his isolated rural neighborhood. Smallwood was also active in a number of other organizations, including advisory boards for the Bertie County schools and for his employer, Lea Lumber and Plywood Company, and he served on the Bertie County Involvement Council. He was married to Lois Marie Cherry Smallwood and had five children. Bart Smallwood died in December 1985. This collection documents Bart Smallwood's life as an African-American community organizer. It also contains materials relating to African-American families and African-American education, both in schools and in higher education institutions. Community activities are represented by minutes, baseball score books, programs for special events, and memos and correspondence relating to the organization, administration, and financing organizations with which Smallwood was involved. Smallwood's personal life is reflected in letters, financial material, and family pictures. The collection contains items relating to Bart Smallwood's children, especially about their education, including Angelia Smallwood's attendance at East Carolina University and Anthony Smallwood's courses at North Carolina A & T State University. Materials relating to Smallwood's son Arwin include his dissertation, "A History of Three Cultures: Indian Woods, North Carolina, 1585 to 1995" (1997), and related materials: photocopies of published information about North Carolina, photographs of buildings and scenes in and around Indian Woods, and audiotaped interviews with residents of Indian Woods and Bertie County.
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Administrative Information

Access
No restrictions.
Usage Restrictions
Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.
Provenance
Received from Arwin D. Smallwood of Peoria, Ill., in July 1997 (Acc. 97096), with additions in October 1998 (Acc. 98208) and June 1999 (Acc. 98379).
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Online Catalog Terms

Afro-American civic leaders--North Carolina--Bertie County.
Afro-American civic leaders--North Carolina--History--20th century.
Afro-American college students--North Carolina.
Afro-American families--North Carolina.
Afro-Americans--Education--North Carolina.
Afro-Americans--Education (Higher)--North Carolina.
Afro-Americans--North Carolina--Bertie County.
Afro-Americans--North Carolina--Social conditions.
Afro-Americans--North Carolina--Social life and customs.
Bertie County (N.C.)--Social conditions.
Community leadership--North Carolina.
Community organization--North Carolina.
East Carolina University--Students.
Indian Woods (N.C.)--Photographs.
Indian Woods (N.C.)--Social conditions.
North Carolina--Rural conditions.
North Carolina--Social conditions.
North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University--Students.
Oral history.
Smallwood, Arwin D.
Smallwood, Bart F. (Bart Fearing), d. 1985.
Smallwood family.
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Biographical Note

Bart Fearing Smallwood was an African-American community organizer in the Windsor and Indian Woods communities of Bertie County, N.C., in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. He was responsible for establishing the Blue Jay Recreation Center, the Blue Jay Baseball team, and the Blue Jay Volunteer Fire Department to serve the recreational and fire protection needs of his isolated rural neighborhood. Smallwood was also active in a number of other organizations, including advisory boards for the Bertie County schools and for his employer, Lea Lumber and Plywood Company, and he served on the Bertie County Involvement Council.

Bart F. Smallwood was married to Lois Marie Cherry Smallwood, and had five children: Angelia, Anthony, Arwin, Brady, and Tanya Smallwood. Bart Smallwood died in December 1985.

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Collection Overview

This collection documents Bart Smallwood's life as an African-American community organizer. It also contains materials relating to African-American families and to African American education, both at school and in higher education institutions.

Materials document the organizations with which Smallwood was involved in the Windsor and Indian Woods communities of Bertie County, N.C.. His personal and family life is also documented. Letters and other materials in Series 1 document Smallwood's efforts in behalf of community organizations. Series 2 documents organizational activities through by minutes, baseball scorebooks, programs for special events, and organizational memos and correspondence. Series 3 contains published material, tourist brochures, catalogs, and clippings.

Series 4 contains materials relating to the dissertation written by Smallwood's son Arwin Smallwood. These include drafts and a bound copy of the dissertation, "A History of Three Cultures: Indian Woods, North Carolina, 1585 to 1995," submitted for the Ph.D. in history at the Ohio State University in 1997. Also included is material collected in the course of Arwin Smallwood's research on Indian Woods, N.C., including photocopies of published information about North Carolina, photographs of buildings and scenes in and around Indian Woods, and audiotaped oral history interviews with residents of Indian Woods and Bertie County, N.C.

Series 5 contains materials relating to the Smallwood family. Most of the material relates to the children's education, especially Angelia Smallwood's attendance at East Carolina University and Anthony Smallwood's courses at North Carolina A & T State University.

Note the additions of October 1998 and June 1999 follow the organization scheme of the original deposit.

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Organization of Collection

1. Letters, Financial, and Other General Materials
2. Organizations and Activities
3. Other Papers
4. Arwin D. Smallwood's Dissertation
Additions of October 1998 and June 1999
1. Letters, Financial, and Other General Materials
2. Organizations and Activities
3. Other Papers
4. Arwin D. Smallwood's Dissertation
5. Smallwood Family Papers
5.1. Angelia Smallwood
5.2. Anthony Smallwood
5.3. Arwin Smallwood
5.4. Brady Smallwood
5.5. Tanya Smallwood
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Series Descriptions

1. Letters, Financial, and Other General Material, 1960-1986.

About 500 items.
Arrangement: by type of material.
General materials generated in the course of Bart Smallwood's life, including family letters and letters relating to his activities as a community organizer, various kinds of financial material, including bills, receipts, tax and insurance information, and Medicaid and Food Stamp information. There are many programs from church services attended, especially at Indian Woods Baptist Church, and from funerals in the community. Anthony Smallwood, one of Bart Smallwood's sons, was a Marine recruit and received the Marine publication, The Tarheel Gazette, and wrote two letters to his parents from the Marine base at Parris Island in July 1985. Many of the undated letters are drafts and copies of letters Bart Smallwood wrote on behalf of the organizations with which he was involved, often to request donations.
P-4883/Folders 1-3: Photographs of the Smallwood family and friends, 1960s-1970s (mostly in color)
   Folder 1
Letters, 1963-1979
   Folder 2
Letters, 1980-1986
   Folder 3
Letters, undated
   Folder 4
Financial
   Folder 5
Financial: Bank account books (Bank of Windsor and St. Luke Credit Union)
   Folder 6
Financial: Bank statements
   Folder 7
Financial: Check and payment books
   Folder 8
Financial: Insurance information
   Folder 9
Financial: Bertie County Department of Social Services Medicaid eligibility notices, etc.
   Folder 10
Financial: Food stamp information
   Folder 11
Financial: Tax forms, etc.
   Folder 12
Financial: Bills and receipts and payment stubs
   Folder 13-14
Financial: Bills and receipts
   Folder 15
Hospitalization
   Folder 16
Bertie County Schools parent information
   Folder 17
Bertie County Schools: A Handbook for Principals and Teachers
   Folder 18
Church service programs
   Folder 19
Wedding and funeral service programs
   Folder 20
Church annual reports
   Folder 21
Miscellaneous church and religious material
   Folder 22
U.S. Marine Corps: The Tarheel Gazette and related material
   Folder 23
Membership cards, licenses, certificates, etc.
   Folder 24
Address books and notebooks
   Folder 25-26
Miscellaneous

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2. Organizations and Activities, 1959-1986.

About 1000 items.
Arrangement: alphabetical by organization.
Materials relating to Bart Smallwood's many activities as a community organizer in the African-American community of Indian Woods in Bertie County, N.C. Smallwood was the originator and president of the Blue Jay Recreation Center, the founder of the Blue Jay Baseball Team, and the organizer and president of the Blue Jay Volunteer Fire Department. Smallwood played a central role in these three organizations, but there is also material from a number of other organizations in which Smallwood was active. These include the West Bertie Elementary and the District-Wide Advisory Councils; the Prince Hall Masons; and the Safety Committee and Advisory Board of Lea Lumber and Plywood Company, Smallwood's employer. Also included are memos and other material received by Smallwood as an employee of Lea Lumber.
The documentation from the three Blue Jay organizations includes meeting minutes and other administrative records, baseball score books, raffle tickets, bills and receipts, and programs from special events, such as the Blue Jay Recreation Center Mortgage Burning ceremony. Note that many of the letters in Series 1 relate to Smallwood's activities with these organizations.
   Folder 27
Bertie County Involvement Council
   Folder 28
Bertie County Little League Football
   Folder 29
Blue Jay Baseball
   Folder 30
Blue Jay Baseball: Account book and enclosures, 1976-1985
   Folder 31
Blue Jay Baseball: Account book in Simplified Farm Record Book
   Folder 32
Blue Jay Baseball: Bills and receipts
   Folder 33
Blue Jay Baseball: Notebooks
   Folder 34
Blue Jay Baseball: Scorebooks
   Folder 35
Blue Jay Baseball: Playing records, rule books, etc.
   Folder 36
Blue Jay Recreation Center
   Folder 37
Blue Jay Recreation Center: Bank statements
   Folder 38
Blue Jay Recreation Center: Bills and receipts
   Folder 39
Blue Jay Recreation Center: Minutes
   Folder 40
Blue Jay Volunteer Fire Department
   Folder 41
Blue Jay Volunteer Fire Department: Bills and receipts
   Folder 42
CETA Summer Youth Program
   Folder 43
District-Wide Parent Advisory Council (Bertie County Schools)
   Folder 44
Lea Lumber and Plywood Company/Lea Industries
   Folder 45
Lea Lumber and Plywood Company: Advisory Board and Safety Committee
   Folder 46
Masons
   Folder 47
Other community activities
   Folder 48
West Bertie Elementary School Advisory Council
   Folder 49
Volunteer material

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3. Other Material, 1975-1994.

About 100 items.
Arrangement: alphabetical by subject.
Primarily published material related to Smallwood's activities in Bertie County, N.C. Included are supply catalogs for playground equipment, Boy Scout gear, baseball uniforms, and other items. Brochures mainly relate to tourist attractions from Bertie County and Windsor, N.C., but also from as far afield as the Six Nations of Ontario, Canada. Publications include a 1978 copy of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference's magazine, SCLC, featuring a story called "April 4, 1978: Memory March for the Right to Live"; information on North Carolina's volunteer programs; and a newsletter put out by the Roanoke Electric Membership Corporation called Roanoke Electric Flashes. Clippings document the achievements and deaths in the Smallwood family and among their friends, as well as community activities.
   Folder 50
Bertie County information
   Folder 51
Brochures and fliers
   Folder 52
Clippings
   Folder 53
Elections and referenda
   Folder 54
Published material
   Folder 55
Supply catalogs

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4. Arwin D. Smallwood's Dissertation, 1989-1997.

About 400 items.
Arrangement: by type of material.
Material produced or collected by Arwin D. Smallwood, Bart Smallwood's son, while researching his 1997 history dissertation for the Ohio State University, "A History of Three Cultures: Indian Woods, North Carolina, 1585 to 1995." Included are drafts of several dissertation chapters and many photocopies of articles and maps relating to North Carolina history. Arwin Smallwood took many photographs of buildings, gravestones, and roadside scenes in and around Indian Woods, N.C. to illustrate his dissertation, and these photographs are also in this series. Also included are cassette tapes containing oral history interviews conducted by Arwin Smallwood with various members of the Indian Woods community in December 1989.
P-4883/Folder 4: Photographs of buildings (mostly black and white)
P-4883/Folder 5: Photographs of gravestones (black and white)
P-4883/Folder 6: Photographs of signs and roadside scenes (mostly black and white)
P-4883/Folder 7: Photographs of Native American people, objects, and miscellaneous photographs.
P-4883/Folder 8: Negatives
T-4883/1: Interviews with Cornwallis Cherry and Rosetta Bond
T-4883/2: Interviews with Andrew Jackson Cherry andPolloy Outlaw
T-4883/3: Interview with the Reverend Aran Bazemore
T-4883/4: Interviews with the Reverend Aran Bazemore, the Reverend Creecy, and Rosetta Etheridge
T-4883/5: Interviews with Alice Ballance, Rosetta Bond, and Mrs. Pugh
T-4883/6: Interviews with Mrs. Pugh and Mrs. Hill
T-4883/7: Interview with Althea Jones
T-4883/8: Audiotape (technical problems; no information available)
   Folder 56
Drafts of dissertation chapters
   Folder 57
North Carolina history: Photocopied articles
   Folder 58
North Carolina information: Photocopies
   Folder 59-61
Photocopied maps
   Folder 62
Telephone book, 1989, for Columbia, Plymouth, Williamston, Windsor, and other towns

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Additions of October 1998 (Acc. 98208) and June 1999 (Acc. 98379)

About 4000 items (6.0 linear feet).
Full processing of this collection has been deferred pending expected additions.
1970s-1990s.
This addition contains personal papers of Bart Smallwood's children, as well as material similar to that received in the original accession that document the organizations with which Bart Smallwood was involved and his personal life. The additional material has not been integrated into the collection, but has been roughly sorted and organized into the same series, with the addition of a series of Smallwood family papers, containing personal papers of Angelia Smallwood, Anthony Smallwood, Arwin Smallwood, Brady Smallwood, and Tanya Smallwood.
As in the original accession, letters and other materials in Series 1 document Bart Smallwood's personal life and efforts in behalf of community organizations. Series 2 documents organizational activities through minutes, programs for special events, and organizational memos and correspondence. Series 3 contains published material, tourist brochures, catalogs, clippings, and newspapers. Series 4 contains material about Arwin Smallwood's dissertation about the history of Indian Woods, N.C. Series 5 contains personal papers of Bart Smallwood's children, mostly about their education, especially Angelia's attendance at East Carolina University and Anthony's courses at North Carolina A & T State University.
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1. Letters, Financial, and Other General Materials, 1970s-1998.
About 400 items.
Arrangement: by type of material.
   Folder 63
Letters, 1970s, 1980-1983
   Folder 64
Letters, 1984
   Folder 65
Letters, 1985
   Folder 66
Letters, 1986-1988
   Folder 67
Letters, 1989
   Folder 68
Letters, 1990
   Folder 69
Letters, 1991-1993, 1998
   Folder 70
Letters, undated
   Folder 71-72
Financial
   Folder 73
West Bertie Elementary School Parent Information
   Folder 74
Churches
   Folder 75
Bart Smallwood's funeral
   Folder 76
Membership cards and certificates
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2. Organizations and Activities.
About 800 items.
Arrangement: alphabetical.
   Folder 77
Bertie County Involvement Council
   Folder 78
Bertie County Little League Football
   Folder 79-81
Blue Jay Ball Club
   Folder 82-84
Blue Jay Fire Department
   Folder 85-90
Blue Jay Recreation Center
   Folder 91-92
Community organizations
   Folder 93
Democratic Party
   Folder 94
Education
   Folder 95
Lea Lumber and Plywood Company
   Folder 96
Roanoke Electric Membership Corporation
   Folder 97
Schools
   Folder 98
Volunteer material
   Folder 99
West Bertie Elementary School Advisory Council
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3. Other Papers.
About 200 items.
Arrangement: alphabetical.
   Folder 100
Bertie County information
   Folder 101
Bertie Ledger-Advance, 1975-1976
   Folder 102
Bertie Ledger-Advance, 1977
   Folder 103
Bertie Ledger-Advance, 1978
   Folder 104
Bertie Ledger-Advance, 1979
   Folder 105
Bertie Ledger-Advance, 1980-1981
   Folder 106
Bertie Ledger-Advance, 1983-1984
   Folder 107-108
Bertie Ledger-Advance, 1985
   Folder 109
Bertie Ledger-Advance, 1992, 1997
   Folder 110
Bertie Ledger-Advance, 1998
   Folder 111
Brochures
   Folder 112
Clippings
   Folder 113
The Enterprise (Williamston, N.C.), 10 April 1986, Section B
   Folder 114
Greenville-Pitt County Dispatch, 24 January and 7 February 1985
   Folder 115
Illinois history
   Folder 116
Roanoke-Chowan News Herald, 15 September 1998
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4. Arwin D. Smallwood's Dissertation.
About 100 items.
Arrangement: alphabetical.
Papers produced or collected in the course of Arwin Smallwood's research and writing of his dissertation on the history of the Indian Woods, N.C., community. See Series 5.3 for personal papers, including clippings and articles about Arwin Smallwood, and materials about awards he received, his marriage, and his education.
   Folder 117
Deeds (photocopies)
   Folder 118
Illustrations (photocopies)
   Folder 119
Index to land records
   Folder 120
Interview questions and list
   Folder 121
Tuscarora
   Folder 122-123
Bound copy of dissertation
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5. Smallwood Family Papers.
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5.1. Angelia Smallwood.
About 800 items.
Arrangement: alphabetical.
Personal papers of Angelia Smallwood, daughter of Bart Smallwood. Most of the papers relate to Angelia's attendance at East Carolina University. Included are appointment books, letters, class notes, and papers relating to her participation in Upward Bound. Also included is a scrapbook containing material from Angelia's high school and college years.
   Folder 124
Certificates
   Folder 125
Cofield, James (husband)
   Folder 126-128
Correspondence
   Folder 129-130
East Carolina University
   Folder 131-135
East Carolina University courses
   Folder 136
Employment
   Folder 137
High school
   Folder 138
Other papers
   Folder 139
Upward Bound
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5.2. Anthony Smallwood.
About 800 items.
Arrangement: alphabetical.
Personal papers of Anthony Smallwood, son of Bart Smallwood. Nearly all of these papers are class notes from courses taken at North Carolina A & T State University, where Anthony studied technology education.
   Folder 140
Correspondence
   Folder 141
High school
   Folder 142
North Carolina A & T State University
   Folder 143
Work
   Folder 144-164
Class notes
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5.3. Arwin Smallwood
About 400 items.
Arrangement: alphabetical.
Personal papers of Arwin Smallwood, son of Bart Smallwood. Arwin Smallwood teaches history at Bradley University in Peoria, Ill. He received B.A. and M.A. degrees in history from North Carolina Central University in Durham, N.C., and a Ph.D. in history from the Ohio State University. The papers filed here are personal papers, including clippings and articles about him, materials about awards he received, his marriage, and his education. See Series 4 for papers produced or collected in the course of Arwin Smallwood's research and writing of his dissertation on the history of the Indian Woods community.
   Folder 165
About Arwin Smallwood
   Folder 166
Awards
   Folder 167
Bertie Senior High School
   Folder 168
Events
   Folder 169
History graduate programs
   Folder 170
Letters
   Folder 171
North Carolina Central University
   Folder 172
Ohio State University
   Folder 173
Resumes, 1983-1992
   Folder 174
School
   Folder 175
Speech on the history of Indian Woods, N.C.
   Folder 176
Upward Bound
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5.4. Brady Smallwood.
   Folder 177
Brady Smallwood
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5.5. Tanya Smallwood.
   Folder 178
Tanya Smallwood

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Items Separated

Items separated include: pictures (P-4883/1-11), audiotapes (T-4883/1-8), oversize papers (OP-4883), and an oversize volume (V-4883/S-1).