|
|
Past Exhibitions
A KNIGHT TO REMEMBER: The Life and Legacy of
Sir Walter Raleigh
"A Knight to Remember: The Life and Legacy of Sir Walter Raleigh"
featured books, maps, and manuscripts relating to Raleigh's life and times.
Items in the exhibition included sixteenth-century travel accounts and
maps; a 1570 letter signed by Queen Elizabeth I; and a first edition of
Raleigh's History of the World, published in 1614 while Raleigh was imprisoned
in the Tower of London. The exhibition also featured examples of modern
postcards, currency, and even tobacco tins that use the iconic explorer's
image and name.
Most of the exhibition's content was drawn from the Library's Sir Walter
Raleigh Collection. Established in 1940 with an endowment from the Roanoke
Colony Memorial Association, the collection contains more than 1,000 books,
drawings, and manuscripts pertaining to Raleigh and to the earliest English
explorations of North America. Visitors can also see examples of authentic
Elizabethan and early Jacobean furniture in the Gallery's Sir Walter Raleigh
Rooms, a permanent exhibit which features a 1593 oil portrait of Raleigh,
and a life-size wooden statue of him.
The exhibition debunked some persistent myths, such as the notion that
Raleigh introduced tobacco to England. While Raleigh popularized smoking
as a leisure activity, he did not introduce the plant to his country.
Tobacco had already been in use for decades in Europe as a medicinal inhalant
for patients suffering from asthma and other respiratory problems.
"A Knight to Remember" complemented an exhibition about the
Lost Colony at the North Carolina Museum of History in Raleigh. The Museum
showcased original John White drawings, on loan from the British Museum.
GREETINGS FROM NORTH CAROLINA: A Century of Postcards
from the Durwood Barbour Collection
The picture postcard held an important place in early twentieth-century
consumer culture. First introduced in the late nineteenth century as a
quick and inexpensive way to send greetings, the postcard soon started
a collecting craze that lasted through World War I. At a time when newspapers
published few photos and few people owned cameras, the images of people,
places, and events on picture postcards could be purchased and enjoyed
by citizens from all walks of life. The selection of postcards in this
exhibition depicted the landscape and people of North Carolina's past.
Postcards often illustrated the attractive aspects of life and ignored
the unpleasant ones. Today, however, we can learn much from them about
the prevailing attitudes and tastes of the society in which they were
produced. Many postcards are therefore important historical documents
in their own right, often providing the only visual record of a place
or event. This exhibition provided only a small sampling of the postcards
in the Barbour Collection and gave an overview of what subjects North
Carolinians thought "postcard-worthy."
CAROLINA FACES: The Photography of Don Sturkey
A young, unrecognized Elvis Presley being turned away from the Charlotte
Coliseum. The ladies' auxiliary of the Ku Klux Klan in hoods and robes.
Children living in poverty, the public moments of government officials,
the grief of ordinary citizens who have lost their jobs, their homes,
their loved ones. In nearly forty years as a photojournalist (1952-1989),
Don Sturkey captured thousands of Carolina faces. Newspaper photography
allowed Sturkey to enter the lives of the rich and famous as well as the
poor and obscure, sharing briefly in moments of celebration or despair.
Like the rest of the nation, the Carolinas experienced dramatic societal
upheavals in the last half of the twentieth century, ranging from civil
rights demonstrations and Klan marches to the counter-culture movement
and the birth of rock 'n roll. While most of the photos in this exhibition
documented transition and the important events taking place, many recalled
everyday life in the Carolinas in an earlier time. Regardless of subject,
all of Sturkey's photographs demonstrated his philosophy of "capturing
emotion first" and making "composition and technique secondary."
DEFINING A STATE: A Selection of Maps of North
Carolina, 1776-1860
In 1997, the North Carolina Collection Gallery at the University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill presented an exhibition on charts and maps
of this region dating from 1529 to 1775. A new exhibition that opened
in the Gallery on October 19, 2006, complemented that earlier project
and resumed, time-wise, with displays of North Carolina-related maps produced
between the American Revolution and the Civil War. Most of the twenty-eight
selections exhibited in this exhibition were drawn from the North Carolina
Collection's holdings, although nine original maps were on loan from a
private collector, and The Library of Congress provided full-scale copies
of two rare North Carolina maps preserved in its collection. Another extraordinary
reference exhibited from the University Archives was the original plat
that depicts the University of North Carolina's initial campus and the
formation of the town of Chapel Hill. Dating from 1793, this hand-drawn
map depicts the "village's" first surveyed lots and thoroughfares
(Franklin and Columbia streets), as well as the intended construction
sites for the University's first facilities, including the building known
today as "Old East."
The inclusive years covered by "Defining a State" witnessed
the rise of the United States' cartographic industry, a time in which
European publishers and printers relinquished the monopoly they had held
on the production of maps and atlases depicting North America. By the
opening decades of the nineteenth century, the cartographic and geographic
resources produced in this country began to increase significantly in
number and, more importantly, in quality. The exhibition used North Carolina
maps to examine those trends and in doing so showcased works by notable
surveyors, engravers, and publishers, such as Jedidiah and Sidney Morse,
John Melish, Jonathan Price and John Strother, Mathew Carey, Henry Tanner,
Jacob Peck, Augustus Mitchell, and Fielding Lucas, Jr. "Defining
a State" also used period maps to illustrate important innovations
in printing that occurred during the "Golden Age of American Cartography,"
when reliance on copper-plate engraving gave way to less time-consuming
and less expensive processes. Advancements in lithography, cerography,
and in other printing technologies resulted in maps being more affordable
and, as a consequence, more available to a growing clientele. For American
cartographers, those technologies also made it easier to produce the frequent
revisions of maps necessitated by changes wrought by the United States'
rapidly expanding population and economy.
TAR HEEL TRACKS: Early Railroad Development in North Carolina, 1830s-1890s
The nightime whistle of a distant train is a familiar, comforting
sound to many North Carolinians. For some that whistle reminds them
of a bygone age, when railways affected their lives and the welfare
of their communities on a daily basis. Today, air travel, passenger
cars, and long-distant trucking have reduced the public's
reliance on railroads, causing many people to forget the profound
economic and social contributions made by this mode of transportation.
In North Carolina, as elsewhere, railroads connected not only regional
markets, it powered growth and prosperity across the state and increasingly
linked citizens to points throughout the nation. While railroad
building began slowly in North Carolina, by the end of the nineteenth
century sixty-five lines operated here.
The year 2006 marks the 150th anniversary of the completion of the North
Carolina Railroad, one of this state’s very important early railways.
This exhibition offered an overview of rail development in this state in
the 1800s and introduced visitors to related books, documents, and images
in Wilson Library that are available to the general public.
WILLIAM RICHARDSON DAVIE: Soldier, Statesman, and
Founder of The University of North Carolina
June 22, 2006, marked the semiquincentennial (250th anniversary) of William
R. Davie's birth. A man of diverse talents, Davie served as a lawyer,
cavalry officer in the Revolution, legislator, constitutional delegate,
governor, and United States minister to France. He also introduced the
bill in the state legislature in 1789 to establish the University of North
Carolina and, as one of the school's founding trustees, helped to guide
much of the University's early development.
As part of the University’s celebration of Davie’s birth,
the North Carolina Collection Gallery presented an exhibition titled “William
Richardson Davie: Soldier, Statesman, and Founder of the University of
North Carolina.” The exhibition traced Davie’s life from his
birth in England in 1756 to his death in South Carolina in 1820. Among
the variety of imprints, documents, artifacts, and other items presented
in the exhibition was a posthumous portrait of General Davie painted by
Charles Willson Peale in Philadelphia in 1826. This fine work is owned
by The Dialectic and Philanthropic Societies Foundation and is among the
last produced by Peale, who died the year after he completed the portrait.
KEEPING THE DEVIL AT BAY: The Pastimes of North
Carolina Women in the Victorian Age, 1837-1901
"Victorian" ideals of womanhood and the home began to take shape during
the first half of the nineteenth century. These views held that the
outside world was essentially the dominion of males; the world of the
home, of females. For women, the "cult of domesticity" that formed in
the Victorian Age preached the importance of maintaining piety, purity,
and efficiency in the household. Wives, mothers, and daughters were
all expected to contribute to their families' domestic welfare, to creating
and sustaining cheerful "sanctuaries" from outside evils. Accordingly,
what little time women had for leisure on the homefront was usually
spent in self-improvement activities. This exhibition examined some
of those activities, as well as some of the era's social attitudes that
eventually presented new opportunities for women.
To read a related lecture entitled Mother Cotten and Crazy Daisy:
North Carolina Women at the turn of the 20th Century, by Anastatia
Sims, Professor of History at Georgia Southern University select this
link.
SOUR STOMACHS AND GALLOPING HEADACHES: Treating the
Sick in North Carolina, 1500s-1900s
What herbal remedies did our ancestors in North Carolina employ to
soothe sunburns and indigestion, cure headaches caused by "depressing
passions," or kill "Worms of the Belly?" How were leeches
properly applied to drain patients of their "bad" blood? What
methods did Native Americans and early European colonists use to battle
smallpox and yellow fever, two dreaded diseases that were known respectively
as the "Speckled Monster" and "Bronze John?" A summer
exhibition in the North Carolina Collection Gallery examined these and
other questions relating to the treatment of common and not-so-common
illnesses in this region in past centuries.
Titled "Sour Stomachs & Galloping Headaches," the exhibition
provided Gallery visitors with a general introduction to this state's
medical history, focusing predominantly on selections of ailments and
diseases treated outside the walls of hospitals and away from the hands
of formally trained doctors and nurses. In this broad overview, the
exhibition also introduced visitors to the vast array of resources in
the University Library that are available to researchers interested
in the evolution of public health care. Faith-based healing, urban and
rural sanitation, patent medicines, and the mass marketing of modern
over-the-counter remedies developed by North Carolinians are highlighted
as well. Some of these well-known remedies are Vick's VapoRub; Bromo-Seltzer;
Goody's, BC, and Stanback headache powders; and even Pepsi-Cola, which
originated in New Bern in the 1890s and was initially marketed as an
effective treatment for both "dyspepsia" (indigestion) and
chronic fatigue. The Online version of the Exhibit is available at the
following link.
TAR HEEL INK: Student Publications at UNC, 1844-2005
On February 23, 2005, the University's newspaper, The Daily Tar
Heel, celebrated its 112th year, and the status of being the longest
continuously running of the University's many student-run publications.
Through the years The Daily Tar Heel has attracted widespread
attention for both high quality and a policy of editorial freedom. While
not so prominent, many other student publications have come and gone
during the University's long history. These imprints, whether short-lived
or long-standing, have served to a varying extent as platforms for young
writers and as training grounds for aspiring editors, photographers,
and illustrators. These publications, ranging from humor to religion,
also provide a glimpse into life on the UNC campus over generations
and reveal the issues that students deemed important. This exhibition
highlighted some of these publications, including The Daily Tar
Heel and its rival newspaper The White and Blue, yearbooks,
literary magazines, and political newsletters. The exhibition focused
on the diversity of the student body and different viewpoints expressed
over the years by highlighting publications such as Black Ink,
the first African American publication at UNC; and by juxtaposing publications
such as The Left Heel, a New Left publication of the 1960s,
and The Carolina Conservative, which challenged the "fallacious
dogmas of the Liberal Left." The exhibition also revealed some of the
controversies surrounding various publications, for example, the investigation
of The Daily Tar Heel under Charles Kuralt's editorship in
the early 1950s, as well as the 1939 scandal caused by the humor magazine
The Carolina Buccaneer.
The Online version of the Exhibit is available at the following link.
THE WILSON LIBRARY: Celebrating 75 Years of Public
Service
On October 21, 2004, as part of Wilson's diamond-anniversary celebration,
an exhibition devoted to the history of the building opened in the North
Carolina Collection Gallery. This exhibition examined Wilson Library's
development, highlighting the wide array of public services housed in
the facility over more than seven decades. Completed and dedicated in
1929, the library's original sections reflect the skills of New York-born
architect Arthur Cleveland Nash, who led or participated in the design
and construction of many other structures at the University of North
Carolina, including Spencer Dormitory, the Carolina Inn, and Kenan Stadium.
Wilson Library's styling--complete with Roman dome and imposing Corinthian
columns--offered Nash an opportunity to express in limestone the visual
power of neoclassicism in an era when red brick and colonial revival
tastes dominated campus architecture. It should be noted that "The
Library" was not officially named in honor of former University
Librarian Louis Round Wilson until 1956. Today, the building remains
a tribute to Wilson and his distinguished career. Yet, it also stands
as a testament to Arthur Nash's capabilities and to the combined intellectual
curiosity of the students, faculty, and countless other researchers
who have passed through the library's doors.
NORTH CAROLINA: Where The Buffalo Once Roamed
Thousands of years ago mammoths, ground sloths, and giant camels roamed
forests and grasslands that now lie within North Carolina's borders. Only
a few centuries ago, buffalo, elk, otters, and colorful parrots were among
the abundance of wildlife that could be found here. Unfortunately, the
first European explorers and settlers, who marveled at this region's "most
pleasant and fertile ground," generally regarded its lush vegetation
and array of unusual animals as "merchantable commodities,"
as inexhaustible assets. It was a view that in a relatively short time
resulted in dramatic declines in the numbers of many native species and
in the complete eradication or extinction of others due to over hunting
and loss of habitats.
Extinction itself is a natural consequence of evolution, but it is a process
that has been increasingly misdirected and accelerated by human intervention.
"North Carolina: Where the Buffalo Once Roamed," an exhibition
in the North Carolina Collection Gallery in Wilson Library, examined the
effects of such intervention. Through displays of various imprints and
drawings by John White, Mark Catesby, William Bartram, John James Audubon,
and other naturalists, the exhibition highlighted some of the state's
extinct, endangered, and threatened species, including the eastern woodland
buffalo, Carolina parrot, passenger pigeon, American alligator, and Venus's
flytrap.
NORTH CAROLINA WRITERS: A Photographer's Odyssey
Photographer and book collector Jan Hensley photographed his first writer
when he met Eudora Welty in 1988. Shortly thereafter he began a journey
across North Carolina to get his personal collection of books signed.
When he had room for his camera, Hensley took pictures of North Carolina
writers at various author readings and events. Eventually, the camera
became an integral part of his “odyssey.” This exhibit portrayed
a cross section of North Carolina writers, but represented only a small
portion of the many artists in our state. These photographs are not portraits
but candid shots focusing on the character in these writers’ faces.
In many cases the writers were not even aware they were being photographed,
however, in Hensley’s words, the goal has not been “to steal
an image but to freeze and share a moment in time.”
THE STUDENTS' PLATE: Food and Dining at UNC Since
1795
"The meat generally stinks and has maggots in it." This unsavory
comment was made in a letter written jointly by John and Ebenezer Pettigrew
to their father in 1795. The brothers were not soldiers fighting on some
distant battlefront or prisoners suffering in a dingy jail cell; they
were students at the University of North Carolina. At that time, the newly
established school consisted of three small buildings nestled in the woods
near "New Hope Chapel." One of those structures was a wooden,
two-story dining hall where early students often endured meals of hard
biscuits, weak tea, clotted milk, and meager cuts of greasy pork or beef.
By the late 1800s, food service at UNC had improved dramatically, although
a significant number of students in Chapel Hill still continued to furnish
or make arrangements for their own meals. On occasion they even captured
a special dish to supplement their diets. For example, in another letter
written by a student in 1897, the enterprising fellow describes inviting
classmates to his room one evening to enjoy a supper or "grub-rush"
of roasted opossum. Sixteen years later, in 1913, UNC officials opened
Swain Hall in an effort to satisfy the appetite of the school's growing
enrollment. With a seating capacity for 460 students, the new brick building
served as UNC's main dining hall or commons for the next quarter century.
Swain Hall was named in memory of one of the university's past presidents,
but students soon nicknamed the building "Swine Hall."
Through the use of documents, books, lithographs, and photographs, "The
Student's Plate" reviewed the history of food and dining at UNC since
1795, from the Spartan fare of the school's first students to late nineteenth-century
eating clubs and today's assortment of cafeterias, cafes, and snack bars.
"The Student's Plate" also addressed how complaints about food
appear to be a tradition common to many colleges and universities. Yet,
if students from generations ago could see the abundance, diversity, cleanliness,
and convenience of meals now available on campuses, they would no doubt
be astounded.
WITH CAMERA IN HAND: An Exhibition of Photographs
by Hugh Morton
Capturing on film the diversity of North Carolina's landscape and people
has been a lifelong passion for Hugh Morton. This exhibition of his photography
provided a small sampling from a body of work that spans more than six
decades.
A CABINET OF CURIOS: Museum Objects in the North
Carolina Collection
This exhibition was a selection of historical objects or "museum" specimens
held by the North Carolina Collection. The preservation and exhibition
of such material have a long history on this campus. In addition to books,
the University began acquiring museum objects more than two centuries
ago. In 1795, the year UNC opened to students, Charles Wilson Harris was
one of two teachers who formed the faculty. Harris was also appointed
the new school's "Keeper of the Museum". Between 1795 and 1798, when he
left UNC, Keeper Harris worked on building a museum, a collection he called
"a cabinet of curios." The first item he acquired for the collection was
an ostrich egg, which he obtained from a donor in Pitt County, N.C.
ALL THE CHARMS OF NATURE: A History of Landscaping
at UNC-Chapel Hill
As part of the centennial celebration of the William C. Coker Arboretum,
the North Carolina Collection Gallery presented “‘All the
Charms of Nature’: A History of Landscaping at UNC-Chapel Hill.”
This project complemented another exhibition, “The Legacy of a Lifetime
Botanist,” which focused specifically on the life and career of
UNC Professor Coker. “All the Charms of Nature” placed the
arboretum into a historical context by providing an overview of this campus’
development from 1795 to the present. The exhibition in the Gallery featured
selections of books, pamphlets, lithographs, maps, and photographs that
depict the university’s landscape in various eras. In addition to
recognizing some of the architects and other faculty members who have
planned the beautification of campus, credit was given to the nameless
and faceless laborers—both black and white, enslaved and free—who
over the past two centuries have actually laid the stones and brick, moved
tons of earth, and planted the trees and flowers that have decorated these
grounds.
North Carolina Mysteries, Myths, & Legends
This exhibition highlighted some of the hundreds of mysteries, myths,
and legends that comprise a colorful and fascinating part of the Tar Heel
State's history. In addition to re-examining such popular topics as the
Lost Colony of Roanoke, Blackbeard the pirate, and the Devil's Tramping
Ground, an array of lesser-known stories from North Carolina's coastal,
piedmont, and mountain regions were presented. Some included the strange
Brown Mountain Lights of Burke County, the ghost of the "Pink Lady" at
the Grove Park Inn in Asheville, the phantom hitchhiker who once haunted
the roadway between Greensboro and High Point, and the unsolved mystery
relating to the Carroll A. Deering, a five-masted schooner whose crew
disappeared without a trace off the Outer Banks in 1921. Native American
mythology, especially that pertaining to the Cherokee, formed another
significant part of this exhibition. These included romantic tales about
Blowing Rock in Watauga County and the Siren of the French Broad River,
as well as stories involving the giant Judaculla in Jackson County and
the unexplained petroglyphs or carvings on a large rock there.
Along with related books, manuscripts, illustrations, and maps, audio
recordings were also featured in this exhibition. Visitors could hear
recordings of "Tom Dooley," "Old Dan Tucker," and other folk songs inspired
by North Carolina myths and legends.
THE SPORT OF KINGS' (AND PEASANTS): Horse Racing in North
Carolina
Before the Civil War of the 19th Century
Long before the state of Kentucky gained its prominence in breeding and
racing horses, even decades before Kentucky existed as a state (1792),
North Carolina was home to some of America's finest stables and thoroughbreds.
This exhibition traced North Carolina's equine past through related books,
pamphlets, newspapers, and lithographs of great racers such as "Sir Archie,"
a champion quarter horse who spent most of his long life in North Carolina
and whose descendants include "Man O' War," "Native Dancer," and "Secretariat."
One of Sir Archie's North Carolina sons, "Henry," was the horse that represented
the South in the famous 1823 race in New York against the northern horse
"Eclipse." That contest, which drew 60,000 spectators (a number larger
than the entire population of New York City at the time), is generally
viewed by historians as the greatest sporting event in the United States
in the nineteenth century.
Also displayed in this exhibition were North Carolina maps that depict
elaborate race tracks in New Bern and Hillsborough as early as the 1760s.
Straight quarter-mile racing, early oval-track competitions, harness racing,
and steeplechasing are all represented. Other exhibited items included
race tickets or "cards" from the 1820s and 1830s, a period racing scarf
commemorating the Henry-Eclipse race, and a rare 1833 edition of the first
stud book on horses printed in the United States. While the focus of the
exhibition was on racing before the Civil War, aspects of the sport and
the status of North Carolina's "horse industry" in the late 1800s and
1900s were examined as well. Related texts were complemented by displays
of modern jockey's silks, goggles, lightweight aluminum-alloy horseshoes,
and additional pieces of racing equipment used today.
'OVER THERE' IN THE GREAT WAR: William B. Umstead &
World War I
While World War II has received significant media attention in recent
years, the events and historical significance of World War I have been
largely forgotten or ignored by the general public. This exhibition drew
attention to this less-publicized European conflict. Although the United
States' direct military involvement in World War I was relatively brief,
that involvement resulted in the deaths of over 116,000 Americans, including
more than 2,300 North Carolinians. The experiences of one North Carolina
soldier were recounted in this exhibition in order to provide a personal
perspective on the "Great War." That North Carolinian was William B. Umstead,
a native of Durham County, who decades after his military service would
be elected governor of the state.
William Umstead entered the United States Army in 1917, soon after his
graduation from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. For two
years he served as a lieutenant in the 81st "Wildcat" Division, which
comprised a portion of the two million American troops who were transported
overseas during the war. Using selections from the William B. Umstead
Collection-including military gear, letters and diaries, and personal
effects-the exhibition traced the young lieutenant's journey from his
home to the battlefront in France, near Verdun. Umstead's post-war political
career and his election to North Carolina's governorship were also recounted.
Tragically, his service as the state's chief executive would be brief,
for he died in office in 1954. Now, nearly a half century after his death,
Governor Umstead's World War I artifacts and documents are being publicly
exhibited together for the first time. These items, along with other material,
were donated to the North Carolina Collection in 1995 by his daughter,
Merle Umstead Richey. To see some of the artifacts featured in this exhibition
and for researchers who are interested in the "Great War," please refer
to the university's huge on-line resource Documenting the American South.
A KIND OF MAGIC DOOR: Thomas Wolfe at the University
of North Carolina, 1916-1920
The year 2000 marked the centennial of Thomas Wolfe's birth. This exhibition
was one of many statewide celebrations that recognized the literary accomplishments
of the Asheville native. Wolfe's experiences in Chapel Hill and his education
at the University of North Carolina had profound effects on him personally
and on the course of his writing. Wolfe's first novel and his most highly
acclaimed, Look Homeward, Angel, was published in 1929. A thinly veiled
autobiographical work, much of the novel recounts Wolfe's time at the
University from 1916 to 1920. In the nine years that Wolfe lived after
the release of Look Homeward, Angel, the author often spoke wistfully
of returning to his alma mater. Only once, in 1937—the year before
his death—was he able to return to Chapel Hill and relive its special
“magic.” The exhibition presented original letters and other
items that traced Wolfe’s boyhood and his student life at UNC, concentrating
on some of the experiences in Chapel Hill and on people at the university
who influenced his writing and shaped his literary career.
LAWSON'S LEGACY: Nature Writing in North Carolina, 1701-2001
In the fall, 2001, the North Carolina Collection sponsored a conference
and exhibition that celebrated the 300th anniversary of Englishman John
Lawson's remarkable 550-mile exploratory journey through the Carolinas
backcountry in 1700-1701. Over the course of his journey, Lawson kept
a detailed journal of his observations, which he combined with a separately
written natural history of Carolina and published as A New Voyage to Carolina
(1709). This was the first major attempt to describe the "New World's"
natural history.
In addition to commemorating Lawson's journey, the conference and exhibition
reviewed North Carolina's long tradition of "nature writing." The first
day of the conference was devoted to an examination of natural history
and nature writing significant in North Carolina's past. On the second
day, current Tar Heel nature and outdoors writers presented examples of
their work. After the final lectures, an exhibition of notable natural
history books and other materials were unveiled in the North Carolina
Collection Gallery's exhibition, "Lawson's Legacy: North Carolina and
Nature Writing, 1701-2001." This project featured rare first-edition volumes,
maps, illustrations, and other artifacts that traced three centuries of
study about North Carolina's natural environment and this state's indigenous
plant and animals. Illustrations of related subjects produced by Mark
Catesby, John and William Bartram, Alexander Wilson, John James Audubon,
and works by North Carolina naturalists were exhibited. Below are examples
of the types of material presented in the exhibition:
John Lawson's A New Voyage to Carolina [1709].
A first edition copy of Mark Catesby's A Natural History of Carolina,
1731-1743 (2 vols)
John Bartram's Diary of a Journey Through the Carolinas, Georgia
and Florida [1765]
The Natural History of the Birds of the United States by Alexander
Wilson and Prince Charles Lucien Bonaparte [1832]
Original prints from John James Audubon's The Birds of America
series Voyage of Paper Canoe by Nathaniel Bishop [1878]
Birds of North Carolina by T. Gilbert Pearson, C.S. Brimley, and
H.H. Brimley [1919 edition]
Down Goose Creek by 10-year-old author William Seeman [1931]
The French Broad by Wilma Dykeman [1955]
Many publications from late twentieth century authors, including Lawrence
S. Earley, Bland Simpson, Jan DeBlieu, Janet Lembke and others
ANDY GRIFFITH: Chapel Hill to Mayberry and Beyond
In the summer of 2001, the North Carolina Collection Gallery presented
a biographical exhibition that reviewed the life and career of entertainer
Andy Griffith. This project featured many artifacts, publications, audio
recordings and photographic images relating to Griffith's childhood, to
his years as a student at UNC-Chapel Hill, and his stint as an actor in
the outdoor drama The Lost Colony and during his early years on Broadway
and in Hollywood. Most of the items displayed in the exhibition were drawn
from the North Carolina Collection's holdings, although several artifacts
were borrowed from other repositories and from a noted private collector
of Griffith memorabilia, Emmett Forrest of Mount Airy, N.C. Many of the
images displayed in the Gallery were copied from the Andy Griffith Papers
in the university library's Southern Historical Collection. On display
as well was an original script from a 1967 episode of "The Andy Griffith
Show." This was also borrowed from the Southern Historical Collection's
Elizabeth MacRae
Papers. Ms. MacRae performed the role of Lou Ann Poovie in "Gomer
Pyle, USMC," the popular spin-off comedy with Jim Nabors from Griffith's
television series. Special programming was also offered during the term
of this exhibition. The most significant was a presentation by Neal Brower,
instructor in the N.C. Community College System and author of Mayberry
101: Behind the Scenes of a TV Classic. Mr. Brower used video footage
from several of Griffith's television appearances and from "The Andy Griffith
Show" to examine the structure and content of this classic, character-driven
comedy.
HARD CASH & HARD TIMES: A History of North Carolina
Currency
This exhibition reviewed the impact of money on this state's history and
featured coins and paper currencies produced by or for North Carolina
from the early 1700s until the beginning of the Federal Reserve System
in 1913. It was not until after the Civil War that our nation's monetary
supply began to centralize and stabilize under the authority of the federal
government. Prior to that time, North Carolina and other states had to
rely largely on the uncertain paper moneys issued by their own public
officials, by local banks, insurance companies, and even by private individuals.
In "Hard Cash & Hard Times" over 150 pieces of historic currency and
trade items were displayed, including examples of Native American wampum
(roanoke and peak), colonial bills, "broken bank" notes, Bechtler gold
coins, Civil War issues, and national bank notes. Most of coins and other
"antique" currencies were drawn from the North Carolina Collection's holdings.
Seventeen specimens, however, were borrowed from the North Carolina Museum
of History in Raleigh. Displays of all of this currency were supplemented
by selections of currency-related books, period newspaper accounts, and
by other imprints from the North Carolina Collection. Special programming
included presentations by Dr. Richard Doty, curator of numismatics at
the Smithsonian Institutions, and other noted currency experts.
THIS LANDE . . . STRETCHING IT SELFE TO THE WEST: Early Maps of North
Carolina and the Southeast, 1529-1775
This exhibition featured a selection of over thirty maps that depict
the region in and around North Carolina from the time of these lands’
exploration by Europeans to the beginning of the American Revolution.
In concert, the exhibited maps underscored the skills and genius of early
cartographers, especially those of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries,
who with only scraps of geographical information and relying on rudimentary
measuring devices produce maps of extraordinary beauty and often with
remarkable precision. This exhibition also demonstrated that mistakes
and misconceptions about North America’s true form and size were
common on the first depictions of the continent. Nevertheless, over a
relatively short span of time, Spanish, Dutch, French, and English cartographers
methodically pieced together the travel accounts and fragmented observations
of their fellow Europeans and produced many detailed, reliable maps. Original
maps presented in this exhibition were obtained from the North Carolina
Collection, Davidson College, East Carolina University, and Duke University.
Due to the rarity and delicate condition of some other maps from this
period, it was necessary to display high-resolution facsimiles provided
by The British Library, The New York Public Library, The John Carter Brown
Library, and The Vatican.
|
