P50: Mary Claire Engstrom Collection

Extent: 1,015 slides, 381 negatives, 803 prints, 1 drawing, and 1 rubbing.

Biographical Sketch: Mary Claire Randolph Engstrom (1906-1997) is best known for the active role she played in the preservation of historic Hillsborough. Born in Kansas City, Missouri, she earned an B.A. degree in English and B.S. degrees in history and political science from Central Missouri State Teachers' College. After earning an M.A. degree in English from the University of Missouri, she moved to moved to Chapel Hill to attend the University of North Carolina. There she specialized in eighteenth century English literature, earning her Ph.D. in 1939. She married Alfred G. Engstrom (UNC Alumni Distinguished Professor of French) the same year.

Although her early specialization was in literature, she said it was "only a short step from English literature of the eighteenth century to American history of the same period, because this area was English to start with -- the same families and everything." In 1959, after she and her husband purchased the historic Nash-Hooper house in Hillsborough, she began to focus exclusively on the historical documentation of Hillsborough and its environs. In addition to writing numerous articles on local history, she was instrumental in founding the Hillsborough Historical Society in 1963. She also served as Chairman of the Historic Hillsborough Commission from 1964 to 1966.

Engstrom undertook a major project to document 122 old structures and historic sites in the Hillsborough area for the Historic American Buildings Survey (1963 - 1965). Her research helped many of these buildings qualify for listing in the National Register of Historic Places (including the Nash - Hooper House as a National Historic Landmark). It also helped establish two historic districts in Hillsborough, and it resulted in the restoration of many buildings. Other major documentation projects include a survey of cemeteries and graves in Orange County, and a survey of the whole of Orange County for an historical map. Photographs taken in conjuction with her research comprise the bulk of this collection. Engstrom's manuscripts are in the library's Southern Historical Collection.

Collection Description: A collection of negatives, prints, and slides in both black-and-white and color, primarily of Hillsborough and Orange County, North Carolina. Most of the slides are of churches and cemeteries. Many of the prints and negatives are of historic structures and persons significant to the history of Orange County. A few of the images show Mary Claire Engstrom and her husband, Alfred G. Engstrom, their dogs, cats, and home in Hillsborough. A few negatives date from the 1930s but most of the photographs are from the 1960s and 1970s.

Container List

Box 1

Folder Headings

Alderman, Emma Graves (1858-1896)

Benton, Thomas Hart (1782-1858)

Burke, Thomas (Grave of)

Chamberlain, Hope Summerell (1870-1960)

Chapin, Elise Hutcheson

Chapman, Robert Hett (1771-1833)

Clark, Walter (1846-1924)

Engstrom, Alfred G.

Engstrom, Mary Claire

Graham Family

Henderson, Richard

Hill, Wills (Earl of Hillsborough)

Hogg, James (1729-1805)

Hooper, William (1742-1790), and others

Hunt, Memucan

Huntington, William

Johnston, William

Kirkland Family

Lister, Francis

Maclellan, John and William Johnston (Deed)

Moore, Alfred (1755-1810)

Nash, Abner (1740-1786)

Nash, Francis

Nash, Frederick (1781-1858)

Norwood Family

Ruffin, Thomas (1787-1870)

Strudwick Family

Unidentified Portrait

Webb - Long Family

Witherspoon, John K. (1791-1853)

Box 2

Folder Headings

Anderson (Alice) House on Lot 91

Ayr Mount

Berry Brick House

Bingham School

Bingham (William J.) House (Paul Hogan's House)

Burns Log Cabin

Burnside and Ruffin Law Office

Burwell School

Cameron (Anne Call) House (Pherribo House)

Chatwood

Churton Street

Colonial Inn

Cone Mills Corporation

Cornwallis' Headquarters (Faddis' Tavern) and Office

Courthouse (Old) and Old Town Clock

Dairy Farm

Dickerson's Chapel

Dickson House

Eno Lodge and Law Office

Eno River

First Baptist Church

Grave Marker of Mr. & Mrs. Robert Burns Street

Haralson Strudwick House

Hasell - Nash House (Pilgrim's Rest, Dr. H. W. Moore's House, Eliza Hasell)

Hawfields Cemetery

Heartsease

Highlands (Elizabeth Collins' Home)

Hillsborough Military Academy

Hillsborough - Miscellaneous

Hogg (James) First Home (Thomas Ruffin's "Old House")

Indian Artifacts

Jones (Henderson) House

Lockhart - Phillips Cemetery

Maple Hill (Hollingsworth Home)

Market House

Masonic Hall

Matheson Building

Montrose (Graham Home)

Moorefields

Nash - Hooper House (Exterior)

Nash - Hooper House (Interior)

Nash - Kollock School

Nash Law Office and Garden

Norwood - Jones Law Office (Cadwalader Jones' Law Office, Court St. Law Office)

Old Town Cemetery

Orange High School

Over the River (James Webb Cheshire House)

Oxford Orphanage

Parks - Richmond House

Patterson - Palmer House

Poplar Hill (Occoneechee Farm)

Presbyterian Church and Sessions House

Quaker Cemetery

Quaker School House

Regulator Marker

Ruffin - Roulhac House (Little Hawfields)

Ruffin - Snipes House (Peter Brown Ruffin House)

Sans Souci

Scott (Curtis) House

Seven Hearths (R. J. Murphy House)

St. Mary's Chapel

St. Matthew's Episcopal Church

Strudwick (Edmund ) Kitchen

Stubbs (John) House

Sunnyside

Synnot (Michael) Pond and House

Turner (Josiah) House (Old Burgwyn House, The Grove)

Twin Chimneys

United Methodist Church

Webb (John Graham) House

Webb Kitchen (Webb - Matheson House)

Webb - Matheson House (Bellevue, Mrs. J. C. Webb's House)

Weights and Measures

West Point Mill on the Eno River

Whitted (William) House Well

Box 3

Slides of churches, cemeteries, and graves

Box 4

Slides of churches, cemeteries, and graves.

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Copyright © North Carolina Collection, University of North Carolina Library at Chapel Hill, 1997. All Rights Reserved.