Railroad History is Focus of Treasure Tour

photo of railroad workers

Railroad workers working on tracks
and tunnel in Macon County, N.C., ca. 1900.

Fri., Sept. 1, 2 - 3 p.m.
Meet in Wilson Library lobby
For information call: 919-962-1143

A treasure tour of the Louis Round Wilson Library will highlight special collections related to the history of the railroad in North Carolina and the American South. The free one-hour tour begins in the lobby of the Wilson Library at 2 p.m. on Sept. 1.

Among the items on view will be railroad photographs and business records, currency depicting railroads, and a negative view of railroads by "Anti-Debt," an 1848 pamphleteer who worried that "Cheap fares seduce [passengers] into traveling."

Tour participants will also view "Tar Heel Tracks: Early Railroad Development in North Carolina, 1830s-1890s," an exhibition in the Wilson Library's North Carolina Collection Gallery. The exhibition features maps, drawings, a handwritten engineer's log from 1856, and photographs of railroad laborers and notable train wrecks.

For information about the tour, contact Libby Chenault (919-962-1143).

"Tar Heel Tracks" will be on view through Oct. 8. Gallery hours are 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. weekdays; 9 a.m. - 1 p.m. Saturdays; and 1 - 5 p.m. Sundays. For information about the exhibition contact the North Carolina Collection Gallery (919-962-1172).