In this edition of our newsletter, we present you with the wonderful American cookery book by Sarah Belk. This collection of recipes, historical anecdotes which date back to 1607, and interesting stories and quotations center around the foods and traditions of southern cooking. The author has compiled a vast array of unique culinary delights that celebrate the beloved southern cooking. The south is “home to juicy peaches and corn, gulf shrimp, black-eyed peas, the softest four on earth and crunchy pecans. Imagine (if you can!) life without plump sweet potatoes, hominy grits, smoked county ham, oysters, green tomatoes, bourbon, and the underestimated catfish.”
Around the Southern Table by Sarah Belk was published in 1991 by Simon Schuster. She writes in her introduction, “Until I was about twelve, I figured everyone ate fried chicken on Sunday, drank iced tea sweetened, and ate bread – whether it was biscuits, cornbread, or yeasty pocketbook rolls – piping hot. I thought everyone knew that ambrosia was a holiday dessert and that across the country the “barbecue” meant a smoky, shredded pork sandwich. It was only later – as I ventured beyond the Southeast – that I realized mealtime could include exotic things… like goose liver, caviar, and Champagne. I temporarily forgot how good the food was that I grew up with…. sometimes I can’t help but ache for a mess of fresh field peas and a quart of homemade fig preserves from a neighbor’s backyard tree.”
Sarah Belk has compiled and adapted recipes that span over many southern regions and reflect the history of the south through wars and times of excess and of want. She has “successfully combined 300 years of recipes and history with fresh ingredients and basic common sense”, replacing some ingredients for more health-conscious options and presented recipes that fit in well with the time conscious cook.
We present a few recipes for you to savor and enjoy.
Conservator Audrey Sage was thrilled to lay her hands on the recent acquisition of the original newspaper page from the Northampton Chronicle in England from November 13, 1888. This particular newspaper page contains coverage of the murder of Mary Jane Kelly by the “infamous London serial killer known as Jack the Ripper”.
This newspaper sheet, from more than 130 years ago, was in amazingly good condition. The paper fibers were strong and due to the quality of the content, exhibited a minimal amount of acidity and brittleness. There were tears along the edges and folds. These were carefully mended with archival techniques using paper fibers and rice starch to reinforce and support the page.
Once the page was cleaned and treatment for the tears complete, a special oversized folder was constructed.
Ms. Sage placed the large document into a mylar sleeve, and this was then hand sewn into a cloth hinge within the constructed folder.
This format allows for the newspaper page to be viewed on both sides, while offering it support as well as protection from handling.
The department is very excited to be able to add this item to its collection of materials pertaining to the Jack the Ripper historical incidents. It is an important case study from several angles, including sociologically, historically, and from the aspect that these eleven unsolved murders remain a gruesome and perplexing period in the history of the Whitechapel area of London, still, to this day. To read more about how this collection is utilized by researchers and students, please read the article that is located here in this newsletter, just follow this LINK.
The Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives has a strong commitment to student outreach, teaching up to 120 instructional sessions per semester. SCUA’s class sessions often incorporate a PowerPoint presentation, a related “pop-up” display of related archival material, and a hands-on primary source analysis. This exercise integrates a variety of items from across SCUA collections, using an evaluation worksheet to assess students understanding of how to distinguish between primary and secondary sources, identify basic information about the item, recognize the significance of perspective and bias, and contextualize resources for research and writing.
The following are some of the many creative sessions developed by the SCUA archivists:
ART 344 Digital Darkroom, Kelley O’Brien, Instructor
“What is truth” is a question for the ages, and it was also a question for the students of the fall 2022 ART 344: Digital Darkroom class. One of the most collaborative classes that SCUA teaches, Digital Darkroom combines the efforts of ROI Librarian Maggie Murphy and archivists Carolyn Shankle and Kathelene Smith. While Maggie worked with her group in the library, the remaining students were divided into two groups in the Hodges Reading Room and the Research Room. Hodges was divided into multiple stations which featured rare books related to photography and photographers.
Each station highlighted a specific time period so that the students could experience the aesthetic, perspective, and technical changes in photography from the Victorian era to the 2020 Women’s March. The Research Room displays focused on the question “What is truth?” or how multiple perspectives give a more comprehensive understanding of the truth. Each table exhibited artifacts that encouraged students to find a “truth” – and since they were art students, they were asked to either describe or draw what they found. In some cases, this might be illustrated by the difference between a photograph of a student and a painting of her, or perhaps the student perspectives seen in campus scrapbooks as opposed to the administrative perspectives seen in a university publication. The students left the session with a greater understanding of what can be discovered in Special Collections and University Archives!
Selection of students making notes for their project, “What is Truth?”
A few of the stations students explored as they examined “What is Truth?”
ENG 101-33: Exploring Writing in College Contexts, Maddie Poole, Instructor
The goal for this specific class session was to expose the students to zines and to give them some examples that can act as models or entry points for their unit project. In the Hodges Reading Room, they spent time with zines so that they could find joy in and forge their own unique relationship with the craft. The end project was for each student to create a single page zine. Archivist Suzanne Helms demonstrated how to make a French-fold zine and Specialist Carolyn Shankle curated the display of zines found in Rare Books and University Archives.
Students examining examples of zines held in Rare Books collections
This class was taught by Interim Head Kathelene Smith for multiple sections of THR 145: Stagecraft. SCUA staff focused on the history of UNC Greensboro by tracing the evolution of fashion on campus. This entailed creating a large exhibit of textiles in the Hodges Reading Room illustrating the change in fashion over a hundred-year period, from the school’s opening in 1892 until the 1990s. Included in the session was a presentation related to student fashion through the years, as well as information on how to access SCUA’s online resources. Additionally, there was a hands-on activity in which the students examined photographs and yearbooks by decade, resulting in a class project.
Students were greeted by a display of textiles and artifacts tracing UNCG’s history of fashion
Students were amazed at the evolution of physical education uniforms
The class had hands-on experience with historic photographs from related decades
ART 326-01: Printmaking I, Chris Thomas, Instructor
In the studio classes, students have the opportunity to participate in a hands-on demonstration of SCUA’s 19th century Washington Iron Handpress, as well as examine examples of the various types of printmaking, including intaglio (etching, mezzotint, engraving), relief (woodcut and linocut), lithography, and serigraphy (including RISO) that are housed in the Rare Book and Special Collections. After a brief introduction to the history of letterpress printing, Archivist Suzanne Helms led the print demonstration and Specialist Carolyn Shankle curated the display. Printmaking I students were learning about relief printmaking in their studio classroom, so this opportunity to experience typesetting and letterpress printing as well as examining historical examples from our collections provided a broader understanding of a subject they were exploring in the classroom.
Students view a selection of wood cut and wood engraving materials from the Rare Books collections.
REL 113: Sections 01, 02, 03, and 04 Supernatural Encounters, Rohit Singh and John Borchert, Instructors
On an overcast Thursday in October, Specialist Carolyn Shankle and Archivist Patrick Dollar led four groups of students on the Campus Ghosts of UNCG walking tour. This class focused on supernatural encounters, so the stories of local hauntings were greatly appreciated! After each tour, Dollar and Shankle brought their group to SCUA for a pop-up display featuring early books on witchcraft and Gothic novels.
Students examining the pop-up display after the Ghosts of UNCG Campus tour
Sample of materials included in the pop-up display, left to right: John Polidori’s The Vampyre [1819]; selection of editions of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, from the first American edition [1899] to Edward Gorey’s Toy Theatre edition []; and James V/James I Daemonologie [1616].
THR 101: First Year Foundation, Jehann Gilman, Instructor
This year’s Theatre 101 class focused on the plays being produced by the School of Theatre on campus during the 2022-2023 season. Special Collections and University Archives has materials related to two of the productions from the current season: A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Wild Party. For the class visit, Archivist Patrick Dollar focused on pulling those materials from our manuscript collections (Robert C. Hansen Performing Arts Collection, Triad Stage Records, Carolina Theatre Records), University Archives, and rare book collections. To illustrate the entire life of a theatrical production, Dollar pulled playscripts, set designs, set models, photographs, playbills, and posters. Students learned about primary sources and visiting an archive, looked through the pictured pop-up exhibit, and got to go hands on with theatre broadsides in a document analysis.
Archivist Patrick Dollar prepares the pop-up display for the class session
Selection of the materials chosen for the pop-up display
ART 140-02: Foundation Design 1, Sarah LaPonte, Instructor
Rare Books houses materials that document the development of color systems and color theory, from Goethe’s Theory of Colours, Ostwald’s color science, to the Munsell Color System, and examples of the Natural color system. All these works complement our copy of Josef Albers’ Interaction of Color (1963), with which students can explore the various visual exercises Albers designed.
For this class session, students were finalizing their zine project and looking towards their final projects. They came to SCUA to explore the different book formats found in Rare Book’s collection of artist’s books. Specialist Carolyn Shankle curated the pop-up exhibit.
Students viewing a selection of book forms from Rare Books’ collection of artist’s books
Selection of zines created by students in ART 140-02
ENG 221-02: Writing of Poetry, Emilia Phillips, Instructor
In collaboration with Associate Professor Emilia Phillips, Specialist Carolyn Shankle and Archivist Suzanne Helms designed an immersive experience of writing poetry inspired by Surrealist techniques. In the first class session, Introductory Poetry students explored examples of Surrealist poetry and other forms of chance-based composition within Special Collections and University Archives. Additionally, students collaboratively created a poem using the exquisite corpse method. Each student composed a line of the poem but could only see the line preceding theirs as they wrote. This spontaneous composition technique resulted in the poem seen in the image below, showing the set type. After the poem was written, each student set their lines in type in preparation for printing in session two.
Archivist Suzanne Helms presents an overview of the history of printing to the class
Handwritten exquisite corpse poem on the left, typeset poem on the right
Student interacting with one of the exhibited items. Through the window, you can see a student setting type in preparation for printing the exquisite corpse poem.
During the second session, students both printed using SCUA’s 19th century Washington Iron Handpress as well as explored Surrealist writing techniques. This is an example of the “cut-up” or “collage” techniques. The other Surrealist writing techniques that the students explored included substitution, translation, and black-out poetry.
Example of student work demonstrating the collage technique
Later in the semester, students met with Suzanne Helms for a brief overview of the history of chapbooks and learned how to create their own books. Their final project for Phillips’ class was to create a chapbook that included at least four of their poems written over the course of the semester.
Students creating their chapbook formats
ENG 337-01: Global Middle Ages, Amy Vines, Instructor
Dr. Amy Vines and Specialist Carolyn Shankle met several times prior to and during the fall semester in order to plan a two-day immersive session for ENG 337 Global Middle Ages. During these class sessions, students explored items in the Rare Books collections for their assignment “Meaningful Connections.” Up to this point, the students’ “readings and discussions [were] geared toward[s] understanding the rich variety of networks between groups in order to counter the notion that the Middles Ages is only something important in Northern Europe and that it was isolationist and homogenous.”
The assignment involved incorporating materials from SCUA’s Rare Books collections which were grouped into three general categories: Health and Wellness, Religion, and War & History. Within each of the categories there were books of several hundred pages to items which were a single page. During those two days, students took notes, images, and video of materials of the items that interested them for their project.
Amy Vines points out details of a medieval choir book leaf to one of her students as they look at materials in the ‘Religion’ cluster
Students examine books selected for the ‘Health and Wellness’ cluster, including the earliest works on sports medicine De Arte Gymnastica [1569]; The Form of Cury, transcription of one of the oldest cookery records [1390]; and Gerald’s Herball [sic] [1633] which documented the spices, herbs, fruit trees, and other vegetation being cultivated in Great Britain at that time
Shown here are students exploring the works included in the ‘War and History’ cluster – from Sir Walter Raleigh’s History of the World [1652], Sir Richard Knolles’ The Generall Historie of the Turkes [1638], and John Foxe’s three volume set Acts and Monuments of Matters Most Speciall [sic] and Memorable [1631-32].
MUP 301 and MUP 601 Repertoire Class – Cello, Alex Ezerman, Instructor
One of the ways SCUA enhances student learning is by providing UNCG students with world class collections and service. An example of this is the UNCG Cello Studio visit to be introduced to the UNCG Cello Music Collection, the largest archival holding of cello-related material in the world. Students were able to interact with materials from the archival holdings of renowned cellists, including two Grammy award winners and one Grammy nominee. One of the pieces on display, Rudolf Matz’s Cello Concerto (1976) was performed by UNCG students at the UNCG School of Music’s Sinfonia Concert on November 21st, with soloist Jonathan Simmons. Interested in listening to the concert? Follow this YouTube link
Cello Music Cataloger Mac Nelson, Curator of Manuscripts & Cello Music Stacey Krim, and Associate Professor of Cello Alex Ezerman discuss the exhibited items with students
Cello Performance students exploring the resources on display
Detail of Rudolf Matz’s Cello Concerto (1976) with the program from UNCG School of Music’s Sinfonia Concert on November 21st
The Annual Women Veterans Luncheon Returns to Campus
On November 11, 2022, the entire staff of SCUA pitched in to help with the 25th Annual Women Veterans Luncheon! After two years of Zoom presentations, guests gathered at the Alumni House and were served lunch while they enjoyed the program. An exhibit of items from the Women Veterans Historical collection was featured.
Other highlights included an amazing performance of the Star Spangled Banner by the acapella singing group UNCG Chariots and the keynote speaker U.S. Navy veteran and documentary filmmaker Pacifica J. Sauer. Sauer discussed the making of her film The Invisible Project and how collecting the stories of women veterans is a source of empowerment and healing. WVHP curator Beth Ann Koelsch emceed the event.
“Gertrude Weil and Her Fight For Women’s Suffrage” event held at the Old Guilford Courthouse.
Scenes from the “Gertrude Weil and the League of Women Voters: Her Leadership and Legacy” Event
Interim Head of the Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives, Kathelene McCarty Smith, was among the speakers at the “Gertrude Weil and the League of Women Voters: Her Leadership and Legacy” commemoration held on Friday, October 7, at the Old Guilford Courthouse where the League had its beginnings. Smith spoke specifically about Weil’s fight for Women’s Suffrage and social justice. The proceedings within the chamber were followed by the unveiling of a “Votes for Women” Trail Marker and a monument in Weil’s name in the courthouse gardens.
WFMY News 2 Featured Tales of UNCG’s “Grey Lady”
Carolyn Shankle was featured on WFMY News 2 speaking about the historical evidence behind UNCG Auditorium’s “Grey Lady” who haunts the stage and upper areas of the building.
Seeking a “new” local ghost to feature for their Halloween news broadcast, Frank Manning of WFMY News 2 reached out to SCUA for any evidence of the ghost who treads the boards in the UNCG Auditorium. Specialist Carolyn Shankle gathered the archival documentation of the Grey Lady’s house and early photographs of the auditorium under construction. Several alumni recalled their encounters with the ghost. Interested in learning more – watch it by selecting this link.
SCUA Exhibits for Homecoming Weekend!
SCUA staff displayed creative and informative exhibits for UNCG’s 2022 Homecoming weekend, held on October 14th and 15th. Archivist Scott Hinshaw participated in the events centered at the Alumni House with a great exhibit featuring the Classes of 1971 and 1972, which were celebrating their 50th Reunion. SCUA was invited to attend and present a pop-up exhibit celebrating both class years in the Alumni House Oakley Family Reception Room. The exhibit, with artifacts and materials chosen by Archivists Kathelene McCarty Smith and Scott Hinshaw, was on display for both days. Archivist Scott Hinshaw enjoyed interpreting the collection of textiles and materials, as well as listening to stories from the alumni and their families on Friday and Saturday. Since the Classes of 1971 & 1972 were firmly co-ed at that point in UNCG’s history, SCUA had both women’s and men’s apparel on display. It’s rare to have a men’s class jacket, and SCUA has exactly one example of a men’s UNCG gym outfit (shirt and shorts), so SCUA was thrilled to be able to share these rarer items with the public. Other materials in the exhibit featured photos of the school from the period, yearbooks, student handbooks, and Coraddi issues.
The Luncheon to Celebrate Women in Sports Event held in the Fleming Gymnasium
Archivists Sean Mulligan and Kathelene Smith attended a Luncheon to Celebrate Women in Sports held in the Fleming Gymnasium in celebration of the 50th Anniversary of Title IX sponsored by the UNCG Athletics Department. Attendees enjoyed the historical gym suits, as well as a display of photographs, yearbooks, and artifacts from the University Archives.
“Get Lit” Festival Premiers at the Mitford Museum
Joseph Bathanti, Sarah Loudin Thomas, and Wiley Cash at the “Get Lit” Festival
SCUA’s Interim Head Kathelene Smith attended the first annual literary weekend held September 30 – October 1, at The Mitford Museum in Hudson, North Carolina. Smith represented the North Carolina Literary Map, which is hosted by UNCG’s Special Collections and University Archives. Programming featured writers’ workshops, readings, and conversations with authors, such as New York Times bestselling authors Wiley Cash and Sarah McCoy, former NC Poet Laureate Joseph Bathanti, award-winning author Sarah Loudin Thomas, and memoirists Gretchen Griffith and Sandra Warren.
“Ye Merrie Games and Revels:” The Tradition of May Day Celebrations at North Carolina Women’s Colleges
You may ask – how did a pagan ritual, which began on the Celtic British Isles, devolve into an event celebrated at women’s colleges across the country? This question was addressed in a talk by Interim Head Kathelene Smith for the Society of North Carolina Archivists Archives Month titled “’Ye Merrie Games and Revels:’ The Tradition of May Day Celebrations at North Carolina Women’s Colleges.” The presentation addressed the beginnings of the May Day tradition and its growth as a major campus event from the late 19th century to the mid twentieth century throughout the state, at schools such as Bennett College, Flora MacDonald College, Meredith College, Salem College, St. Mary’s College, and State Normal and Industrial College (now UNCG).
Panel Discussions Focus on Beer-Related Research and Archivists’ Work
University Archivist, Erin Lawrimore
On November 1, University Archivist Erin Lawrimore was part of the “Brewers Education Kollektive” panel discussion, focusing on brewing education programs and beer-related research happening at universities and technical colleges across North Carolina.
Lawrimore was also part of the “Ask the University Archivist.” panel discussion held on November 4 at the North Carolina Community College Archives Association annual meeting at Mitchell Community College in Statesville. The panel gave community college archivists the opportunity to talk to university archivists about the work they do and the similarities/differences between our work. Erin also conducted a workshop titled “Oral History 101: Planning for Success,” focusing on the important steps that go into building a successful oral history program.
photos courtesy of Paula Damasceno and Audrey Sage
Alumna and retired UNCG Faculty member B. Burgin Ross donated a collection of West African artifacts she collected during her service in the Peace Corps in the 1970s in Southwest Liberia. The collection includes a ceremonial mask, a clay cooking pot; sifting basket; wooden mortar; mancala game; and two bracelets.
Wooden Mask
Ross describes the history behind her collection:
I graduated from UNCG in Nutrition in 1974. In June I left North Carolina to serve as a Peace Corps volunteer in Liberia, West Africa for the next two years. After six weeks of cultural training, I was sent to the village of Juarzon, Sinoe County in southwestern Liberia. It took two and a half days overland to get there, traveling on rutted, dirt roads. I was literally in the middle of the jungle. I was the only volunteer in the village, living without running water and electricity, in a house made of mud and sticks. I had screens covering the windows so that mosquitos could not get in, and a tin roof to keep other critters out. Within my first few weeks there, I was called out one night to meet “the devil”. Drums were playing, a bonfire was burning, and I initially thought “this is going to be bad”. Approaching the bonfire, I saw the “devil” dancing. The devil is just a spiritual figure covered in cloth, straw and with his face covered by a wooden mask (identical to the one I am donating). He danced toward me, grabbing me around my waist, at which point I screamed, and the villagers laughed. I knew then that I was safe, and that this was the way I was being presented to the village!
Clay PotSifting Basket
The clay pot was given to me by my friend Nora, who heard me ask about cooking vessels, and presented me with this pot which was not longer useful to her due to small cracks on the bottom. I carried it wrapped in newspaper within a basket from Liberia to Asheville, NC when I returned home in 1976. I considered it my most valuable possession.
Wooden Mortar
The wooden mortar was used by my friend and neighbor Esther to crush dried pepper for cooking. Liberians put hot pepper in every dish they make. They also have mortars of many different sizes, using them for crushing peanuts for peanut soup, mashing cooked palm nuts for palm butter, or for separating the chaff from the rice kernels they grew. I was given the mortar the day prior to leaving, along with a live chicken to “taken to my ma”. We cooked the chicken and had a group dinner. I also had a large mortar which I gave to Ester in return. I had used my mortar to make palm butter.
Mancala Game with Nickerbean (Caesalpinia bonducella) seeds
The mancala game was given to me by another peace corps volunteer, and I do not know anything about it’s past, other than it once had a cup on each end for holding the seeds used to play the game. The seeds that I have were dwindled down to just a few because the people in my village requested them to treat malaria. I could not say no, so seeds were given away little by little.
The mask was given to me by Ed Lipschitz, an American from New York who stayed in the village for a few months doing research on West African masks. Ed was working on a PhD at Columbia, and eventually became a curator at the Smithsonian Institution Museum of African Art. Ed ate dinner with me every night during the months he stayed in the village. The mask was a “thank you” for those meals. I believe it to be Liberian.
I have photos of dancing devils, who often came to the village to influence an election, or to celebrate an important village elder upon his death. It was rumored that my neighbor Eddie was a devil, but he never revealed that. As a alumna of UNCG twice (I received a BS and MS from UNCG), I am so pleased to give these items to the University.
Sande James-Wascher has created this informative artist book using images of quilted fabrics, postage stamps and historical photographs from the Library of Congress, Oregon Historical Society, Smithsonian, and Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College. She constructed this flag book in concertina style, which opens to reveal twenty-one card leaves in three horizontal rows, each leaf with text/printed photograph on one side and illustration of a postage stamp depicting noted women of history adhered to a ground of printed patchwork on the other. Boards of printed patchwork imagery are bound with a floral lilac fabric border.
In this work by Sande James-Wascher, she focuses on women’s struggle for the right to vote. The text she uses was inspired by an article on women’s suffrage by Minna Morse that was published in The Smithsonian in 1993. The text in the artist book describes key individuals in the early 1900s who fought, picketed, and were imprisoned by men as they worked to be recognized as citizens who had a right to be involved in the choices for the running of the country’s government. As their fight intensified, so did the aggressive tactics used to try to silence these women. They were incarcerated in unsanitary conditions, force fed food that was infested with bugs, and some were beaten and cruelly handcuffed. Eventually, a year after the picketing began, Woodrow Wilson pushed through the woman suffrage amendment, and although it took until August 26th, 1920, for it to clear the Senate, it eventually became the 19th amendment to the U. S. Constitution.
From the artist’s statement: “I seem to always manage to do labor-intensive work, and therefore have chosen to work to create what I feel will be something beautiful and that will bring pleasure. That does not preclude having a powerful message, as I deal with issues of importance to most women. Most of my work is done with what might be considered “women’s work”-embroidery, quilting, beading, etc. I do this intentionally to show that there is both merit and power to these techniques, and because I enjoy working this way. Since there is usually a historical context to my work, I include stamps of well-known American women in it to add another layer of meaning. The book formats that I use allow me to do pieces that are sculptural with strong visual images, as well as written components that are explored when the pieces are read.”
We are pleased to have this contemplative work in our collection and hope you find her work inspiring.
Kathelene Smith and Beth Ann Koelsch present at the Society of American Archivists (SAA) Conference
Kathelene and Beth Ann gave a virtual presentation about how the department shifted outreach, access, and instruction strategies during the pandemic lockdown for the SAA Reference, Access, & Outreach Section (RAO) “Annual Marketplace of IDEAS”
First Fridays: SCUA members share their expertise on a variety of subjects. Coming up:
September 9: Patrick Dollar will talk about student workers in the Archives.
October 7: Stacey Krim and David Gwynn will discuss the digital project “PRIDE! of the Community”
November 4: Lacey Wilson”She Can, We Can: Beyond the Women’s Suffrage Centennial” grant-funded project.
December 2: Carolyn Shankle and Patrick Dollar will share “Holiday Recipes from SCUA Collections.”
Hermann’s back!
After a COVID-enforced break, we are thrilled that former SCUA archivist Hermann Trojanowski has returned to us as a departmental volunteer. Currently he is working on editing Women Veterans Historical Project oral history transcripts. Welcome back, Hermann!
Hermann in his new workspace
All the Ukuleles!
Members of SCUA have joined the University Libraries Ukuleles group. Thank you to Terry Brandsma for adding so much fun to our work life! Look for a Holiday performance later in the year.
(From Left: Beth Ann “Scooter” Koelsch, Stacey “Sassy” Krim, Audrey “Spider” Sage, and Kathelene “Sugar” Smith)
Thinking about the Special Collections Division as it was then known in the 1970s, I realize that is was the decade of “figuring it all out”. We had to bring together a variety of uncataloged book collections secured in a variety of locations (or, as it turned out, not so secure for some materials), and determine what should be organized, cataloged and preserved, and which should not, being that they were out-of-scope or duplicated at other nearby institutions. Limited space was an additional concern. There was no public catalog access for manuscripts or University Archives materials.
By the 1980s we had settled comfortably into our more spacious surroundings on the second floor of the main Library – and more visible to library patrons. Our first long-time researcher-in-residence was history professor Allen Trelease who wrote THE history of UNCG. He was followed by Margery Enix, a cellist and music professor from California, who was researching the life and work of cellist Rudolf Matz whose papers and scores are part of our large cello music Collections/ The Randall Jarrell manuscript collection also received heavy use to the point where microfilming became a must. Our mantra during the ‘80s and the decade following was, to paraphrase, “Catalog it and they will come.”
Dr. Allen Trelease, Emeritus Professor of History, holding a copy of his work, Making North Carolina Literate: The University of North Carolina at Greensboro from Normal School to Metropolitan University, covering the period 1892-1994. Photo taken in the Reading Room prior to its renovation in 2004.
Cooperative collection development was a touted concept among institutions as budgets tightened. An award-winning article on the subject was published by a UNC Chapel Hill graduate student who interviewed librarians across the state. This and other efforts such as preservation and conservation activities increased during the later 20th century. UNCG was especially fortunate when a world renown book and paper conservator, Don Etherington, moved to Greensboro in 1987 to set up a conservation lab at Southeast Library Bindery just west from campus off of Walker Avenue. Don has been one of a team to rescue and treat books damaged by great Florence flood in 1966. Prior to coming to Greensboro he had worked at the Library of Congress conservation department and had set up the conservation lab at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center at the University of Texas.
The 1980s also brought the unique bookwork of Amos P. Kennedy, Jr. who simply appeared in my office one day unannounced to show me his efforts in bookmaking and asking if I thought he was “on the right track”. I was immediately charmed by the man and his diminutive “books” and purchased several items that day. We placed his work on standing order. Over the years Amos and I became great friends and have kept in touch with calls and (too infrequent) visits. For the growing book arts collections, Amos was the first Negro (the term he prefers to Black) maker of unique “books” to be added to Special Collections. Google his name and be enchanted, amazed, and grateful for his important messaging and artistic work. I am so proud that UNCG was his first repository. Link to Artist’s Books Research Guide
The 1980s also brought Betty Carter back to us after a hiatus of several years with her family in South Carolina. We were ecstatic about her return and after many years she was recognized as our first full-time University Archivist. Betty and I compiled “A Guide to Records Management” in 1987. (Betty did most of the work!) Betty’s death this past year was a great, sad loss to all who knew and loved her.
The decade of the 1990s also saw a good deal of growth. A large collection of detective fiction and mysteries from the estate of Robbie Dunn Siske given by her sister, Eleanor Dunn Lloyd was added to the Women’s Detective Fiction collection started in earlier years as an adjunct to the larger Woman’s Collection of books by, about and of interest to women. Gertrude Stein is among the several Famous authors whose Blood on the Dining Room Floor is included.
Cello music collections also grew including those of Janos Scholz with whom Yo-Yo Ma studied and Maurice Eisenberg who was a close friend of Pablo Casals. Scholz was also knowledgeable about the history of papermaking and visited that part of our collection during one of his visits. I had secretly hoped his collection on that subject would find its way here.
Renovations to the main library in the mid-90s necessitated our wrapping the entire Special Collections and Archives stacks in plastic sheeting making the retrieving of items especially awkward, but it was ultimately for the betterment of our environmental quality. Our amazing staff took the inconveniences in stride with grace and humor. I can never say enough about all of the wonderful people who worked with me.
Throughout the 1990s my own activities included many hours of committee work within the University and beyond. My favorite “gig” was being on the North Carolina Preservation Consortium in its early years and collaborating with professors with presentations about the world of rare books, demonstrations to students on our Washington handpress, and videotaping talks on conservation and preservation for the Library Science Department.
In the spring of 1997, I wrote my final Report to the Friends of the Library and attended my last Friends’ dinner as Special Collections Librarian. When introduced to John Hope Franklin, the dinner speaker that evening, he said, “Oh, YOU’RE the one who’s quitting!” We laughed.
I could have said more, but instead leave the rest of the story to my successor, Bill Finley, who managed to flesh our so many areas that further distinguish our collections.
Photographs taken by Dr. Anna Gove, the second resident “lady doctress” at the State Normal and Industrial College (now UNC Greensboro), have proved a rich source of both campus and local history. A native of New Hampshire, Gove arrived in North Carolina at 26 years of age, becoming one of the first female physicians in the state. The beauty and history of the area intrigued the young doctor, and she decided to make it her home. Although Gove did not keep a diary, she recorded her experiences and her environment through images taken with her trusty Brownie camera. She quickly found kindred spirits at the State Normal who shared her intellectual and cultural curiosity, as well as her love of photography. She initiated a Faculty Camera Club, which included several female professors who would soon become her close friends, including Edith McIntyre (Professor of Domestic Science), Melville Fort (Art Professor), and Mary Petty (Chemistry Professor). Together they photographed interesting vistas across Guilford County and beyond.
1895 Poster
Always interested in new experiences, Gove decided to attend a traveling “Buffalo Bill Wild West Show.” Although stereotypical and exploitive, these types of touring spectacles were very popular during the period after the Civil War until about 1920. Capitalizing on the country’s fascination with the romanticized West, these theatrical open-air shows included an array of cowboys, American Indians, horses, wild animals, and outlaws performing thrilling staged exhibitions. Wild West shows visited both America and Europe and were headlined by cowboy legends, such as William “Buffalo Bill” Cody, “Texas Jack,” and Christopher “Kit” Carson. They also highlighted well-known national personalities like sharpshooter Annie Oakley, Will Rogers, Tom Mix, and Chief Sitting Bull, who became huge draws to these traveling tent shows.
Accompanied by brass bands and orchestras, Wild West shows featured action-packed entertainments and historical reenactments, such as the Battle of San Juan Hill, stagecoach robberies, and mock “buffalo hunts.” Brochures for Buffalo Bill’s extravaganza also boasted a parade cavalcade featuring “rough riders” from different parts of the world, including Hawaii, Cuba, Russia, Germany, and the Middle East. Also showcased were “side show” performers, allowing spectators to gawk at snake charmers, magicians, jugglers, sword swallowers, and others with unique talents or features.
Buffalo Bill Riding a Stagecoach
Buffalo Bill’s show was one of the larger ones, traveling with an entourage of over 500 people, who needed to be fed and boarded, as well as numerous animals that also had to be maintained. The show also provided its own transportation and electricity. Traveling became an easier feat once Cody hired James A. Bailey who had worked for P.T. Barnum’s circus and was an expert in transporting large groups of performers, staff, and animals across the country.
When Gove attended Buffalo Bills Wild West show, which was touring the southeast in the late 1800s, she took her camera. Although she did not date the photographs, they are labeled “Greensboro.” It appears from examining Cody’s “route maps” and local newspapers that the show visited Greensboro in October of 1895, so it is likely that these images are from that show. Advertisements modestly promised “The Event of a Lifetime! Led by the best-known living romantic character, Col. W. F. Cody (Buffalo Bill).” Signs and ads also promoted an impressive “Cavalry of All Nations” and a portrayal of “a chain of triumphs, eclipsing the story of Caesar, Alexander, and Napoleon!” Gove took her seat under a covered grandstand, seating 20,000 spectators, allowing the show to go on – rain or shine.
Not content to take photographs only from the stands, Gove ventured behind the tents, capturing more candid shots of performers and those associated with the show. These photos included a Native American mother and child, cowboys relaxing during breaks from riding and roping, and the large makeshift kitchens which fed performers and workers three hot meals per day. She even surprised a “Cossack” washing up after his performance. Although Annie Oakley was a member of the traveling extravaganza of 1895, a local newspaper advertisement for the event does not mention her appearance. One photograph appears to be a group of “cowgirls,” but without the benefit of a close-up lens, it is impossible to tell if it was Oakley. Because Gove did not leave a written account of her experience at the Wild West show, observers will never know if she found it horrific, fascinating, or both. We just know that she recorded her encounter with the “Wild West” through film.
In an interestingly postscript, it was in North Carolina that Bill Cody’s Wild West Show would suffer a catastrophe that would herald its slow downfall. Moving through the country on what we would consider a “circus train” filled with featured stars, performers, horses, wild animals, and scenery, the show was involved in a catastrophic wreck. On October 29, 1901, as Cody’s entourage, including Annie Oakley and her husband Frank Butler, left Charlotte for their next show in Danville, their train struck a westbound Southern Railway train near Linwood. While none of the performers were killed, the crash resulted in the death of 110 horses and the near ruin of the show. Cody’s featured star, Annie Oakley, was badly injured and was taken to a hospital in Winston-Salem. Although doctors were fearful that she would never shoot again, the woman who was billed as “Little Sure Shot” was able to continue her career after months of convalescing. As for the Buffalo Bill’s traveling show, it would never build the momentum it had before the wreck. Oakley and Butler ended their professional relationship with Cody, and he declared bankruptcy in 1913. His death, several years later in 1917, signaled the demise of the traveling Wild West show genre.
French Neo-Gothic Typography and Printing Masterpiece
Jean Midolle. Recueil ou Alphabet de lettres initiales, historiques avec bordures et fleurons d’après le 14 et 15 siècles. Gand [Ghent], G. Jacqmain, 1846.
The title leaf and 24 chromolithographic plates were printed on porcelain coated paper, one for each letter of the alphabet (I and J were interchangeable, and W was not part of the Latin alphabet), housed in a modern black buckram portfolio with morocco title label in gilt. The work of Jean Midolle (1797-1846?), the artist responsible for the designs here, celebrated Gothic imagery through numerous portfolios of letterforms and typographical characters during the 1830s-40s.
Midolle was a French painter, compositor, paleographer, and graphic artist, especially active in Strasburg in the 1830s, who worked with the lithographic firm of Émile Simon, fils, and others, publishing similar portfolios, such as Spécimen des écritures modernes (Emile Simon fils, (1835) and Traité complet d’ecritures en tous genres et d’ornements moyen-aĝe (Tribelhorn, c.1840).
This example of chromolithographic printing demonstrates the height of technique and artistic skill of its time.
R is for King Richard the Lionheart
L is for King Louis the XIV
Typography Books Added to Special Collections
With thanks to John Neal, Special Collections deepened our holdings of typography and calligraphy related books. These resources add value to our book arts collection, making them accessible to the UNCG and wider community. Look for more featured items from this generous donation in future newsletter issues.
Upper Row, Left to Right: The Type Specimen Book : 544 Different Typefaces with Over 3000 Sizes Shown in Complete Alphabets. Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1974., Jong, Cees de. Sans Serif : The Ultimate Sourcebook of Classic and Contemporary Sans Serif Typography. Thames & Hudson, 2006., Vgc Alphabet Library. Sixth ed., Visual Graphics Corporation, 1976. Lower Row, Left to Right: Omagari, Toshi, and Kiyonori Muroga. Arcade Game Typography : The Art of Pixel Type. Thames and Hudson, 2019., Jong, Cees de, et al. Creative Type : A Sourcebook of Classic and Contemporary Letterforms. Thames & Hudson, 2005., Heller, Steven, and Louise Fili. Stencil Type. Thames and Hudson, 2015.
Documenting North Carolina Foodways
Adding to SCUA’s cookbook and cookery holdings are donations from Foy Allen Edelman, whose research focuses on North Carolina foodways. The books displayed below is just a smattering of materials donated by Edelman and other donors.
Left to right: Fitch, Jenny, and Daneen Nyimicz Griffin. The Fearrington House Cookbook : A Celebration of Food, Flowers and Herbs. Ventana Press, 1987., Parris, John, et al. Mountain Cooking. Asheville Citizen-Times Publishing Co., a Division of Multimedia, 1979.. Wesler, Cathy A, et al. Biltmore Estate Specialities of the House. Oxmoor House, 1994.
MANUSCRIPTS
Chaim Zembach Papers
Chaim Zemach (Burgas, Bulgaria: May 7, 1929 – New York, NY: January 9, 2022). At the age of nine years old, he began studying cello. In 1943, Zemach and his parents immigrated to Palestine, fleeing from the Holocaust during World War II. Continuing his musical education, Zemach studied at the Tel Aviv Conservatory with Daniel Hofmekler and Joachim Stutschewsky. Later, he studied with André Navarra, Paul Tortelier, and Gaspar Cassadó.
In 1950, after serving in the Israeli army for two years, Zemach joined the Israeli Philharmonic, auditioning under Serge Koussevitzky and Leonard Bernstein, and was engaged on the eve of the first US tour. He remained with the Philharmonic for eight years. In 1959, Zemach earned the principal celllist position with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande. In 1964, Zemach was invited to lead the cello section of the Bern Symphony Orchestra by conductor Paul Kletzki.Eventually, Zemach made his way to the United States, playing in the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra from 1966 to 1969, and serving as principal cellist of the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra beginning in 1968. In 1971, Leopold Stokowski appointed Zemach to the principal cellist position of the American Symphony Orchestra.
In his later years, Zemach is remembered as an educator. He began teaching in 1960 as a faculty member of the Conservatoire d’Annecy in France while he still lived in Europe. His longest teaching appointment was as cello professor at Montclair State University, from where he would retire in 2002, after 28 years.
Friends and family remember Chaim Zemach for his joie de vivre and his love of learning. He had many hobbies, including learning languages (Spanish, Italian, French, German, English, Bulgarian, Hebrew, Ladino, Russian, Arabic, Turkish, and Mandarin), and traveling the world with Hildegard Zemach, his wife of sixty years. Zemach was featured inA Question of Survival: the complex legacy of the Holocaust in the Balkans, a documentary by Elka Nikolova featuring Bulgarian Shoah survirors.
The Chaim Zemach Personal Papers contain documentation chronicling the cellist’s life, including concert programs, news clippings, and correspondence.
Janet Horvath Cello Music and Personal Papers Collection
Born in Toronto, Canada, Janet Horvath began her cello studies with her father, the acclaimed Hungarian cellist George Horvath (for more information on George Horvath, please see this presentation: https://youtu.be/CsNxZ8JnH_I). Upon reaching college, Horvath studied with Vladimir Orloff, earning a Bachelor of Music with honors from the University of Toronto. She was accepted into the graduate program at Indiana University, where Horvath was a student of János Starker. Horvath’s talent was acknowledged by winning four Governor General’s Performing Arts Awards (Canada), competing as a finalist in the 1978 Munich cello-piano duo competition with Arthur Rowe (pianist), and as one of six finalists in the 1980 Budapest International Cello Competition.
Horvath won the position of Associate Principal Cello of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, and served in that position from 1977-1979. In 1979, Horvath participated in the Marlboro Music Festival, after which, she was invited to tour through the United States in a quintet representing “Music from Marlboro”. By 1980, Horvath earned the Associate Principal Cello position with the Minnesota Orchestra, where she performed until her retirement in 2012. She has appeared as soloist with orchestra, and in recital and chamber music throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe including for the BBC, CBC, NPR radio stations and with the Minnesota Orchestra, The Milwaukee Symphony, The Indianapolis Symphony, The Fargo-Moorhead Symphony and for Mainly Mozart, Tanglewood, and Blossom Music Festivals. Horvath performed the US premiere of Hindemith’s Concerto for Cello and Orchestra in E flat major, op. 3, directed by Edo de Waart in 1987.
Janet Horvath is an award-winning advocate for the prevention of injuries in musicians. As a student, Horvath suffered an injury that made her aware of how physical pain and mobility issues can derail musicians. She has worked with instrumentalists to establish a holistic approach: playing with ease and eloquence, while preserving good posture and maintaining comfort. Advising performers how to avoid and heal such ailments became a lifelong passion. In 1987, Horvath organized the first “Playing Hurt” Conference in Minneapolis, which was co-sponsored by the Minnesota Orchestral Association and the University of Minnesota. Over 500 people participated. Since then her masterclasses, conferences, workshops, and seminars have been praised by both amateur and professional musicians, teachers and students, and health care providers. Her presentations include for the San Francisco Symphony, Utah Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, Boston Symphony Orchestra, and at colleges, conservatories, and conferences from coast to coast. Horvath’s efforts to raise awareness of the effects of performance injuries led to national attention and her work has been featured by the Performing Arts Medicine Association and in national and international music publications—Musical America, Chamber Music America, Strings Magazine, The Brass Herald, and StradMagazine among others. Horvath’s work culminated in the publication of the critically acclaimed book, Playing (less) Hurt – An Injury Prevention Guide for Musicians, which won the gold medal at the 2009 IPPY awards. The current edition of the book is published by Hal Leonard.
Horvath continues to devote her time to writing after earning an MFA in Creative Writing from Hamline University, Saint Paul, MN in 2017. A contributing writer for the online classical music e-magazine Interlude.HK , she has penned over 350 feature articles about music and musicians.
Horvath’s current project is authoring a book devoted to her parents’ experiences during the Holocaust, and the insights of growing up in the shadow of the Shoah. George Horvath, Janet’s father, a Holocaust survivor, played hundreds of morale building concerts in Displaced Persons camps throughout Bavaria for Holocaust survivors like himself after his liberation from the slave labor camps. Horvath’s non-fiction memoir will soon be in production.
The Janet Horvath Cello Music and Personal Papers collection contains sheet music annotated by Horvath, as well as the extensive notes, research materials, and manuscripts devoted to her seminars and her book relating to musician injuries. A small portion of the collection also contains material by or about George Horvath. Janet Horvath is the 24th cellist to be represented in the UNCG Cello Music Collection (and the fourth woman).
Martha Gerschefski Cello Music and Personal Papers Collection.
Gerschefski (b.1941 – ) was born in Spartanburg, SC and began studying cello at the age of 7. In 1954, when she was 13 years old, Gerschefski was accepted into the Juilliard School of Music, where she received her performance diploma. Her primary teachers were Luigi Silva and Isidore Cohen, but she also studied with Colin Hampton and Fritz Magg. After Juilliard, Gerschefski auditioned for André Navarra and was accepted for private study in Paris with Navarra, Nadia Boulanger, and Edward Mattos. She was awarded a scholarship to study at Siena, Italy in the Accademia Musicale Chigiana, where she earned a Diploma of Merit. Later, Gerschefski studied all of Bloch’s works for cello with Zara Nelsova.
At the age of 19, Gerschefski was the first woman selected by Leopold Stokowski for the American Symphony Orchestra (Assistant Principal Cellist), where she performed for two years. After playing for Stokowski, Gerschefski traveled to Europe in 1967 and concertized widely under the auspices of the US State Department Cultural Presentations Abroad program. In 1970, Gerschefski returned to the US and toured. After settling in Georgia to perform and teach, she has served as Principal Cellist for the Atlanta Chamber Orchestra and the Atlanta Ballet.
Gerschefski has been a beloved teacher of the cello in the United States for decades. She has served as faculty at Columbus College and Auburn University. At Georgia State University, from where she would retire (1999-2008), Gerschefski served as professor of cello performance and chamber music. Gerschefski founded Georgia State University’s University Cello Choir, the Westminster Schools String Quartet Program in Atlanta GA, and co-founded and served as director of the Georgia Academy of Music. She has presented classes and workshops throughout the USA, Canada, and Central and South America. Several of her students have won first prizes in national competitions. Gerschefski translated many of her teachings into 12 published cello methods volumes, available through Edizioni Migliori. She and Barbara Mueser also published an edited set of the Bach Suites, also available from the same publisher.
Gerschefski received many awards and accolades throughout her life. She was the winner of the Koussevitzky Prize and Martha Baird Rockefeller grant for study abroad. In 1995, she won the American String Teachers’ Association Georgia Educator of the Year award. She was the recipient of the Outstanding Teaching Award at Georgia State University College of Arts and Sciences in 2000 and the awardee of the Teacher Recognition Certificate by the National Foundation for the Advancement of the Arts.
After retiring from Georgia State University, Gerschefski devoted her time to being a private teacher in her home studio at South Carolina’s Lake Bowen, where she lives with her husband Clint Schaum.
The Martha Gerschefski Cello Music and Personal Papers Collection contains the vast treasure of Gerschefski’s teaching materials, as well as notes related to the lessons with her great teachers. Her collection includes an impressive library of cello choir music, reflecting her time conducting the Georgia State University Cello Choir. Gerschefski’s performance career is documented further through her annotated sheet music, personal papers, and scrapbooks.
WOMEN VETERANS HISTORICAL PROJECT
Military Women Across the Nation Collection
Formerly known as “WAVES National”, MWAN (Military Women Across the Nation) is a non-profit organization dedicated to Keeping female veterans connected with each other and preserving their history. The collection includes uniforms and artifacts, unit and individuals’ scrapbooks, and documentation of the organization with newsletters, annual conference materials, as well as other publications.
Photo Album and Scrap Book Documenting the Oklahoma County American Red Cross Canteen
This album documents the Oklahoma City, OK American Red Cross Canteen Service from 1918-1919 which supplied soldiers on troop trains with care packages, sandwiches and coffee. After a canteen building was constructed the women served an average of 6,000 men a month. By the time the canteen closed, they’d served around 75,000 men. The album includes photographs, newspaper clippings, ephemera, and letters from soldiers.
UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES
Alumnae Secretaries’ Garden Plaque
This plaque was located in the beautiful boxwood and English-style garden, created to honor the alumnae secretaries who have served the Alumnae Association throughout the history of the University. Charles O. Bell, Superintendent of Landscaping and Grounds, designed the garden in 1964. Renovations for the Alumnae Secretaries’ Garden were made by a generous gift from Susan Seeker Jones (Class of 1978) in memory of her parents, Iris and “Bud” Seeker. There is now a new updated plaque located in the garden.
Graduation Banners
Nine Commencement Banners were transferred from the Alumni House to SCUA, as there are new banners being created to use at future events.
