Henrietta Nesbitt, First Lady, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Harriet Elliott take the “Consumer’s Pledge for Total Defense”*
Harriet Wiseman Elliott is considered one of the most illustrious faculty members who ever taught at UNC Greensboro. Born in Carbondale, Illinois, on July 10, 1884, Elliott grew up in a close and politically active family. She soon followed in the footsteps of her father, Allan Elliott, who was very committed to causes related to social injustice and community economics.
A lifelong Democrat, Elliott made a name for herself, both in Greensboro, where she taught political science at the State Normal and Industrial College (now UNCG), and nationally. She was particularly active in causes such as women’s suffrage and home front mobilization during World War I. Her status as an activist was so impressive that when the United States entered the Second World War, she was asked by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to serve in many roles, namely, as Consumer Advisor on the National Defense Advisory Committee (1940-1941), Chairman of the War Finance Committee, Woman’s Division (1942-1946), Deputy Director of the Office of Price Administration, and U.S. delegate to the United Nations Conference on Education, Science and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in London (1945).
Elliott’s history of political engagement, her reputation as an educator, and her skill as an orator, were utilized by the government in educational films and presentations in which she urged the American people to conserve resources and contribute to the war effort locally.
In 1943, she assisted in crafting a short film to warn the public about the consequences of not taking home front mobilization seriously. No Exceptions was produced by 20th Century Fox and was distributed as a public service by the War Activities Committee, Motion Picture Industry. Elliott was given credit for the original idea for the film, along with actor and novelist, Foster Fitz-Simons, and Elinor Morganthau, the wife of US Secretary of State, Henry M. Morganthau, Jr. and personal friend of the president and first lady. The film was a notable propaganda tool that promoted a unified national mobilization initiative and encouraged sacrifice from every American. It has been digitized by the Library of Congress and can be accessed through this link: https://archive.org/details/NoExceptions
Elliott also spoke at public events throughout the country and recorded promotional speeches urging Americans to do their part in the conservation of national resources. An example of one of these recordings was found in the Harriet Elliott manuscript collection: https://gateway.uncg.edu/islandora/object/mss%3A221127. At the time of its creation, she was the Association Administrator in charge of the Consumer Division of the Office of Price Administration. Made in honor of “War Against Waste Day” during Civilian Defense Week, the brief speech recognized the importance of every American in the war effort and stressed the public’s responsibility in conserving resources such as coal, steel, timber, rubber, and even food and clothing. She emphasizes self-discipline and encourages Americans to “buy wisely,” and stretch the use of everything they use and wear. At the end of the recording, Elliott asks Americans to take the “Consumer’s Pledge for Total Defense,” promising to waste nothing, thereby promoting strategic national defense. It was Elliott who drafted this pledge, and even First Lady, Eleanor Roosevelt, took part in the oath.
We have selected four books from four of NC’s counties from which to feature a special recipe. It is difficult to choose just one as each of these books contain so many delicious and unique recipes!
Carteret County – Down East Recipes – Enjoy Your Age
Published by Sea Level Health Care Team in Sea Level, N.C.1987
The cover illustration, by Debbie Bankert, a local artist who resided in Atlantic , North Carolina, is of the marsh road (Highway 12) which leads to Cedar Island. The waterfowl in the canal to the right is a pied-billed grebe The canal shown leads into a storm harbor which is no longer in use. The trees are loblolly and slash pines so common in this region. Cattails and marsh grasses are seen throughout the marsh area. The season is autumn – evidenced by the arrival of geese seen in the background.
Cedar Island is considered the oldest continuously inhabited village in eastern North Carolina and the actual site of Sir Walter Raleigh’s “Lost Colony”. Although centuries have passed since the first settlers arrived, Cedar Islanders still look to the sea for a living, having made up their minds that an independent way of life provides more rewards than the jammed, hurley-burley of crowded towns and cities.
SHRIMP-SPANISH STYLE
Take a bunch of 20-30 count shrimp (20 to pound if you can afford it) with heads on or off (it is more chic to leave heads on but is really only a bore), but definitely leave shells on.
Salt shrimp with plenty of garlic salt.
On a flat grill or frying pan, fry out fat pork until grill is covered about 1/8″ with fat – old fashioned lard is just as fine.
Put grill heat on about 375 and lay shrimp on it. Cook on one side until pink – about 2 minutes. Turn each one and cook other side 2 minutes or until pink. Do not scorch shell.
Serve in shell. Each person shells his own. No Sauce. It is important that you lick your fingers a lot.
-Ted Best, Cedar Island
Hertford County – It’s Time To Cook with the Business and Professional Womens’ Club
Since it’s establishment 1923, the Ahoskie Woman’s Club has been striving to enhance the lives of others. As part of The General Federation of Women’s Clubs of North Carolina (GFWC-NC) it is united in its dedication to volunteer community service. The club, whose members are diverse in age, interests and experiences, continue to be an active group that works diligently and are united by a desire to create positive change in their community.
GOLDEN GLOW SALAD
Cream one large cake cream cheese with 2 packages lime jello. Pour 3 3/4 cups boiling water to jello and cream cheese. When cool, add one large can (No. 2) crushed pineapple and juice to it. Just before it congeals, add one cup chopped pecans. Cut into squares and serve on lettuce. -Mrs. Myra Mitchell
Iredell County-Shared Secrets A Collection of Staff Recipes from Lowrance Hospital in Mooresville, N.C.
The Lowrance Hospital Dietary Department presents “Shared Secrets”, a compilation of recipes, treasured family secrets, and new ideas, so generously contributed by members of the hospital family – employees, medical staff, and Ladies’ Auxiliary.
The Lowrance Hospital, now named the Lake Norman Regional Medical Center, built a foundation for community care in 1926. S.A. Lowrance donated land, and citizens of Mooresville purchased stock in it for $25 a share. The organization soon became a non-profit corporation, opened a new four-story hospital in 1930 and expanded twice more in the 1950s and 1970s.
CHEESE PENNIES
2C. Grated Sharp Cheese
1 cup four (plain)
1 stick margarine
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 cup Rice Krispies
Mix together and roll in balls; flatten with fork. Bake 10 to 12 minutes at 350 degrees. -Sylvia Caldwell
Rockingham County – Breaking Bread and Sharing Salt by: TAN ‘N TOIL GARDEN CLUB of Reidsville, N.C., 1976
OLD FASHIONED EGG CUSTARD
1 cup sugar
1 cup milk
2-1/2 tbsp. flour
2 tbsp. butter or margarine, melted
1/8 tsp. salt
Dash nutmeg
2 egg whites
4 egg yolks
2 tbsp. sugar
2 egg whites
1 – 9 inch unbaked pie shell
Combine sugar, flour, salt, and nutmeg. Beat egg yolks and 2 egg whites and add to dry ingredients. Beat well. Add milk gradually. Then stir in melted margarine. Pour in crust and bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes. Reduce temperature to 325 degrees and bake 25 to 30 minutes longer. Beat 2 egg whites and add sugar. Spread meringue on pie and bake at 325 degrees for 0-15 minutes. -Mrs. G. K. Clymer
Every scrapbook tells a unique story. Looking through scrapbooks that were created by women who have served in the military throughout the last century is a very special experience. Snapshots share a moment in time that can only briefly capture the experience of the veteran. There are playful photos, very serious images, and some very honest and straightforward truths regarding the intensity of war and preparation for combat.
Pearl M. Wasem Scrapbooks from the the Betty H. Carter Women Veterans Historical Project.
Alberta E. McKeever ScrapbookAlice C. Boehret “Snapshot Treasures”Alberta E. McKeever ScrapbookPearl M. Wasem ScrapbookRuth Mildred Rodger ScrapbookPearl M. Wasem Scrapbook
There are as many different formats for scrapbooks as there are events and decades. It is sometimes challenging to preserve these unique purveyors of information and windows into times and places past. It is important to try to maintain the overall structure and presentation as built by those who compiled and shared their information in these volumes.
Alice C. Boehret ” My Snapshot Treasures”
Dr. Alice Boehret was born in Philadelphia PA, on Jan. 2, 1919, and grew up between Philadelphia PA and Wildwood NJ. She was a graduate of Germantown High School Class of 1937 and Jefferson Medical College Hospital School of Nursing Class of 1941. She served her country during WWII in the Army Nurse Corps and was honorably discharged in May 1946 earning the rank of First Lieutenant. After her service she attended the University of North Carolina Greensboro and on the GI Bill graduated in 1950 with a BA in French. She returned home to teach at the Albert Einstein Hospital but in 1957 she accepted a teaching position at UNC and served as chair of the Department of Nursing from 1960 till 1966. Dr. Alice Boehret left in 1966 to attend Columbia University and received her doctorate in 1972. After achieving her goal she helped to establish the baccalaureate nursing program at Rutgers University in Camden, NJ and retired from Rutgers in 1984.
The photo album belonging to Dr. Boehret contains a wonderful collection of images. However, the page substrate of this unique comb-bound scrapbook upon which the photos are mounted is disintegrating but salvageable, as seen here. I was able to extend the original page with archival materials and replicate a durable material into which the original plastic arms could be extended to hold the page in place within the original cover. The cover itself had a few tears along the rear hinge but that was able to be mended with some toned japanese tissue and rebuilt.
Alice C. Boehret “Snapshot Treasures”
Alberta E. McKeever World War One Scrapbook
Within the collection, among many others, is a special photo album belonging to Alberta E. McKeever (1876-1954), who served with the United States Army Nurse Corps from 1917-1919, where she served as a nurse at Base Hospital 27 at the Mongazon Seminary located in Angers, Maine-et-Loire, France from September 27, 1917 until March 13, 1919. She served, on a brief detachment from November – December 1917 at Camp Coetquidan in Morhihan, Brittany, France. She was discharged from the Army Nurse Corps on June 3, 1919. McKeever was born on 21 June, 1876 in St. Petersburg, Pennsylvania and she died on April 11, 1954 in St. Petersburg, Florida.
Her scrapbook contains pages of photographs depicting those with whom she served, views of the landscape where she was trained and served, and images that show the true and grisly sight of combat. This scrapbook is constructed of cloth and leather covered wood and metal. It has previously been mended with copious amounts of glue and wire and colored paper, which with care were removed in order for a new and updated mend could be performed.
The front cover was detached and the steel bar holding the pages secure to the posts was missing. A board was fabricated and silver wire used to secure in place before the cover was reattached, with hopes that these images and these stories will be preserved at least another hundred years as it will now reside in its own custom enclosure for safe keeping.
Restored and resting in its new clamshell enclosure for safekeeping.
The university is fortunate to have this treasure trove of collections which provide insight and inspiration from the many materials, documents, scrapbooks, and oral histories, among many other valuable items, that are a part of the Betty H. Carter Women Veteran Project.
Each scrapbook is carefully tended and housed in a specially constructed conservation enclosure, that will ensure its preservation for use and historical documentation of the lives and dedication these women have provided for our military branches through the decades.
Preservation Specialist Audrey Sage Honored by the Staff Senate
Preservation Specialist Audrey Sage was honored by the Staff Senate for her many contributions to Service Committee, including her work with the Angel tree, the UNCG garden plot, the Spartan Open Pantry food drive, the Teacher Supply Warehouse drive, the Veterans Day card signing event, and her volunteer efforts with Out of the Garden and the Family Room.
KATHELENE McCARTY SMITH IS OFFICIALLY APPOINTED HEAD OF SCUA
We are excited to announce that as of July 2023, Kathelene McCarty Smith has been awarded tenure and was appointed the Department Head of the Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives.
KIN Ed Visits SCUA
In June, SCUA hosted a group of KIN Ed students who were visiting campus for their in-person orientation. They viewed a pop-up exhibit and heard a presentation by Kathelene McCarty Smith related to the history of physical education at UNC Greensboro. The exhibit included early gym suits, artifacts, and images, as well as several important books from SCUA’s collections; De Arte Gymnastica, written by Giovanni Mercuriali (1530-1606), which is one of the earliest books to discuss the therapeutic value of gymnastics and sports, and several books on the history of physical education and dance for women and girls, originally part of the Homans Collection at Wellesley College which was purchased in the 1940s by the University Libraries. They also toured several archives spaces, including the Preservation Lab where they had their picture taken with the famous Bindery Doughnut!
SCUA Staff Participate in Welcome Back Luncheon!
On Tuesday, August 8th, Scott Hinshaw, Erin Lawrimore, and Audrey Sage represented SCUA at UNCG’s Faculty and Staff Welcome Back Luncheon in Moran Commons. Faculty and staff from across campus were able to learn more about University history and take postcards featuring historical University photos. One staff member even found a photo of his grandmother in one of the Pine Needles yearbooks on display!
Flashback to the 1940’s at the Greensboro History Museum
SCUA staff was on hand at the Greensboro History Museum’s 1940s Flashback event, held on Saturday, July 8. Women Veterans Historical Project Curator, Beth Ann Koelsch, gave a talk about Greensboro women veterans and UNCG University Archivist Erin Lawrimore presented on the Woman’s College student swing band, the Darlinettes, that entertained the campus and community during World War II.
Rare Books Specialist Carolyn Shankle judged the bake-off contest from war-era recipes.
The Greensboro History Museum featured baking contest using recipes from a 1940s-era North Carolina cookbook, Kitchen Kapers, housed in SCUA’s Rare Books Collection. The Kitchen Kapers cookbook was printed in December 1942 by the Viola Grant Collier Circle of the Woman’s Society of Christian Service, the First Methodist Church in Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina. One aspect that makes this cookbook unique is that it is one of the few community cookbooks which were created during World War II food rationing and incorporated those constraints into the recipes. Beginning in May 1942, the US government began rationing certain foods. Sugar was first on the list, later joined by coffee, meats, fat, cheese, and canned milk by March of 1943. Interestingly, macaroni and cheese required few ration points and so became a nationwide sensation. By 1946, the rationing of food products had ended.
Museum staff selected three recipes for the Bake-Off: Cheese Biscuits, Baker’s Chocolate Chip Cookies, and War Cake. With multiple entries for each, judging was both a fulfilling and tough assignment!
UNCG Libraries was awarded a $92,000 grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services/LSTA for the “March for Justice: Documenting the Greensboro Massacre” project. The project will provide digital access to approximately 50,000 pages of material related to the 1979 Greensboro Massacre, an event in which five protestors were murdered by the Ku Klux Klan and neo-Nazis.
This project grant from the State Library of North Carolina will enable UNCG and Bennett College to collaborate on digitization of thousands of records relating to the 1979 Greensboro Massacre and the subsequent work of the Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Manuscripts Curator Stacey Krim and Digital Projects Coordinator David Gwynn are taking the lead on this digitization project.
The collections span roughly 48 years, from 1973 to 2021 and document events, actions, and persons connected with the Greensboro Massacre and the short and long-term consequences.
The collection includes documents and artifacts from the Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Commission as well as the detailed personal papers of activist and author Signe Waller Foxworth, whose husband, James Waller, was killed in the confrontation on November 3, 1979.
The latest exhibit on the first floor of Jackson Library highlights the Livestock Playhouse and Greensboro Children’s Theatre Collection, donated by Barbara Britton. The collection contains photographs, programs, posters, and ephemera related to the Livestock Playhouse and Greensboro Children’s Theatre. The exhibit is a small portion of the collection, which includes 36 boxes and three oversized folders of posters.
SCUA is excited to present the collection to students, faculty, staff, and the general public. Livestock and the Greensboro Children’s Theatre impacted so many lives in the communities, including performers, parents, and audience members! The exhibit will be up through October 2023.
History of Livestock
The City of Greensboro hired Carole Lindsey (now Lindsey-Potter) to expand the city’s arts programs. She then brought Barbara Britton on board, then 24 and an alumna of UNC Greensboro (1969), to reinvigorate the Greensboro Children’s Theatre (serving grades four through nine). In 1971, Lindsey-Potter and Britton started the Greensboro Youth Theatre (serving ninth graders through young adults). Initially, the group performs at the Greensboro Coliseum Complex. Soon after, the pair begin summer productions in the old Guilford County agricultural arena on Burlington Road, also known as “the barn.” The Livestock Playhouse begins in this barn in 1971-1972. Livestock became a Greensboro institution for over 40 years, performing musicals, plays, and revues in the barn and, later, the Carolina Theatre in downtown Greensboro. Following budget cuts from the city in 2002 and 2015, Livestock Playhouse/Players ended. Britton retired in 2005, after 34 years with the company.
At the end of July, we celebrated the retirement of Paul Hessling, who served for 35 years as the Rare Book Cataloger for the University Libraries. During his time at UNCG, he cataloged over 27,000 books, most of them for the Rare Books collections. On his final day in Jackson Library, he donated a significant work to SCUA’s holdings: copy 64 out of 80 of J.G. Lubbock’s 1983 masterwork, The Sphere of Rocks and Water.
Title page of The Sphere of Rocks and Water
Designed and printed by Will Carter at the Rampant Lions Press, Lubbock’s text is illustrated with eight full-page plates and six more which are double-page. Printed from copperplates worked by aquatint, etching, and engraving, these colored landscapes capture the grandeur of nature and suggest the “fundamental forces that formed them.”
One of J.B. Lubbock’s landscapes
Because of Paul’s knowledge of our holdings, as well as his familiarity with Lubbock’s work, he was aware that there was both the artist’s proof and working copy of The Sphere of Rocks and Water, in SCUA’s Rare Book collection. Thanks to this recent donation, we can now display both the working copy and finished copy for students and researchers, providing an insight into the artist’s process as they develop their concepts.
Early sketch of the waterfall imageIllustration as it appears in published book
Thank you, Paul, for your expertise, time, and dedication to the accurate descriptions of our holdings so that they can be discovered by researchers.
“Give Democracy to Her”
Carrie Chapman Catt (1859-1947) was a prominent leader in the movement for women’s suffrage. Gifted as both an organizer and a public speaker, she traveled the country for more than a decade, giving lectures and helping local suffrage organizations to work together and grow. In 1915, she became President of the National Woman Suffrage Association, a position she held until successful passage of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920. She delivered the address in this pamphlet on several occasions during speaking tours, but never actually before Congress. The main portion of the argument is devoted to the inevitability of female suffrage, and it essentially exhorts members of Congress to put themselves on the right side of history.
Catt, Carrie Chapman. An Address to the Congress of the United States. New York: National Woman Suffrage Publishing Company, [1917].
Historical Perspective of American Women’s Educational Rights
This guide was intended to give prospective students and parents a glimpse into the private world of a women’s college. The majority of the book relates to educational matters, but it also includes a chapter on social life, physical development, self-help, and practical outcomes. There is also a segment on scholarships and information on various colleges.
Selection of pages from The American Girl at College by Lida Rose McCabe.
Special Collections’ copy has a unique provenance. Orra E. Monnette gave this book to his daughter with the inscription, “To my little Baby Girl may she become a fine useful woman” from Her Daddy Aug 26, 1934. It also includes a book plate from Orra Monnette’s library.
Inscription
Helen Hull Monnette was a graduate of the Westlake School for Girls and Bryn Mawr College (class of 1941). Earning her pilot’s license, Monnette’s first and only solo flight was interrupted by the announcement of the bombing of Pearl Harbor. She spent the war years as a nurse’s aide at Children’s Hospital. Monnette was a member of the first graduating class of the UCLA School of Library Science, and her professional career spanned 25 years, most of which were spent as Senior Librarian In-Charge at the Angelo M. Lacoboni Library in Lakewood, California. During his lifetime, her father, Orra Monnette, served as the Board Chair for the Los Angeles Public Library. In a way, Helen’s career was an extension of her father’s service and commitment to the Los Angeles community, yet unique to her talents and education.
Selection of Early Zines
Zines, short for fanzines, got their start with science fiction fanzines in the 1930s. SCUA added early examples to our collection this quarter, thanks to purchases from the Forrest J. Ackerman collection.
Literary Newsletter # 144 (November 22, 1943).
This issue contains contributions from Francis T. Laney, Rosco E. Wright, and Duane W. Rimel.
Shangri L’Affaires #34 (December 1946).
This issue contains articles by Forrest Ackerman, Tigrina, and others. Letter from Robert Bloch and others. Cover by William Rotsler. The article by Tigrina is the minutes of a meeting of LASFS (the Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society). Tigrina, born as Edythe D. Eyde (November 7, 1921 – December 22, 2015), was better known under her pen name, Lisa Ben. It was at some point in 1946 that she recognized that she was a lesbian. Her pen name “Lisa Ben” is her a clever anagram for lesbian. By June 1947, she typed her first issue of VICE VERSA , in the technique known as a carbonzine, using carbon paper to create multiple copies. VICE VERSA was the first lesbian newsletter in the United States.
Yandro #73 (1958)
This issue contains a letter by Roger Ebert and a defense of Famous Monsters by Marion Zimmer Bradley.
Selection of Current Zines
Zines continue to be a powerful method for those out of the mainstream to create and share their ideas. SCUA is fortunate to have two University Libraries staff who support our Zines and Newsletters Collection with their donations. Suzanne Helms, Accessioning Archivist and Preservation Specialist, and Maggie Murphy, Art and Design Librarian, both made significant donations this quarter. A sampling is shown below. These zines represent diverse viewpoints from a wide variety of creators. Suzanne Helms leads SCUA’s zine-making workshops and Maggie Murphy, in addition to leading zine-making workshops for a variety of student groups, makes zines herself. Her zine, Artists are Researchers, is one of the zines shown below.
Back to front: Mystery grrrl, dirt, After The Pandemic: a comic, and Artists Are Researchers
As an example of the diverse viewpoints represented in the collection, the creator of the Curvy Cuties series, shown below, Roxy Morataya, describes herself as “an avid doodler in love with cartoons, the human form and expression of emotion, zines and Textiles.” She identifies as “a brown, questioning, curvy leftie from West L.A.” (Description provided from Etsy store.)
At rear: April Fool’s Day, In front, L to R: Curvy Cuties vol. 1 and Curvy Cuties vol. 2
American Red Cross Department of Nursing Christmas booklet and accompanying New year card from Director Jane A. Delano, 1918.
U.S. Army Recruiting Brochure, 1993.
“Wings over Wayne”, a newsletter for personnel of the Romulus Army Air Field, Michigan. Includes stories and information about Army WACS, Army nurses, and WASP pilots, 1944-1945.
Alberta E. McKeever World War I scrapbook
McKeever’s 52 page scrapbook contains photographs, postcards, a Foreign Service Certificate issued by the War Council of the American Red Cross, and a signed welcome letter to American Servicemen from King George V.
Alberta E. McKeever, of South Oil City, Pennsylvania, served in the U.S. Army Nurse Corps with Base Hospital No. 27 in France from 1917-1919. Base Hospital No. 27 was a U.S. Army Reserve hospital first organized in 1916 by the University of Pittsburgh Medical School. The hospital staff were called to active service in August 1917. They trained for five weeks in Allentown, Pennsylvania and set sail to Liverpool England on the transport ship the S.S. Lapland on 27 September, 1917. On 19 October, 1917 they arrived at their assignment in Angers, France. The hospital closed on 5 January, 1919 and the staff were demobilized at Camp Dix, New Jersey on 25 March, 1919.
1953 WAVES US Naval School Command Newport Rhode Island Yearbook
Margaret Ellen “Daisy” Pickman Correspondence from 1932-1946.
Margaret Ellen “Daisy” Pickman (1917-2008), of Bedford, Massachusetts, served as an American Red Cross recreation station worker in the South Pacific from 1943-1945. Pickman was a Radcliffe and Yale Drama School graduate from a prominent New England Family. She joined the American Red Cross and was posted to Rockhampton, Queensland Australia where she worked at a recreation center. Pickman was later assigned to set up and staff Red Cross recreation centers in New Guinea, the Dutch East Indies, and the Philippines. She returned to the U.S. in October 1945. In June 1946 she married former Coast Guard Officer Gilbert Oakley, Jr.
Recruiting poster for the U.S. Navy WAVES. Artist John Falter,1944
“Far East Review” Yearbook for the WAC Battalion attached to the U.S. Army 8232 Unit in Tokyo, Japan. Published late 1950s
Taps, U.S. Army School of Nursing at Walter Reed Hospital Class of 1929 Yearbook
“On Guard” issued by the Indiana State Board of Health, circa 1919. After an introduction describing the contributions of “American Women in France” to WWI, the narrative continues describing sex, menstruation, sexual behavior and other prescriptive topics aimed at women.
1943 Camp Lejeune Marine Corps Women’s Reserve yearbook
Jo Ann Richardson (1918-1996), of Terre Haute Indiana, served in the U.S. Women Marines in the 1950s. This photograph album contains 184 photographs documenting Richardson’s time in the Women Marines. The photographs feature other Women Marines, recreation, and a softball team photograph.
We are featuring this unique artist book, which measures 3″ x 3″, by Peter and Donna Thomas, the Wandering Book Artists, from 2011, which has twelve beautiful watercolor illustrations by Donna of travelling caravans. These images are mounted across pages where text from the first stanza of Walt Whitman’s poem “Song of the Open Road” are printed, using Goudy 30 type on handmade paper by Peter. It is copy 66 of 150 copies which is laser and letterpress printed on handmade paper. The structure is accordian-folded with a unique modified piano hinge binding that Donna developed specifically for this book. It is made of three wooden dowels and intersecting woven paper and bound to marble paper-covered boards with the title on a panel on the front.
Peter and Donna Thomas have been making fine press and artist’s books for over 40 years. When they started, as craftspeople at Renaissance Faires, they fell in love with the graceful beauty of “gypsy wagon” caravans that other vendors had made to sleep in or use as booths for selling their wares. In 2009 Peter and Donna built their own tiny home on wheels, designed after a typical late 19th century Redding Wagon. They document their trips around the country on their blog, when they bring their artists’ books, teach book arts workshops, and talk about making books as art. They are avid nature enthusiasts who like to seek out and experience the beauty of the many different landscapes found across the USA.
“Being a book artist by Peter Thomas
Being a book artist is more than just making books; it’s living and breathing them. It’s about becoming so involved with the subject matter that the physical attributes of the book reveal themselves. It’s about listening to the materials invoke the proper text. It’s about loving those materials and knowing them so well that we feel their desire to be used in the book we are making. We didn’t begin our artistic careers planning to be artists of the book. It was more a case of being called, inspired with the desire to make a Good Book: one that, through the materials, in the text, and by the visual and tactile impact, will move the viewer from the everyday to a new place, a place that stirs the soul.“
Song of the Open Road by Walt Whitman
Afoot and light-hearted,
I take to the Open Road,
Healthy, free, the world before me,
The long brown path before me,
leading wherever I choose.
Our delightful copy of the Song of the Open Road resides in a cozy and custom built enclosure.
To read more about the work and travels of Peter and Donna Thomas, please visit their website:
This year, UNCG recognized Juneteenth by creating “a walking tour of significant, historical locations on UNCG’s campus that demonstrate steps towards liberation and equality for African Americans at UNCG and in society.” Please read more about each stop on the tour by selecting this link.
Erin Lawrimore presenting
Erin Lawrimore, University Archivist and Engagement Coordinator, provided an engrossing presentation about the history of African Americans at UNCG and their contributions. After the presentation, attendees were invited to a reception and the official opening of the Passport to Juneteenth@ UNCG exhibit housed in the Hodges Reading Room.
Participants viewing materials in Hodges Reading Room
The Passport to Juneteenth pop-up exhibit was available from June 19th through June 30th, 2023. This exhibit was an immersive experience which incorporated resources from Rare Books, University Archives, Manuscripts, and the Women Veterans Historical Project. The display materials spanned from 1773 to 2023 and included not only printed materials but also textiles, photographs, artifacts, artwork, and oral histories. A gallery of images is shown below, highlighting the variety of collections which were included. This exhibit came together due to the collaborative efforts of each curator in SCUA.
Exhibit table highlighting the Carole Boston Weatherford Collection.
Carole Boston Weatherford is a New York Times best-selling author and the award-winning author of numerous books for young people. Her work often tackles tough subjects that spark curiosity and critical thinking. These include topics such as: jazz and photography, slavery, post-Civil War Reconstruction, and the Jim Crow era. Her books cover the genres of poetry, biography, nonfiction, and historical fiction.
Wall featuring the Black Lives Matter Art of Amari Brown.
During the Summer 2020 marches protesting the death of George Floyd at the hands of law enforcement, an army of artists descended upon the plywood-shuttered stores of downtown Greensboro, NC, answering the pandemic of police violence against the Black community with beauty and messages of unity and hope. One of these artists was Amari Brown, a Greensboro local, who painted several murals on Elm Street. Amari Brown’s art is inspired by the heroes of the comic book world. Brown was particularly interested in using his style of art to reach out to children witnessing the marches, inspiring them to be heroes of social justice.
Exhibit table displaying the letters formerly located on the UNCG Auditorium.
In 2014, an ad hoc committee was formed to gather information for the Board of Trustees to use in determining whether to remove Governor Aycock’s name from the auditorium. This committee explored the historical connection between Aycock and UNCG, reported on renaming processes at other institutions, and collected feedback from the campus community through two public forums and an online survey.
In February 2016, the Board of Trustees recommended the removal of Aycock’s name from the auditorium. They found that “while given Governor Charles B. Aycock had many accomplishments, Governor Aycock’s beliefs, actions, and resulting reputation related to matters of racial discrimination are contrary to the best interests of the University given its current mission and values.”
The metal letters were removed and transferred to the Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives.
Materials from the Betty H. Carter Women Veterans Historical Collection
To recognize the contributions of African American women in the United States military, there were items from the Betty H. Carter Women Veterans Historical Project. The oral history of Millie Dunn Veasley, who served in the all African American 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, was included as well as Jean Moore Fasse’s oral history and published memoir, amongst others.
Table holding a variety of Manuscript collections, demonstrating Black contributions to civic organizations, music, and social justice
SCUA’s Manuscript collections include a variety of holdings demonstrating African American contributions to civic organizations with the Greater Greensboro/Reidsville Club of the National Association of Negro Business and Professional Women’s Clubs; to music with the scrapbook featuring Wilhelmenia Fernandez, soprano; and to justice with Judge Elreta Alexander’s papers.
Exhibit table featuring selections from Rare Books
The Rare Books collection houses works written by Black authors beginning with Phillis Wheatley’s Poems published in London in 1773 while she remained enslaved, Frederick Douglass’ first autobiography published in 1845, to Harriet Jacob’s fictionalized account of her life as a free colored woman in the North, published in 1859, to Alex Haley’s Roots, and artists’ books published in the 21st century.
Exhibit table featuring materials from Rare Books, including artists books
Exhibit highlighting early African American employees at State Normal School, now UNCG
Collections housed in University Archives document early African American employees at the State Normal School, now UNCG. One of the best known is Ezekiel Robinson, who served for 43 years in a position now equivalent to the Head of Facilities. Mr. Robinson had worked for Charles Duncan McIver at Peace College, now William Peace University, in Raleigh.
As the college and university grew, so did its need for more Facilities staffing. This table held materials from the 1940s to 2020s documenting those staff members’ contributions and oral histories.
Materials about UNCG Housekeeping and Facilities Staff
Exhibit table highlighting JoAnne Smart Drane’s and Betty Tillman’s experience as the first African American students to enroll at Woman’s College, now UNCG, and the Woolworth Sit-In in 1960.
In the fall of 1956, two African American students, JoAnne Smart Drane and Betty Tillman, enrolled at Woman’s College, now UNCG. This exhibit table included materials related to their time at Woman’s College, as well as the 1960 sit-in held at the Woolworths lunch counter on South Elm Street in Greensboro, NC. Of special note was the original news clipping, saved by JoAnne Smart Drane’s mother and presented to Chancellor Patricia Sullivan in 2004, about the 1960 Woolworths sit-in.
Neo Black Society Choir Robes
The Black Power Forum, held on campus in 1967, provided an impetus to create the Neo Black Society at UNCG. Soon after, the first full-time African American faculty member, Dr. Ernestine Small was hired.
Growth of the African American Alumni, African American Studies program, and African American fraternal organizations on campus.
The 1970s-1990s brought tremendous growth in the number of African American students, alumni, and faculty members, as well as the creation of African American Studies, now African American Diaspora Studies. This program grew from two courses in 1982 to a bachelor’s degree program in Fall 2002. The materials on exhibit documented the process involved in creating such a program of study and highlighted the successful contributions of past directors, such as Dr. Frank Woods.
Exhibit of materials from 1990s – 2023, including Chancellor Gilliam’s installation program.
The 1990s to 2020s saw increased recognition of the important contributions made by African Americans at UNCG. The African American institutional Oral History Memory Project, can trace its origins to conversations with the University Archivist in 2008. Now the collection, begun in 2010, holds over 40 oral histories of former African American UNCG alumni.
This exhibit was made possible by the contributions of curators and staff of the Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections & University Archives: Jennifer Brooks, Patrick Dollar, Suzanne Helms, Scott Hinshaw, Beth Ann Koelsch, Stacey Krim, Erin Lawrimore, Sean Mulligan, Audrey Sage, Carolyn Shankle, Kathelene McCarty Smith, and Nathan West. Photos courtesy of Scott Hinshaw and Carolyn Shankle. Curation of the exhibit: Carolyn Shankle.
Recently, the Southern Pines Civic Club donated a copy of their only cookbook to the North Carolina Cookbook Collection. Published ca. 1920s, this cookbook strives to live up to the founding principles of the club:
To improve the sanitary conditions of the town
To foster the love for the beautiful
To educate the children in good citizenship
To welcome winter guests and to enlist their interest in making Southern Pines more attractive [1]
On the inside cover, facing the Preface, is a full-page advertisement for the Highland Pines Inn. The connection between the creation of the Southern Pines Civic Club and town development is as close as the connection between sister and brother, namely Helen Boyd Dull and James Boyd.
Detail of the Preface for the Southern Pines Civic Club Cook Book
The Highland Pines Inn was the first collaboration of Boyd and his fellow Princeton grad, architect Aymar Embury II. Built in 1912, it served to house winter guests after the loss of the Piney Woods Inn to a fire in 1910. Embry designed the “Colonial Revival style Highland Pines Inn [which] featured capacious porches punctuated by gabled pavilions. The grounds were planned by Alfred Yeomans, a landscape architect from Chicago and a Boyd relative.” [2] Alfred Yeomans, also known as A. B. Yeomans, would design the building plans for the Southern Pines Civic Club in 1925.
Detail of the Highland Pines Inn advertisement
But what about the recipes – certainly the main ingredient of any cookbook? The recipes in this cookbook are of the narrative variety as would be found in Fannie Farmer’s The Boston Cooking School Cookbook, one of the most-widely known cookbooks of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. One other aspect of the recipes is that the writer assumes the reader knows how to cook. For example, in Mrs. A.C. Andrew’s recipe for ‘Surprise Cookies’, she does not tell you the temperature or length of time to bake these cookies. The art of cooking is usually an oral tradition, passed from one matriarch to the next generation. Recipes, and these community cookbooks by extension, are often the only written evidence that remains of those traditions.
Recipe for ‘Surprise Cookies’
I know that I would need to experiment several times before I determined how Mrs. A.C. Andrew expected these cookies to turn out. The women who contributed to this cookbook certainly knew how to welcome both family and guests to their table.
SCUA supports student success by providing opportunities for internships, capstone projects, practicums, student workers, and volunteers. Their projects include conducting research and archival processing, creating libguides and story maps, creating exhibits, and writing blog posts. Some of the experiences in SCUA lead to external internships and job opportunities in the field.
Summer Internship: Country Music Hall of Fame
Tori Hinshaw, upcoming second year UNCG Masters of Museum Studies.
This summer, Tori Hinshaw is working as the graduate intern for the Collections Department at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville, TN. As the collections intern, she is working hands-on with clothing, stage costumes, manuscripts, photographs, and recorded sound. From accessions, to exhibit de-installations, to research for upcoming exhibits, her time at the CMHOF will be an extremely valuable learning experience.
Capstone Project: North Carolina Cookbooks
by Adrienne Johnson
Community cookbooks originated as a means to raise money for civic causes. If the roof of a church needed replacing, for example, the ladies of the congregation collaborated to gather their favorite recipes into one book, which would be sold for the proceeds necessary for therepairs. Women sold cookbooks to support churches, schools, and other community organizations, while also sharing their own heritage and traditions. But these cookbooks served other purposes as well. While researching, I learned that as community cookbooks gained popularity, progressive women such as suffragettes sometimes hid propaganda within the pages of these books, knowing that here, their messages would be safe from the eyes of men. The legacy of these enterprising women could not have found a better home than the Special Collections and University Archives (SCUA) at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, a school originally founded for women.
With my Capstone Experience at an end, I am putting down the proverbial pencil to the Research Guide I created, that features SCUA’s collection of North Carolina community cookbooks. I would happily keep working with these books for years to come, researching North Carolina foodways, evolving kitchen technologies, changes in artwork, nutritional trends, wartime effects on food availability, and most importantly the women’s history recorded in these pages.
The guide features a page for each North Carolina region, the Mountains, the Piedmont, the Intracoastal, and Tidewater. Along with recipes and advertisements from the books, I have included modern-day attractions each area has to offer, and recommendations of restaurants. I also have pages dedicated to the Western North Carolina Cheese Trail, the North Carolina BBQ Trail, and the Surry Sonker Trail. My intention was to weave North Carolina’s culinary history with its present.
To promote the cookbook collection, I created an information table and hosted an event featuring them. While we provided Krispy Kreme donuts and Lance Crackers (both products originated in North Carolina) it was the featured postcards that really drew onlookers over. I selected books from each North Carolina region for certain recipes, which were then printed on one side of each postcard, and the cover of the cookbook and SCUA’s information and access to my Libguide on the other side. As they looked over the postcards, people shared memories of their grandmother’s recipe cards and cooking. As food blogs take over the post the personal cookbook used to fill, newer generations will have very different memories indeed.
Detail of the front and back of one of the recipe cards
Students visiting the North Carolina Cookbook information table
In the research guide, I have represented the books currently cataloged, and I hope it will continue to evolve as others work with this collection. It has been a joy to work with this collection of cookbooks, which represent so much of North Carolina’s history, primarily that of women. It has been my privilege to work with everyone in the SCUA department. I appreciate all of their contributions to my work with these materials, and it has been fascinating to learn about their projects as well. My thanks especially to Kathelene Smith for coming up with the idea for this guide, and to Carolyn Shankle, for her guidance on the project.
Capstone Project: Artists’ Books
by Moni My Nguyen
My name is Moni My Nguyen, and I am a capstone student in UNCG’s Master’s of Library Science Program who did a project for the Special Collections and University Archives (SCUA) at UNCG. My capstone project aims to increase the discoverability and findability of artists’ books in our collection. Increasing findability means to assist a researcher who already knows what they are looking for, such as by adding subject headings in a library catalog. Discoverability means to increase the opportunities for serendipitous discovery of artists’ books, such as featuring artists’ books in an exhibition or social media post.
To increase findability, I began checking the collection and updating the department’s internal inventory. My first goal was to inspect the artists’ books in the collection to get a general idea of what the contents held and how the books were structured. In doing so, I was able to add more subject tags to the internal inventory. By adding important subject tags such as LGBTQ+, Women’s History, or BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color), SCUA staff can more easily curate an exhibition or pull materials for a class related to a certain subject.
Internal Artists’ Book Inventory Image: Moni Nguyen
While adding books to the internal inventory, I noticed some patterns in the collection, such as how some books were cataloged. This allowed me to discover more artists’ books outside the known collection of artists’ books, which will make it easier for SCUA staff to find these books when needed.
The Caterpillar Who is a Corps de Ballet by Lois Morrison Image: Audrey Sage
Another way I worked on findability was by updating the existing library guide. A library guide is an online resource that helps patrons and staff learn more about a specific subject by providing information on how to search and what resources may be useful. Similarly to the subject tags that I added in the internal catalog, I also added categories to the library guide for patrons. For example, I added a subheading about international book fairs and exhibitions for students and researchers who may not be in the United States. Additionally, I added a subheading of “World Languages” for patrons seeking artists’ books who do not speak English or are learning another language.
Printed Matter New York Book Fair (2019) Image: Cid Roberts
I also added links for those who wish to purchase artists’ books, such as websites for publishers and artists. I included a link to a website that lists all the locations of art-o-mats in the U.S. As well as purchasing books, many of the fairs and exhibitions listed allow people to become vendors. If artists are interested in selling their books, fairs and exhibits are a great way to start.
Left: Amber by Lois Morrison and Right: Motherboard by Rebecca Miller Images: Moni Nguyen
One of my concerns with the library guide was that it would not be visually appealing enough for patrons to navigate. For this reason, I paid careful attention to the layout, included images, and incorporated hyperlinks to make searching easier for researchers. I learned quite a bit about copyright issues for artists’ books and what can or cannot be posted.
Earlier in the semester, I learned that there needed to be some diversification of the artists’ book collection. I developed a wish list of artists’ books that fit this goal and were cost-effective enough for us to purchase for the collection. I searched online in multiple languages and on different search engines that are widely used around the world to discover more artists’ books that may not have been found due to a language barrier, search engine optimization, or simply because artists’ books are not as well known as other books.
Moni Nguyen installing her exhibition of Miniature Artists’ Books Image: Suzanne Helms
In early April, I worked on creating an exhibit of miniature artists’ books. My goal was to increase the collection’s discoverability. The exhibition of miniature artists’ books is on the first floor of the Jackson Library near the reference desk through the end of May. Due to the popularity of miniature books, I expect the exhibit will attract the attention of patrons in the library as they walk by. Additionally, the library was able to purchase some miniature Japanese artists’ books from the wish list I developed for the exhibit. These new acquisitions will be used often in instructional sessions related to the collection.
With this experience, I learned just how much time it takes to curate a collection, which was not something I expected. I learned methods for making the collection more interactive, such as creating QR codes for viewers to provide feedback. Additionally, I promoted the exhibition by creating digital advertisements for monitors in the library as well as an image and information to be posted to the library’s social media.
Exhibition promotion posted to @uncglibraries Image: Moni Nguyen
I hope this project will help staff and students discover and find artists’ books a little more easily than before. The internal inventory is intended to support the staff as they prepare for instructional sessions and future exhibitions. The library guide will help staff, students, or any patron that wishes to gain more information about the collection. My contributions to the wish list of additional artists’ books will expand and diversify the collection. I have learned how social media platform posts and exhibitions spread awareness and increase the discoverability of collections. In my career in the near future, my capstone experience will help me curate an exhibition, create an online resource guide, develop collections, and impact how patrons and staff can interact with a collection.
Three recent additions to the 20th Century Poster Collection include these World War I era posters demonstrating the role women played in supporting the war efforts. From left to right, “Women of America Work for Victory,” which depicts “Columbia” as participating in the home canning work promoted by the National War Garden Commission, “Red Cross Christmas Roll Call: Where Columbia Sets Her Name, Let Every One of You Follow Her,” and “Women! : Help America’s Sons Win the War,” created to promote the Second Liberty Loan of 1917.
Three World War I Era Posters
The Lelia Judson Tuttle Papers and Chinese Artifacts Addition
Tuttle’s great-grandson donated additional materials related to Tuttle’s time teaching in China, including correspondence, monographs, pamphlets, photographs, textiles, and artifacts.
Tuttle’s Traveling Trunk
RARE BOOKS
EDWARD GOREY’S TUNNEL CALAMITY
Edward Gorey brought his wit to life in Tunnel Calamity, originally published as one of the Magic Windows Books™ by G.P. Putnam’s Sons in 1984. The Magic Windows books were marketed as “A Series of Extraordinary Scenes in Three Dimensions”, an apt format for Gorey’s ominous art. What exactly is this calamity – why it is the “unexpected appearance of the ULUUS (thought to have been extinct for over a century) in the tunnel connecting East Shoetree and West Radish, St. Frumble’s Day, 1892.” This accordion tunnel book has a cello window pane on the front cover to allow the viewer to explore the interior scene.
Interior and Exterior View of Tunnel Calamity
EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATIONAL INTERACTIVE SPECIMEN
F. N. Paris was a publisher of French games and novelties active in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Many of their games had educational themes that helped developed manual skills in children. Paper weaving was one of the most popularly practiced Froebel Gifts, but the proliferation of die cut puzzles at the turn of the century made these fragile endeavors a short-lived fascination. This is “Pochette No. 1,” ostensibly from a series illustrating Aesop’s fables. The images are printed using the chromolithograph method and then cut to form the strips for weaving.
Tissage Imagé / [Pictorial Weaving]: Le Renard et La Cigogne & Le Loup et l’Agneau
MORRIS COX, POET
Morris Cox is now most well-known for the books he created with Gogmagog Press, which he printed on a modified table top press in his home. Cox was also a graphic artist, a painter, a sculptor, and a poet. It is from this creative outlet that he and four other poets began the little magazine, Format. In the inaugural issue, they describe the impetus behind this publication:
There is no shortage of little magazines for poets writing in English, whatever their style. But from the point of view of the poet it all takes too long. The four contributors to this issue all work for a living. Our leisure time is short, as is most peoples’. We feel the need for a clearing house for our current work, so that it will stop nagging at our minds, and leave us free to move on. We also feel that the limited space available in the established “Little Mags” leads to impossible questions of choice. Hence FORMAT, which will be published whenever any of us has enough material to make an issue worth while, based on an ideal of three per year.
Issues Numbered 1 – 3 of Format
TREE OF CODES / JONATHAN SAFRAN FOER
One of only five proof copies issued of Foer’s critically-acclaimed sculptural object / artists book, based on his cutting-away of most of the words from Bruno Schulz’s influential book The Street of Crocodiles to form a new narrative object. The five proof copies were issued in plain stiff white wraps, with printed wraparound pastedown label. This copy has wear to covers and some minor wear to text; there are two ink squiggles on front cover that could possibly be signatures.
Cover and Interior Page of Tree of Codes
WOMEN VETERANS HISTORICAL PROJECT
71 issues of the U.S. Naval Reserve Newsletters, 1949 and 1946-1955. The newsletters include articles and announcement about the Navy WAVES.
1943 Recruiting Poster. Artist: John Falter and WWII Welcome Home Victory Banner for a daughter in military service. Note that “daughter” was added by the veteran’s family.
American Red Cross Recreation Worker Mary Reamer Croninger correspondence, 1943-1945. Croninger was attached to the 51st U.S. Army General Hospital in the Pacific Theater of WWII.
1943 Paper Dolls Women’s Army Corps and Navy WAVES, Whitman Publishing. The paper outfits include selections of both civilian outfits and military uniforms.
We just added a large collection of letters, scrapbooks, photographs created by Pearl Myrtle Wasem, who was a WWII Coast Guard SPAR stationed at the 17th District in San Francisco. Wasem worked at with the photography department and collected MANY photographs.
UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES
Photograph of Lula Martin McIver
Photograph of Lula Martin McIver
This photograph of Lula Martin McIver was found by librarians at Alamance County Public Libraries among the family photos of the late Deroy Fonville of Burlington, North Carolina. Knowing that it would be a meaningful addition to the University Archives Historic Print Collection, they donated it to the Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives. Lula Verlinda Martin McIver was the wife of the school’s founder, Charles Duncan McIver. Although her husband passed away in 1906, she continued to live in their family home on campus until her own death in 1944.
