Unknown

Terry Sanford speaking at podium at unknwn event
Terry Sanford speaking at podium at unknown event.

Back in May, a post called “Unidentified” asked  A View to Hugh visitors to explore the online collection of Hugh Morton images by searching on the term “unidentified.”  That post garnered more than fifty identifications!  While updating those records with their new information, I began to see another tantalizing word: “unknown.”
I just did a search for “unknown” in the online collection and the search results totaled 368 records.  Surely we can make a dent in that number!  I’ll kick off the party.
While working on a future post, I came across the following three images.  The photograph above, which is not part of the online collection, is the first frame on the strip of negatives, so Morton presumably made all of these photographs during the same event.
Charles Kuralt and Terry Sanford
Charles Kuralt and Terry Sanford

Charles Kuralt, Frank Porter Graham, and Barry Farber
Charles Kuralt, Frank Porter Graham, and Barry Farber

Charles Kuralt and Frank Porter Graham
Charles Kuralt and Frank Porter Graham

To me, three people were easily recognizable—North Carolina governor or soon-to-be governor Terry Sanford; one-day CBS television correspondent and possibly at the time Charlotte Observer reporter Charles Kuralt; and former University of North Carolina president Frank Porter Graham, who was then likely serving as the United Nations representative to India and Pakistan concerning a dispute during the long-running Kashmir Conflict.  The fourth person, radio talk show host Barry Farber, was “unknown” to me.  (Before I saw the identification I thought it was ABC News science editor Jules Bergman!)  But what is the event and location, probably around 1960, that brought together these four people—all of whom (including the photographer Hugh Morton) attended UNC?
If you can shed some light on this group of photographs, then please contribute your thoughts and/or identifications as a comment to this blog post.  For the rest of the “unknowns” in the online collection, please use the “online feedback form” link at the bottom of the Hugh Morton online image collection home page.  While viewing an image, click on the “reference url” link within the left side of the blue band in the upper portion of the record.  Copy and paste that URL—it will look similar to this

http://dc.lib.unc.edu/u?/morton_highlights,7381

—into the feedback form along with your identifications so I’ll know exactly which image or images you are writing about.
Happy explorations!  And who knows?  Any image identifications that reveal an interesting story could become a future blog post!

9 thoughts on “Unknown”

  1. An interesting set of photographs, Stephen.
    In image #1, the man at the dais in the left frame looks like East Carolina President Leo Jenkins…and I’m pretty sure the gentleman seated in the left frame is noted Hollywood and TV actor Shepperd Strudwick, from Hillsborough. He was a longtime friend of Kay Kyser…both were Playmakers at UNC.
    Here is a possible answer for where, what and when for these images:
    Checking the 1966 book, “Addresses and Papers of Governor Terry Sanford,” edited by Memory F. Mitchell…on page 165 is a synopsis of a speech given by Gov. Sanford on Saturday night, July 29, 1961, in Blue Ridge, NC (near Hendersonville), as he presented the Freedom Association World Peace Award to Dr. Frank Porter Graham at the Eighth Annual Southeastern World Affairs Institute.
    In the July 30, 1961 issue of the “Greensboro Daily News,” there is an Associated Press story titled “Dr. Graham is Paid Tribute.” The story talks about Sanford’s speech, but doesn’t give other details about the evening.
    Checking the “The Greensboro Record” for July 31, 1961, there is an AP story titled “Dr. Frank Graham Is Praised By Governor.” Again, the story is about the Governor’s speech with no details about others that may have been there.
    I don’t have access to the Hendersonville paper, but that might be a good place to check for other details about the event. Also, “The Asheville Citizen” and “The Asheville Times” might offer details as would Orville Campbell’s “Chapel Hill Weekly.” I don’t know if the “Daily Tar Heel” would have published in July, 1961 since only summer school would be underway.
    If the July 29, 1961 date is correct, then:
    – Governor Terry Sanford would be 43 years old and in his 7th month as NC Governor.
    – Charles Kuralt would be 26 years old and in his 2nd year as a CBS News Correspondent. At that point in 1961 he would be the anchor of “Eyewitness to History.” A program that likely would be done live and aired on Friday nights.
    – Barry Farber would be 31 years old and in is 2nd year as a radio talk show host.
    – Dr. Frank Porter Graham would be 74 years old.
    – Shepperd Strudwick would be 60 years old.
    – Leo Jenkins would be 48 years old and in his first year as East Carolina President.
    Just some thoughts.

  2. Thanks Lew and Julia. Gov. Terry Sanford was an honoree of the North Carolina Society of New York on December 15, 1961.

  3. Following up on Julia Morton’s comment. The North Carolina Society of New York honored Gov. Terry Sanford on December 15, 1961. That information I found in the 1961 book, “Addresses and Papers of Governor Terry Sanford,” edited by Memory F. Mitchell (page 498).
    I haven’t been able to find anything in the Greensboro or High Point newspapers about the Sanford event, but on the same page of the book is a citing for a UNC New York Alumni meeting held the night before the Sanford ceremony, December 14, 1961, at the Empire State Club in the Empire State Building. There are Associated Press stories about the alumni gathering, which honored Dr. Frank Porter Graham, in the Greensboro Daily News, Greensboro Record, and High Point Enterprise. There were 200 alumni at the gathering and Gov Sanford, UNC Chancellor William B. Aycock, and Mrs. Charles W. Tillett, alternate US delegate to the UN, all made speeches honoring Dr. Graham.
    There is an APwirephoto in the High Point Enterprise that shows Aycock, Tillett, Sanford, and Graham. Each of the men is wearing a large circular name tag and Graham is wearing a checkered tie. In the Morton photos, there are no name tags and Graham is wearing a solid dark tie.

  4. Many thanks, Lew. On 35mm roll film negatives, frames are often numbered with a frame number and then half of a frame over, with the frame number plus an “A”—so to borrow the metaphor, I’m glad that 1 and 1A are on the same frame!
    I did a quick check this morning in the Western Carolina Tribune (published weekly in Hendersonville) for late July and early August 1961, and in the Asheville Citizen for the dates around the Southeastern World Affairs Institute. The event was not mentioned in the former; the later mentioned Sanford’s name re the presentation of Graham’s award, but named none of the other attendees. (I do not think there was an Asheville Times at the time).
    Coincidentally, John Sprunt Hill died in Durham the same day that Graham received the award.
    On the other possible front, the Durham Morning Herald ran an article with a group photograph on North Carolina Society of New York meeting, but the reproduction of the photograph on the microfilm made from the Frank Porter Graham clipping file here was so bad that I couldn’t make much from it. It did have a background curtain like the one seen in the last two photographs above, however it looked like there was an elongated diamond in the fabric. I’ll have to see if I can find the actual clipping or if the newspaper microfilm is more legible. If it is the New York meeting, they met in the Empire State Club in the Empire State Building. People in the portrait, however, had large circular name tags, which are not showing in the images above.
    More later!

  5. I located the Durham Morning Herald clipping. The tie worn by Frank Porter Graham at the New York dinner is not the same as the in photographs in this post, and the backdrop curtain in New York photograph most definitely has a diamond pattern running across the top. Looks like the ball is back in the “Blue Ridge” court.

  6. Stephen, here are two more events to add to the ever-growing list as possible explanations for the “Unknown” set of Morton images.
    (1) In the 1962 UNC Yearbook (Yack) there is this on page 295:
    “One of the events of Consolidated University Day in September (1961) was an unveiling of a portrait of O. Max Gardner, presented by his widow and painted by New York Artist Albert Murray…Speakers on this occasion included Dr. Frank P. Graham, Governor Terry Sanford, and Secretary of Commerce Luther H. Hodges.”
    The event took place on Saturday, September 30, 1961, but there is no listing of Sanford making a speech on that day in the 1966 book, “Addresses and Papers of Governor Terry Sanford,” edited by Memory F. Mitchell. Both the “Greensboro Daily News” and the “High Point Enterprise” had stories of the unveiling in their October 1st editions. Each listed Sanford, Graham, Hodges, Gordon Gray and William Friday as speakers. The “Enterprise” story carried a picture of the portrait. No other guests were listed in either paper. A check in the “Daily Tar Heel” and the “Alumni Review” might offer more details. I remember Consolidated University Days (CU Day as it was called) during my time at UNC. It was always held on a Saturday in September when UNC played NCS in Kenan Stadium. As far as alumni returning for the day, it wasn’t as big as Homecoming, but it was a big deal. I don’t see any Morton images from the ’61 UNC-NC State game in the online collection.
    (2) On page 320 of the above-mentioned Sanford book, there is this Sanford speech listed. On February 26, 1963, “North Carolina Day” at the Sales Executives Club of New York City. The speech was designed to “sell North Carolina industry,” and was held in the ballroom of the Roosevelt Hotel. In attendance at the luncheon meeting were 800 Tar Heels who went with Sanford, about 500 members of the Sales Executive Club, and 150 North Carolinians living and working in metropolitan New York. The story of the meeting made the front page of the “Greensboro Record,” and the “High Point Enterprise” on February 26th, and the front page of the “Greensboro Daily News” on February 27th. In addition to Sanford, Roy H. Park and John M. Morehead spoke. Following the luncheon, Sanford held a news conference. The “Daily News” story included an AP photo of Sanford, James A. Farley, Board Chairman of Coca- Cola Export Corp., and model Jean Willard of Wilmington who was one of three hostesses. In the picture, which of course is black and white, Sanford is wearing a dark jacket with a solid dark tie, with a white handkerchief in the pocket. (No handkerchief in his pocket in the Morton photograph).
    So, the search goes on.

  7. Thanks Jack . . . the search does continue! I’ve been trying to find interior photographs of the Blue Ridge Assembly buildings to see why they may have looked like, but to no avail.

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