Float Bridge, Hertford, NC

hertfordfloatbridge

The real photo postcard from ca. 1906 shows a wooden float (or pontoon) bridge in Hertford, NC.  This bridge was built in 1784, and was attached at one end but only tethered at the other.  If a boat needed to pass through, they would untie the bridge, let it float down river so the boat could continue, and then reel in the bridge and reattach it.  According to one source, the bridge was supported by wooden whiskey barrels (“Town of Hertford Bi-Centennial,” 1958).

The wooden bridge was replaced in 1895 with an S-shaped bridge made of iron.  An excerpt from the message written on the front of the card reads, “An iron bridge now replaces this unique structure.”  The bridge was again replaced in 1929 by the State Highway Commission.

Vastly Improved Roland Giduz Collection Finding Aid now available

Leroy Frasier, John Lewis Brandon, and Ralph Frasier (left to right), all from Durham, North Carolina, on the steps of South Building after completing court-ordered registration at UNC, 15 September 1955. Roland Giduz, photographer, negative 979.

We’ve recently extracted from an in-house database more than 4,500 records representing approximately 19,000 negatives made by Roland Giduz in and around Chapel Hill between 1947 and 1970, and have made that information available through a new finding aid.  Prior to this improved finding aid, researchers only had this degree of subject access by working directly with staff who could search the database.  So please follow the link to the finding aid and explore!

Above is Giduz’s historic photograph of Leroy Frasier, John Lewis Brandon, and Ralph Frasier (left to right), all from Durham, standing on the steps of South Building at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill after completing their court-ordered registration on 15 September 1955 to become UNC’s first three African American undergraduate students.  The photograph serves as a tribute to Ralph Fraiser, who will be speaking at the Sonja Haynes Stone Center this Friday, 19 February, from 12:30 to 2:00 P.M.