“In 1996, I got a call from a friend who was (and is) a historian in North Carolina, Dick Kohn. Prof. Kohn suggested that I might be able to help a young Army officer completing his Ph.D. studies at the University of North Carolina. Kohn was concerned that Maj. H.R. McMaster might soon be in […]
Archive for February, 2017
McMaster’s career survived without ‘toning down’ book
Posted in Just A Bite, tagged dick kohn, h r mcmaster, perry m smith on February 27, 2017 | Leave a Comment »
Whites feared ‘trifles’ could grow into ‘thunder-bolts’
Posted in Just A Bite, tagged jim crow in nc, leon f. litwack, trouble in mind on February 25, 2017 | Leave a Comment »
“Comparing race relations in the early 20th century to what they had been like after Reconstruction, a [white] North Carolinian lamented the extent to which blacks showed disdain for the old customs, monopolizing, for example, the inner side of the sidewalks once deemed the white man’s ‘right of way.’ “This was no small matter. Such […]
Artifact of the Month: Saunders Hall plaque
Posted in Artifact of the Month, UNC History on February 24, 2017 | Leave a Comment »
This month’s Artifact of the Month is the plaque that appeared on the building now known as Carolina Hall. Completed in 1922, the academic building originally got its name from class of 1854 graduate William Lawrence Saunders. Leading into 2015, UNC students objected to Saunders’ reported membership in the Ku Klux Klan and issued a call […]
When textile mills were no match for cottage industry
Posted in Just A Bite, tagged Joseph Hewes, lawrence a peskin, manufacturing revolution, Michael Schenck, nc industry on February 22, 2017 | Leave a Comment »
“Rather than depending on large, merchant-capitalized manufactories, a flexible system [used during the Revolutionary War] relied primarily on independent farm families for production. Women and children could manufacture clothing and other products at home when time permitted, and either merchants or the state government would purchase the finished goods to be distributed where needed. These […]
Crossing Hoover, RFK softened view of Junius Scales
Posted in Just A Bite, tagged communist party, j edgar hoover, junius scales, robert f kennedy on February 18, 2017 | Leave a Comment »
“Robert Kennedy’s Justice Department weighed in against a reduction in [Junius] Scales‘s sentence [for being a member of the Communist Party]….But Bobby was changing. He had begun to distinguish saying provocative things from actually doing something wrong. He was more open to admitting a mistake. He was also less afraid to break with the unbending […]
Keeping it Sweet! Recipes from the Collection
Posted in Recipes on February 15, 2017 | Leave a Comment »
Desserts from Recipes we love to cook. Maple Puffs from The Pantry shelf : 1907-1982. Schaum Torte from Carolina cooking. Rhubarb Brown Bettey from The Gertrude Bobbitt Circle cook book : recipes of the Southland, yesterday and today. Brownie Cup Cakes from The Charlotte cookbook. Four Flavor Pound Cake from Count our blessings : 75 […]
Chelsea Hotel: Thomas Wolfe slept (and wrote) here
Posted in Just A Bite, tagged chelsea hotel, thomas wolfe on February 15, 2017 | Leave a Comment »
“The writer [Thomas Wolfe] spent the last years of his life at the Chelsea. In Room 829, he was known to have produced the manuscript for the novels ‘You Can’t Go Home Again’ and ‘The Web and the Rock,’ which were published after he died in 1938. “He drew great inspiration from roaming the hallways, […]
Danny Thomas went for a spin (in more ways than one)
Posted in On This Day, tagged andy griffith show, danny thomas show, mayberry nc, tv spinoffs on February 15, 2017 | Leave a Comment »
On this day in 1960: On “The Danny Thomas Show,” Sheriff Andy Taylor, played by Andy Griffith, arrests nightclub performer Thomas for speeding through sleepy Mayberry, N.C. The episode introduces the Taylor character and sets up television’s first series spinoff — “The Andy Griffith Show.”
Naming children ‘in a rather unusual fashion’
Posted in Just A Bite, tagged unusual names, vermont royster on February 14, 2017 | Leave a Comment »
“Ms. Smith is but one of many Texans and former Texans named Texas. It’s not their nickname but the formal name given to them by their parents that appears on their birth certificates, IDs and, in some cases, obituaries….None of the other states I’ve lived in had such a hold on its residents that people […]
