Memorabilia Moment – Page 5

New in the collection: Ronnie Milsap pass

“Born blind into an Appalachian family [in Robbinsville, N.C.] named Millsaps, he went to live with grandparents at age one. According to his 1990 autobiography, Almost Like a Song, his mother regarded his blindness as divine punishment and asked his father to take Ronnie away.

“At age six, having heard gospel music at church and country music via radio, he entered the State School for the Blind in Raleigh, North Carolina. Despite harsh treatment, he blossomed musically, learning the school’s classical techniques while absorbing pop styles available on radio….”

— From Ronnie Milsap’s Country Music Hall of Fame bio (2014)

This pass is from Milsap’s 2015 show at the Mystic Lake Casino Hotel in Prior Lake, Minn.

New in the collection: S. LaRose watch parts tin

S. LaRose Inc. was a familiar presence in downtown Greensboro from 1939 until its dissolution in 2006. The family-run, mail-order wholesaler must’ve distributed thousands of these watch-parts tins, if how many appear at flea markets and on eBay is any indication. This one is an inch in diameter, but at least two larger versions survive.

LaRose Properties remains one of downtown’s most significant property owners and developers.

New in the collection: Sir Walter room key

“In the 1950s, back in the days when legislators stayed in downtown Raleigh’s Hotel Sir Walter during legislative sessions, you couldn’t buy a drink anywhere in town.

“And didn’t need to. Each of the 45 liquor salesmen who supplied N.C. ABC stores had three cases of liquor a month to give away – and much of it was delivered to the loading dock of the Hotel Sir Walter and quickly stored (wink, wink) in a room ostensibly rented to A.B. Carter. Notice anything cute about Mr. Carter’s initials?

“A memorable front page from the News & Observer on May 28, 1957 featured seven photographs of liquor arriving, being unloaded, carried into the hotel and delivered to certain rooms by a bellhop around noon. The local Alcoholic Beverage Control board office was notified at 3 p.m. and sprang into action. And sprang. And sprang. After, oh, about an hour and a half, ABC agents finally entered the room where the contraband booze had been taken – and it was empty. What a surprise. The newspaper’s photos proved what had happened, and once again the state’s ABC law enforcement officers looked like Keystone Kops – without as much action….”

— From “Liquor in North Carolina, from A to C” by Jack Betts in the Charlotte Observer (Dec. 3, 1995)

“A.B. Carter” was actually Frank Sims, former lobbyist for the Association of County ABC Boards, who was later fined $100 for registering at a hotel under an assumed name.

Forgive me if I like to imagine one of those deliveries being made to this key’s Room 940.

New in the collection: Auto safety pamphlet

“1 — I will not hang on the back of trucks, busses, automobiles, or horse drawn vehicles while skating.

“3 — I will not play baseball, football, basketball or roll hoops on or near the streets or highways.

“7 — I promise not to stand on the side of the highway and ‘hitch-hike’ (beg rides)….

“9 — I will not climb telephone, telegraph or electric light poles.”

— From the “10 Point Safety Pledge” proffered in “Worse Than War,” a booklet published by the Carolina Motor Club (1930s?)

Although the cover illustration suggests World War I, the Lost Cause scores a vivid walk-on role:

“Almost a century later we read of that futile war between the states, with brother fighting against brother, that sent the southerners back home to desolate plantations, with their negroes gone, their wives and children quivering with hunger, and their brothers sleeping on the battlefields at Gettysburg….”

New in the collection: Billy Graham pinback, LA 1963

“Since beginning his ministry in 1947, evangelist Billy Graham conducted more than 400 crusades in 185 countries and territories on six continents…. “Graham gained national prominence after his 1949 Los Angeles crusade, which took place in a circus tent that held 6,000 people. Originally scheduled for three weeks, the campaign was extended an additional five weeks.

“Graham returned to L.A. for his 1963 Southern California crusade, which was held at the Coliseum Aug. 15 – Sept. 8. The final-night crowd of 134,254 remains an all-time Coliseum record.”

— From “The Greatest Non-Sports Moments in Los Angeles Coliseum History” by Discover Los Angeles (Feb. 25, 2021)

A sample from Graham’s Los Angeles sermons and one from the crusade’s 5,000-voice choir.

New in the collection: Kazoo from Moogseum

“Robert Moog changed the landscape of music forever when he launched the first commercial synthesizer in the ‘60s. Since then, the Moog name has become synonymous with synthesis and iconic pieces of hardware like the Minimoog. Now, the Bob Moog Foundation has opened the Moogseum — a museum dedicated to Moog’s work and other important music devices — in Asheville, North Carolina….”

— From “There’s now a museum dedicated to Robert Moog….” by Dani Deahl in The Verge (May 26, 2019)

In 1978 Moog moved from New York state to Asheville, where he taught music technology at UNC Asheville for several years. He died in 2005 at age 71.

Now about that kazoo….

New in the collection: hardware store tags

Before big box chains such as Lowe’s and Home Depot, few towns lacked a locally-owned hardware store or two.

These paper price tags are modest reminders of Wyatt Hardware (founded 1881) in Raleigh, Smith Hardware (1899) in Goldsboro and Odell Hardware (1872) in Greensboro.

New in the collection: Grateful Dead pinback

The Grateful Dead have disbanded, WBCY has gone silent and the Charlotte Coliseum has been downpurposed and thrice renamed. But this pinback button from the Dead’s 1979 concert has survived unscathed. And so has this flyer from the band’s 1991 performance at the second Charlotte Coliseum.

New in the collection: Gastonia strike photo

“The ILD [International Labor Defense] sent Karl Marx Reeve, editor of its monthly paper, the Labor Defender…. Reeve stayed for less than two months, but later he would considerably inflate his role in the strike.”

— From “Gastonia 1929: The Story of the Loray Mill Strike” by John A. Salmond” (2014)

Communist activist Karl Marx Reeve was also known in this ACME Newspictures caption and elsewhere as Carl Reeves.

New in the collection: O. Henry Hotel sticker

“The original O. Henry Hotel was built in downtown Greensboro in 1919 at the southwest corner of Bellemeade and North Elm Streets. The first of the city’s modern hotels, the O. Henry was built through local stock subscriptions….

“Within six weeks after opening, it could not accommodate all the guests. An adjoining tobacco warehouse was converted to take care of the overflow. Having 300 rooms, the O. Henry was one of the largest and finest hotels in the state for many decades.

“As interstates were built and the city grew away from downtown, business declined and the hotel closed in the ’60s. The original O. Henry Hotel was razed in 1979.”

— From “Original O. Henry Hotel.”

This luggage label is from the O. Henry’s time (1936 on) as a link in the Atlanta-based Dinkler Hotels chain.

In 1998 a new O.Henry Hotel with 131 rooms opened 3 miles west of the original site.