Wilson Library Invites Commencement Visitors for Open House May 11

Commencement visitors can step back in time during an open house at the Wilson Special Collections Library on Saturday, May 11. Continue reading

wilson_open_thumbwilson_open_thumbCommencement visitors can step back in time during an open house at the Wilson Special Collections Library on Saturday, May 11. Continue reading

Author James Reston, Jr. (’63) to Reflect on his Life in Writing at May 7 Program

reston_photo_thumbreston_photo_thumbJournalist and author James Reston, Jr. (’63) will reflect on his life as a writer and discuss two of his forthcoming books on Tuesday, May 7th at the Wilson Special Collections Library. Continue reading

reston_photo_thumbreston_photo_thumbJournalist and author James Reston, Jr. (’63) will reflect on his life as a writer and discuss two of his forthcoming books on Tuesday, May 7th at the Wilson Special Collections Library. Continue reading

Wait, wait . . . is that Carl Kasell?

Last Tuesday was a fun day at the office.  In the morning, library staff gave Carl Kasell a tour of Wilson Library.  Kassel, a UNC alumnus, returned to Chapel Hill for an evening event sponsored by the library moderated by … Continue reading

Carl Kasell and Stephen Fletcher

NPR’s Carl Kasell and North Carolina Collection Photographic Archivist Stephen Fletcher examine photographs in the Wilson Library Grand Reading Room, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Photograph by Mark Perry.

Last Tuesday was a fun day at the office.  In the morning, library staff gave Carl Kasell a tour of Wilson Library.  Kassel, a UNC alumnus, returned to Chapel Hill for an evening event sponsored by the library moderated by WUNC radio host Eric Hodge.  Kasell was a member of UNC’s class of 1956 (although he did not graduate, having been drafted into the United States Army after four years as a student).

Kasell’s tenure at National Public Radio began in 1975 as a part-time news announcer for Weekend Edition.  Starting in 1979 he was the voice of the network’s morning news for the next thirty years.  Since retiring from that role at NPR in 2009, Kasell became a “roving ambassador,” and continued as the judge and scorekeeper for the “Oddly Informative News Quiz” Wait Wait . . . Don’t Tell Me!, which debuted in January 1998.

As you might imagine, Kasell has received several awards during his sonorous career.  In 2004 the UNC School of Journalism and Mass Communication inducted Kasell into the North Carolina Journalism Hall of Fame.  In 2010 the National Radio Hall of Fame inducted Kasell into its ranks.  In March 2013 the North Carolina Press Association named Kasell “North Carolinian of the Year” for 2013, and the association made a wonderful biographical video available on their YouTube site.  Despite his stature in journalism, A View to Hugh has not been able to feature Kasell because Hugh Morton hadn’t photographed him, even though he been a co-founder of WUNC radio with Morton’s long-time friend Charles Kuralt.

Or so we thought.

Andy Griffith as Sir Walter Raleigh in The Lost Colony.  Carl Kasell, as Wanchese, is in the lower right corner of the photograph.

Andy Griffith as Sir Walter Raleigh in “The Lost Colony.”  Carl Kasell, as Wanchese, is in the lower right corner of the photograph.

We featured the above photograph a few years ago in a post about the comeback of The Lost Colony after a fire destroyed the production’s costumes and props.  Playing the role of Sir Walter Raleigh (right) is Andy Griffith.  But wait . . . wait!  Who is the fellow in the lower right corner wearing too much face paint?  None other than Carl Kasell!

As seen in the opening photograph, I showed Hugh Morton’s photograph to Mr. Kasell and he confirmed that that indeed was he in the corner.  The reference to too much face paint came from a story Kasell told during Tuesday evening’s event, when Andy Griffith told Kasell he had been a bit heavy handed in the makeup room before dress rehearsal.  Kasell confided that Griffith later helped him with a more appropriate application of face paint, and that Griffith was “a big, big help” during that season. (Kasell’s high school drama teacher was Clifton Britton, not Griffith as is often incorrectly stated on numerous web pages.)

We don’t know if Morton made the above photograph before or after that cosmetic lesson, but we now know the year Morton made the photograph: Kasell said it was 1952 after he had graduated from high school, and 1952 is the only year Kasell’s name appears in the official program.  And because we know what Kasell’s costume looked like, we can now identify other Morton photographs of Kasell.

Lillian Prince and Carl Kasell in The Lost Colony

Lillian Prince as Queen Elizabeth and Carl Kasell as Wanchese in “The Lost Colony,” 1952.

Kasell played the role of “Wanchese, an Indian chief.”  I believe as he looked at Morton’s photograph he dredged up from his memory a couple of his lines: “Mish-wi aga, Wingina” and “Wanchese no more chief.  Wanchese now king.”

Carl Kasell as Wanchese confronts Old Tom

Wanchese confronted by the character “Old Tom” holding his arquebus. “Get out of here, ye knavish rogues! Scat!”  Is this also Carl Kasell?  If so, Frederick Young played the part of Old Tom Harris in 1952.

If you couldn’t make the evening with Carl Kasell, you can watch a video recording of the event, which includes Kasell’s recollections from his performance in The Lost Colony while Morton’s photograph is projected on the screen.  Below is an image from a color transparency from the Morton collection not previously scanned.

Scene from The Lost Colony with Andy Griffith as Sir Walter Raleigh

This photograph is remarkably similar to the one that appears on the cover of the 1953 “The Lost Colony” souvenir program (see below).

1953 "The Lost Colony" Souvenir Program.

Cover of the 1953 edition of “The Lost Colony” Souvenir Program.

But least we think that the similarity between the two photographs means that Hugh Morton made the eventual 1953 cover photograph, too, here is a photograph published on page 35 of the 1952 souvenir program:

Lillian Prince and Carl Kasell pose for photographers

Lillian Prince and Carl Kasell pose during the 1952 annual press photographers day.

The cover photograph could have been made by any of the photographers above. . . . But wait . . . wait, don’t tell me!  Is that Hugh Morton (center right) among the press photographers?!

R.D.W. Connor: Professor, Historian, Archivist

Robert Digges Wimberly Connor, class of 1899, served as the first Archivist of the United States. He was born in Wilson on September 26, 1878. After graduating from UNC, Connor took teaching and administrative positions at several public schools in … Continue reading

connor_photo

Photograph of Connor, 1899. From the NCC Photographic Archives, Harry LeGare Watson Photographic Collection, P0023.

Robert Digges Wimberly Connor, class of 1899, served as the first Archivist of the United States. He was born in Wilson on September 26, 1878. After graduating from UNC, Connor took teaching and administrative positions at several public schools in North Carolina before becoming head of the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction’s Educational Campaign Committee. Around this time, he began his archival work as secretary of the North Carolina Historical Committee. In the late 1910s, Connor served on the UNC Board of Trustess and as president of the General Alumni Association. In 1921, Connor accepted the Kenan Professorship in History and Government. Connor was a well-liked professor and a prolific and respected scholar of North Carolina History.

Connor remained in Chapel Hill until 1934, when he was chosen by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to be the country’s first archivist. He served as head of the newly established National Archives for six years, successfully laying the groundwork for the monumental task of managing the records of the United States government.

connor_letter_new

Letter from Connor, 1941. From the Records of the Dept. of History, 40028, University Archives.

But Connor could not stay away from Chapel Hill—or teaching. So in 1941, he returned to the university, where he remained until his retirement in 1949. In a letter dated September 1941, Connor jokes with a colleague, “It must have been a rather severe shock to our good Dean, upon his return from his earthly heaven, to find that a hard-boiled administration, without his knowledge or consent, had dumped a decrepit ex-professor in his lap.”

For more information about Robert Digges Wimberly Connor, see his papers in the Southern Historical Collection (#2427). Also visit the Documenting the American South website for a complete biography.

A UNC Quiz: Academic Freedom and University History

In conjunction with the Wilson Library exhibit A Right to Speak and to Hear: Academic Freedom and Free Expression at UNC, the University Gazette has published a quick quiz about the history of free speech at the University. Continue reading

speaker_ban_150speaker_ban_150In conjunction with the Wilson Library exhibit A Right to Speak and to Hear: Academic Freedom and Free Expression at UNC, the University Gazette has published a quick quiz about the history of free speech at the University. Continue reading

Library Snapshot Day

Today is “Library Snapshot Day” on the UNC-Chapel Hill campus, so what better way for A Hugh to Hugh to participate than to highlight photographs of the library made by Hugh Morton.  Opened in 1929, The University Library was only … Continue reading

Today is “Library Snapshot Day” on the UNC-Chapel Hill campus, so what better way for A Hugh to Hugh to participate than to highlight photographs of the library made by Hugh Morton.  Opened in 1929, The University Library was only ten years old when Morton arrived as a student in the autumn of 1939.  Renamed Wilson Library in 1956, the building has been home for the library’s special collections since 1987, including Morton’s photographic legacy since 2006.

Wislon Library, circa 1946-1947

The University Library (now Wilson Library), University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Morton probably made this photograph with infrared film. It appears (cropped vertically) on cover of the April 1947 issue of THE ALUMNI REVIEW. Morton presented the Alumni Office with six photographs of campus in autumn of 1946, or the image may date from early 1947.

The photograph above dates from Morton’s post World War II days, but naturally he photographed The University Library as a student, too.  The Daily Tar Heel published the  two following photographs on September 26, 1941 to illustrate an article about remodeling and changes in the library.  The top image depicts the reserve and general reading room (what is now the Pleasants Family Assembly Room).Reserve and general reading room, The University Library

The photograph below shows the new browsing room and Bull’s Head Bookshop, at the time just moved from the first floor to the second.

Browsing Room and Bull's Head bookshopCharles E. Rush, University Librarian, made the changes because, “he felt the [undergraduate] students were either too timid or too rushed to get books on their fields other than those assigned.”  In the interest of comfort, Rush permitted students to smoke in the east end of the room, with ashtrays placed on the ends of the tables.  You can see an ashtray on the table in the top photograph.

University Librarian Charles Rush

University Librarian Charles E. Rush (right) with two unidentified men in The University Library. The index on far right is dated 1940. Rush became university librarian in May 1941.

A January 2012, A View to Hugh blog post on the UNC Information Center for Civilian Morale during World War II features a photograph made in the lobby of the library, which also includes Rush who had had begun his appointment at UNC merely half a year before the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

More photographs of Wilson Library can be seen in the online collection.

Carol Folt will join other important women on the Hill

The expected naming of Carol Folt as the next chancellor of UNC-Chapel Hill will mark the first time in the university’s 224-year history that a woman has held the top post. But Folt follows on the heels (pardon the pun) of several other women who have held significant positions with the University. Katherine “Kitty” Carmichael, […]

Portrait of Katherine Kennedy Carmichael

Katherine Kennedy Carmichael served as Dean of Women from 1946-1972.

The expected naming of Carol Folt as the next chancellor of UNC-Chapel Hill will mark the first time in the university’s 224-year history that a woman has held the top post. But Folt follows on the heels (pardon the pun) of several other women who have held significant positions with the University. Katherine “Kitty” Carmichael, pictured above, served as Dean of Women until her office was combined with Student Affairs in 1972. During Carmichael’s tenure the percentage of females in the student body increased from 16 percent to 37 percent. Author and UNC English professor recalled Carmichael’s strong example for women during the dedication of a dormitory named for the former women’s dean in 1987, noting that Carmichael was fond of saying “If God were satisfied with Adam, why did he make Eve so different?”

Women were first admitted to UNC as graduate students in 1897. In 1917, Clara S. Lingle was appointed Adviser to Women. She was succeeded in 1919 by Inez Koonce Stacy, who held the office until 1946 and during whose tenure (1942) the title of the office became Dean of Women. Stacy was married to Marvin Hendrix Stacy, who was Dean of the College of Liberal Arts at UNC and served as interim president of the University upon the death of Edward Kidder Graham during the flu epidemic of 1918 (President Stacy, himself, died from the flu a year later). Inez Stacy led efforts to build the first housing for women. Spencer Dormitory opened in 1925. Three other dorms for women were built during Stacy’s tenure—Kenan, McIver and Alderman. Stacy’s job title was changed to Dean of Women in 1941, one year before her retirement.

Other female leaders at UNC have included Sallie B. Marks, appointed a professor of elementary education in 1927 and the first woman to join the regular faculty; Mary Turner Lane, who founded the Women’s Studies program; and Gillian T. Cell, the first woman to be appointed to a tenure-track position in the UNC history department and, later, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. Historian Pamela Dean wrote about these women and more inWomen on the Hill, a pamphlet distributed at the dedication of Carmichael Dorm.

Carl Kasell and the Early Years of WUNC

When WUNC began airing NPR’s Morning Edition in 1980, it wasn’t the first time newscaster Carl Kasell’s famous voice had gone out on the station’s airwaves. In fact, when WUNC was dedicated as a student-run FM station in 1953, Kasell … Continue reading

Carl Kasell in the Daily Tar Heel, January 19, 1955 (he Daily Tar Heel, North Carolina Collection, Wilson Library)

Carl Kasell in the Daily Tar Heel, January 19, 1955 (The Daily Tar Heel, North Carolina Collection, Wilson Library)

When WUNC began airing NPR’s Morning Edition in 1980, it wasn’t the first time newscaster Carl Kasell’s famous voice had gone out on the station’s airwaves. In fact, when WUNC was dedicated as a student-run FM station in 1953, Kasell (class of 1956) was part of its first staff.  Kasell, who retired from Morning Edition in 2009 and now serves as the official judge and scorekeeper of NPR’s popular quiz show Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me! is returning to UNC next week to discuss his life and career in “An Evening With Carl Kasell.”

Script for a "Variety Vacationland" ad performed by Carl Kasell and Charles Kuralt in 1953 (Department of Radio, Motion Pictures, and Television Records #40086, University Archives, Wilson Library)

Script for a “Variety Vacationland” ad performed by Carl Kasell and Charles Kuralt in 1953 (Department of Radio, Motion Pictures, and Television Records #40086, University Archives, Wilson Library)

As an announcer and operations manager for the WUNC, Kasell spent much of his time on campus in Swain Hall, where WUNC operated from its founding until 1999. He lent his voice to programs including American Adventure, a series broadcast nationally by NBC in 1955. He announced upcoming segments, played parts in advertisements, and read news (including the outcomes of UNC basketball games).

In 1955, Kasell helped to engineer what was perhaps the first stereo broadcast on radio. While broadcasting a musical performance, WUNC collaborated with local station WCHL to set up a microphone on either side of the performers–one broadcasting to WUNC and the other to WCHL. Listeners were advised to turn on two radios on either side of a room, one tuned in to WUNC and the other to WCHL, and this created a stereo effect.

Charles Kuralt (l) and Carl Kasell (r) at the WUNC Dedication, March 13, 1953 (University of North Carolina Photographic Lab Collection #P0031, North Carolina Collection Photographic Archive, Wilson Library)

Charles Kuralt (l) and Carl Kasell (r) at the WUNC Dedication, March 13, 1953 (University of North Carolina Photographic Lab Collection #P0031, North Carolina Collection Photographic Archive, Wilson Library)

Join us Tuesday for “An Evening with Carl Kasell” at the Genome Sciences Building. Materials from University Archives related to Kasell’s time at WUNC–including photos, newspaper clippings, scripts, and more–will be on display during the reception preceding the program. The event is free and open to the public. The reception begins at 5:00, to be followed by the program at 5:30.

Event details for “An Evening With Carl Kasell”

New “Water at UNC-Chapel Hill” Exhibit Now in the Virtual Museum

Imagine lining up to draw your drinking water from the Old Well, trekking to Smith Hall (now Playmakers Theater) for a bath, or showering every other day (at the university’s suggestion) to save water during a severe drought. In connection … Continue reading

During the droughts of the 1960s and 1970s, water for irrigating athletic fields was brought to campus from surrounding creeks. (Yackety Yack, 1977, North Carolina Collection)

During the droughts of the 1960s and 1970s, water for irrigating athletic fields was brought to campus from surrounding creeks. (Yackety Yack, 1977, North Carolina Collection)

Imagine lining up to draw your drinking water from the Old Well, trekking to Smith Hall (now Playmakers Theater) for a bath, or showering every other day (at the university’s suggestion) to save water during a severe drought.

In connection with the university’s two-year “Water in Our World” theme, University Archives has added a new exhibit to the Carolina Story online museum highlighting the ways water has been a part of campus history—from the founding of the university among an “abundance of springs” to the water conservation efforts of today.

Check out the new exhibit at: https://museum.unc.edu/exhibits/water/

Another view of ’82

Wednesday afternoon was one of those times, like so many others in this line of work, where what you end up working on isn’t even on your radar when you step off the bus and head to the office.  Here’s … Continue reading

Wednesday afternoon was one of those times, like so many others in this line of work, where what you end up working on isn’t even on your radar when you step off the bus and head to the office.  Here’s what happened . . . .

Around 2:30 a new staff member in the the library’s Digital Production Center received a phone call from Yahoo! Sports requesting Hugh Morton photographs.  He asked me who should take the call, and I recommended he transfer the call to Keith Longiotti in our Research and Instructional Services Department.  Keith handles most of the image requests for the North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives.

Shortly after the call I saw an email that I had received before the phone call, but hadn’t seen because I had been away from my desk.  The email was from an associate producer at Yahoo! Sports, and had its beginnings on Tuesday with a referral from The Daily Tar Heel to the journalism school’s librarian Stephanie Brown.

Yahoo! Sports has been producing a series called “Memorable Moments: March Madness.”  Their last episode was to feature the 1982 NCAA men’s basketball championship game between UNC and Georgetown.  They requested photographs or footage from the game, mentioning that they had seen some Hugh Morton photographs in the online collection of Morton images, but nothing from the closing moments of the game.  The producer wrote,

I’m looking for any photos AFTER Michael Jordan’s go-ahead jumper with :17 left in the game.  Specifically Georgetown’s Fred Brown throwing the ball away to James Worthy during the subsequent play.  Anything of Worthy and/or Brown from the final moments (before the steal, during the steal, after the steal, huddles, shooting free throws, etc.) would be outstanding.

Stephanie replied that the Park Library did not hold such materials, and that she should talk to me about the Hugh Morton collection.  I wrote the associate producer immediately after I finished reading her email, telling her that I had read her email shortly after the telephone call.

If you are a regular reader of A View to Hugh, then you know only 8,000 of the 250,000 items in the Morton collection are online.  I told the associate producer that I would look in the remainder of the collection to see if I could locate any images that were not online.  The catch?  They needed images that day, or early Thursday at the latest.  (Luckily their offices are on the west coast so that gave me an additional three hours to work on the request.)  They had seen Morton’s photograph of the team huddle shown above, but not in the online collection.  Did we have it?  Did we have anything else?

Given their tight deadline and the proximity to closing time, we could have settled for the images they already seen and requested.  Keith sent them scans of the images they’d seen so they could get started.  I couldn’t fathom, however, that Hugh Morton would not have photographed the pivotal closing moments unless he had been on the opposite end of the court.  That, coupled with an opportunity to give the Morton collection some national or even international exposure was too good to pass up.  I jumped on it.

First I checked for scans saved on our image server, but not used in the online collection.  (Yes, there are thousands of them!)  To do that, I had to review all the prints, negatives, and slides from the games, because the scan’s file names are written on the storage enclosures.  The huddle scene above was previously scanned, but not included online.

But look at what else I found that wasn’t scanned:

P081_1982NCCAfinal_Worthy 01

After watching the closing moments of the game on YouTube, I was convinced the scene above was James Worthy driving the basketball down court after stealing Fred Brown’s errant pass.  The steal and drive happened right in front of Morton.  He snapped the camera shutter just a moment before Worthy was intentionally fouled by Georgetown’s Eric Smith (#32).  Eric “Sleepy” Floyd (#21) is on the left.  Both Floyd and Worthy are from Gastonia, North Carolina and were good friends.  The turnover happened so unexpectedly on the other end of the court, and so quickly that it may have caught Morton off guard because Worthy is out of focus.  The result, however, means that Morton captured the dismay on Floyd’s face, and the expressions on the bench and cheerleaders are more visible.

(By the way, if you watch the CBS broadcast, you can see Hugh Morton pop into the frame about 25 seconds after the end of the game.  This may be when Dean Smith told Morton, “Stick with me.”)

Below, Morton photographed Worthy taking one of his free throws with only two seconds remaining on the clock.

P081_1982NCCAfinal_Worthy 02

A staff member of the Digital Production Center helped me make the scans of the two 35mm slides.  (I couldn’t do it because they just starting using new software.)  We had the slides finished before 6:00.  I continued to dig Thursday morning, taking advantage of the time zones difference, but didn’t find additional images that fit the hole they needed to fill.  We delivered the scans by their deadline, and Yahoo! Sports was thrilled.

We received the link to the story, “Michael Jordan’s gutsy shot leads to North Carolina title” this morning.  The downside of our efforts is that Yahoo! Sports doesn’t credit their sources after the episodes in “Memorable Moments: March Madness,” so you won’t see Morton or the photographic archives credited.  The upside is that seven Hugh Morton photographs appear in the episode (one of Worthy during the East Regional final game against Villanova in Raleigh, and six from the championship game), and the library did receive a respectable commercial use fee to help support the work that we do with the collections.  The team huddle photograph also opens a one-minute piece, “Memorable Moments: The huddle before Michael Jordan’s shot.“  Another of Morton’s images appears in a second short, “Memorable Moments: James Worthy remembers UNC vs. Georgetown.”

A remaining mystery emerged from this reference request.  I didn’t find a photograph of Michael Jordon’s game winning shot, which occurred near the very spot of the Worthy photograph above.  Did Morton photograph that memorable moment, too?  If so, I didn’t find it.  Yet.