We’re posting the request below on behalf of Michael Hill, director of NC’s Office of Archives and History Research Branch. You may either leave your suggestions as comments–and they will be forwarded to Mr. Hill–or you may email them to the North Carolina Collection’s general email account: nccref@email.unc.edu
The Research Branch of the North Carolina Office of Archives and History is developing a project around the idea of myths and North Carolina history. It is undeniable that mythbusting is a prevailing theme in present-day popular history, witness the History Channel’s offerings and History Detectives on PBS. Stephen B. Weeks in 1905 wrote to fellow historian R. D. W. Connor, “North Carolina has been so foolish in laying claim to everything in sight and on every occasion that I am sick unto death of claims that cannot be proved.”
We invite readers of North Carolina Miscellany to help us identify the major myths of North Carolina history. In our initial conversations, the ones that occurred to us are clustered around the Revolutionary War and the Civil War. We particularly would appreciate help in identifying additional modern or twentieth-century examples. For this project, we wish to avoid mysteries such as the Lost Colony. Likewise we have little interest in ghost tales or folklore. Our wish is to select those examples that, for good or ill, have become part of the canon.
Can any NCM readers help?