North Carolina Currency “Hoard” At Colonial Williamsburg

The following is from a news release by Colonial Williamsburg:

“The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation has acquired a large collection of colonial paper currency issued by North Carolina prior to the American Revolution.

“Comprised of more than 6,600 notes in varying denominations issued between 1748 and 1771, the stash of cash was worth about 7,176 pounds sterling in 1775. If legal tender today, the currency would have purchasing power of more than $750,000…

“Named the ‘Cornell Hoard,’ the money was collected originally by Samuel Cornell, a transplanted New Yorker who became a wealthy merchant after moving as a young man to New Bern, N.C. in the mid-1750s. In addition to his activities as a merchant, Cornell also was involved in high risk currency speculation as evidenced by the hoard of colonial currency.”

Read more about this collection of NC currency at: http://www.history.org/foundation/press_release/displayPressRelease.cfm?pressReleaseId=1592

To see a portion of the North Carolina Collection’s currency holdings, see the following digital collection: “Historic Moneys in the North Carolina Collection

Digitized Materials From Selected NCCPA Collections Now Available Online!

Greetings from the Technical Services Department in the North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives (NCCPA)! We are very pleased to announce the launch of a new feature now available with finding aids for selected collections in the NCCPA. This feature has been specifically designed to provide researchers access to NCCPA materials that have been digitized in recent months and years. The ordering processes remain the same and researchers interested in requesting reproductions for use should contact the North Carolina Collection Reference staff at wilsonlibrary@unc.edu.

Upon arrival at any one of the finding aids for collections with this feature, a box will appear at the top of the page indicating that the collection has digital materials available. The link in the box opens the Digital NCCPA ContentDM site in another window. This site is not a “typical” digital collection with an introduction and detailed information about the creator and collection; rather it is designed to display digital material available at that time associated with the collection. Researchers should consult finding aids for more detailed information about these collections.

The following collections have digital content available:

P0006: Frances B. Johnston Collection
P0015: Jack J. Kearins Collection
P0016: Ben Moore Patrick Photographic Collection
P0017: Adeline Denham McCall Photographic Collection
P0020: Elmer D. Johnson Photographic Collection
P0027: U.S. Navy Pre-flight School,University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
P0031: UNC at Chapel Hill Photographic Laboratory Collection
P0042: John Moran Frohock Photographic Collection

The descriptions provided with the digital images come straight from the finding aid and in some cases may be minimal; this is done intentionally, with the concentration being on providing users with access to images. Researchers are reminded that these digital images represent only the “smallest drop in a large ocean” of photographs in the NCCPA and are encouraged to use the finding aids to access collections to find multitudes of images that have not been digitized. Additional materials will be made available as they are requested and copyright allows.

Mystery NC location: Wedge Point?

I recently reprocessed the John Moran Frohock photo collection (P0042 in the North Carolina Collection Photo Archives). Contained therein are some images labeled “Fishing trip, Wedge Point, N.C., 2-7 September 1927; George’s Shad boat, N. B. Isaih” (I suspect that should be Isaiah). There are nice shots of people fishing on a boat seemingly captained by an African American man (presumably George), as well as some group/family portraits in a sort of fish camp which appears to be run by the Hopkins family.

When I went to the magical internet to track down a county for Wedge Point, I was not able to find such a location. I looked in the NC Gazetteer — no entry for Wedge Point. I got someone to check the Postal History Society’s volumes on NC post offices and postmasters — again, no luck. I poked around in the North Carolina Maps digital collection, which has a few great maps showing prime locations for shad fishing (such as this one) — lots of intriguingly named “Points,” but again, no Wedge Point.

(Incidentally, until stumbling upon this mystery, I had no idea the shad boat was North Carolina’s state boat).

Can anyone help point us towards Wedge Point?