Month: May 2019

New in the Collection: McLean Trucking 1949 calendar

McClean Trucking calendar verso with image of truck
McClean Trucking calendar

“In 1931, when Malcolm [later Malcom] P. McLean began working at a service station, North Carolina was rapidly becoming a major east-west transport route. Recognizing the potential for motor freight carrying, the Maxton native bought his first truck in 1934 and began hauling dirt for WPA road construction projects. Later, he transported textiles to New York. By the mid-1960s, the McLean Trucking Company had become the fifth-largest trucking company in America, with a fleet of 5,000 trucks and trailers and 65 terminals scattered throughout 20 states….”

— From “McLean Trucking Company”  by Robert E. Ireland in the Encyclopedia of North Carolina 

Even more significant – much more significant, actually – would be McLean’s invention of containerized shipping. 

 

New in the collection: Sanitary Fish Market gizmo

Sanitary Fish Market bottle opener-Side 1

Sanitary Fish Market bottle opener Side 2
“Aycock Brown was the first writer to extoll the virtues of Tony Seaman’s seafoods at the Sanitary Fish Market in Morehead City, and his squibs led to a growing clip file of free publicity the like of which has never been shared by another Tar Heel restaurateur. When Aycock was day-dreaming about photographic equipment for free-lancing, the grateful Seaman dropped a $350 press camera into his lap and launched him on his own….”

— From  “Aycock Brown sang the praises of the North Carolina coast”  by Jack Riley in the News & Observer (1949) [h/t Teresa Leonard]

At some point in its 80-year history – 1950s? — the Sanitary Fish Market piled on further promotion by distributing these pisciform pocket screwdriver and bottle opener tools on behalf of the VFW Welfare Fund.

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New in the collection: Central Bank money bag

Money bag from Central Bank in Asheville, N.C.

“Asheville was already in a slide when the stock market crashed in October 1929. The coup de grace came when several major banks in town failed in November 1930….

“The city, county and public schools had nearly $8 million in deposits in the failed Central Bank & Trust. Its closure exposed politicians’ bad bet for all to see.

“Criminal indictments followed, and at least two officials committed suicide, including former Mayor Gallatin Roberts.

” ‘My soul is sensitive, and it has been wounded unto death,’ Roberts wrote in a suicide note addressed to the people of the city. ‘When I went into office nearly four years ago I found millions of dollars of the people’s money in the Central Bank, and I tried with all my soul to protect it. … What would you have done?’ ”

— From “Some thought ’20s boom would endure” by Mark Barrett in the Asheville Citizen-Times (Sept. 6, 2009)

“Asheville suffered a greater financial hardship than all others from the 1929 Crash, shouldering a per capita debt burden that was the greatest in the country. Today, the liability that city carried for almost 50 years has turned it into an American architectural treasure….

“During those years the city stayed much as it was before that black day in 1929. The tax base was small enough that growth was slow, and what tax monies were generated funded more pressing needs than the destruction of old buildings….”

— From “Asheville’s Architecture Treasure Chest” at Romantic Asheville

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New in the collection: I. Beverly Lake campaign card

Campaign flyer for I. Beverly Lake

“RALEIGH – Dr. I. Beverly Lake has not forgotten.
“On the outbox on his secretary’s desk is a phrase from the 1960 campaign: ‘The principles for which we fight are eternal!’….

“The same phrase hangs framed on his office wall…. Another wall is dominated by a blue and white flag he describes as an ‘unsurrendered battle standard’ from his grandfather’s Confederate brigade.”

— From “Dr. Lake is likely to run for governor again in 1964” by Joe Doster in the Charlotte Observer (July 8, 1962)

Lake did indeed run again, but finished third in the Democratic primary behind Dan K. Moore, the eventual governor, and L. Richardson Preyer. He was the state’s last major political candidate who espoused absolute segregation.
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Check out what’s new in the North Carolina Collection

Several new titles were just added to New in the North Carolina Collection. To see the full list simply click on the link in the entry or click on the New in the North Carolina Collection tab at the top of the page. As always, full citations for all the new titles can be found in the University Library Catalog, and all titles are available for use in the Wilson Special Collections Library.