Jason Tomberlin

Friday Afternoon Riddle, But No Arrow

I found the above riddle while perusing the stacks yesterday. Who wants to take a guess? The riddle was supposedly “[s]hot on the point of an arrow, from General Washington’s army into Cornwallis’s tent, the night before [a] decisive battle.”

Image from: As great a man as Nelson! … : the life of the most noble the Marquis Cornwallis, that great man to his country! : who has been engaged in the service of it ever since the year 1776, up to 1805, in the American and Indian war … to which is added, the riddle shot from the camp, with an explanation. London : Printed by Ann Kemmish … for, and sold by J. Ker … also sold by T. Hughes … N. & J. Muggeridge … Wilmott and Hill … Kemmish … Barfoot … Perks … S. Elliot … A. Neil … Dixon … T. Evans … &c &c., [1806]. VCC970.3 C82L

Wilson Library Reading Room Changes and Closures

UNC’s Wilson Special Collections Library is undergoing changes that will affect the rooms in which material from the various collections are used and procedures for accessing the items. See below for more details.

Friday, March 4th, 2011: The 4th floor Reading Room (formerly where Southern Folklife Collection, Southern Historical Collection, and University Archives items were accessed) will close permanently as a Special Collections reading room; it will be opened again on Monday, March 14th, 2011 as a Special Collections classroom.

Saturday and Sunday, March 5th-6th, 2011
Monday, March 7th, 2011, through Thursday, March 10th, 2011
Saturday and Sunday, March 12th-13th, 2011:
All researchers will use the 2nd floor Special Collections Reading Room for access to materials in the North Carolina Collection, Rare Book Collection, Southern Folklife Collection, Southern Historical Collection, and University Archives.

Friday, March 11th, 2011: The Special Collections Reading Room will be closed for the day and there will be no access to Special Collections materials for this one day only.

Changes in Special Collections (2nd floor) Reading Room Policies:
As part of our efforts to provide more effective, centralized reference and research services for faculty, students, and other visitors seeking to use UNC Chapel Hill’s rich special collections and digital resources, we have implemented the following policies for the use of the Special Collections Reading Room:

• Access to the 2nd floor Reading Room will be limited to those seeking reference assistance with or using material from UNC Chapel Hill’s special collections and digital resources.
• The Grand Reading Room on the 3rd floor will continue to be available during the academic term for those seeking a quiet place to study.
• All visitors to the Reading Room must fill out a one-time registration form and present valid photo identification.
• Laptops, silenced cell phones, and digital cameras may be brought into the Reading Room; all other personal items, including cases for the above, must be secured in a locker at the Reading Room entrance.
• Paper and pencils are provided in the Reading Room for note taking if needed.
• Other personal research materials may be brought in, if relevant to the work you are doing in the Reading Room, pending consultation with a staff member.
• Circulating North Carolina Collection books and pamphlets may be borrowed by those with valid UNC Chapel Hill borrowing privileges at the service counter without registering and entering the Reading Room area.
• Paging slips are required to access all special collections materials except the reference items housed in the Reading Room.
• The closely monitored area at the far end of the Reading Room is reserved for the use of collection materials requiring staff supervision.

Access to all collections and staff will not be affected during this transition. Please ask any Special Collections staff member if you have questions or concerns, or e-mail Bill Landis, Head of Special Collections Research & Instructional Services, at blandis@unc.edu.

Lizard Lick Makes It Big…If You Watch truTV

Even though I currently live in Wake County, I’ve never ventured out to Lizard Lick, a crossroads community in eastern Wake County. I’ve always wanted to say that I’ve been there…or at least through there. Little did I know, however, that I could be magically swished away to Lizard Lick by simply switching on truTV’s “Lizard Lick Towing and Recovery,” which comes on truTV on Monday nights at 10 p.m. Take a look at it next Monday night and let me know what you think.

Just in case you were wondering…according to The North Carolina Gazetteer, Lizard Lick was named “by a passing observer who saw many lizards sunning and “licking” themselves on a rail fence here.”

P.S….someone just reminded my that the Raleigh News and Observer had an article about Lizard Lick Towing recently. You can read it at: http://www.newsobserver.com/2011/01/31/958027/lizard-lick-towing-the-tv-show.html#storylink=misearch

North Carolina Budget: The Game

I’ve read lots about financial situations in North Carolina during my time working in the North Carolina Collection…pro-tax hikes, anti-tax hikes, printing more paper money in Revolutionary War-era NC, the gold standard, layoffs, hiring…and so on, and so on. However, Governor Perdue’s “Balance the Budget Challenge” has to be one of the most interesting things I’ve ever seen. Take a look at it and let me know what you think:

http://www.governor.state.nc.us/budgetapp/default.aspx

Watch out for Charlie…those sad Plott Hound eyes make the game a bit harder (that and the fact that the numbers and situations are real-world stuff).

Chapel Hill and the Civil War

Come to the library’s first gallery talk about our recently installed exhibit, “Homefront on the Hill: Chapel Hill and the University During the Civil War.” Ernest Dollar, director of the Chapel Hill Preservation Society, will discuss Chapel Hill during the war on February 16, from 3 to 4 p.m.

To read more about this gallery talk, upcoming talks, and the exhibit in general, please see:

Chapel Hill and UNC During Civil War To Be Topic of Exhibit, Lectures

Chapel Hill’s Eagle Hotel

As I was looking through some mid-nineteenth century issues of the Hillsborough Recorder, I noticed the following advertisement:

Have you ever heard of the Eagle Hotel or Miss Nancy Hilliard? If not, see below:

Ann Segur Hilliard (1807-1873), known as “Miss Nancy,” came to Chapel Hill in about 1814 with her parents. After they died, she bought from Elisha Mitchell a lot on Columbia Street and began to board students in 1825. Over the years she gained an excellent reputation for her hospitality and cooking, and in 1846 she bought the Watts Hotel property on Franklin Street for $1250, renaming it the Eagle Hotel. She operated this inn and boarding house until she sold it to Hugh B. Guthrie in 1853. Then she built a large two-story house just east of the hotel and continued to serve students meals in her large basement until after the Civil War. Destitute by 1869, the court sold her remaining household goods for $484.25 to pay some of her creditors. She died penniless in 1873 and was buried in the village cemetery. Cornelia Phillips Spencer solicited contributions from alumni to purchase a gravestone, which reads in part, “ERECTED 1886, By certain alumni of this University, in grateful remembrance of her unfailing kindness and hospitality” (Vickers, James, Thomas Scism, and Dixon Qualls. Chapel Hill: An Illustrated History. Carrboro, NC: Barclay Publishers, 1985. pp. 61, 78). [Sketch of “Miss Nancy” found in “True and Candid Compositions: The Lives and Writings of Antebellum Students at the University of North Carolina.”]

Department of Dramatic Art Photographs and Related Materials, 1911-1970s–New Finding Aid

Also, check out the new finding aid and lots of digitized images for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Department of Dramatic Art Photographs and Related Materials, 1911-1970s.

Here is a description of the collection from the new finding aid:

The Department of Dramatic Art at the University of North Carolina was established in 1936; prior to that, instruction in the history of theater and comparative drama was given in the Department of English. In addition to academic instruction, the new department produced plays and supported dramatic efforts. The Carolina Playmakers, founded in 1918 by drama professor Frederick Henry Koch (1877-1944), became its production unit. Koch and the Playmakers specialized in folk drama and were considered seminal in the Little Theatre movement of the early 20th century. The group performed plays (many of which were written by students) on campus, and also toured North Carolina and other states. The Carolina Dramatic Association, begun in 1922, was a cooperative program of the Department of Dramatic Art and the University Extension Division’s Bureau of Community Drama. A new semi-professional theatrical group, the PlayMakers Repertory Company, was established in 1976. Many persons associated with the study of dramatic art at the University of North Carolina later achieved professional prominence, including Thomas Wolfe, Paul Green, Betty Smith, Shepperd Strudwick, Jack Palance, Louise Fletcher, Anne Jeffries, and Andy Griffith. The collection spans the time period from 1911 through the 1970s and includes photographs and related material documenting theatrical productions, personnel, tours, programs, events, and other activities of the Department of Dramatic Art. Images primarily document the Carolina Playmakers (1918-1975), and often depict Caucasian actors portraying African American, Native American, and Asian characters. Many of these early play images were taken and produced by the photographer Bayard Wootten or by Wootten-Moulton Studios. Productions and activities of the PlayMakers Reperatory Company, the North Dakota Playmakers (founded by Frederick Henry Koch in 1905 before he came to the University of North Carolina), and the Works Progress Administration’s Federal Theatre Project are also depicted. The collection consists primarily of photographic material (prints, negatives, and 35mm slides), but also contains programs from productions, notes on tour dates, reviews, and other materials.

See how many images you can find of North Carolina’s own Andy Griffith!

Paul Cuadros Photographic Collection in the North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives

Check out the new finding aid for the the Paul Cuadros Photographic Collection, one of the most recent photograph acquisitions in the North Carolina Collection. A description of the collection (from the finding aid) is below:

Paul Cuadros was born in Ann Arbor, Mich., the third son of parents who immigrated from Peru. He attended the University of Michigan and Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism and focused his career in journalism on writing and reporting on issues of race and poverty. In 1999, he was awarded an Alicia Patterson Foundation Fellowship to write and report on the impact of emerging Latino communities on the rural South. This resulted in the book A Home on the Field: How One Championship Team Inspires Hope for the Revival of Small Town America (2006). The Paul Cuadros Photographic Collection is primarily composed of images related to the Latino immigrant community in central North Carolina, particularly in Siler City. They were taken when Cuadros was living there researching the Latino migration to the American South. The subjects of the images include the living conditions of immigrants; poultry and agricultural workers, including injured poultry workers; social and community events such as quinceaneras and festivals; religious events, including a passion play; children in school, including a contentious meeting of the Siler City School Board in September 1999; and anti-immigration rallies, including one led by David Duke in February 2000 and the response to that rally. Also included are a few images from North Carolina locations outside Siler City and a few from outside North Carolina.