We Knew Him When

New UNC System President

Do you recognize the young man shown here? This is his senior photo, from the 1967 Yackety Yack, the UNC student yearbook. We’ll give you a hint. He was sworn in in Greensboro this afternoon as the new President of the University of North Carolina system. The Greensboro News-Record has the story.

If you guessed right, you’d likely do well in the “Who the Heel is That?” exhibit on display now in the North Carolina Collection reading room.

A Note from the Past

In the course of doing a little research on old North Carolina laws, we picked up a copy of The Office and Authority of a Justice of the Peace, and of Sheriffs, Coroners, &c. According to the Laws of the State of North-Carolina, a book published in New Bern in 1791. While this is a compelling read on its own, we were drawn to a handwritten note on the leaf opposite the title page. It reads

Rescued from death & destruction in a warehouse in Raleigh, Feb. 25, 1893. Will this book ever pass through such an experience again? Let him who reads these lines in 1993 if this book survives till then, ponder on human life & think if he ever heard of me.

Stephen B. Weeks

We have heard of Dr. Weeks. Fittingly, his memory endures in large part because of his collection of books just like this. The Weeks library held an impressive array of printed North Caroliniana and was one of the important early acquisitions of the North Carolina Collection. Weeks may have been modest in looking only a century into the future—his library and his legacy will almost certainly last to 2093 and beyond.