#north carolina collection

In honor of #NoShaveNovember, we give you historic NC facial hair. First up, the knightly beard of Sir Walter Raleigh.
“The true and lively Portraiture of the Ho.ble and learned Knight S.r Walter Ralegh” engraved by Robert Vaughan, copy of an engraving by Simon van de Passe.

The Strange Case of Dr. Deilan and Mr. Smith. It’s a witch DOCTOR!

Does the title sound a little familiar? That’s because it’s a parody of the famous novel by Robert Louis Stevenson, “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”. This court case, while not as famous as the title it refers to, is certainly just as intriguing.

In 1899, Mr. Martin Smith of Burke County was the key witness in a trial of embezzlement against Chris Detter. Mr. Smith had called on his friendly neighborhood witch doctor, Dr. Deilan (aka Detter), to assist with a troublesome witch problem. The witch doctor assessed the situation and concluded that Mr. Smith’s sister was bewitched along with the entire house.

The solution

1.       Burn down the house!

As the Smith family watched their home burn to the ground, the witch doctor stood by with a large stick to defeat the fleeing witches. Unfortunately, these rather clever witches escaped through the chimney and possessed the family’s hog.

2.       Strike the hog!

Mr. Smith once again did as the witch doctor ordered and struck his hog on the head to expel the witches from the hog. The first strike didn’t do the trick, so the witch doctor ordered a second which killed the poor, delicious looking hog. Luckily, the hog’s head and shoulders had not been touched by the witches. Mr. Smith slaughtered the hog and the witch doctor took the tainted/meatiest parts thus saving the Smith family from death by bewitched meat ingestion. The hog was gone but the witches remained.

3.       Move out of town!

Mr. Smith once more put his faith in the witch doctor to rid his family of these pesky witches once and for all. The only action left; buy a new house and leave town. The witch doctor found a suitable, witch-free house for the low price of $240. Of course, the doctor didn’t bother to tell the Smith’s that the real cost was only $165.

In the end, the Smiths were rid of their witches and Chris Detter (Dr. Deilan) was rid of his freedom.

“Strange Case of Dr. Deilan and Mr. Smith” The Asheville Daily Gazette (Asheville NC). April 11, 1899. p 3.

Horse’s mane tied in knots? It’s a witch!

“Do witches ride horses?” One man posed this question to the Greensboro Record in 1911 looking for an explanation as to why his horses’ hair was knotted every morning. He took care to comb out their manes and yet when he checked in the morning, the manes were so badly tangled again no comb would help. The man was skeptical of the explanation he received as a child that the tangles were due to witches riding the horses at night and tying their manes and tails into knots. The query was subsequently posted in several other papers across the state. See this reprint from The (Charlotte) Evening Chronicle for the explanation to this man’s life long question.

The Evening Chronicle (Charlotte, NC.). January 17, 1911. p 4.

Butter won’t churn? It’s a witch!

Witches tended to be the scapegoat for just about any problem in a person’s life. One common complaint attributed to a witch’s curse was being unable to churn your milk into butter. You could churn and churn, but the milk would never thicken. To fix this predicament, you first had to expel the witch from the churn by taking an old horseshoe and heating it to glowing hot in the fire. It was best if that horseshoe “had been worn on the left hind foot of a baldfaced horse.” You would then take the glowing hot horseshoe, drop it into your churn, and sure enough the butter would come forth.

“Witches in the Cream.” The Weekly Standard (Raleigh, NC). May 4, 1870. p 1.

“Witchcraft: The Intense Belief in it in Switzerland County Sixty Years Ago.” Fayetteville Weekly Observer (Fayetteville, NC). October 27, 1887. p 1.

Thanks to Hurricane Florence, this weekend’s UNC vs UCF football game is canceled but Tar Heel tradition always persists!

With this 1933 songbook from the North Carolina Collection,every Tar Heel is prepared to cheer for their team on game day… whenever that may be.

Songs of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill : Tar Heel football songs. Chapel Hill, N.C.: Graham Memorial Student Union, c1933.

The year is 1870 and ladies may not throw things from windows or play games of chance. Nor leave the piano open. From the catalog of the North Carolina College at Mount Pleasant, N.C.

Photographs by pioneering North Carolina photographer Bayard Wootten have been given new life thanks to author Jerry Cotten and the University Libraries’ Digital Production Center.

Bayard Wootten was North Carolina’s most important photographer of the early 20th century. Over her career, Wootten produced photographs in a variety of styles. Perhaps her most significant contribution to photography was the work she did documenting poor rural people during the 1930s.

Jerry Cotten’s 1998 biography of Wootten, Light and Air, was recently republished. Staff in the Libraries’ Digital Production Center spent about a year on digital clean-up, preparing the images for publication.  

For example, in the first set of photographs, the text on the top of the box at the boys’ feet wasn’t even visible in the 1998 edition of the book. The new edition is full of such revelations, heightening the power of Wootten’s images. 

It’s the last day of#colorourcollections week–but don’t worry!  There are more coloring sheets from Wilson Library and from institutions all over the country at NYAM color our collections’ main site at  http://library.nyam.org/colorourcollections/ . Thank providentia that you don’t have to stop coloring just yet!

Detail from The historie of the world : in five bookes (1652) from the Raleigh Collection, North Carolina Collection

When the UNC student population was predominantly men, students from nearby women’s colleges would often be shuttled to Chapel Hill for dances. This undated booklet was intended to orient and advise these visiting women. 

Among its interesting bits of advice: a warning to bring money for a hotel room if you plan to stay the night in Chapel Hill - state law forbade men from paying for a woman’s hotel room unless they were married. 

Can you take the dress code test offered by the UNC Women’s Residence Council in 1954 and pass? Would you consider wearing your tailored suit to a football game in 2018? Have you ever been to a formal tea and forgotten your hat?!?

FromThe Independent (Elizabeth City, N.C.), December 23, 1921 - via Chronicling America.

From the Jackson County Journal (Sylva, N.C.), November 28, 1913 - via Chronicling America.

Hail to the king, if that’s your thing. Have a safe and wonderful holiday.

Menu Mondays is back! Still planning your Thanksgiving meal? Need some ideas? Mary Lee Swann could help! Check out her classic line-up. From 1930. 

From the Banner-Enterprise (Raleigh, North Carolina), October 27, 1883 - via Chronicling America.