This collection has access restrictions. For details, please see the restrictions.
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held in the Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in our reading room, and not digitally available through the World Wide Web. See the Duplication Policy section for more information.
Size | 20.5 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 6400 items) |
Abstract | Ellie Kinnaird (1931-), a white politician in North Carolina, served in the North Carolina Senate from 1997 to 2013 and was mayor of Carrboro, N.C., from 1987 to 1996. The collection contains Ellie Kinnaird's professional and personal papers, chiefly concerning the death penalty, discrimination in capital punishment, and people with mental disabilities and capital punishment. Materials include correspondence; political campaign ephemera; newspaper clippings; files on people executed by the state of North Carolina between 1999 and 2003; speeches and writings on the death penalty by Daniel H. Pollitt; information about the efforts of the children of Elias Syriani to get their father's death sentence commuted to life in prison after he killed their mother; programs and organizational emails, primarily written by Marilyn Ozer about vigils held by the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Congregations for the Abolition of Capital Punishment; informational papers from People of Faith Against the Death Penalty; other papers; and audiovisual materials related to capital punishment, lobbying reform, voting laws, and other subjects. Other topics include the history of Carrboro, N.C.; Nyle Frank; and N.C. Senate bills on touch screen voting and reforms to the State Health Plan. |
Creator | Kinnaird, Ellie (Eleanor G.), 1931- |
Curatorial Unit | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection. |
Language | English |
Processed by: Benjamin Bromley, September 2008
Encoded by: Benjamin Bromley, September 2008
Updated because of addition by Sara Mannheimer, April 2013
Updated because of additions, May 2017, July 2017
Updated because of addition by Nancy Kaiser, Anne Wells, Emma Evans, December 2018
Since August 2017, we have added ethnic identities for individuals and families represented in collections. To determine ethnic identity, we rely on self-identification; other information supplied to the repository by collection creators or sources; public records, press accounts, and secondary sources; and contextual information in the collection materials. Omissions of ethnic identities in finding aids created or updated after August 2017 are an indication of insufficient information to make an educated guess or an individual’s preference for ethnicity to be excluded from description. When we have misidentified, please let us know at wilsonlibrary@email.unc.edu.
Back to TopThe following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.
Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.
Ellie Kinnaird, a white politician in North Carolina, was born in 1931 in Rochester, Minn. She served in the North Carolina Senate from 1997 to 2013, serving as co-chair of both the Appropriations on Justice and Public Safety Committee and the Mental Health/Youth Services Committee. Before being elected to the Senate, Kinnaird was mayor of Carrboro, N.C., 1987-1996. She received her bachelors degree from Carleton College, a masters in Music from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a J.D. from North Carolina Central University.
Kinnaird's major accomplishments as state senator included advocating for election and voting reform and accountability, promoting the self-determination movement for people with disabilities in North Carolina, stopping the execution of the mentally disabled and making widespread changes to make the death penalty more fairly applied, preventing the creation of a nuclear waste dumping site in Chatham County, and passing a moratorium on the creation of new hog waste lagoons.
Back to TopThe collection contains items chiefly related to Ellie Kinnaird's opposition to the death penalty. Included are letters of thanks for her support of a death penalty moratorium bill; files on people executed in North Carolina between 1999 and 2003; speeches and writings by Daniel H. Pollitt, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Law School professor emeritus, concerning his legal and personal objections to the death penalty; information about the efforts of the children of Elias Syriani to get their father's death sentence commuted to life in prison after he killed their mother; programs and organizational emails, primarily written by Chapel Hill lawyer Marilyn Ozer about vigils held by the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Congregations for the Abolition of Capital Punishment; informational papers from People of Faith Against the Death Penalty; and assorted papers, publications, fact sheets, and newspaper clippings against the death penalty. Some materials deal with discrimination in capital punishment and others deal with capital punishment and people with mental disabilities.
The Addition of August 2008 consists of speeches and materials relating to conferences attended circa 2000-2007.
The Addition of March 2012 consists of clippings, articles, email, and other correspondence relating to North Carolina Senate bill 972 to establish a moratorium on the death penalty.
The Addition of November 2012 consists of "communications," which include printed email, cards, and handwritten notes; campaign photographs and ephemera; and audio and video recordings of interviews, locally produced programs, and legislative meetings on capital punishment, lobbying reform, voting laws, and other subjects.
The Addition of April 2013 is Kinnaird's state senate website, harvested using Archive-It, beginning in March 2013. The site consists of biographical information, publicity materials, statements of achievements and goals, outreach and fundraising materials, and endorsements.
The Addition of May 2017 includes Senate letters, speeches, bills, and other materials; photographs of Kinnaird with Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Barack Obama; and correspondence and other personal material.
The Addition of June 2017 contains letters received, 1998-2004, programs and other items related to events attended, 2007, and publicity clippings, 2002-2006.
The Addition of September 2018 concern the history of Carrboro, neighborhood preservation, town planning for the farmers market and town commons, Carr Court Community Center, Libba Cotten Day, constituent services, and N.C. Senate bills sponsored by Kinnaird about touch screen voting and reforms to the State Health Plan. There is also a file from Nyle Frank, who in 1970 coronated himself in UNC's Pit, as King Nyle the First of the Invisible Kingdom. The file consists of issues of The Bi-weekly 'Pede, a publication about the kingdom.
Back to Top
Folder 1-2
Folder 1Folder 2 |
Ellie Kinnaird CorrespondenceContains letters and emails related to the death penalty, primarily notes of thanks for Kinnaird's support of the death penalty moratorium. |
Folder 3-10
Folder 3Folder 4Folder 5Folder 6Folder 7Folder 8Folder 9Folder 10 |
MoratoriumInternal records and clippings about Ellie Kinnaird's research into a death penalty moratorium, press clippings about the moratorium movement, a book of organizations that support the moratorium, and legislative details about the supporters of the bill. Includes a DVD "Study the System," (DVD-5356/7) and videotapes "Nothing but the Truth" (VT-5356/2), "Focus On... Legal Executions" (VT-5356/3), and "Legislative Issues: Death Penalty Moratorium" (VT-5356/4). |
Videotape VT-5356/2 |
Nothing But The Truth, Paul M. Green, 2001VHS Letter from Paul M. Green found with VT-5356/2 resides in Folder 1 |
Videotape VT-5356/3 |
UNC TV, Focus On: Legal ExecutionsVHS |
Videotape VT-5356/4 |
OPEN/net, Legislative Issues: Death Penalty MoratoriumVHS |
Folder 11-15
Folder 11Folder 12Folder 13Folder 14Folder 15 |
Chapel Hill-Carrboro Congregations for the Abolition of Capital PunishmentInformation about the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Congregations for the Abolition of Capital Punishment, particularly about the vigils held on the eves of executions. Included is information about people willing to speak against the death penalty and about contacts in different churches for vigils and about death row inmates from 1999 to 2003. Also included is a videotape marked "Ronnie Fry" (VT-5356/1). |
Videotape VT-5356/1 |
Ronnie FryeVHS |
Folder 16-17
Folder 16Folder 17 |
People of Faith Against the Death Penalty and other organizationsInformation from and about other groups that are opposed to the death penalty, primarily People of Faith Against the Death Penalty, Murder Victims Families for Reconciliation, and Moratorium Now. |
Folder 18-19
Folder 18Folder 19 |
Elias SyrianiInformation about the case of Elias Syriani, in particular the efforts on the part of his children to get his sentence commuted to life without parole. Includes DVD-5356/1-6. |
Folder 20 |
Church ViewsPapers describing the positions of various religions on the death penalty, the bulk of which is about the United Methodist Church. |
Folder 21 |
Daniel H. PollittSpeeches and writing by Daniel H. Pollitt, professor emeritus of law at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, against the death penalty. |
Folder 22-25
Folder 22Folder 23Folder 24Folder 25 |
Death Penalty InformationAssorted papers and publications that are aimed at educating people about biases in death penalty application, economic cost of the death penalty, and related issues. |
Folder 26 |
Ronnie Fry PosterPoster of Ronnie Fry as a young child, with injuries on his body from abuse by his father. |
Audiocassette C-5356/1 |
H.B. 195-N.C., History Taught Student Citizen Act of 2001, copyAudiocassette Audiocassette with Kinnaird talking about the Ten Commandments in the classroom. |
Acquisitions Information: Accession 100992
The Addition of August 2008 consists of speeches and materials relating to conferences attended circa 2000-2007.
Box 20 |
Selected conferences |
Speeches, 2000-2007 |
Acquisitions Information: Accession 101573
The Addition of March 2012 consists of clippings, articles, email, and other correspondence relating to North Carolina Senate bill 972 to establish a moratorium on the death penalty.
Box 20 |
Death penalty materials, 2000-2004 |
Acquisitions Information: Accession 101698
The Addition of November 2012 consists of "communications," which include printed email, cards, and handwritten notes; campaign photographs and ephemera; and audio and video recordings of interviews, locally produced programs, and legislative meetings on capital punishment, lobbying reform, voting laws, and other subjects. Video recordings are on VHS, while audio recordings are on audiocassette.
The website documents Ellie Kinnaird's career as a North Carolina state senator. The site includes biographical information, publicity materials, statements of achievements and goals, outreach and fundraising materials, and endorsements. A sidebar with a feed from Kinnaird's Facebook page was unable to be captured as of 2013.
Digital Item DI-5356/1 |
Website (elliekinnaird.org)Harvested using Archive-It, beginning in March 2013. |
Acquisitions Information: Accession 103059
Includes personal and professional materials.
Acquisitions Information: Accession 103082
The Addition of June 2017 contains letters received, 1998-2004, programs and other items related to events attended, 2007, and publicity clippings, 2002-2006.
Folder 27-30
Folder 27Folder 28Folder 29Folder 30 |
Letters received, 1998-2004 |
Folder 31-34
Folder 31Folder 32Folder 33Folder 34 |
Events, 2007 |
Folder 35-38
Folder 35Folder 36Folder 37Folder 38 |
Publicity clippings, 2002-2006 |
Acquisitions Information: Accession 103426
The Addition of September 2018 concern the history of Carrboro, neighborhood preservation, town planning for the farmers market and town commons, Carr Court Community Center, Libba Cotten Day, constituent services, and N.C. Senate bills sponsored by Kinnaird about touch screen voting and reforms to the State health plan. There is also a file from Nyle Frank, who in 1970 coronated himself in the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Pit, as King Nyle the First of the Invisible Kingdom. The file consists of issues of The Bi-weekly 'Pede, a publication about the kingdom.
Box 20 |
Town Commons Bastille Day |
Touch Screen Voting Machines |
|
State Health Plan Reforms |
|
Nyle Frank |
|
Newspaper clippings |