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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 | 40 items (1.5 linear feet) |
Abstract | The Chapel Hill Historical Society was formed in 1966 in Chapel Hill, N.C. In 1974, the oral history committee was established to conduct interviews with local Chapel Hill and Carrboro, N.C., residents in an effort to preserve first-hand recollections about the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, local African American communities, and local mill-worker communities. One of the first major projects conducted was a series of interviews with men and women who had worked in the Carrboro textile mills in the early and mid-20th century. The collection consists of 40 of the original 117 oral history interviews conducted by the Chapel Hill Historical Society between 1974 and 1978 in the "Generations of Carrboro Mill Families" project. Interviewees include mill workers, mill supervisors, and several doctors at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who discuss health in the early 20th century. Interview topics include working in the Carrboro mills from the turn of the 20th century through the Great Depression and World War I; work conditions, social relations, and union organizing in the mills; everyday life in North Carolina and especially in Carrboro in the early 20th century, including displacement from farms into the town, housing conditions, health, education, family life, childbirth, and women in work; and the University of North Carolina. |
Creator | Chapel Hill Historical Society. |
Curatorial Unit | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection. |
Language | English |
The 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.
The Chapel Hill Historical Society was formed in 1966 in Chapel Hill, N.C. In 1974, the oral history committee was established to conduct interviews with local Chapel Hill and Carrboro, N.C., residents in an effort to preserve first hand-recollections about the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, local African American communities, and local mill-worker communities. One of the first major projects conducted was a series of interviews with men and women who had worked in the Carrboro textile mills in the early and mid-20th century. The purpose of the project was to gather biographical, social, and cultural information about the first generation of mill workers in the town and to compare their lives to those of their sons and daughters. The interviews were supplemented by documentary research into government, business, and census records.
Co-directors and principal investigators for the project were High P. Brinton, Brent D. Glass, and Valerie Quinney. The Chapel Hill Historical Society obtained a grant of $2,500 from the North Carolina Bicentennial Commission to provide support for the transcription of 70 interviews. The Southern Oral History Program provided technical and administrative assistance throughout the project.
Back to TopThe collection consists of 40 of the original 117 oral history interviews conducted by the Chapel Hill Historical Society between 1974 and 1978 in the "Generations of Carrboro Mill Families" project. Interviewees include mill workers, mill supervisors, and several doctors at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who discuss health in the early 20th century. Interview topics include working in the Carrboro mills from the turn of the 20th century through the Great Depression and World War I; work conditions, social relations, and union organizing in the mills; everyday life in North Carolina and especially in Carrboro in the early 20th century, including displacement from farms into the town, housing conditions, health, education, family life, childbirth, and women in work; and the University of North Carolina.
Back to TopArrangement: Roughly alphabetical. Audio interviews are listed with their corresponding transcript, when available.
The majority of interviews have both audio and complete transcripts. Several interviews have other written materials, such as genealogical items or notes. Some cassettes contain two separate, unrelated interviews. Carrboro, N.C., is often referred to by the older names "West Chapel Hill" or "Venable".
Processing information: Note that interviews may contain more than one interviewee. Processing archivists re-numbered interview audiocassettes in June 2021 to facilitate digitization. Original cassettes numbers, which reflected the position of the interviews in the original group of 117 interviews, are listed for reference.
Processed by: Joyce Chapman, February 2008
Encoded by: Joyce Chapman, February 2008
Updated by: Anne Wells, June 2021
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