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No restrictions. Open for research.

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No usage restrictions.

Copyright Notice

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the Margaret Berry Street Papers #5537-z, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Receieved from Julia Fallon in September 2012 (Acc. 101660).

Sensitive Materials Statement

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.

Processed by: Julie Seifert, November 2012

Encoded by: Julie Seifert, December 2012

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.

• Adelphian Literary Society (North Carolina State Normal and Industrial College (Greensboro, N.C.))
• North Carolina State Normal and Industrial College--Drama.
• North Carolina State Normal and Industrial College--Students.
• Scrapbooks.
• Street, Margaret Berry, 1892-1967.
• University of North Carolina (1793-1962)--Drama.
• University of North Carolina (1793-1962)--Women students.
• University of North Carolina (1793-1962). School of Law--Women students.
• University of North Carolina at Greensboro--History.
• Women--North Carolina--Chapel Hill.
• Women--North Carolina--Greensboro.
• Women--North Carolina--Social life and customs.

• Harriet M. Berry Papers (#2259)
• Mary E. Strayhorn Berry Papers (#65-z)
• Mary Claire Engstrom Papers (#4684)
• Julia Montgomery Street Papers (MSS 112), University Archives and Manuscripts, University of North Carolina at Greensboro

Margaret Berry Street was born in 1892 to the prominent Berry family of Orange County, N.C. John Berry, her grandfather, built the Orange County Courthouse in Hillsborough, N.C., and Smith Hall (now Playmakers Theater) at the University of North Carolina.

Around 1910, she attended the North Carolina State Normal and Industrial School (now the University of North Carolina at Greensboro). She graduated from the University of North Carolina in 1913 and from the University of North Carolina Law School in 1915, becoming the first woman to do so. While in Greensboro, she was a member of the Adelphian Literary Society and was active in many student theater productions. She continued to participate in theater with the Dramatic Club at the University of North Carolina.

Street practiced law in Charlotte and Ashville, N.C., 1917-1933, and served as an attorney for the Home Owners' Loan Corporation in Atlanta, Ga., and Washington, D.C., 1934-1937.

She married Robert Burns Street. The couple had no children.

Margaret Berry Street died in 1967.

The collection chiefly contains personal materials and papers of Margaret Berry Street, 1909-1926. Included is scrapbook that chronicles her time in both Greensboro and Chapel Hill, especially her participation in the Adelphian Literary Society. The scrapbook contains photographs, primarily of members of the Adelphian Literary Society although there are a few images of members of other societies and Street's other acquaintances. Some of the photographs have handwritten notes giving the subject's name, class in school, address, and society membership. There are also photographs of landscapes, such the Old Well at the University of North Carolina and train tracks in Chapel Hill; a photograph, labeled "UNC 1910," showing a large group of people standing on the steps of a building; letters sent to Street, mostly from friends and members of the Adelphian Literary Society; a copy of a college song; the Adelphian Literary Society pledge; and a booklet about initiation into the Adelphian Literary Society. Besides the scrapbook, there are a telegram, 25 May 1928, to Street from Robert Street discussing their anniversary; a letter to Harriet M. Berry, possibly Street's sister, from her mother describing depression conditions on farms in Florida, mutual acquaintances, and daily life; a booklet from the 323rd Infantry Dance, 4 April 1918, in which Street wrote the names of dancing partners; playbills and programs, mostly from productions of the Adelphian Literary Society and the Dramatic Club; a program from a 1918 conference for women; a rejection note from Famous Players Film Company in response to stories Street had submitted; clippings, including one about Street's society debut; and a few photographs and photographic negatives.

There are only a few items related to Street's time at law school and no materials related to her family or legal career.