David M. Spear Photographs and Papers, 1880s-2016

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Summary

Creator:
Spear, David M., 1937-
Abstract:

David M. Spear Photographs and Papers documents the work and family of white photographer and author David M. Spear. Images in the collection depict scenes of the Neugent Family of Madison, N.C., for the book The Neugents: Close to Home, which portrays the Neugent's rural lifestyle as multi-generational tobacco farmers; scenes in Mexico for Visible Spirits: No Es Nada Como Parece = Nothing Is Ever As It Seems; and scenes in Havana, Cuba, for Ten Days in Havana. Other materials include drafts, research, and related files for these pictorial publications and for Spear's family memoir Playing with Dynamite: The Story of One Newspaper Family in the South; Spear's offices files chiefly relating to his photography and publications; his files relating to the Sherwood Anderson Foundation; and family papers, including correspondence and writings, that chiefly document the two generations of Anderson and Spear family members before him, especially his mother and father, Marion "Mimi" Anderson and Russell M. Spear, and her parents Cornelia Lane and Sherwood Anderson. There are also images depicting members of the Spear family from the 1880s to the 1990s.

Extent:
6500 items (12.5 linear feet)
Language:
Materials in English
Library Catalog Link:
View UNC library catalog record for this item

Background

Biographical / historical:

David M. Spear is a white photographer and author from North Carolina. Spear was previously a newspaper editor and publisher for The Messenger, a Madison, N.C., weekly newspaper owned by his family. He is the son of Russell M. Spear (1904-1983) and Marion "Mimi" Anderson (1911-1996), and the grandson of Cornelia Lane (1877-1967) and Sherwood Anderson (1876-1941).

Scope and content:

The David M. Spear Collection documents the work and family of white photographer and author David M. Spear. Images in the collection depict scenes of the Neugent Family of Madison, N.C., for the book The Neugents: Close to Home (1993), which portrays the Neugent's rural lifestyle as multi-generational tobacco farmers; scenes in Mexico for Visible Spirits: No Es Nada Como Parece = Nothing Is Ever As It Seems (2006); and scenes in Havana, Cuba, for Ten Days in Havana (2014). Other materials include drafts, research, and related files for these pictorial publications and for Spear's family memoir Playing with Dynamite: The Story of One Newspaper Family in the South; his offices files, chiefly relating to his photography and publications; his files relating to the Sherwood Anderson Foundation; and family papers, including correspondence and writings, that chiefly document the two generations of Anderson and Spear family members before him, especially his mother and father, Marion "Mimi" Anderson and Russell M. Spear, and her parents Cornelia Lane and Sherwood Anderson. There are also images depicting members of the Spear family from the 1880s to the 1990s.

Acquisition information:

Collection donated by David M. Spear in February 2017 (Acc. 103036, 103038), June 2017 (Acc. 103091), September 2017 (Acc. 103151), and May 2018 (Acc. 103361).

Processing information:

Processed by: Jessica Rayman, April 2017; Nancy Kaiser, Rebecca Stubbs, and Patrick Cullom, November 2018

Encoded by: Jessica Rayman, April 2017; Nancy Kaiser and Patrick Cullom, November 2018

In 2017, we began using "white" as an ethnic and racial identity for individual and families, in addition to "Black," "African American," "Jewish," and other familiar identity terms that we have used for decades in collection descriptions. We use this identity term so that whiteness is no longer the presumed default of the people represented in our 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.

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.

Access and use

Restrictions to access:

No restrictions. Open for research.

Restrictions to use:

No usage restrictions.

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 David M. Spear Photographs and Papers #05720, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Special Collections Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Location of this collection:
Louis Round Wilson Library
200 South Road
Chapel Hill, NC 27515
Contact:
(919) 962-3765
wilsonlibrary@unc.edu