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 | 12.5 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 6500 items) |
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. |
Creator | Spear, David M., 1937- |
Curatorial Unit | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection. |
Language | English |
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
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.
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).
Back to TopThe 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.
Back to TopArrangement: Original Order
Titles in quotation marks are original and were found on original enclosures.
Image Box 1 |
The Neugents: Close to Home, 1980s-1990sBlack-and-White Photographic Prints 83 images Images depict scenes of the Neugent Family of Madison, N.C.
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Image Box 2 |
The Neugents: Close to Home, 1980s-1990sOversize Black-and-White Photographic Prints 40 images Images depict scenes of the Neugent Family of Madison, N.C.
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Image Box 3 |
The Neugents: Close to Home, 1980s-1990sOversize Black-and-White Photographic Prints 30 images Images depict scenes of the Neugent Family of Madison, N.C.
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Image Box 4 |
The Neugents: Close to Home, 1980s-1990sBlack-and-White Photographic Negatives 3000 images Images depict scenes of the Neugent Family of Madison, N.C.
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Image Box 5 |
The Neugents: Close to Home, Proof sheets,1980s-1990sBlack-and-White Photographic Proof Sheets Approximately 100 images
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Image Box 6 |
The Neugents: Close to Home, Negatives, 1980s-1990sBlack-and-White Photographic Negatives Approximately 600 images
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Image Box 7 |
The Neugents: Close to Home, Photographic prints, 1980s-1990sBlack-and-White Photographic Prints Approximately 40 images
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Image Box 8 |
Visible Spirits : No es Nada Como Parece = Nothing is Ever as it Seems, 1980s-1990sBlack-and-White Photographic Prints Approximately 40 images
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Image Box 9 |
Visible Spirits: No es Nada Como Parece = Nothing is Ever as it Seems, 1980s-1990sBlack-and-White Photographic Negatives Approximately 350 images
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Digital Folder DF-05720/1 |
10 Days in Havana: Manuscript material and photographs |
Digital Folder DF-05720/2 |
Playing with Dynamite: The Story of One Newspaper Family in the South: Photographs |
Image Box 10 |
Spear family photographs, 1880s-1990sBlack-and-White Photographic Prints Approximately 600 images
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Image Box 11 |
Spear family photographs, 1880s-1990sBlack-and-White Photographic Prints Approximately 10 images
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Digital Folder DF-05720/3 |
Marion Spear and Sherwood Anderson photographs |
Series 2. Papers consists of drafts, research, and related files for David M. Spear's published works, Playing with Dynamite: The Story of One Newspaper Family in the South, The Neugents: Close to Home, Visible Spirits, and 10 Days in Havana; Spear's offices files of correspondence and subject 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.
Box 1 |
Publications, 2013-2016Drafts, research, and related files for 10 Days in Havana and Playing with Dynamite: The Story of One Newspaper Family in the South. |
Oversize Box OB-05720/1 |
Publications,Drafts of Visible Spirits: No Es Nada Como Parece = Nothing Is Ever As It Seems and The Neugents: Close to Home. |
Oversize Volume SV-05720/1 |
Publications,Draft of The Neugents: Close to Home. |
Box 2 |
Office files, 1970s-2010sCorrespondence and subject files chiefly relating to his photography and publications. |
Box 3 |
Sherwood Anderson Foundation files, 1980s-2016 |
Family papers, 1901-1950sAnderson and Spear family letters, chiefly of mother and daughter Cornelia Lane and Marion "Mimi" Anderson; newspaper clippings about Sherwood Anderson; writings, including a partial autobiography, correspondence, some relating to the death of her father, school and other materials relating to Marion "Mimi" Anderson; photocopies and transcripts of family letters of Sherwood Anderson, Cornelia Anderson, and Marion "Mimi" Anderson; drawings and other artwork by John S. Anderson; writings by Russell M. Spear; photocopies of clippings from The Messenger; submissions to the Amherst Poetry Society; a scrapbook for a 1901 trip to Europe by Cornelia Lane. |
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Digital Folder DF-05720/4 |
David Spear family tree, 2015 |