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Collection Number: 05720

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

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.

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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
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Restrictions to Access
No restrictions. Open for research.
Restrictions to Use
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 David M. Spear Photographs and Papers #05720, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Acquisitions 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).
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.
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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.

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Subject Headings

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.

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Biographical Information

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).

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse 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.

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Contents list

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Series 1. Photographs, 1880s-2013.

Approximately 5,000 images.

Arrangement: Original Order

Titles in quotation marks are original and were found on original enclosures.

Image Box 1

The Neugents: Close to Home, 1980s-1990s

Black-and-White Photographic Prints

83 images

Images depict scenes of the Neugent Family of Madison, N.C.

  • "Mama and Lee," 1988-1991
  • "Lee and Mom," 1989
  • "Lee and Mom," 1988
  • "Jack Gets a Bath/Dennis(?) Jacob, Lee, and Mama," 1991
  • "Coon," 1988-1990
  • "Coon Neugent," 1988
  • "Coon Neugent with Black Snake," 1988
  • "Coon Drinking," 1988-1990
  • "Nubby, Coon, Tray(?) and Lee housing (?) tobacco," 1989
  • "Coon Drinking," 1990
  • "Coon and Mamie," 1989
  • "Mamie Washing Possum," 1993
  • "Lee Neugent," 1992
  • "Mama Gives Lee Medicine," 1989
  • "Mamie and Lee on Porch," 1988
  • "Lee and Mamie," 1988
  • "Mamie Birthday Party," 1988
  • "Lee Neugent," 1989-1991
  • "Lee Neugent," 1990-1991
  • "Lee Neugent," 1989
Image Box 2

The Neugents: Close to Home, 1980s-1990s

Oversize Black-and-White Photographic Prints

40 images

Images depict scenes of the Neugent Family of Madison, N.C.

  • "Coon and Turtle; Turtle and Brenda," 1990-1993
  • "Turtle," 1989-1990
  • "Turtle," 1988-1989
  • "Frog Neugent," 1989-1990
  • "Lee and Frog," 1990
  • "Frog Neugent," 1988-1990
  • "Nubby," 1990
  • "Sherman Smith: Frog's friend," 1990
  • "Sherman Smith: Frog's friend," 1990
  • "Jerry "Budda" Neugent; Frog and Bilie Joe Graffiti," 1993
  • "Ricky Neugent day before wedding," 1991
  • "Lee and Jerry; Clyde and Lee haircut," 1991-1992
  • "Donald," 1991
  • "Brenda," 1992
Image Box 3

The Neugents: Close to Home, 1980s-1990s

Oversize Black-and-White Photographic Prints

30 images

Images depict scenes of the Neugent Family of Madison, N.C.

  • "Mamie and Cats," 1991
  • "The Neugents: Mamie, Lee, and Troy on Porch," 1989
  • "Mamie," 1988
  • "Mamie and Clothes Line," 1988
  • "Tracey Neugent," 1975
  • "Mamie," 1988
  • "Mamie Neugent," 1988
  • "Mamie and Cats," 1988
  • "Mamie Neugent," 1988
  • "Mamie Neugent pulling weeds," 1989
  • "Mamie on Porch," 1989
  • "Mamie Neugent," 1988
  • "Mamie Neugent," 1990
  • "The Neugents," 1990
  • "Thanksgiving dinner," 1991
  • "Mamie Neugent," 1988
  • "Troy Smoking," 1989
  • "Troy Neugent," 1989-1993
  • "Troy Smoking and Lee's Mamie," 1989
  • "Troy Neugent," 1989
  • "Mamie," 1988
  • "Mamie Neugent drying hair," 1989
  • "Mamie and Possum," 1991
  • "Mamie and Cats," 1988
Image Box 4

The Neugents: Close to Home, 1980s-1990s

Black-and-White Photographic Negatives

3000 images

Images depict scenes of the Neugent Family of Madison, N.C.

  • "David Spear," 1989-1992
  • "David Spear: Billy Ray Frog Neugent," 1974, 1989-1991
  • "David Spear: Turtle Neugent, Ricky Neugent's Wedding," 1989-1992
  • "David Spear: Neugent Family Porch and Kitchen," 1988-1995, 1998
  • "David Spear: Mamie Neugent," 1988-1993
  • "David Spear: Neugent Family Farming," 1988-1993
  • "David Spear: Ernest Woodrow "Coon" Neugent," 1988-1993
Image Box 5

The Neugents: Close to Home, Proof sheets,1980s-1990s

Black-and-White Photographic Proof Sheets

Approximately 100 images
Image Box 6

The Neugents: Close to Home, Negatives, 1980s-1990s

Black-and-White Photographic Negatives

Approximately 600 images
Image Box 7

The Neugents: Close to Home, Photographic prints, 1980s-1990s

Black-and-White Photographic Prints

Approximately 40 images
Image Box 8

Visible Spirits : No es Nada Como Parece = Nothing is Ever as it Seems, 1980s-1990s

Black-and-White Photographic Prints

Approximately 40 images
Image Box 9

Visible Spirits: No es Nada Como Parece = Nothing is Ever as it Seems, 1980s-1990s

Black-and-White Photographic Negatives

Approximately 350 images
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-1990s

Black-and-White Photographic Prints

Approximately 600 images
Image Box 11

Spear family photographs, 1880s-1990s

Black-and-White Photographic Prints

Approximately 10 images
Digital Folder DF-05720/3

Marion Spear and Sherwood Anderson photographs

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Series 2. Papers, 1901-2016.

Approximately 1500 items.

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, 2013-2016

Drafts, 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-2010s

Correspondence and subject files chiefly relating to his photography and publications.
Box 3

Sherwood Anderson Foundation files, 1980s-2016

Family papers, 1901-1950s

Anderson 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.

Digital Folder DF-05720/4

David Spear family tree, 2015

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