Restrictions to Access

Use of audio materials may require production of listening copies.

Restrictions to Use

Duplication of Annie Hooper recordings for publication requires permission from Roger B. Manley.

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 Catherine Peck Collection #20088, Southern Folklife Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Received from Catherine Louise Peck in November 1995 (Acc. 103556).

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: Anne Wells, March 2019

Encoded by: Anne Wells, March 2019

Archival processing of the Catherine Peck Collection was made possible through a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

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.

• African American clergy--North Carolina.
• African American women--Religion.
• African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church--Clergy.
• Art--North Carolina.
• Artists--North Carolina.
• Clergy--North Carolina.
• Hooper, Annie, 1897-1986.
• North Carolina--Religious life and customs.
• Peck, Catherine.
• Religious practices--North Carolina.
• Sculptors--North Carolina.
• Sermons, American--African American authors.
• Williams, Jeff (Sculptor)
• Women and religion--North Carolina.
• Women clergy--North Carolina.

• Southern Folklife Collection Field Notes #30025

Catherine Peck is a white folklorist from North Carolina. Peck wrote her 1991 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill masters thesis on African American women preaching traditions in North Carolina and was the editor of the 1999 publication, A Treasury of North American Folktales.

In 1984 Peck was hired by white folklorist and curator, Roger B. Manley, and white poet, Jonathan Williams, of the independent press, The Jargon Society, to conduct field work with the self-taught white sculptor, Annie Hooper (1897-1986). While in her mid 60's, Hooper began creating thousands of bible story figures out of driftwood, putty, and cement. Hooper displayed and showcased the figures at her home in Buxton, N.C., a village on Hatteras Island in the Outer Banks. Peck conducted her field work at Hooper's home for a span of two months, inventorying her figures, documenting the placement of the figures, and capturing audio recordings of Hooper describing and "animating" her sculptures in situ. Peck's work informed the 1988 exhibit and symposium, "A Blessing form the Source: the Annie Hooper Bequest," at North Carolina State University. The exhibit was guest-curated by Roger Manley, who is now the director of North Carolina State's Gregg Museum of Art & Design.

Oral Histories and field recordings created by white folklorist, Catherine Peck. The majority of the recordings relate to Peck's 1991 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill masters thesis, titled "Your daughters shall prophesy: women in the Afro-American preaching tradition." These recordings, 1981-1984, feature interviews with African American women reverends and evangelists of North Carolina, as well as field recordings made at African American women led churches across the state of North Carolina. Those featured on the recordings include Reverend Ocie M. Brown; Reverend Laura Council; Reverend Annie P. Hart; Reverend Virginia Wyatt; Evangelist and gospel singer, Shirley Caesar; and Evangelist Leola Clemmons. Peck also made field recordings at churches in Chatham County, Gaston County, Orange County, Wake County, including Holland Chapel AME Zion Church in Apex, N.C.; O'Bryant AME Zion Church in Chapel Hill, N.C.; Glover's Grove AME Zion Church in Siler City, N.C.; Christ Missionary AME Zion Church in Carrboro, N.C.; and Mills Chapel Fire Baptised Holiness Church in Gastonia, N.C

The collection also contains audio recordings of self-taught artists of North Carolina, including an interview, 1983, with the African American sculptor, Jeff Williams, of Salemburg, N.C. (found in series 1), and a series of dubbed field recordings, 1984, that Peck conducted with the white sculptor, Annie Hooper, of Buxton, N.C. White folklorist and curator, Roger B. Manley, and white poet, Jonathan Williams, of the independent press, The Jargon Society, hired Peck to spend two months with Annie Hooper to document and inventory Hooper's collection of bible story figures found in her home. As part of this project, Peck recorded audio of Hooper describing and "animating" her figures in situ. The collection contains dubs of the original tapes that Peck recorded on a Nagra borrowed from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Supporting documentation, or field notes, related to select Annie Hooper recordings (FT-1668 through FT-1682) reside in the Southern Folklife Collection Field Notes #30025. Documentation includes brief content descriptions of the recordings.

• Audiocassettes (FS-1244-1269)
• Audiotapes (FT-1668-1686)
• Field Notes (Folder 631-632), Southern Folklife Collection Field Notes #30025