Restrictions to Access

No restrictions. Open for research.

Restrictions to Use

This collection contains materials which are permanently closed. The Library permanently closed the original scrapbooks in the collection because they are too fragile to be safely handled in the reading room. Contact wilsonlibrary@unc.edu to discuss options.

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 Lee A. Wallace Works Progress Administration Scrapbooks #70103, North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Donated by Lee A. Wallace, Jr., Transferred from the North Carolina Collection, September 2021 (Acc. 20210908.1)

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: Patrick Cullom, September 2021

Encoded by: Patrick Cullom, September 2021

Conscious Editing Work by: Nancy Kaiser, July 2023 (added statement about "Croatan")

NOTE: Since August 2017, we have added ethnic and racial identities for individuals and families represented in collections. To determine 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 and racial 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 identity information to be excluded from description. When we have misidentified, please let us know at wilsonlibrary@unc.edu.

NOTE: "Croatan" (or "Croatoan") is an identity term that was used by the Indigenous peoples of the Hatteras and Roanoke Islands in the late 16th century. In subsequent centuries, the Indigenous peoples of Sampson, Craven, Robeson, Cumberland, Hoke and Scotland counties in North Carolina were thought to be the descendants of the Croatan Indians and were so called by North Carolina state officials; however, many tribal nations existed and exist now in this area who prefer to use their own identity terms, including the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina, the Tuscarora Nation of North Carolina, and others.

In 2023, archivists examined the use of "Croatan" in Wilson Library archival collections and decided to leave this term in places where it refers to the Indigenous peoples of the Hatteras and Roanoke Islands, is part of a title, or is the proper name of a geographic feature or location. We have replaced "Croatan" with the appropriate identity term for materials that refer specifically to the groups noted above. When we are unable to make a determination, we use "Indigenous peoples." We recognize the complexity of this issue and welcome feedback on this decision at wilsonlibrary@unc.edu.

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.

• Bertie County (N.C.)--Photographs.
• Carteret County (N.C.)--Photographs.
• Currituck County (N.C.)--Photographs.
• Dare County (N.C.)--Photographs.
• Edgecombe County (N.C.)--Photographs.
• Halifax County (N.C.)--Photographs.
• Hertford County (N.C.)--Photographs.
• Hyde County (N.C.)--Photographs.
• Jones County (N.C.)--Photographs.
• Nash County (N.C.)--Photographs.
• Northampton County (N.C.)--Photographs.
• Onslow County (N.C.)--Photographs.
• Pamlico County (N.C.)--Photographs.
• United States--Works Progress Administration--North Carolina--Photographs.
• United States--Works Progress Administration--North Carolina.
• Wallace, Lee A., 1874-1964.
• Washington County (N.C.)--Photographs.

Lee A. Wallace was a white Works Progress Administration District 1 Administrator for an area that included Beaufort, Bertie, Camden, Craven, Currituck, Dare, Gates, Halifax, Hertford, Hyde, Martin, Northampton Pamlico, Pasquotank, Perquimans, Pitt, Tyrell, and Washington Counties, N.C.

Scrapbooks created by Lee A. Wallace, a white administrator for District 1 of the Works Progress Administration (WPA). Scrapbooks include printed materials and photographs documenting a variety of WPA District 1 projects supervised by Wallace. A majority of the images depict projects in various states of progress, including community centers, schools, bridges, roads, airports, utilities (sewer, water, electricity), jails, courthouses, public piers, and parks. WPA District 1 in North Carolina included Beaufort, Bertie, Camden, Craven, Currituck, Dare, Gates, Halifax, Hertford, Hyde, Martin, Northampton Pamlico, Pasquotank, Perquimans, Pitt, Tyrell, and Washington counties. Also included are images depicting local WPA staff and personnel that include women and people of color. A majority of the materials are captioned and dated. These projects were completed during a period when segregation laws required the creation of separate public facilities for white and non-white citizens. The scrapbooks contain images with captions indicating they depict work being done in majority Black communities, as well as images depicting Black citizens and workers.