Restrictions to Access

The items in this collection are extremely fragile due to their age, the materials used to make them, and the fact that they are all unique originals. Tintypes have no equivalent of a negative and cannot be physically reproduced. Researchers may be presented with a digital copy instead of original materials if the Photographic Archivist has determined the original should not be handled.

Restrictions to Use

No usage restrictions.

Copyright Notice

Copyright is retained by the North Carolina Collection, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Library.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the William Starr Myers Images #P0094, North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives, Wilson Special Collections Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Received to the Southern Historical Collection from Mrs. Margaret Myers McLean, daughter of William Starr Myers, in 1988. Transferred to the North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives in June 1988.

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: North Carolina Collection and Tracy M. Jackson, February 2011

Encoded by: Tracy M. Jackson and Patrick Cullom, November 2014

Updated by: Patrick Cullom, August 2022

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 Americans -- 19th century--Photographs.
• Ambrotype.
• College students--North Carolina--Social life and customs--19th century--Photographs.
• Daguerreotype.
• Myers, J. Norris.
• Myers, Laura Virginia Starr.
• Myers, William Starr, 1877-1956.
• Slavery--United States--History--19th century--Photographs.
• Tintype.

• William Starr Myers Papers (#3260), Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
• Daguerreotype Collection (P0008), North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives
• Ambrotype Collection (P0007), North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives
• Tintypes (P0009), North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives
• Portrait Collection (P0002), North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives

William Starr Myers, son of J. Norris Myers and Laura Virginia Starr Myers, was born on 17 June 1877 in Baltimore, Md. In 1890, the Myers family moved to Asheville, N.C., where J. Norris Myers operated a shoe store. William Starr Myers received his A.B. degree from the University of North Carolina in 1897 and his Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University in 1900. At the University of North Carolina, Myers was a member of Beta Theta Pi and Phi Beta Kappa. He was editor of the university yearbook, the Hellenian, and of the newspaper, the Tar Heel. He also wrote the words for Hail to the Brightest Star, sung to the tune of an old college song, called Amici and performed for the first time by the University Glee Club in 1897. This song evolved into the University of North Carolina alma mater, Hark the Sound. Myers was a master at the Gilman School for Boys in Baltimore, Md., 1900-1906, and then was assistant professor and preceptor at Princeton University, 1906-1918. He was a professor at Princeton from 1918 until his death in 1956. William Starr Myers married Margaret Barr on 8 June 1910.

The images in this collection consist primarily of William Starr Myers and his family. Images of William Starr Myers include portraits as a child and as an adult, images of large and small groups including a large party outdoors, and portraits of William Starr Myers as a student with classmates. Images of extended family members include John Norris Myers, Laura Virginia Starr Myers, and Mary Rooker Norris, among others. Also included is an ambrotype portrait of an enslaved Black man identified as "Jed (or Jerry?) last slave of the Morford family" holding a young white girl identified as Elizabeth Morford. The collection consists of daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, tintypes, and photographic prints. The majority of the daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, and tintypes are encased.