PHILENA DICKEY: LIBRARIAN EXTRAORDINAIRE! D. Hiden Ramsey, in a statement honoring Dickey’s life, said “Miss Dickey accomplished the task in such a way as to win the unstinted admiration of trained librarians.” Philena Dickey began cataloguing what would be known as the Sondley Reference Library in 1931. She continued to organize, care for, and make accessible the collection
Several years ago while researching Appalachian rustic for a lecture and exhibition at the Asheville Art Museum I came across two intriguing photos in the NC Collection. They are from the Caldwell collection of glass plate negatives given to the library in 1944. John D. Caldwell came to Asheville in 1903 to take the position
Joe Newman lives on Soco Street in Asheville’s historic Montford neighborhood. He is the editor of the Montford Newsletter. He sent us these photographs and note: “This beautiful crane is off his migratory course. He’s been in Montford for a couple of days now. I first spotted him on Ross and Trudy Terry’s roof yesterday, but it was
Rolling through the microfilm one day I came across a small notice in the Asheville Daily Citizen of July 26, 1894 which said: ”Chinatown’s inhabitants are delighted over the return of Hop Wo, the laundryman, after an absence of several years. Hop Wo has been, since leaving here, in New York, Chicago and Cincinnati and
We depend on our patrons for donations. This 1897 J. M. McCanless portrait of a black nurse midwife was loaned for scanning by Dianna Hays. We also receive valuable information from patrons. Ms. Hays told us that the baby was her grandmother Pauline Moore Bourne, daughter of clothing store owner M. V. Moore, and that Pauline
Uva Shipman aka Uva Kimmey aka Uva Minners aka Bobbie Kimmey Daredevil! Stunt Pilot! Wing Walker! This article appeared in the Asheville Citizen-Times in July of 1930. An image of a woman pilot standing on the wing of a plane in a skull and crossbones sweater…anachronism anyone? Did Uva succeed at her solo trip across the
Lynne was our first volunteer. She started helping us scan photographs when Pack Memorial Library was closed for renovation in 2010. The North Carolina Room staff had been shipped off, along with the boxes of all of our stuff, to work on Special Collections in the former Tractor Supply building on Tunnel Road (a dank place to
By 1900 the thriving Jewish population of Asheville already had two congregations: Beth Ha Tephila (founded in 1891) and Bikor Cholim (founded in 1899; name changed to Beth Israel in 1950). However there was always one single Jewish community which needed a place for meetings and events. The Jewish community held its functions at a variety of
There are enough interesting manuscript collections, maps, and images here in the North Carolina Room to keep me entertained for years to come. Having the privilege to archive some new collections or perform patron requested searches, I inevitably find some interesting tidbit jotted down on the back of a photo, or an intriguing newspaper headline,