Buncombe County led the state in the early 1920s in fighting adult illiteracy. Its adult literacy program was copied throughout the south and even received national recognition. From 1917 to 1920 Buncombe County adult community schools, often called night schools, taught over 3000 adults to read and write. However, a newspaper article from February 1925
* Some eye-catching advertisements from a stack of old Asheville newspapers I happened across. * * * We’ve always been foodies. * * * Oh how we love our spirits…even if we don’t have a “stomachic.” * * * Water seems to always be an issue. And look…”wind-mills!” Sustainable energy source pre-solar panels. * * *
One of the benefits of working in the North Carolina collection is the discovery of new imagery and information on Buncombe County and Western North Carolina. Recently I’ve been scanning a large group of images of students who were in the Adult Education Program in the mid-1920’s. But these aren’t typical students. These photographs document