Connecting the Docs: True Stories from the Old North State

True Stories Behind Where the Crawdads Sing: Education and Truancy in Eastern North Carolina

Content warning: This episode includes potentially sensitive issues including suicide and death. Listener discretion is advised. 

Inspired by Where the Crawdads Sing—the bestselling novel by Delia Owens and now-streaming film—Connecting the Docs explores true stories that happened in the coastal communities of eastern North Carolina. In this episode, host John Horan, regular guest Josh Hager, and Samantha Crisp, director of the Outer Banks History Center, examine school records, truancy, and public education. Join in as they investigate the history of Rosenwald schools—more than 800 public schools built for African American students in North Carolina prior to desegregation in the 1960s—and learn from the personal experience of former Rosenwald school student Sharon Davis through excerpts from her oral history interview. Afterward, Samantha Crisp narrates the wildest truancy case in North Carolina’s recorded history. Through criminal action court records, personal letters, and newspaper coverage, she explores the curious case against the DeFebio family of Dare County, who objected to sending their children to public school. The controversy includes media battles, prison time, hunger strikes, kidnapping charges, and so much more.  

 

Sources Mentioned: 

 

An Interview with Sharon Davis (b. 1956), 2021. School Integration and Desegregation Oral History Project, OH.SchoolIntegration.002.  

School Planning Building Photographs digital collection. https://digital.ncdcr.gov/digital/custom/school-planning  

Department of Public Instruction Records, Division of Negro Education Records and Special Subject File on Rosenwald Schools. 

Miscellaneous Records, 1821-1966, Dare County (N.C.). Clerk of Superior Court, CR.031.928. 

State vs. Frank J. DeFabio, 1951, N.C. Supreme Court, CR.031.326.  

State vs. Mrs. Theo DeFabio, 1962, N.C. Supreme Court, CR.031.326.  

Research material on Frank DeFebio, from the David Stick Papers, box 272, PC.5001, Outer Banks History Center. 

Correspondence re: Frank DeFebio Monument, from the Frank Stick Papers, box 9, PC.5089, Outer Banks History Center. 

Articles and Letters on the DeFebio Family and School Integration, 1951-1961, from the D. Victor Meekins Papers, box 63, PC.5126, Outer Banks History Center. 

True Stories Behind Where the Crawdads Sing: Historic Black Communities of Eastern North Carolina

Inspired by Where the Crawdads Sing—the bestselling novel by Delia Owens that is now a major motion picture—Connecting the Docs explores true stories that happened in the wild marshes of eastern North Carolina. This episode, the first of a three-part series, is an examination of the resilient, dynamic Black communities that inhabited this land in the 18th and 19th centuries. Samantha Crisp, director of the Outer Banks History Center, and Morgan Johnson, oral history assistant, lead host John Horan into North Carolina’s maroon communities, like those hidden in the Great Dismal Swamp, as well as post-Civil War villages of emancipated African Americans, such as the Roanoke Island Freedmen’s Colony and James City. These communities come to life through the voices of descendants, presented in fascinating clips of oral history interviews held at the State Archives. 

 

Sources Mentioned:

 

Olmsted, Frederick Law. A Journey in the Seaboard Slave States; With Remarks on Their Economy. New York; London: Dix and Edwards; Sampson Low, Son & co., 1856. Published online by Documenting the American South. University Library, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. https://docsouth.unc.edu/nc/olmsted/menu.html 

 

An Interview with Marilyn Morrison (b. 1950), 2021, Roanoke-Hatteras Tribe Oral History Project, OH.RHTRIBE.001.   

 

An Interview with Gemaine Gillis (b. 1947), 2021, Roanoke-Hatteras Tribe Oral History Project, OH.RHTRIBE.002.   

 

An Interview with Leesa P. Jones (b. 1951), 2020, She Changed the World Oral History Project, OH.SHE.017  

 

Interview with Darrell Colllins on Outer Banks Black History (Dare County Current TV), 17 February 2021, AV_5319_03. Outer Banks History Center. 

 

James A. Bryan and wife vs. Washington Spivey et al. from North Carolina Reports [1890 : February, v.106]. Raleigh, NC: North Carolina Supreme Court, Judicial Department, 1890. https://digital.ncdcr.gov/digital/collection/p16062coll14/id/86257/rec/1  

 

Mobley, Joe A. James City, a black community, 1863-1900. Raleigh, NC: North Carolina Division of Archives and History, 1980. https://digital.ncdcr.gov/digital/collection/p16062coll6/id/982/rec/7  

 

Photograph of James City School, a Rosenwald Fund school, Craven County [c. 1924-1925]. Department of Public Instruction: School Planning Section, School Photographs File, Box 3. https://www.flickr.com/photos/north-carolina-state-archives/51417673688/in/photolist-at618p-2mi6Lnj-2mi6Khi-Sw1Mrq-2miaCzE-RYaCpa-2mi1ygQ-2mi1xF1-2mi5qUg-2mi9ecU-Td5nLx-SCcUo9-T9tPod-2mkB22j/  

Murder, Mystery, and Mayhem Revisited: The True Stories behind North Carolina Murder Ballads

The True Crime genre seems to have exploded in popularity in recent years, but, truthfully, people have always had a fascination with sensational crime stories. Long before podcasts, musicians transformed these true crime tales into popular songs that have been sung and passed along for hundreds of years. In this special Halloween episode, reference archivist Katie Crickmore breaks down five popular North Carolina murder ballads and the true stories that inspired them. John, Josh, and Katie also examine archival records found in the State Archives that back up or refute the narrative of these songs. Tune in and make up your own mind about what happened in these cases.

 

Sources Mentioned:

 

General

Murder, Mystery, and Mayhem in the Old North State – Office of Archives and History Blog: https://medium.com/murder-mystery-and-mayhem-in-the-old-north-state

 

Omie Wise

Randolph County, Superior Court Minutes, 1807, C.081.30008

Randolph County, Criminal Action Papers, 1807-1813, CR.081.326.10

Randolph County, Superior Court Minutes, 1811, CRX 86

Randolph County, Miscellaneous Records, CR.081.928.1

Randolph County, Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions, 1815, C.081.317

 

Frankie Silver

Burke County, Criminal Action Papers, 1832, CR.014.326.3

Burke County, Superior Court Minutes, 1832, CR.014.321.1

Several Petitions for Pardon to Gov. Swain, Mar-Jun 1833, GP.66-67

 

Tom Dula

Tom Dula Papers, PC.1272

NC Supreme Court, State v. Thomas Dula, Jan 1867, Case No. 8922

NC Supreme Court, State v. Thomas Dula, Jan 1868, Case No. 8923

Wilkes County, Criminal Action File, 1866, CR.104.326

Wilkes County, Superior Court Minute Docket, 1868, CR.104.311.4

 

Ellen Smith

Forsyth County, Superior Court Minutes, 1886, CR.038.311.6

Forsyth County, Superior Court Minutes, 1893, CR.038.311.8

 

Lawson Family

NC Death Certificates, Stokes County, 25 Dec 1929, Lawson Family

Stokes County, Deeds, Charlie and Fannie Lawson, Bk. 75 Pg.360

Stokes County, Record of Administration, Lawson Family, 1929, Vol. 2

Stokes County, Record of Accounts, Lawson Family, 1929-19

The Journey of an Archival Record. Part III: Digitization and Access

In this final episode of our first series for season 3, we reach the end of our journey in the life of an archival record. As you’ve been listening to the past two episodes, you may have asked yourself – but what’s the end goal? Where is all of this work – retention, scheduling, appraisal, processing, imaging – heading? 

In today’s episode, Chauna Carr from the Digital Access Branch, Lauren McCoy from the Public Services Branch, and Josh Hager from the Records Description Unit discuss the end goal of everything we do at the State Archives: public access. We’ll talk about why we digitize records, how we decide what to digitize, and how to access materials that aren’t digitized – because only a fraction of our records are or ever will be digitized! Tune in to find out the answer to one of the most popular questions an archivist hears these days: why aren’t all of your records available online, and how to get help from reference archivists when they aren’t! 

 

Sources Mentioned: 

 

Women, Marriage, and the Law, a part of the Studies in Scarlet Project: https://digital.ncdcr.gov/digital/custom/women-marriage-and-the-law  

Lillian Exum Clement Stafford materials are available in the Women in North Carolina 20th Century History collection: https://digital.ncdcr.gov/digital/custom/women-in-nc 

General Assembly Session Records: https://digital.ncdcr.gov/digital/custom/general-assembly-session-records 

Treasurer & Comptroller’s Finding Aid: https://digital.ncdcr.gov/digital/collection/p16062coll15/id/1570/rec/1 

The State Archives’ Online Catalog, DOC: https://archives.ncdcr.gov/search-catalog/search-doc 

Information on Ordering Records: https://archives.ncdcr.gov/researchers/services/ordering-copies  

African American Education Collection: https://digital.ncdcr.gov/digital/custom/african-american-education (includes records from the early 20th century Division of Negro Education) 

Blog post from History for All the People about the conservation of the earliest admissions log from Dorothea Dix Hospital: https://ncarchives.wpcomstaging.com/2021/11/02/conservation-treatment-of-the-dorothea-dix-hospital-register/  

The Journey of an Archival Record, Part II: Arrangement and Description

Those of you who have visited the State Archives may be familiar with the sight of boxes containing processed records in orderly rows of labelled, acid-free folders. But you may wonder: how do these records go from their unprocessed state upon transfer to the arranged and described collections that you encounter in the search room? How do archivists determine what records to process? Do all records get processed to the same level? And why does the State Archives reformat records and continue to use microfilm?

 

In today’s episode, State Agency Archivist Alex Dowrey and Digital Access Manager Ruth Cody will shed light on some of these questions and share illuminating details about what goes on behind –the scenes to preserve records and to promote access and discovery. You’ll also hear about fascinating records that Alex and Ruth have processed over the years, ranging from broiler chicken competition recipes found in Commissioner of Agriculture records to letters discussing Jim Crow culture in the south in the African American Social Work Collection.

 

Sources Mentioned:

 

Letters to Lt. Oxley, Stenographer/Typist Folder, African American Social Work Collection also known as Bureau of Work Among Negroes. SR.097.113.033

 

Recipes from the cooking competition are in the “March 1969” and “Articles, 1980” folders in the Commissioner's Office: Speeches File series, SR.7.33 (SCHEDS-37726).

 

The Division of Emergency Management scrapbooks that contain newspaper clippings and other records of civil defense activities are in the Intelligence Section, Public Information Officer: Scrapbooks series, SR.56.2. (Note: these records are currently being processed to address preservation concerns. Please contact the search room in advance for access).

 

The Rockingham County divorces are in the Divorce Records subgroup, CR.084.604.

The Journey of an Archival Record, Part I: Appraisal

Welcome back to Connecting the Docs!

In this brand new season, we have several mini-series covering a range of topics including a look west with information about “Mountain Speak” and a series on the true stories of Coastal Carolina inspired by the film, Where the Crawdads Sing. We open season three in Raleigh, with our first series, “The Journey of an Archival Record.” In this three-part series, you’ll hear from archivists who normally work behind the scenes about how a document created by a state agency becomes a part of the collections of the State Archives of North Carolina. In the first episode, Appraisal Archivist Colin Reeve and Records Description Unit Supervisor Josh Hager tell John about the first stage in this process: records retention and appraisal. This episode has a little bit of everything: You’ll learn how even a sticky note can become a public record, how a retention schedule can help agencies whittle down their records to a small percentage that comes to the Archives, and how an agency could (legally) destroy a record using an acid vat! We hope you appraise this episode as a great return to the show.

 

Links:

Functional Schedule for Records Retention and Disposition for State Agencies: https://archives.ncdcr.gov/government/state-government-agencies/functional-schedule

Records Management Frequently Asked Questions: https://archives.ncdcr.gov/government/records-management-tools/faq 

Tutorials created by the Records Analysis Unit of the State Archives: https://archives.ncdcr.gov/government/training/online-tutorials-and-resources

General Statute 121: https://www.ncleg.gov/Laws/GeneralStatuteSections/Chapter121

General Statute 132: https://www.ncleg.gov/Laws/GeneralStatuteSections/Chapter132 

When Are We US? America250: A Look to the Past to Inform Our Future

In this special hour-long episode and season finale of Connecting the Docs: Unprocessed, State Archivist Sarah Koonts and Becky McGee-Lankford, assistant state records administrator, introduce us to America250, the nationwide commemoration to mark the 250^th anniversary of the United States’ founding. North Carolina’s programming will highlight historical events of the Revolution as well as the ideals of liberty, courage, sacrifice, civic responsibility, and progress that have developed in the years since. To kick off preparations for this momentous occasion, Koonts and McGee-Lankford share inspiring records in the State Archives that embody these ideals and bring history to life: a 1776 letter from John Adams that later become the renowned pamphlet Thoughts on Government; a rare 1903 Constitutional Reader created to aid disenfranchised black men—and later women—overcome the burden of the Permanent Registration Act of 1901; a 1964 report from the Council on the Status of Women that details systemic challenges in work and life; and much more.

 

Sources Mentioned:

 

John Adams, 1776. Thoughts on Government Letter. Vault Collection, State Archives of North Carolina. https://digital.ncdcr.gov/digital/collection/p15012coll11/id/606/rec/1

Joseph Graham Papers, PC.60. State Archives of North Carolina.

General Assembly Session Records. State Archives of North Carolina. https://digital.ncdcr.gov/digital/search/collection/p16062coll36

North Carolina and Tennessee, Revolutionary War Land Warrants, 1783-1843, Roll 07: Revolutionary Warrants, frame 324-5 of 608. www.ancestry.com

Military Collection, Troop Returns, box 6, folder 20. http://www.digital.ncdcr.gov/cdm/compoundobject/collection/p16062coll26/id/980/rec/2

North Carolina and Tennessee, Revolutionary War Land Warrants, 1783-1843, Roll 04, frames 105-6 of 619; www.ancestry.com

Pettiford, George (Granville), 1831. Declaration of Service to Accompany U.S. Pension Applications. War of the Revolution Papers. State Archives of North Carolina.

Granville County Pleas and Quarter Sessions Minutes, 1821. State Archives of North Carolina.

Harris, G. Ellis, 1903. North Carolina Constitutional Reader, Being a Hand Book for Primary Use in One Part. State Archives of North Carolina. https://digital.ncdcr.gov/digital/collection/p15012coll11/id/710/rec/4

The Many Lives of North Carolina Women (Commission Report), 1964. Governor’s Commission on the Status of Women. State Archives of North Carolina. https://digital.ncdcr.gov/digital/collection/p16062coll44/id/7009/rec/27

Good Neighbor Council Digital Collection, SR.31. State Archives of North Carolina. https://digital.ncdcr.gov/digital/custom/good-neighbor

A Peculiar Instrument in Collecting Foreign Records

In this episode of Connecting the Docs: Unprocessed, two former editors of , Bob Cain and Joe Beatty, join host John Horan to discuss the foreign collections within the State Archives of North Carolina. They discuss the decision to travel to the United Kingdom and collect these documents, an effort that went through fits and starts throughout the 20th century. Bob Cain shares his experiences doing this work in London in the 1960s and early 1970s and talks about how he found and shipped the collections to the State Archives in Raleigh. He discusses some of his favorite documents and reflects on how North Carolinians regard their history, from recent memories to the state’s colonial past.

 

 

Sources Mentioned:

 

Foreign Collections:

https://archives.ncdcr.gov/researchers/finding-aids/records-foreign-collections

 

Carolina Charter of 1663

https://digital.ncdcr.gov/digital/collection/p15012coll11/id/10/rec/1

 

The Colonial Records of North Carolina

https://www.ncdcr.gov/about/history/historical-publications/colonial-records

 

Dammed Cities: Bringing an Underwater Story Aboveboard

In this episode of Connecting the Docs: Unprocessed, host John Horan and oral history interns Michelle Witt and Madison Riley discuss the history of two dams and the lakes they created. The story of Fontana Dam and Lake as a tourist destination in western North Carolina is well documented, but this episode goes underneath the surface and uncovers the various towns and landmarks that were flooded when the dam was built. In much the same way, Jordan Dam and Lake changed the landscape of Chatham County. It took decades to build, and yet, much less is written and known about this story. In addition to discussing the dams, lakes, and what happened to towns like Japan and Seaforth, this episode explores how archivists and historians do their research to tell stories. It gives some tips on the best ways to interact with the repository at the State Archives and beyond.

 

Sources Mentioned:

“Moving Deadline Near for Fontana Reservoir Residents.” The Sylva Herald and Ruralite (Sylva, NC), October 25, 1944, p.4. https://newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn92074071/1944-10-25/ed-1/seq-4/

 

Map of North Carolina County Road Survey of Graham County, 1930, North Carolina State Highway Commissions. https://dc.lib.unc.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/ncmaps/id/2050/rec/61

 

Map of Graham County (State Highway and Public Works Commission), 1953, North Carolina State Highways and Public Works Commission. https://dc.lib.unc.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/ncmaps/id/7757/rec/78

 

“There’ll Be No ‘Japan.’” The Wallace Enterprise (Wallace, NC), December 31, 1942, p. 6. https://newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn94058243/1942-12-31/ed-1/seq-6/

 

Mrs. Callie Pilkington home in Japan, NC, destroyed by Fontana Dam Project, June 1944, taken by John Hemmer. From the Department of Conservation and Development, Travel Information Division Photograph Collection. https://www.flickr.com/photos/north-carolina-state-archives/40934127163/

 

New Hill Baptist Church history 1888-1988: Soldiers of the Cross Marching on by Linda Barker, Wallace Womble, and Wayne Womble, 1988. https://digital.ncdcr.gov/digital/collection/p249901coll37/id/23831/rec/5

 

Land development potential study, Chatham County, N.C, Chatham County (NC) Planning Board, 1970. https://digital.ncdcr.gov/digital/collection/p16062coll9/id/163437/rec/19

Highways and History: Archival Documentation of Urban Renewal and ”Black Removal”

This episode tells the story of three North Carolinian communities and their intersection with highways and the urban renewal projects of the mid-20th century. The first story we explore is the experience of Durham’s Hayti neighborhood and the dismantling of a self-sustaining Black community. The next act of neighborhood destruction comes to us as Raleigh’s Smoky Hollow community was wiped away for Capital Boulevard and later gentrified. The final story of paving over communities comes from what is historically known as Southside and South Park in downtown Raleigh. This story illustrates how communities fought back and features Shaw University and an educational charrette that proposed a different outcome.

 

Sources Mentioned:

Terry Sanford Papers:

https://axaem.archives.ncdcr.gov/findingaids/PC_1851_Terry_Sanford_Papers.html

Durham Urban Renewal Records Exhibit:

https://www.digitalnc.org/exhibits/durham/

News and Observer Negative File, 1938-2018:

https://axaem.archives.ncdcr.gov/findingaids/PHC_NEWSOBSERVER_News_and_Obser_.html

Albert Barden Photograph Collection, 1910-1953:

https://axaem.archives.ncdcr.gov/findingaids/PHC_BARDEN_Albert_Barden_Photog_.html

North Carolina Digital State Documents Collection:

https://digital.ncdcr.gov/digital/collection/p16062coll9/id/517845/rec/32

Department of Transportation Planning and Programming: Transportation Planning File, 1953-1989 - No finding aid, unprocessed.

 

Flickr:

Smoky Hollow, Raleigh, NC

https://www.flickr.com/photos/north-carolina-state-archives/albums/72157690696300263

Southside, Raleigh, NC

https://www.flickr.com/photos/north-carolina-state-archives/albums/72157666781993290/with/26355667432/