This article appeared in the Volume 5, Issue 1 Spring/Summer 2024 issue of the Appalachian Curator. Click here to view a PDF of the full issue. George Masa’s photographic eye captured some of the earliest images of the Smoky Mountains, and his photos played a significant role in the creation of what became the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Masa immigrated from Japan sometime in the early 20th century, made his way to Asheville around 1915, and by the 1920s he had started a photography studio was taking photographs and hiking in the mountains, befriending Horace Kephart and becoming an active member of the Carolina Mountain Club. Scholarly interest in…
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“You Have to Pick Your Place:” An Interview with Gene Hyde
This article appeared in the Volume 5, Issue 1 Spring/Summer 2024 issue of the Appalachian Curator. Click here to view a PDF of the full issue. By Trevor McKenzie Gene Hyde is an Appalachian archivist, writer, poet, and advocate for the importance of collecting and preserving materials that document people and places in our mountain region. He began his regional studies career with an MA in Appalachian Studies from Appalachian State University and dove into archives with an MS in Information Science from University of Tennessee. Hyde has been an integral part of building regional special collections at Lyon College (Ozarks Collection), Radford University, and at University of North Carolina…
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What’s new in Appalachian Special Collections?
This article appeared in the Volume 4, Issue 1 Spring/Summer Winter 2023 issue of the Appalachian Curator. Click here to view a PDF of the full issue. New collections in regional repositories: Appalachian State University University of North Carolina Asheville Western Regional Archives, Asheville NC Appalachian State University In December 2020, Appalachian State University Libraries’ Special Collections Research Center received the MerleFest Archives. The archives span the history of the festival, from 1988 to the present, and include recordings of performances, photographs, and ephemera. The collection was opened in time for the 35th anniversary of MerleFest in April. Below is a photo of the interactive viewing and listening station, which allows…
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Champion Paper Mill collections at Western Carolina and UNC Asheville
This article appeared in the Volume 4, Issue 1 Spring/Summer Winter 2023 issue of the Appalachian Curator. Click here to view a PDF of the full issue. By Liz Harper (Western Carolina University) and Gene Hyde (UNC Asheville) When it opened in 1908, the Champion Fibre Company was the largest pulp mill in the world. For 60 years it was under the leadership of Reuben B. Robertson and was a source of employment, a site of innovation, and a hub of community life for the town of Canton. The population of Canton tripled in size between the start of construction and the opening of the mill and the local economy flourished.…
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UNC Asheville adds Bill and Alice Hart Collection
This article appeared in the Volume 3, Issue 3 Winter 2022 issue of the Appalachian Curator. Click here to view a PDF of the full issue. By Gene Hyde Earlier this year, UNC Asheville’s Special Collections received the largest private donation in their history when Bill and Alice Hart donated their extensive private library to UNC Asheville. Containing more than 1200 monographs and 26 linear feet of ephemera and other materials, the William A. Hart, Jr. and Alice Huff Hart Western North Carolina Regional Library, known as the Bill and Alice Hart Collection, is the crown jewel of UNC Asheville’s Special Collections. Bill and Alice Hart curated and developed their collection…
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What’s New in Appalachian Special Collections?
This article appeared in the Volume 3, Issue 3 Winter 2022 issue of the Appalachian Curator. Click here to view a PDF of the full issue. New collections in regional repositories: Appalachian State University East Tennessee State University University of North Carolina Asheville Appalachian State University African American family photographs: This collection consists of a photograph folder containing six 4×4 inch photographs of an unidentified African American family in Greenville, South Carolina, circa 1950s. Edward Bobal photograph album: This photograph album was kept by Edward Bobal and his wife, Madelyn, while he awaited reassignment in the Army, in Asheville, North Carolina, during World War II. The album shows their 10 day…
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Editor’s Column
This article appeared in the Volume 2, Issue 3 Winter 2021 issue of the Appalachian Curator. Click here to view a PDF of the full issue. By Gene Hyde We’re pleased to offer the latest issue of Appalachian Curator, which unsurprisingly continues to document how the pandemic has challenged how Appalachian special collections provide basic services. In this vein, we have an article describing how various repositories are chronicling (or not chronicling) COVID at their institutions. Another article discusses how Foxfire and Blue Ridge Public Radio are collaborating on a crowd-sourced oral history project documenting COVID. During our most recent ASA Special Collections Committee meeting (virtual, of course) we started…
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Invitation: Join us at a virtual Town Hall to discuss re-opening!
This article appeared in the Volume 2, Issue 3 Winter 2021 issue of the Appalachian Curator. Click here to view a PDF of the full issue. Special Collections: Let’s Discuss Re-Opening! In these days of changing health and safety protocols, questions abound. Some institutions are being directive; others are indecisive or non-communicative. Are you in a quandary about re-opening your archives and special collections this fall? Do you have re-opening ideas and news that you would like to share with regional colleagues? If either answer is yes, please plan to participate in a special Online Town Hall meeting of the ASA Special Collections group. (If both answers are yes, be…
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Raising Archival Awareness in a Regional Studies Organization: The Appalachian Studies Case
This article appeared in the Volume 2, Issue 3 Winter 2021 issue of the Appalachian Curator. Click here to view a PDF of the full issue. By Gene Hyde and Liz Harper In September 2020 Gene Hyde and Liz Harper presented a virtual Ramsey Library Brown Bag Talk at UNC Asheville. Their presentation, “Raising Archival Awareness in a Regional Studies Organization: The Appalachian Studies Case,” was originally accepted for the 2020 Society of North Carolina Archivists’ Conference in March 2020 at Elon University, which was canceled due to COVID. Their presentation describes how archivists led efforts to create a Special Collections Committee in the Appalachian Studies Association and also discusses…
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Editor’s column
This article appeared in the Volume 2, Issue 2 Fall 2020 issue of the Appalachian Curator. Click here to view a PDF of the full issue. Welcome to the Fall 2020 issue of the Appalachian Curator. We hope you’re doing well as the season brings us shorter days and colder weather. Despite the challenges the COVID has brought, we are glad to feature two articles that highlight the good work archivists, librarians, and scholars are doing in the region. Our featured collection is the Historic Frank Foster Memorial Library by the Urban Appalachian Community Coalition in Cincinnati. Moving from urban Appalachia to rural North Carolina, “Influence and Legacy: The Farmer’s…
