The Bill and Alice Hart Collection
On Exhibit: January 2nd – February 2nd, 2024
Location: Blowers Gallery in Ramsey Library
The Bill and Alice Hart Collection, the crown jewel of UNC Asheville’s Special Collections, contains over 1200 books and over 25 linear feet of ephemera and related materials. This comprehensive collection was carefully curated by Bill and Alice Hart over 55 years and represents a broad spectrum of written material relating primarily to Western North Carolina. Many of the books and pamphlets are extremely rare and represent the Harts’ scholarship and pursuit of specific sources of information as their research delved deep into different aspects of Western North Carolina history and culture.
This exhibit highlights a handful of the rich and varied materials in the Bill and Alice Hart Collection. The exhibit also features Alice Hart’s watercolors, which are displayed with the Hart Collection in Special Collections, as well as Bill Hart’s scholarship and his love of hiking and the Great Smoky Mountains.
We are especially grateful to the Harts for their generous funding of the Bill and Alice Hart Internship, which provides internships for UNC Asheville students to work with Southern Appalachian materials in Special Collections. The first internship begins in January 2024.
We invite everyone to make an appointment with Special Collections and take a deeper dive into these marvelous resources. Please contact Special Collections to make an appointment to see the Hart Collection: speccoll@unca.edu
This exhibit was prepared by Michael Dennis, Ashley Whittle, and Gene Hyde
