A Tribute to President Kennedy was written in 1963 by J.D. Higgins, Jr. to memorialize the fallen President and featured J.D. Higgins (Vocal), James Billings (Guitar), C. Ray Billings (Auto Harp), Paul Wooten (Bass).

This is just one of the items that were on display in the Alleghany Historical Museum for the exhibit on Mountain Music called These Hills are Alive with Music. If you have items that illustrate our common heritage, consider loaning them to the museum. More participation means more diversity, more education and more fun! The upcoming exhibit will be called Mountain Manufacturing: A History of Big Business in the Blue Ridge and will feature the factories that once operated in our area and will last through February of 2014. If you have items that you think would be appropriate,  bring them for display!

At right- Western Regional Archivist, Heather South (center) with Government Records Section Head, Becky McGee-Lankford (left) and State Archivist Sarah Koonts (right) at the opening of the Western Regional Archives.

If you missed the July meeting of AHGS, you missed a doozy. Heather South of the Western Regional Archives spoke about her job and the importance of proper storage and archiving techniques. Sounds dry as dust, right?

Absolutely the opposite. Heather is an enthusiastic (and fun!) speaker who gives technical information in a way even I can understand it. She says- as she holds up a giant 10″ bug- “People remember more with visuals. You’ll more easily remember what I say about pest prevention when you remember the lady with the bug.” When talking about the proper handling of documents or museum artifacts she wears a huge pair of Mickey Mouse gloves.

But, don’t let the silliness fool you. She gave us tons of practical information in her presentation. Like: People store things in boxes everywhere, in barns, basements and storage units. And tiny bugs love to make nests inside the corrugated cardboard of the boxes! So, as a rule, she isolates donations and re-boxes everything into clean, new cartons for storage at the archives.

And: Get your photos out of those magic magnetic photo albums (with the clear plastic sheet over the adhesive cardboard.) They aren’t acid-free and will slowly kill your photos instead of preserving them. Smell a photo album before you buy it for a “plastic-y” odor. If it has that beach ball smell, don’t buy it. The smell means the plastic is giving off gasses that will react with your photos. Heather claims she is “on security camera tapes all over the Carolinas smelling photo albums.”

And: Manilla folders and standard copy paper are generally “neutral” and therefore, safe for storing prints and documents.

We originally met Heather at a Museums in Partnership (MIP) meeting in Ashe County hosted by Ramona Renfroe and the Museum of Ashe County History. MIP is the brain child of Jill Jones, who was Director of the Swannanoa Valley Museum for ten years and is now Director of Marketing & Communications at Blue Ridge National Heritage Area. MIP has been a valuable resource for us, giving us access to a network of area museum professionals for information and advice. Thanks, Ramona and Jill for inviting AHGS to the group!

And THANKS HEATHER, for a fun and informative presentation. Please plan to come back to Alleghany soon!

In our work on geneology, we’ve recently found another great resource at the Z. Smith Reynolds Library of Wake Forest University. The Biblical Recorder (or most of it) is now online and accessible to researchers.

According to their site, “The Biblical Recorder is the official journal of the North Carolina Baptist State Convention. Currently published biweekly, it has been in existence since 1833, when it was founded by Thomas Meredith, a Baptist pastor in New Bern, North Carolina. The Z. Smith Reynolds Library’s North Carolina Baptist Historical Collection is the official repository for North Carolina Baptist churches and institutions. We hold one of the most complete runs of The Biblical Recorder, and it is the most heavily used collection in the archives.”

Driving Through Time – The Digital Blue Ridge Parkway is the best resource we’ve seen for researching the park that runs the “Crest of the Blue Ridge.”  Built by  The University Library, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, with help from several groups, the site is packed full of images and information. There are even photos of Alleghany we bet you’ve never seen! The title is appropriate as it’s easy to lose yourself in this virtual time machine.

We’re adding a permanent link to the AHGS site so you can easily visit (and return) to the archive.

Image above © Copyright 2010, The University Library, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. All rights reserved.

The first exhibit for 2013 is called Whittle & Stitch: Folk Art in the Blue Ridge.
The exhibit is sort of a departure from the norm as it includes contemporary items from local craftsmen as well as traditional handcrafts, including quilting, embroidery, woodworking and more.
There are already several items on display, but we always want to include everyone, so if you have something you think would be appropriate, please consider loaning it to the Society for display in the exhibit.
The exhibit opened in February and will last through May. Starting in 2013, exhibits will span 4 months. This will give the museum committee more time between showings and it will allow more time to enjoy their work. The museum is open Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, 10am to 5pm, across from the courthouse. Stop by and see the display!

Rustic, split-wood Cabin by John & Devin Ulery of Designs In Wood in Sparta, on loan from Wilma Foster.