The Special Collections Research Center collects, preserves, and provides access to original materials related to our primary collections; W. L. Eury Appalachian Collection, the Stock Car Racing Collection, Rare Books & Manuscripts, and University Archives & Records Management Services. The following resources are a sampling of the diverse holdings maintained by the Special Collections.
Collections and Resources
Chief Junaluska Memorial Ceremony photographs
This collection consists of five photographs taken at the dedication ceremony for the Chief Junaluska Monument on November 5, 1910. The photographs include the monument, members of the Daughters of the American Revolution (Winston-Salem Chapter), and Cherokee adults and children.
The Intrepid Ones
“In the village of Juchitan, Mexico, gay men… are regarded as neither men nor women; they are known as muxe, and are considered a major element of society. They are a third gender, combining the best parts of both the male and female, equipped with special intellectual and artistic gifts.”-- From the text
Jesse Jackson Collection
This collection consists of papers, slides, photographs, and audio recordings of children’s book author Jesse Jackson. It includes manuscripts, notes, short stories, research on race, slavery, and the family of Henry Clay of Kentucky, class notes and lecture material, autobiographical material, correspondence, newspaper, magazine, and journal articles, and material relating to the Jesse Jackson memorial conference held in November 1983.
Cherokee Centennial Celebration broadside
This collection provides historical information about the presence of the Cherokee in Southern Appalachia from circa 1800-1838, when General Winfield Scott was charged with forcibly removing the Cherokee people from their lands. It further describes the creation of prison camps that housed 14,000 Cherokee, the hardships they experiences, and their eventual forced move to Oklahoma, known as the Trail of Tears.
Resolutions of the Pin League to John Ross
This is a copy of a resolution of the Cherokee Nation's Pin League regarding Major General James G. Blunt's General Order Number 7 and the dismissal of Colonel William A. Phillips. Written in 1864 to John Ross, the Pin League requested that Ross represent the Cherokee and Creek Nations to the Secretary of War requesting the reinstatement of Phillips as commander of the Cherokee and Creek forces and help cease Blunt's confiscation of Cherokee and Creek cattle. This document includes a vivid description of Phillips and provides details of Civil War life of Cherokees.
John Ross Treasury Warrant
This collection consists of a treasury warranted dated February 3, 1857, from John Ross to the National Treasurer of the Cherokee Nation, Lewis Ross. The purpose was to pay William Campbell for teaching.
Bingham Dai papers
The Bingham Dai Collection contains correspondence, writings, journal, newspaper and magazine articles, photographs, note cards, and various documents regarding the professional and academic life of Dr. Bingham Dai.
Wrongly Bodied: Documenting transition from female to male
"Wrongly bodied came out of photographing Jacob McBee in transition from female to male and William Craft's book, Running a thousand miles for freedom, first published in London in 1860 by William Tweedie, twelve years after Ellen and William Craft's escape from Georgia."--Page 8
Transforming Hate: An Artist's Book
"This book evolved from a project for which I folded origami cranes from pages of white supremacist books for the exhibition, 'Speaking volumes: transforming hate' ... The process of making this book came later. I was trying to look at what it was like for me to turn hateful words into a beautiful art object. What actually evolved from that exploration helped me understand more fully the many levels of oppression and violence at the intersections of race, gender, class and sexual orientation ... We make decisions about who gets to have rights and who is marginalized in our society. From the place I now stand, I can see the courage and strength of my grandmother and mother and the path they made for me. I ask the viewer to question her or his perceptions about history, reality, identity and voice"--Foreword
Offerings at the crossroads
“‘Mark began dying of AIDS long before I began trying to concieve, both of us racing against the inevitability of time’ begins the story of a lesbian couple trying to get pregnant through artificial insemination, while their best male friend is dying of AIDS. The two couples’ trip to Bali becomes a metaphorical journey between birth and death and a moving account of what it means to create an alternative family.”-- From the artists website
Samsara
:This miniature book refers to our reality as having a constantly changing or circulating nature. I imagined the quiet and calm water developing into large waves, and the tiny sprout growing into a large tree and an old stump.”-- From the artist
Mary E. Lyons papers
Mary E. Lyons (b. 1947) is an award-winning author of fiction and nonfiction books for children. Lyons' historical and biographical works delve into the lives of marginalized people in history, from women to African Americans to impoverished Irish during the potato famine. Lyons has written, edited, or co-authored twenty-one books. Lyons received a Bachelor of Science from Appalachian State University in 1970, and returned to earn a Master of Science in reading in 1972. Before becoming a full-time writer, Lyons was a reading teacher at elementary and middle schools in North Carolina and Charlottesville, VA. She has also been a school librarian in elementary, middle, and high schools in Charlottesville.
This bridge called my back : writings by radical women of color
“Originally released in 1981, This Bridge Called My Back is a testimony to women of color feminism as it emerged in the last quarter of the twentietn century.”--Provided by publisher
Junaluska: oral histories of a Black Appalachian Community
"Junaluska is one of the oldest African American communities in western North Carolina and one of the few that has persisted into the modern era. These life history narratives adapted from interviews with residents (born between 1885 and 1993) offer a people's history of the black experience in the southern mountains.”-- Provided by publisher
Diversity and Inclusion Timeline
The Diversity & Inclusion Timeline covers events relating to diversity and inclusion at Appalachian State University. The timeline covers the period from 1899-2016.
This timeline was created under the direction of Dr. Suzi Mills and is a result of the Chancellor’s Commission on Diversity recommendations in 2014. Contributors included Trevor McKenzie and Brittany Self.