Connecting the Docs: True Stories from the Old North State

Connecting the Docs is back for a short commemorative series focused on the 250th anniversary of American independence! To start things off, we are joined by Professor Kathleen DuVal of the University of North Carolina. Professor DuVal is a Pulitzer Prize winning author of Native Nations: A Millennium in North America and a Carl W. Ernst Distinguished Professor of History in the College of Arts an...

One of the nation’s most significant experiments in education and community took shape right outside of Asheville, North Carolina, and it started during the Great Depression. When a small group of students and teachers renounced their old university to begin building an educational community in Black Mountain, NC, they couldn’t have realized that it would attract and produce some of the world's be...

North Carolina is known as the birthplace of the American outdoor drama. One of its longest running outdoor productions, Unto These Hills, celebrated its 75th anniversary this year. To capture the spirit of that diamond anniversary, Connecting the Docs host John Horan, podcast interns Chris Deitner and Amelia Gantt, and producer Danielle Shirilla had an opportunity to travel west to watch the show...

We all remember how difficult it was to grocery shop during the COVID-19 lockdown, but imagine if a government agency had legally allotted a certain amount of toilet paper, hand sanitizer, or bread to each person per month...and kept it up for three years! It might seem impossible to fathom, but this was the nation’s reality only 80 years ago. In this episode, host John Horan hears from Microfilm...

Is it true that distance makes the heart grow fonder? Even with modern-day resources like instant messaging and video calls, long-distance relationships can be daunting, but it was a wholly different experience 80 years ago. Continuing our commemorative series on World War II, Reference Archivist Katherine Crickmore, Podcast Intern Chris Deitner, and Military Archivist Ashley Latta Post discuss se...

Few images are burned into popular culture as deeply as that of Rosie the Riveter, the classic and ever-reproduced representation of female empowerment during WWII. Rosie endures as a metaphor for a time of incredible change for women, a time when the U.S. called women out of the home and into the workforce to support the war effort. Historic records and images, like Rosie, teach us about the expe...

This episode contains content that may be harmful or difficult to listen to, including discussion of language that reflects outdated, biased or offensive views as well as descriptions of conflict, racism, and violence.    Welcome back to Connecting the Docs! To commemorate the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II this year, our sixth season will examine those tumultuous years of war through...

During the 1800s, some free people of color and formerly enslaved people emigrated out of North Carolina. Many went north or to Haiti, and quite a few went to Liberia. Join host John Horan, former intern LaWanda McCullor and podcast regulars, Annabeth Poe and Katie Crickmore on this episode. Listen as the crew focuses on several letters and wills housed at the State Archives of North Carolina reco...

What would you think about a concert that was pure silence? Or an event that hosted four different performances all at once? These sort of avant-garde performance pieces were commonplace at North Carolina’s Black Mountain College. Founded in 1933 by John A. Rice and Theodore Dreier, Black Mountain College operated as an experiment of “education in a democracy,” wherein the creative arts and practi...

Before the Revolutionary War began, a movement unfolded in the backcountry of North Carolina, sparking the short-lived but influential War of Regulation. In the first episode of our series “From Regulators to Revolution,” Annabeth Poe and Katherine Crickmore are joined by Nathan Schultz, the Site Director of Alamance Battleground, as they discuss the Regulators, their grievances, and the War of Re...

Have you ever conducted research at the State Archives of North Carolina, or any other archival institution for that matter? It’s a unique thrill when you discover history in your hands and read the words of the past as written by the people who lived it. Even when you know the basics about what you’re going to research, you never know exactly what you’ll find during an archival research trip.   ...

This week on Connecting the Docs, host John Horan welcomes Reference archivist Katherine Crickmore, former Digitization Archivist Chauna Carr, and Records Description Unit head Joshua Hager to investigate the validity of popular North Carolina legends.   First, Katie tackles the mysterious disappearance of Theodosia Burr, daughter of American Vice President Aaron Burr. Leaving South Carolina by bo...

Our final episode in our school-centric series takes us to Charlotte, home to one of the most famous legal cases involving school integration. By the time it reached the U.S. Supreme Court, Swann v. Mecklenburg addressed whether school systems could legally use busing routes to create more integrated school populations (or if they had an obligation to do just that). In this episode, join host John...

In the second and third episodes in our Class is in Session series, we focus on hearing from American Indian students about how they navigated school segregation and desegregation inside and outside of the classroom. Using a combination of government records and oral histories, join host John Horan and producers Josh Hager and Annabeth Poe for an overview of American Indian public education across...

In the second and third episodes in our Class is in Session series, we focus on hearing from American Indian students about how they navigated school segregation and desegregation inside and outside of the classroom. Using a combination of government records and oral histories, join host John Horan and producers Josh Hager and Annabeth Poe for an overview of American Indian public education across...

Welcome to Season 5 of Connecting the Docs! We start this season with a trip to the classroom as we focus on three topics relating to North Carolina schools and education history. In our first episode of the series, we take a look at the history of Rosenwald Schools in North Carolina. Join host John Horan, podcast intern Lawanda McCullor, and producer Josh Hager as we learn how the Julius Rosenwal...

Welcome back to the final series of Season 4, “Uncovered Stories.” In this series, you’ll hear about incredible records that archivists uncovered during work assigned for other, sometimes unrelated projects. These discoveries add new significant research topics to collections held by the State Archives for decades and shine a light on people and subjects upon which previous collection guides did n...

Welcome back to the final series of Season 4, “Uncovered Stories.” In this series, you’ll hear about incredible records that archivists uncovered during work assigned for other, sometimes unrelated projects. These discoveries add new significant research topics to collections held by the State Archives for decades and shine a light on people and subjects upon which previous collection guides did n...

Welcome to the final series of Season 4, “Uncovered Stories.” In this series, you’ll hear about incredible records that archivists uncovered during work assigned for other, sometimes unrelated projects. These discoveries add new significant research topics to collections held by the State Archives for decades and shine a light on people and subjects upon which previous collection guides did not fo...

Have you ever wanted to ask an archivist why your photos are fading away? Or why only some records are digitized? Or whether they actually wear white gloves when handling old records?   Well, good news! In this episode, our archivists will answer questions just like these that have been sent in from listeners like you! Inspired by the annual #AskAnArchivist day on social media and other popular pr...

2023 marks the 50th anniversary of the NC Trails System Act, and the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources is celebrating with the Year of the Trail campaign, where all types of trails are being celebrated across the state. Join us as we conclude our three-part series exploring the “sights, sounds, and people” of North Carolina’s trail system. In this episode, we are joined by Secretary D....

Happy Holidays! We all have heard of presidential pardons for turkeys at Thanksgiving. Of course, we know that since the first state constitution in 1776, North Carolina governors have had the ability to declare executive clemency to people. But have you heard of a governor pardoning a possum? In this episode we are joined by Records Description Archivist Mike Childs to learn about Slow Poke the P...

2023 marks the 50th anniversary of the NC Trails System Act, and the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources is celebrating with the Year of the Trail campaign, where all types of trails are being celebrated across the state. Join us as we continue our three-part series exploring the “sights, sounds, and people” of North Carolina’s trail system. In this episode, we take a look at the oldest t...

2023 marks the 50th anniversary of the NC Trails System Act, and the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources is celebrating with the Year of the Trail campaign, where all types of trails are being celebrated across the state. Join us as we embark on a three-part series where we explore the “sights, sounds, and people” of North Carolina’s trail system. In this episode, we leave the recording s...

As the conclusion of our Resiliency series, this episode shifts our focus from stories of the resilience of individual North Carolinians to information on how the State Archives can help government agencies throughout the state remain resilient in the face of disasters. In this episode, Records Description Unit Supervisor Josh Hager welcomes Records Management Consultant for Disaster Preparedness...