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Collections Update: Conversations in Black

It's been a while since we focused on new collections in Gateway, even though we are constantly adding new material. Starting this week, we have added a collections feature to our Facebook and Instagram pages, and we plan to do monthly updates here as well.

This month we will be highlighting collections from the Conversations in Black: African American History and Heritage, Greensboro, N.C. project. This project, a collaboration with colleagues from the City of Greensboro Planning Department, Preservation Greensboro Inc.hmwPreservation, N.C. A&T State University, N.C. Central University, and the State Archives of North Carolina is connected with a National Register application for the South Benbow Road community in Greensboro, North Carolina. It includes material digitized as part of the application and community engagement process and will eventually include links to oral history interviews conducted as part of the project as well. The project is not limited to this area, however, and we are actively seeking community contributions through community scanning events and other outreach.

Dentists Boise Winslow (B. W.) Barnes and Lloyd Miller
Dentists Boise Winslow (B. W.) Barnes and Lloyd Miller

Recent additions to the project have included materials donated by Dr. Deborah H. Barnes, documenting the history of her family, including her father, a well-known dentist in Greensboro and plaintiff in the case of Simkins v. Moses Cone Hospital (1963), the landmark Supreme Court decision that desegregated hospitals throughout the South. We have also digitized material from her mother, Shirley McRae Barnes, who was active in civic affairs, including the development of L. Richardson Memorial Hospital. Both collections document the family's connection to the community, academia, and the civil rights movement.

Also of note are the Totten Family Collection, documenting a local family with significant connections to A&T State University and the Palmer Memorial Institute, and the Evelyn V. Slade Collection, which contains a wealth of family history information dating as far back as the 1800s.

Unidentified church building
Unidentified church building, 1960s

In keeping with the project focus, several collections related to architecture are included, focusing both the Benbow Road/Southeast Greensboro neighborhoods and other areas in North Carolina. Though several of these collections are not large, they very much complement the larger Patrick Lee Lucas Papers and the Loewenstein-Atkinson Architectural Records (more on these projects in a later update):

  • Sharon D. Graeber Collection: Graeber is an architect living in Greensboro, North Carolina. Her parents, Marvin B.Graeber (1920-2020) and Beulah L. Graeber (d. 1998) were longtime residents of the Clinton Heights/Benbow Park neighborhood in Greensboro, where Sharon Graeber grew up. The collection contains historical material documenting Shareon Graeber's family and also contemporary material documenting her work as an architect, entrepreneur, and member of Grace Lutheran Church.
  • Jenkins Family Collection: Willie Edward "Blue" Jenkins (1923-1988) was a graduate of North Carolina A&T State University who worked at the architectural firm of Edward Loewenstein architectural firm from 1949 to 1961. Jenkins became an associate by 1954, the first African-American architect in Greensboro to do so. He established his own practice in 1961. Jenkins designed several landmark buildings in Greensboro, including the gymnasium at Dudley High School, several buildings at N.C. A&T State University, the Greensboro National Bank on Murrow Boulevard, and the home of noted attorney J. Kenneth Lee. Much of the material in the collection was shared by his wife, Gladys Jenkins, and daughter, Miltrene Jenkins Bardin.
  • Chad Roberts Collection: Chad Roberts is a Greensboro resident, copy editor, and alumnus of North Carolina A&T State University. This collection includes material related to architect William Streat and other community members affiliated with Bennett College and A&T.
  • Eric Woodard Collection: Eric Woodard is a Greensboro resident, North Carolina State University graduate, designer, and author who works with Preservation Greensboro, Inc. This collection includes material related to William Alfred Streat and his wife, Florence Louise Guenveur Streat.
  • Major S. Sanders, Jr. Collection: Major Sanders was born in Concord, North Carolina in 1943 and studied Architectural Engineering at N.C. A&T State University. In 1966, he began working for Greensboro architect W. Edward "Blue" Jenkins. After graduating from A&T in 1971, he continued to work for Jenkins until 1978. Relocating to Wisconsin, he worked for American Medical Buildings (1978-1980) and Shephard Legan Aldrian Ltd. (1980-1982) before again returning to Jenkins' firm from 1982 to 1986. Sanders established his own firm in 1986, and later became President of Quality Housing Corporation in Greensboro, specializing in passive solar and low-cost energy solutions. He has designed and supervised numerous prominent buildings in North Carolina and Wisconsin, and has been involved in many professional and civic organizations.

There's more to come on this project!