Textiles, Teachers, and Troops: Greensboro, 1880-1945
Textiles, Teachers, and Troops makes available more than 175,000 digital images documenting the social and cultural development of Greensboro from Reconstruction to World War II. Photos, books, personal papers, scrapbooks, and oral histories demonstrate how the textile industry, education, and the massive World War II military presence helped Greensboro grow into one of the leading manufacturing and education centers in the Southeast.
Textiles, Teachers, and Troops is a collaborative project among seven cultural heritage institutions in Greensboro and was funded in part through a Library Services and Technology Act Grant administered by the State Library of North Carolina.
Collections included:
Pages
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- Postcards Collection
- Postcard views of Greensboro buildings, businesses, churches, schools, and streets.
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- George Preddy Papers
- This collection focuses on the military career of Major George E. Preddy Jr., a World War II air ace who was shot down and killed by friendly fire on Christmas day in 1944. Included are his diaries and his 201 military files, as well as photographs and film.
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- Puckett Family Papers
- The Puckett Family Papers consist primarily of correspondence from Beth Norvell Puckett to her husband, Lewis, who was stationed overseas with the U.S. Navy for over a year and a half during the latter part of World War II. The collection is rich in letters that document the single parent life that World War II thrust upon millions of women like Beth Puckett, who was left raising their two children, Sherry and Stephen, during her husband’s absence. The correspondence also documents the importance of extended family, which for Beth meant her parents, Joy and D.W. Norvell, who lived nearby and ran the D.W. Norvell Tent Manufacturing Company.
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- Lois Marie Rabey Scrapbook
- Scrapbook collection of artifacts and documents compiled by Ms. Lois Marie Rabey during her 1922-1923 academic year at Guilford College.
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- Rare Book Collection
- Rare books held by the Greensboro History Museum.
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- Schools and Colleges (Guilford Vertical Files)
- Various subject files documenting educational institutions in the Greensboro area.
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- Greensboro College Scrapbook Collection
- Scrapbooks created by individual students, departments, and organizations at Greensboro College.
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- Scrapbook Collection
- The UNC Greensboro Scrapbook Collection consists of scrapbooks created by campus associations, classes, clubs, committees, departments, organizations, residence halls, and schools.
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- Service League
- The War Service League was created at the Woman's College (now UNC Greensboro) in 1942 to provide assistance during the U.S.'s involvement in World War II. After the end of WWII, the organization continued as the Service League, focusing on coordinating fundraising efforts for community organizations and organizing a semi-annual blood drive. This collection contains records documenting the organization's work.
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- James E. Sifford Papers
- This collection contains photographs and printed materials relating to one of the first supermarkets in Greensboro, the A&P store on Commerce Place, at which James Sifford (1900-1982) served as the first manager.
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- State Normal Magazine / Coraddi
- State Normal Magazine was a quarterly student news publication published at UNC Greensboro from 1897 through 1919. Renamed Coraddi in 1919, the magazine became primarily a literary and fine arts publication and remains so to the present day.
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- Stereocards Collection
- When viewed through a stereoscope, these side-by-side photographs produce the illusion of a single three-dimensional image. The digitized items are views of White Oak Cotton Mills.
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- Alexander Stoesen Papers
- This collection consists largely of materials collected by Dr. Alexander (Alex) R. Stoesen (1932-2017) during his research on Basic Training Center #10 and the Overseas Replacement Depot (ORD). Located within Greensboro city limits, this military base was a training and processing center for the Army Air Forces during World War II and a catalyst for Greensboro's transformation from a small town to a modern city. The collection includes several drafts of Dr. Stoesen's unpublished paper, "The Elixir of War: Greensboro as an 'Army Town,' 1942-1946." His extensive research on the ORD was heavily used in "Army Town: Greensboro, 1943-1946," an exhibit that detailed Greensboro's contributions to the Allied war effort during World War II.
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- Eliot Kays Stone Papers
- Reminiscences of E. K. stone, a student at Guilford College for three years, ex-1900 class.
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- Student Handbooks
- The student handbooks are an annual publication containing information about campus policies, student organizations, religious options, and other details related to student life at UNC Greensboro.
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- Student Government Association Records
- The Student Government Association was created at State Normal (now UNC Greensboro) in 1914 and approved by the Board of Directors in 1915. This collection contains meeting minutes, correspondence, newsletters, reports, and other records documenting the work of the Student Government Association and its component groups.
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- Huldah (Beth) Taylor Collection
- Guilford College student Beth Taylor participated in the sit-ins in Greensboro during 1963.
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- Rachel Farlow Taylor Papers
- Letter to Rachel Taylor from Mary Mendenhall Hobbs primarily, with a few from other members of the Hobbs family. Taylor worked for Hobbs while she was a student at Guilford College and their friendship continued there after.
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- Tom Taylor Collection
- The Tom Taylor Collection consists of a 1934 letter to Taylor's mother documenting the history of Greensboro schools.
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- Textile Collection
- The UNC Greensboro Textile Collection contains clothing and textiles relating to UNC Greensboro's history, including class banners, class jackets, gym suits, and other items significant to the institution's history.
