D.H. Ramsey Library Special Collections

Oral History Collections
[skip to Index of names, or view collection descriptions below]

The Special Collections oral histories contain a wealth of local history and cultural information on Asheville and the Western North Carolina region. Beginning with two major oral history collections, the Southern Highlands Research Center Oral History collection and the Voices of Asheville Project, Special Collections is now the repository of at least nine different oral history projects, each ranging from four or five interviews to over two hundred interviews. The first two collections cover a broad range of topics on the general history of Asheville and the surrounding area from the early twentieth century up until the brink of the twenty-first century. Recurrent themes involve: city and county development issues, segregation and integration of Asheville schools, private education in the region, the diversity of religions throughout the area, changes in farming and subsistence strategies, and the histories of various families and organizations that impacted western North Carolina.

Southern Highlands Research Center Oral History Collection (SHRC)

The first of these two collections, the Southern Highlands Research Center Oral History Collection (SHRC), contains oral histories taken by Dr. Louis D. Silveri and by Dr. Bruce Greenawalt. Both of these historians focused on interviews collected in and around Asheville and Western North Carolina during the fifteen years from 1977 to 1992. As a visiting scholar, Dr. Silveri collected over 180 hours of audio from architects, doctors, farmers, manufacturers, administrators, business owners, educators, and pivotal personalities. The Southern Highlands Research Center staff transcribed many of the tapes from the Louis Silveri Oral History Collection and these will be made available when time permits the translation to digital format. Until then, the transcripts can be viewed or copied, if permitted, here in the Special Collections reading room area. Dr. Silveri's wife has since donated a significant portion of her husband's personal library to Ramsey. Her contribution provides further study for researchers examining the Southern Highlands Research Center interviews and enriches the historical knowledge of the region.

Voices of Asheville Project (VOA)

The second oral history collection mentioned, known as the Voices of Asheville Project (VOA), was collected by Dorothy Joynes from 1992-1998. As a recent transplant to the area, Mrs. Joynes set out to gain information regarding the history and complexity of the region and its people. Initiated and completed at her own expense, the Joynes collection of over 250 tapes contains cultural and historical material, as well as attitudinal studies that cross class, race, and generations. Thirteen percent of the interviews were conducted with African Americans in the Asheville community (there are also interviews with African American residents in the SHRC and SACC collections). The interviews have been summarized but are not transcribed. The available abstracts are listed in the INDEX below. 

Like the Southern Highlands Research Center interviews, the Voices of Asheville Project contributes to the knowledge of Asheville and the surrounding area especially during the formative years from approximately the First World War to the revitalization of downtown Asheville. The interviews give background history of the Golden Age of the Vanderbilts, the tuberculosis sanitarium era, the Grove Park Inn, Battery Park Hotel, and Grove Arcade. Just as importantly, the project also discusses the varieties of methods residents used to cover the fundamentals of everyday existence in an American town. It addresses education, subsistence, local economic demands, the founding of various religious institutions, and important community issues and how they changed throughout the decades. With discussion of the Great  Depression, World War II, the Korean and Vietnam Wars, and many other significant periods of national history, interviews reflect the state of the local cultures in relation to the national culture. 

Ramsey Library Special Collections  (RLSC)

In recent times, Ramsey Library Special Collections  (RLSC) has begun to gather oral histories on a variety of topics including local medical history, local arts and crafts, and other topics of interest to the community. These interviews are completed in the spirit of the Dorothy Joynes, Dr. Bruce Greenawalt, and Dr. Louis Silveri, whose diligent work showed the value in examining and documenting not only historic events but how people internalize, act upon, and contribute to events.

South Asheville Colored Cemetery (1840-1943) (SACC)

Over the past few years, the repository has also received interview projects on more specific topics. In 1990, we received the a small collection, South Asheville Colored Cemetery (1840-1943) (SACC). This valuable collection of oral histories relates the histories of families and individuals who are buried in the cemetery. What began as a slave cemetery with rocks as markers over time became the place where African American families in Asheville buried their deceased friends and relatives. A large amount of the graves are unidentified, although the interviews shed light on some of the graves and on the use of the cemetery in general. Transcriptions are available for a limited number of the oral histories. Unfortunately, this collection is restricted and is only available for use in the Special Collections reading room.

Documenting Jewish History in Western North Carolina
Multiple Collections

Asheville and Western North Carolina has a strong and thriving Jewish heritage. With a visit to Riverside Cemetery, another historic cemetery in Buncombe County, though better documented than the South Asheville Colored Cemetery, one can instantly gain a sense of the long lineage of Jewish families in the Asheville area. Until recently, little research was completed regarding these families. Through the exhausting efforts of three organizations, The Center for Diversity Education, History @ Hand, and the Center for Jewish Studies at UNCA, not to mention the steadfast contributions of local residents, Special Collections now contains a rich body of material which incorporates Jewish heritage into the larger schema  of Western North Carolina history.

Jewish Businesses in Western North Carolina (JBWNC) is a collection of interviews compiled by Sharon Fahrer and Jan Schochet of History @ Hand which discusses Jewish owned businesses in downtown Asheville from 1880 to 1990. The collection provides vital information about downtown Asheville during both its formative and revitalization periods and can be used in conjunction with the recent digitization project "Asheville's Built Environment" and with the more recent Julian Price Papers to gain a deeper chronological and cultural understanding of downtown and its relation to the greater Buncombe County area. Sharon Fahrer and Jan Schochet also contributed to the Jewish Heritage in Western North Carolina (JHWNC) oral history collection, which is an amalgamation of interviews by David Schulman and History @ Hand. Interviews engage in discussion about general regional history and Asheville's Jewish cultural history. There are also a set of interviews on remembering Sidney Schochet. At this time, the Jewish Heritage in Western North Carolina collection is restriction along with section of Jewish Business in Western North Carolina. However, certain interviews may be viewed in Special Collections, and unrestricted interviews with soon be posted online on the Jewish Businesses in Western North Carolina finding aid.

Through the efforts of the Center for Diversity Education, Special Collections holds a collection of summaries of oral histories taken from local survivors of the Holocaust. The collection, entitled Choosing to Remember: From the Shoah to the Mountains (SHOAH) was originally used by the Center for a traveling exhibit that was displayed in local public middle and high schools. Through the work of Special Collections intern Don Chalfant, the collection is now available online in its entirety.

World War II: Mountain Memories (WWII)

In November of  2006, the Center for Diversity Education donated a collection of oral histories which recounts the experiences of local soldiers who fought in World War II. Entitled World War II: Mountain Memories (WWII), it consists of 112 interviews and roughly two hundred photographs. A few of the names in this collection overlap with those found in the Jewish Heritage of Western North Carolina oral histories. Researchers will benefit by examining both collections.

The Sandy Mush Chronicles (SMC)

For those interested in regional studies, the Sandy Mush Chronicles (SMC) is a collection of seventeen interviews from residents of Sandy Mush, a small rural community located in Leicester, North Carolina. Sandy Mush was made famous when local residents protested the reallocation of the area as a nuclear waste dump. Interviews discuss the changing methods of farming, the homeplace, and molasses making. A highlight of the collection occurs with James Hannah's description of the community quilt, which documents the history of the region. The collection provides a potent seed for future ethnographic work in Southern Appalachian rural communities, tobacco barns and cultural landscape, environmental racism, folklore, and rural Appalachian religion, to name a few.

YWCA of Asheville 100 Years Oral History Project

In preparation for the YWCA of Asheville's 100 year celebration, YWCA volunteers, UNC Asheville faculty, and history students interviewed longstanding members of the YWCA community and the YWCA Boosters Club: Sarah Glasgow, Pat Laurson, Earlene McQueen, and Mary Parker. These interviews serve the same functions as interviews in the Voices of Asheville Collection and in fact compliment existing interviews with other YWCA members Thelma Caldwell, Margaret Fuller, and Florence Ryan. Through the experiences of these women, the researcher will obtain information not only on the history of the YWCA but on the greater Asheville community over the last century. The collection promises to be a valuable resource for women's local history and social history. Although it began with interviews from four women, the collection is expected to grow as more interviews are compiled.

Ongoing Efforts

The Ramsey Library oral history repository continues to grow as local residents gain an interest in either gathering oral histories or contributing their stories to the ongoing narrative of the region. As we try to make these collections available online, the process of  transcribing many of the tapes has only just begun. Meanwhile, we are also working with mp3s to add an audio component to the finding aids. Special Collections has a number of volunteers that work with the archive throughout the year. As we continue to process these oral history collections, additional information will be added to this site and its accompanying finding aids.

INDEX of ORAL HISTORIES

• UNCA Oral History Check List

• UNCA Oral History Release Agreement and
  Oral History Release Agreement (alternate version)

• UNCA Oral History Life History (Biography form)

• UNCA Guidelines for Citing an Oral History

• Smithsonian Folklife and Oral History Interview Guide

• UNCA Oral History Guidelines (Online Version and Print Friendly Version)