ARVAL WOODY, CHAIR MAKER
ITEM LIST - FOLDER #01 - 1950'S
Note: Items are listed in original order as received from the donor.
Box Folder Item Description Thumbnail
1 01 woo01_048 Welcome to membership in the Southern Highland Handicraft Guild. "The Southern Highland Handicraft Guild Welcomes to its Membership, Arval J. Woody, 1953. Who has met the Guild Standards of Craftsmanship and Design and is entitled to the rights, privileges and responsibilities of this organization." Signed by Ralph D. Morris, President.

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  01 woo01_020 Membership Certificate in the Southern Highland Handicraft Guild for Woody's Chair Shop for Arval J. and Nora N. Woody, for 1953.

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Newspaper article: [Newspaper unknown.] "Spruce Pine Personality:  Arval Woody Continues 150 Year Old Family Craft." Details the history of the woodcraft shop and the family.
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Brochure: "Woody's Chairs: Colonial Design, Hand Made. Located 3 Miles South of Spruce Pine on N.C. 26 Near the Blue Ridge Parkway." Shows Arval J. Woody and Walter T. Woody as owners.  Note on front "Probably late 1950's". Contains images of chairs and pricing information. Reverse contains "History of Woody Chairs"

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    woo01_031 Letter: To Mr. Arval J. Woody, Woody's Chair Shop, from Pauline E. Gordon, Extension Specialist in Housing and House Furnishing, North Carolina State College, Raleigh, N.C., April 30, 1958

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Letter:  To Mrs. Ann Bardwell, Home Demonstration Agent, Bourbon County, Paris, Kentucky from Mary Cornwell, Home Economics Agent, Haywood County, June 29, 1959, that recommends the Woodys and praises their work.

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    woo1_026 Newspaper article: Asheville Citizen Times, Sunday Dec. 20, 1959. " For Five Generations the Woody family of Spruce Pine has been making early American type furniture ... " Includes image of family members, Arval, Paul, Walter, and Frank Woody working on a chair.
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    woo01_030 Letter:To Arval Woody from Mrs. Evelyn W. Watson, Home Demonstration Agent, North Carolina State College of Agriculture and Engineering, Morganton, N.C., November 4, 1958. Thanks Arval Woody and brother for workshop. Notes an enclosure of a newspaper picture from the Morganton News-Herald, November 4, 1958, showing the Home Demonstration workshop in progress in Burke County.

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    woo01_029 Letter: To Arval Woody from Pauline E. Gordon, Extension Specialist in Housing and House Furnishings, with the Cooperative Extension Work in Agriculture and Home Economics, State of North Carolina, Raleigh, N.C., April 10, 1958.  

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    woo01_032 Letter: To Arval Woody from Merrill V. Davis, Secretary for the Board of Directors of the Kiwanis Club of Marion, N.C., November 8, 1958. Acknowledges the donation of the ladder-back chairs for the Ladies Night program.

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Letter: To Arval J. Woody from Robin Hood, Executive Vice President of the The First National Bank, Marion N.C., November 7, 1958. Notes that Mrs. J.H. Tate was the winner of one of Woody's chairs in the Ladies Night of the Marion Kiwanis Club. The key note speaker that evening was Lucy Morgan, founder of Penland School.

Enclosure: Letter sent to membership regarding the event at the Marion Kiwanis Club. October 11, 1958

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    woo01_035 Newspaper article: Waynesville Mountaineer, Monday Afternoon, February 17, 1958. "Mary Cornwell Says: Chair Workshops Are Drawing 129 Women From 24 Home Clubs." Includes a picture of the workshop for putting bottoms in chairs. [thumbnail only]

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Letter: To Arval J. Woody from Mary Agnes Gordon, Extension Specialist in Home Marketing, August 1, 1955. She encloses instruction for refinishing furniture with floor seal and requests additional brochures and thanks Arval for the gavel used to preside over the Epsilon Sigma Phi group. ..

Enclosure of instruction for refinishing furniture from Mary Agnes Gordon.

"Oil Finish For Chairs" Instructions for finishing chairs fro Woody's Chair Shop, Spruce Pine, N.C. Includes 8 steps in the finishing process.

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Newspaper article: [source unknown] "Family Has Been Making Chairs For Many Years. Charlie Woody Carrying On Work of Father and Grandfather," by Muriel Earley Sheppard. n.d. [2 copies] Sheppard notes that Charlies Woody made chairs for some 20 years, and his father made them for some 40 years, "and before him his grandfather and great grand-father made them in the same pattern."

[Note: Muriel Early Sheppard was a New York born author who settled in Spruce Pine about 1927 with her husband who was associated with the mining in the area. She wrote about the people and the area with an unflinching eye to local customs and way of life. Not everyone found her account of the area to be flattering and she often experienced criticism for her description of the people and the area. Her approach
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    w0001_047 Newspaper article: [source unknown] "Woodys Noted For Chair-Making," by Gerry Koontz. n.d.  [Koontz a local historian and writer, lives in Weaverville ?]. [thumbnail only] woo03_047.jpg (524857 bytes)

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