University of North Carolina at Asheville
D. Hiden Ramsey Library
Special Collections/University Archives

Oral History Register
for

Katharine Bynum Shepard

OH-VOA S54 Ka
Interview One

Voices of Asheville Oral History Collection
D.H. Ramsey Library Special Collections, UNCA

Title

Creator

Norma Snap for American Association of University Women; abstract by Dorothy Joynes for Voices of Asheville Oral History Collection

Subject

LCSH:
Shepard, Katharine Bynum
Girl Scouts -- North Carolina -- Asheville
American Association of University Women -- North Carolina -- Asheville
Asheville (N.C.) -- History
Dairy farms -- North Carolina
Depressions -- 1929 -- North Carolina -- Asheville

Subject
[Keyword]

Jackson Building ; Altamont ; Longchamps Apartments ; Girl Scouts ; AAUW ; VA Hospital ; Rhododendron Festival ; Biltmore Village ; Sinking fund

Description

Abstract: Shepard discusses her education and her parents' interest in community organizations, and she describes projects in which her mother and friends were involved.  She discusses her involvement with the AAUW and Girl Scouts.  She discusses several aspects of her family history, the development of the VA Hospital in Oteen, the effects of the depression, the construction of the tunnel, court house and city hall.  She lists organizations in which her parents were active.

Publisher

D. H. Ramsey Library Special Collections, University of North Carolina at Asheville, NC, 28804

Contributor

Date

Electronic Record Issued: 2002-05-14

Type

Sound ; Text ; Image

Format

Physical Description: 1 6-page abstract ; 2 90-minute audiocassettes and 2 copies ; CD copies; 6 color photographs ; newspaper articles and brochures

Identifier

Source

OH-VOA S54 Ka

Language

English

Relation

References: VOA Fred Hearn Oral History ; VOA Mary Hyde Oral History

Coverage

Acquisition

Donor number: 146 ;  Date of acquisition: 1998

Processed By

Norma Snap, Ruth Beard and staff

Interview Date

Interview Location

Biography

List of names

Side 1:

This tape was done as part of a project of the American Association of University Women in Asheville.

[1/1]  Introduction.  Parents met while attending the University of Chicago at the home of a niece of Jane Addams.  Her father started to go blind so, to save his eyesight, a farm was bought in Fletcher. [Jane Addams, Sara Addams, Curtis Bynum, Florence Boyd Bynum]

[1/36]  She modeled herself on both parents who were interested in organizations in the community.

[1/42]  While attending camp in Brevard she decided to become a Girl Scout.  The wife of the Trinity Church minister helped her organize a troop.

[1/62]  For three summers as a teenager she had a troop in the city. [Katharine Park]

[1/73]  When she returned from college in 1931 she started the group again. 

[1/88]  She was in the court of the Rhododendron Festival, and joined the Junior League and the AAUW in September 1931.

[1/95]  The Rhododendron Festival parade, parties and dances are described (see Fred Hearn tape). [Edith Russell, Herschel Harrington]

[1/130]  She worked in the Junior League baby home on Merrimon Ave.  The building is now part of the Sunday School for the Presbyterian church.

[1/149]  She attended 3rd and 4th grade in a Charlotte Street school, now the Jewish Community Center.  Later she went to a new public school [David Millard] on Oak Plaza which was later Asheville High until the McDowell St. school was built. [Arabella Ketcham: In Eleanor Stephens' abstract, the teacher's name is spelled Arabelle Kitchin.  Unable to verify.]

[1/207]  For four years she attended St. Genevieve's.

[1/222]  Her mother was one of the early presidents of AAUW.  She became president in Aurora, Illinois (where she lived for 30 years after she married) and reorganized the board.  Her ideas for a board manual were adopted nationally.

[1/273]  The National Education Fellowship Fund was given in her name to help graduate women.

[1/281]  Projects with her mother and friends are described - the Red Carpet Casino Housewalk, Refugee Shop and leather dogwood flowers made as a fund raiser. [Helen Gunther, Pauline Smathers]

[1/328]  She attended conventions. [Coretta King]

[1/381]  She worked on a project in Biltmore Village.  There were three festivals and a museum was started (see Mary Hyde tape).

[1/419]  For two years she trained volunteers in Girl Scouts in 8 states.

[1/462]  Her son and husband were involved in scouting and worked with Boy Scouts and the YMCA and Community Chest.

Side 2:

[2/1]  Men joined the AAUW in 1989.

[2/13]  She reviews her scouting career and has kept up her membership since March 23, 1924. [Juliet Gordon Lowe, Katharine Park (d. 1986)]

[2/75]  Rev. William Ship Bynum, her grandfather, was an Episcopalian minister in Fletcher, N.C. [William Ship Bynum]

[2/93]  Parents met in Hull-House in Chicago. [Curtis Bynum, Florence Boyd Bynum, Jane Addams]

[2/136]  Her great grandfather was judge of Supreme Court.  He lost money and moved to town and bought White Pine Farm (now part of airport property).  Her father fought in France in WWI.

[2/158]  The government was looking for a place to send soldiers who developed TB in the trenches.  Denver, CO, Saranac [Lake], NY and Asheville, NC were chosen areas because of climate.  Soldiers, it was believed, would need milk.  Mrs. Bynum was approached because there were cows on the farm.  She sent the farm manager to New Jersey to get more cows which were distributed among the local farmers.  It was because of this the hospital - now Oteen VA was built. [Florence Bynum, "Mr. Bogie," Mr. Pontidoppan]

[2/222]  Seven acres of land were bought by her father from the Biltmore Estate in 1923 and their Norman French House was built [Macon Ave.].  The apartment house across the road was copied from the house.  Italians cut the stone. [Fred Seeley, Dr. and Mrs. Battle, Ronald Green, Jackson Building, Longchamps Apartments]

[2/303]  All banks but the Wachovia closed with the 1929 crash.  Her house was closed because there wasn't money for heat.  She and her mother went to the Asheville Biltmore (now called Altamont). [Wallace Davis, Altamont]

[2/336]  A sinking fund of $65 million was set up to dig the tunnel and build the court house and city hall.  Bonds were totally bought back in 1976.  Her father died (1964) before the celebration in the auditorium. [Curtis Bynum]

[2/375]  Her mother was active in the city - the College Club of Asheville (later AAUW) and Girl Scouting, etc. [Florence Bynum]

[2/451]  Her father was a charter member of the Rotary Club, Pen and Plate Club, Society of the Cincinnati which goes back to Revolutionary days. [Curtis Bynum, Moses Ashley Curtis]

Thanks.

Return to Top         Oral History Collections