UNCG Special Collections & University Archives

Photos and other fun stuff from The University of North Carolina at Greensboro's Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives in the University Libraries. You can also follow us on Twitter: @UNCGArchives!

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Class jackets were a staple of the North Carolina College for Women (now UNCG) from 1927 until 1972. Pictured here is a student wearing the wool jacket of the Class of 1956. While they have not always been as popular as they were during their debut, they have remained a symbol of the early history of UNCG. This symbol was used when three white students at the Woman’s College wore their class jackets while joining the Sit-Ins at Woolworths. Learn more about the students at the Women’s College and their role in the Sit-Ins through the documentary “To Be Rather than to Seem.” You can also check out the physical class jackets in this glass display case on the second floor of the Jackson Library main building right by Hodges Reading Room.

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The Ghosts of the G - UNC Greensboro

From the Grey Lady in the Auditorium to the spirit of Foust Residence Hall, students, faculty, and staff at UNCG have been sharing ghost sto

Happy Halloween! In spirit of the season our very own Carolyn Shankle expanded on the lore of the ghosts on campus. Read more about the interview in “The Ghost of the G.”

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UNCG’s Cello Music Collection is the largest single holding of cello music-related materials in the world. And that large collection exists thanks to Elizabeth Cowling. In 1945, she took a job with the Women’s College (now known as UNCG) as an assistant professor in the School of Music. Cowling attracted attention not just for her performance or strict teaching but also for her love of music history.

This love led her to start corresponding with famed cellist Luigi Silva. When Silva died Cowling implored to the Women’s College that his music collection would be worth purchasing. The University Librarian at the time, Charles M. Adams, listened to her advice and acquired the Luigi Silva Cello Music Collection. This purchase, the immediate advertising of it, and the later donation of Cowling’s own music elevated the Women’s College’s music collection. Scholars and musicians began to contact them about their cello collection.

With this positive reputation starting to build along with the friendships that Cowling was able to form with musicians from around the world, more and more cellists decided to donate their collections. Today we hold the collections of Luigi Silva, Elizabeth Cowling, Rudolf Matz, Maurice Eisenberg, Janos Scholz, Fritz Magg, Bernard Greenhouse, Laszlo Varga, Lev Aronson, and Lubomir Georgiev.

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Another Halloween highlight for the month of October, let’s look at the “Scottish play” which has a spooky history on and off stage. These are photos from the 1986 production of Macbeth at UNCG. 

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To commemorate this very spooky Friday the 13th let’s talk about one of UNCG’s most infamous ghosts. According to William Raymond Taylor, UNCG (formally Aycock) Auditorium’s personal apparition, affectionately dubbed The Gray Lady, is real. Taylor (now considered the University’s “Father of Drama”) believed that there was a colonial mansion that stood where UNCG Auditorium stands now and in that house was an old woman who had died there unhappy and alone. When her house was torn down, she haunted the area and the auditorium was built on that land, and the ghost decided to haunt the auditorium. Taylor said she enjoyed roaming the foyer, mostly appearing to people as dancing lights. Unfortunately, Taylor was soon due a personal visit from the ghost of UNCG Auditorium. Read more about The Gray Lady and William Raymond Taylor’s encounter in “The Ghosts of UNC Greensboro.”

To celebrate Halloween, we repeat this blog post, originally posted in October 2012 by Hermann Trojanowski, who retired from Special Collect

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UNCG students standing by their freshly carved Jack O' Laterns in this Halloween party from 1987! Though it doesn't seem like many of them are dressed up, the Halloween spirit is still in the air as they gather around the tables to carve out pumpkins and eat candy.

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Happy Founder’s Day!

Our campus has gone through many changes during its 131 years of existence. But what did UNCG look like on its first day of school?

If we go back in time to October 5th, 1892, we see a very different campus. State Normal and Industrial School (now UNCG) opened its doors as an all-girls school built to educate women for a reasonable price, as it was our founder, Dr. Charles Duncan McIver’s, goal to give as many young women as possible the chance at higher education. 80% of the 176 students grew up on farms and many left their county for the first time to attend State Normal. But they might have felt right at home on campus as it was previously a cornfield that was still surrounded by farms. The three buildings on campus, Main Building (now Foust), Brick Dormitory, and Dr. McIver’s home, weren’t quite finished either. All the students crammed into the Brick Dormitory, 4 girls in one room with two double beds. Even still the students were buzzing with excitement. 

On their first day, the women lined up from shortest to tallest and marched to the assembly room in Main Building where President McIver read from the Bible, gave general announcements, and announced letters and packages received from home. The women would then disassemble and head to their classes which were also in Main Building. This would become the routine starting every day at 8:45 AM. The strictness of this routine would also transfer to their personal freedoms. All girls had to get permission and pass an inspection done by “lady principal” Miss Sue May Kirkland to leave campus. And they were all required to always have hats and gloves on when wandering around campus. This seems very strict to our 21st century minds but State Normal was actually very progressive! Giving young women who would otherwise be unable to afford this type of education a chance to have a say in their futures.

So, as we observe this year’s Founder’s Day let’s not forget our roots and be grateful for those of us who took a chance on State Normal and Industrial School.

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As we approach Founder’s Day let’s talk about one of our University’s first students. Virginia Land Brown attended North Carolina State Normal and Industrial College (now UNC Greensboro) and majored in Zoology. In many ways, Brown was an unconventional woman for the time period. Her children said she wasn’t much of a cook, preferring to study birds, flowers, and mountains. She took her children around North Carolina studying wildlife and encouraging them to pursue their interests.

It could be said that her travel bug began at State Normal and Industrial College as she was their first-ever commuting student. But her mode of transportation could be seen as unconventional in our time period. Brown’s ride to school was Victor, a horse her father had gifted her. Victor would be stabled next to our founder’s, Charles Duncan McIver, in the campus barn.

After returning to State Normal (now called North Carolina College for Women) to get a degree in English in 1928, she continued her travels. She traveled well into her old age before dying at age 101. So as Founder’s Day gets closer remember Virginia Land Brown who, much like her alma mater, was breaking barriers and exceeding expectations. 

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Recruiting Poster for the U.S. Navy, 2018.

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Though Theatre didn’t become its own recognized department within the College of Arts and Sciences until 2000, UNCG has been putting on theatre productions since its inception as State Normal and Industrial School in 1892. This long history of stage production continues September 29th - October 1st with Into the Woods. But this is not this department’s first time putting on Into the Woods! The previous performance being in 1999, right before Theatre became independent.  

It’s not too late to purchase tickets for Into the Woods! 

https://www.etix.com/ticket/v/14997/uncg-auditorium

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Aloha from the 1972 Women Marines! Check out the white gloves and the mint seersucker uniform! See if you can spot the rogue Marine...

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Congratulations to the class of 1929 from the U.S. Army School of Nursing at Walter Reed General Hospital! This is page 36 from the yearbook "Taps."

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"Your chance of a LIFETIME as a nurse in the U.S. Air Force," 1950.

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U.S. Marine Corps fixed wing avionics technician Theresa Scott in Yuma, Arizona, circa 2003. According to Reader's Digest, Yuma is one of the top 10 hottest cities in the USA.

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It's 1981 and U.S. soldier Vanessa Sharpe Bennett gives us a big smile from the United States Army Garrison in Kaiserslautern, Germany.

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It's hard to look glamorous while climbing the side of a freight train, but WWII U.S. Navy WAVE Barbara Russell Hicok managed to pull it off for a promotional photograph.