Wilson Special Collections Library

Collection highlights, exhibits, events, and behind-the-scenes views from the Wilson Special Collections library at UNC-Chapel Hill.

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Spotted in the stacks: this scavenger hunt in the pages of Wilson Library’s copy of The whole treatise of the cases of conscience, distingvished into three bookes (1632).  At first, these reader annotations (by former owner William Gasker) seemed like a normal treasure hunt until I realized: 

1) The hunt leads the reader in an infinite loop

2) The page numbers didn’t match up with the actual pages I turned through.  Turns out, this was because the pages were bound out of order! (Page order was actually 96, 101, 102, 103, 104, 97, 98, 99, 100, 109, 110, 111, 112, 105, 106, 107, 108, 113, 114, 115)

Not sure if this weird scavenger hunt is the annotator’s way of drawing attention to the misbound pages or if the scavenger hunt actually leads to a huge Da-Vinci Code-esque revelation if you use some sort of top secret cipher.  

Intrigued? Come visit Wilson Library and solve the mystery yourself!

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In honor of #NoShaveNovember, we give you historic NC facial hair. First up, the knightly beard of Sir Walter Raleigh. “The true and lively Portraiture of the Ho.ble and learned Knight S.r Walter Ralegh” engraved by Robert Vaughan, copy of an engraving by Simon van de Passe.

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The Strange Case of Dr. Deilan and Mr. Smith. It’s a witch DOCTOR!

Does the title sound a little familiar? That's because it's a parody of the famous novel by Robert Louis Stevenson, "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde". This court case, while not as famous as the title it refers to, is certainly just as intriguing.

In 1899, Mr. Martin Smith of Burke County was the key witness in a trial of embezzlement against Chris Detter. Mr. Smith had called on his friendly neighborhood witch doctor, Dr. Deilan (aka Detter), to assist with a troublesome witch problem. The witch doctor assessed the situation and concluded that Mr. Smith’s sister was bewitched along with the entire house.

The solution

1.       Burn down the house!

As the Smith family watched their home burn to the ground, the witch doctor stood by with a large stick to defeat the fleeing witches. Unfortunately, these rather clever witches escaped through the chimney and possessed the family’s hog.

2.       Strike the hog!

Mr. Smith once again did as the witch doctor ordered and struck his hog on the head to expel the witches from the hog. The first strike didn’t do the trick, so the witch doctor ordered a second which killed the poor, delicious looking hog. Luckily, the hog’s head and shoulders had not been touched by the witches. Mr. Smith slaughtered the hog and the witch doctor took the tainted/meatiest parts thus saving the Smith family from death by bewitched meat ingestion. The hog was gone but the witches remained.

3.       Move out of town!

Mr. Smith once more put his faith in the witch doctor to rid his family of these pesky witches once and for all. The only action left; buy a new house and leave town. The witch doctor found a suitable, witch-free house for the low price of $240. Of course, the doctor didn’t bother to tell the Smith’s that the real cost was only $165.

In the end, the Smiths were rid of their witches and Chris Detter (Dr. Deilan) was rid of his freedom.

"Strange Case of Dr. Deilan and Mr. Smith" The Asheville Daily Gazette (Asheville NC). April 11, 1899. p 3.

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Horse’s mane tied in knots? It’s a witch!

“Do witches ride horses?” One man posed this question to the Greensboro Record in 1911 looking for an explanation as to why his horses’ hair was knotted every morning. He took care to comb out their manes and yet when he checked in the morning, the manes were so badly tangled again no comb would help. The man was skeptical of the explanation he received as a child that the tangles were due to witches riding the horses at night and tying their manes and tails into knots. The query was subsequently posted in several other papers across the state. See this reprint from The (Charlotte) Evening Chronicle for the explanation to this man’s life long question.

The Evening Chronicle (Charlotte, NC.). January 17, 1911. p 4.

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Butter won’t churn? It’s a witch!

Witches tended to be the scapegoat for just about any problem in a person’s life. One common complaint attributed to a witch’s curse was being unable to churn your milk into butter. You could churn and churn, but the milk would never thicken. To fix this predicament, you first had to expel the witch from the churn by taking an old horseshoe and heating it to glowing hot in the fire. It was best if that horseshoe “had been worn on the left hind foot of a baldfaced horse.” You would then take the glowing hot horseshoe, drop it into your churn, and sure enough the butter would come forth.

“Witches in the Cream.” The Weekly Standard (Raleigh, NC). May 4, 1870. p 1.

“Witchcraft: The Intense Belief in it in Switzerland County Sixty Years Ago.” Fayetteville Weekly Observer (Fayetteville, NC). October 27, 1887. p 1.

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Thanks to Hurricane Florence, this weekend’s UNC vs UCF football game is canceled but Tar Heel tradition always persists!

With this 1933 songbook from the North Carolina Collection, every Tar Heel is prepared to cheer for their team on game day... whenever that may be.

Songs of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill : Tar Heel football songs. Chapel Hill, N.C.: Graham Memorial Student Union, c1933.

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Our rare book catalogers are nearly finished cataloging this rare and elegant copy of Giannozzo Manetti’s translation of Aristotle’s Magna moralia and Eudemian ethics. Only four other copies are known to exist.

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Space Spiders, Lunatics, and Airships : Moon Voyage stories in Wilson Library

It’s a full moon tonight, so we thought that it would be a great time to feature our favorite moon voyage story in Wilson Library Special Collections--the only problem is, we couldn’t decide between these three amazing narratives!  So we need your help, Tumblr followers!  Read below, and help us decide which contender is the ultimate sci-fi adventure!

Contender 1: One of the earliest recorded moon voyage stories, Lucian’s “True History” was written in the second century AD in ancient Greece. This “true” history is filled with fantastic travel narratives, including the moon-voyage adventure in which a crew accidentally lands on the moon after their ship gets carried into the sky by an enormous gust of wind.  The men then take part in a fantastic space battle between the alien armies of the sun and moon.  (Bonus points: the space battle features giant spiders who spin web-bridges to lead their army across the sky).

Contender 2: A Trip to the Moon (1765) was written by sir Francis Gentleman under the very appropriate pseudonym, Humphrey Lunatic.  In this story, Humphrey falls asleep in a beautiful grove and (much to his surprise) wakes up in the Lunar world.  How does he get transported, you might ask? The pamphlets in Humphrey’s pockets (which were, apparently, originally conceived in the Lunar kingdom) attract a tractor-beam that pulls Humphrey up towards the moon. Full of tongue-in-cheek humor, this story is memorable both for its whimsy, and for its cutting social commentary.  (Bonus points to Francis Gentleman for both his amazing pen name, and also for including an elaborate family lineage for the “Lunatic” family that includes an ancestor named Whimsical Lunatic, Esq.).

Contender 3: Last but not least, Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Unparalleled Adventures of One Hans Pfall” (1835) features a slightly more technologically advanced means of conveyance. In this story, the protagonist takes an airship to the moon.  Not only is this story an interesting moon-voyage account in its own right, but in addition, it was in fact, originally created as a hoax. Shockingly, Poe’s tale was not the only moon hoax of 1835, but was second in renown to the “great moon hoax” of the same year.  In this moon hoax, the New York Sun (a tabloid newspaper) published a series of articles on fake “celestial discoveries”--which included the discovery of a species of intelligent lunar bipedal beavers.  (Bonus points to Poe for not only creating his moon-travel hoax, but also for dreaming up his 1844 balloon hoax--in which he convinced readers of the New York Sun that a man had crossed the Atlantic in just 3 days in a new form of airship).

Got opinions on which of these three is the best moon voyage story? Comment below to let us know your pick!

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Ever wondered what people wore to costume balls in the Regency era?  

All of these amazing ensembles (and more!) can be found in Wilson Library’s copy of  Characters in the grand fancy-ball given by the British Ambassador, Sir Henry Wellesley, at Vienna....  This ball--given at the end of carnival in 1826--was filled with dramatic historical and literary costumes, counting Queen Elizabeth and Ivanhoe among its many “guests.”

If you want to know even more about all the costumes, entertainment, and drama of the ball, come take a look at the book in person for a little Jane Austen era party inspiration!

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Happy mer-May from Wilson Library Special Collections!

This particular mer-man is found in the pages of Wilson Library’s copy of  Pavli Macii Emblemata ... (1628).

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After looking through slideshows of last night’s Met Gala, I was determined to find a truly impressive outfit of the day in our special collections. But in my attempts to choose a favorite, I couldn’t decide between these three amazing hats from Wilson Library’s 1625 copy of Della novissime iconologie.

Whatever your particular favorite Renaissance fashion look might be, it’s clear that all three of these early modern emblems are absolute style icons.

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The year is 1870 and ladies may not throw things from windows or play games of chance. Nor leave the piano open. From the catalog of the North Carolina College at Mount Pleasant, N.C.

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Pulled a few favorites by the great Cecil Taylor today in honor of the artist's passing. Taylor was incredibly prolific, but for the briefest of surveys of his music the three albums pictured above might be a place to start.

The Cecil Taylor Quartet, looking ahead! (Contemporary Records, 1958), was recorded in the Nola Penthouse Studios in New York City, June 9, 1958 and features Earl Griffith on the vibra-harp, Buell Neidlinger on bass, and Dennis Charles on drums. Working as the leader of a quartet, Taylor stretches the tonal, melodic, and rhythmic structure of the pieces and his collaborators. The second album, Embraced (Pablo, 1977), recorded live in New York City is a collaboration between Taylor and one of his influences and another pioneer of the avant-garde, Mary Lou Williams. The two artists take the listener through the history of jazz, from spirituals and ragtime through boogie, bop, blues, and beyond into the future. Finally, For Olim (Soul Note, 1987), a solo album recorded April 9, 1986 at "Workshop Freie Music 1986" in Berlin, a collection of works that demonstrate the full range of Taylor's compositional and performance skills, challenging and thrilling listening.

You can hear clips on our instagram, @sfolklife. You may also want to tune into the 24 hour memorial broadcast on WKCR that will extend through Sunday, April 8 at 8PM.

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Photographs by pioneering North Carolina photographer Bayard Wootten have been given new life thanks to author Jerry Cotten and the University Libraries’ Digital Production Center.

Bayard Wootten was North Carolina’s most important photographer of the early 20th century. Over her career, Wootten produced photographs in a variety of styles. Perhaps her most significant contribution to photography was the work she did documenting poor rural people during the 1930s.

Jerry Cotten’s 1998 biography of Wootten, Light and Air, was recently republished. Staff in the Libraries’ Digital Production Center spent about a year on digital clean-up, preparing the images for publication.  

For example, in the first set of photographs, the text on the top of the box at the boys’ feet wasn’t even visible in the 1998 edition of the book. The new edition is full of such revelations, heightening the power of Wootten’s images. 

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As you know, our librarians here at Wilson Library love finding all the mermaids in our special collections.  So today, when we came across multiple mer-beings in our stacks, we knew we had to share them with our Tumblr followers.  

These mer-men (and mer-creatures and mer-clergymen) were found in our Rare Books Collection’s copy of Physica Curiosa, a 17th century text dealing with a wide range of subjects including zoology, cryptozoology, obstetrical abnormalities, and demonology.  Although Gaspar Schott includes all manner of centaurs, monster-chickens, wolf-men, and other oddities in Physica Curiosa, these mermaids are definitely our favorite cryptid of the book.

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Love “The Phantom of the Opera”? Then come over to Wilson Library Special Collections and take a look at this amazing 1943 edition of Gaston Leroux’s book!

This copy--which is part of our mass market paperback collection--comes complete with a blueprint of the Paris Opera house, so you can know exactly where all your favorite scenes take place!

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Jollification, incredibly large crowds, music... barbecue?? What else could you need for a railroad party? Broadside in the North Carolina Collection.