Happy Holidays! We all have heard of presidential pardons for turkeys at Thanksgiving. Of course, we know that since the first state constitution in 1776, North Carolina governors have had the ability to declare executive clemency to people. But have you heard of a governor pardoning a possum? In this episode we are joined by Records Description Archivist Mike Childs to learn about Slow Poke the Possum of Harnett County, the only possum to be officially pardoned from his sentence to be eaten! Slow Poke’s incredible journey begins in 1970, when he was entered into a beauty contest. The winner of the contest would be subject to Possum Pickin’ Day, a celebration championed by North Carolina Governor Bob Scott, who often partook in eating possums, a rural delicacy. When Slow Poke won the beauty contest and his fate was set, public outcry led Governor Scott to make history by pardoning the possum from becoming his next main course. Long live Slow Poke!
Resources:
SR.370.2.242: Governor Robert Scott Record Group, General Correspondence, Governor's File, Political Folder - Releases, Press, January-March: Proclamations Folder (Box 242)
SR.370.2.257: General Correspondence, Governor's File, Statements, E-Q: Folder H (Box 257)
SR.370.2.257: General Correspondence, Governor's File, Statements, E-Q: Folder P-Q (Box 257)
SR.370.17.7: Executive Mansion Files, 1970 Correspondence, August-December; Invitations Declined, January-February (Box 7)
PC.1317: Robert Scott II Papers, 2011 Addition, Scrapbooks
Uncovered Stories, Episode 3: The Revolutionary Ruthey Jackson Letter
Uncovered Stories, Episode 2: Marginalized Communities in Early Statehood General Assembly Records
Uncovered Stories, Episode 1: Finding Enslaved Labor in the Treasurer’s and Comptroller’s Papers
Ask an Archivist: Fan Letters
Year of the Trail: Interview with Special Guest Secretary D. Reid Wilson
Year of the Trail: Indian Trading Paths
Year of the Trail: Mountains to Sea Trail
Resiliency in Records Management: Disaster Preparedness and Protecting Essential Records
Resiliency in the Face of Natural Disasters: Other Storms and Natural Disasters
Resiliency in the Face of Natural Disasters: North Carolina Hurricanes
Ballads and Banjos and Fiddles, Oh My: Appalachian Music Spotlight
Call the Granny Woman: Appalachian Dialect Spotlight
Searching for a Spy: A Conversation with Dr. David Cecelski on Discovering the Legend of Abraham Galloway
Exploring Island Life in the John Wilson IV Papers: A Summer Internship at the Outer Banks History Center
True Stories Behind Where the Crawdads Sing: Oyster Wars
True Stories Behind Where the Crawdads Sing: Education and Truancy in Eastern North Carolina
True Stories Behind Where the Crawdads Sing: Historic Black Communities of Eastern North Carolina
Murder, Mystery, and Mayhem Revisited: The True Stories behind North Carolina Murder Ballads
The Journey of an Archival Record. Part III: Digitization and Access
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