Welcome back to the final series of Season 4, “Uncovered Stories.” In this series, you’ll hear about incredible records that archivists uncovered during work assigned for other, sometimes unrelated projects. These discoveries add new significant research topics to collections held by the State Archives for decades and shine a light on people and subjects upon which previous collection guides did not focus.
In this second episode, former Connecting the Docs Intern and current Assistant Oral Historian Annabeth Poe takes the hosting stage and interviews Friends of the Archives 2023 Summer Intern Hannah Nicholson about her project, creating a LibGuide about the records of marginalized communities in the General Assembly records from the years of early statehood, 1777 to 1789. What started as a research question into these records stemming from the Archives’ continued efforts to prepare for America’s 250th anniversary became a much larger project as more records of various categories emerged. Hannah and Annabeth discuss two incredible stories in particular: the fascinating emancipation of Hannah Bowers by Margaret Gaston (yes, the Gaston family for which the county is named) and the roller-coaster saga of Ned Griffin, an enslaved man who was promised freedom by his enslaver if he would serve in his place in the Revolutionary War. Learn how both stories as well as the other records documenting women’s history, African American history, American Indian history, and religious minority communities show how the bills, resolutions, petitions, and other legal records of the General Assembly have incredible significance to the social and cultural history of North Carolina.
Please note that the LibGuide discussed in this episode is undergoing final edits. Look for it on the State Archives website later this year!
Records cited:
All records from General Assembly Record Group, General Assembly Session Records, 1777-1789.
May 15: Senate bill to give Ned Griffin his freedom (petition and messages only), May 15, 1784, General Assembly Session Records, April-June 1784, Box 3.
Dec. 12: House bill to emancipate Hannah, alias Hannah Bowers, of the estate of Alexander Gaston (with petition), December 12, 1786. General Assembly Session Records, November 1786-January 1787, Box 3.
Uncovered Stories, Episode 3: The Revolutionary Ruthey Jackson Letter
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
We Beg Your Pardon: The Saga of Slow Poke
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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