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.
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The Journey of an Archival Record, Part I: Appraisal
When Are We US? America250: A Look to the Past to Inform Our Future
A Peculiar Instrument in Collecting Foreign Records
Dammed Cities: Bringing an Underwater Story Aboveboard
Highways and History: Archival Documentation of Urban Renewal and ”Black Removal”
Yo-Yos and Selfies: Exposing Photographs in the Albert Barden Collection
The Great North Carolina Baking Show
Welcome to our Front Porch: A History of Bynum‘s Community
Telling Fuquay‘s Tobacco Story
Tales Around the Campfire | Episode 1, part 2, ”Ghostly Governor”
Tales Around the Campfire | Episode 1, part 1, ”Witches & Werewolves”
The Murder of Nell Cropsey | Episode 3, part 3, “Jim Wilcox: Guilty or Not?”
The Murder of Nell Cropsey | Episode 2, part 2, "Charges and Trials"
The Murder of Nell Cropsey | Episode 1, part 1, "Disappearance and Recovery"
"Animal Stories"
Ghost Ship: The Mystery of the Carroll A. Deering | Episode 2, part 2, "A Great Maritime Mystery"
Ghost Ship: The Mystery of the Carroll A. Deering | Episode 1, part 1, "A Ghostly Monument"
Frankie Silver: A Woman Hanged | Episode 3, part 3, "Frankie at Rest"
Frankie Silver: A Woman Hanged | Episode 2, part 2, "Frankie Goes to Trial"
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