Isaac and Sarah Malke Michalove immigrated from Lithuania, Russia and came to Asheville in 1890. Isaac, a pioneer Jewish merchant, operated the Michalove Wholesale Grocery company. Isaac and Sarah’s daughter Hattie, born Sept. 20, 1890, married Barney Pearlman and they immigrated in 1901, coming to Asheville in 1908. Barney operated several groceries, and then opened a small store on Patton
Hiram Lindsey’s General Store was on the east side of South Main Street, (#450 then, later #458), now Biltmore Avenue, near Victoria Road. Mr. Lindsey standing in front. Note advertising placards for Ivory Soap and Toasted Corn Flakes. Hiram, born in 1876, moved to Asheville with his mother, Sarah and at least two of his younger siblings
A portrait like this one suggests a fascinating story, and in this case we were fortunate to receive the photograph from someone who could satisfy our curiosity about this family. The young woman on the left is Ella Mae Bowditch Waters, the oldest daughter of the couple in the photograph. This year Mrs. Waters turned
A few weeks ago Dan Hill first made his presence known. His face smiled out of a 1922 photograph from the recently-donated Gallatin Roberts Collection. The men in the photograph were identified by their signatures below their feet. I knew Gallatin Roberts, the sober man second from right. He was Mayor of Asheville in 1922 and again during
As I began to create a record for this postcard purchased recently on eBay, I got that funny sensation that comes when one of the photos begins to speak. The Craftsman Style bungalow was built around 1907 and featured the cedar shingle exterior popular until the 1930’s. I know from my own home how hard the big
The Great Depression was in full swing in 1934. Looking back at people’s wildly varying reactions to such adversity elicits a mixed bag of emotions. Great sadness for the suffering. Amazement at the triumph of human spirit. Bafflement at seemingly futile (but perhaps poetic) gestures of hope. Take, for example, this poor family passing through Pack Square on a
Yutaka Minakuchi: A Story in a Name
One of the delights of cataloguing incoming materials in the NC Room is that the smallest detail can lead down a rabbit hole into worlds of stories. Recently, while working with papers of Albert Heath Carrier, partner of the Smith & Carrier architectural firm that designed many of Asheville’s historic buildings, I discovered an amazing
One of the benefits of working in the North Carolina collection is the discovery of new imagery and information on Buncombe County and Western North Carolina. Recently I’ve been scanning a large group of images of students who were in the Adult Education Program in the mid-1920’s. But these aren’t typical students. These photographs document
The Asheville Citizen, 11/16/1934, reported that “Nearly 40 teams of men and women began a walkathon-marathon at an arena at 63 Biltmore Avenue shortly after 9 o’clock last night that is scheduled to continue 24 hours a day for two to three weeks – until there is only one team remaining on the floor.” The