Woo-Woo (or just plain woo) adj. “concerned with emotions, mysticism, or spiritualism; other than rational or scientific; mysterious; new agey.”
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about the Swannanoa native Wade Martin, who was known nationally for his woodcarving abilities. Click here if you haven’t read it. While I was writing about Wade Martin, I was surprised to read that he was also known of as a great baseball player. Because I was staying focused on Wade’s
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
Edward W. Pearson, Sr. was one of the most energetic and creative forces for positive change that Asheville has ever known. From Pearson’s arrival in Asheville in 1906, until his death in 1946, he worked tirelessly to improve the fortunes and the quality of life of his family and his community. Facing many barriers to
I was recently talking with our North Carolina Room volunteer, Lynne Poirier-Wilson about different props and painted backdrops used by nineteenth century photographers. I had not paid much attention to them in the past, nor read about them. It is the kind of thing that has to be pointed out to you, and then a whole new
Rolling through the microfilm one day I came across a small notice in the Asheville Daily Citizen of July 26, 1894 which said: ”Chinatown’s inhabitants are delighted over the return of Hop Wo, the laundryman, after an absence of several years. Hop Wo has been, since leaving here, in New York, Chicago and Cincinnati and
We depend on our patrons for donations. This 1897 J. M. McCanless portrait of a black nurse midwife was loaned for scanning by Dianna Hays. We also receive valuable information from patrons. Ms. Hays told us that the baby was her grandmother Pauline Moore Bourne, daughter of clothing store owner M. V. Moore, and that Pauline
It is perhaps odd to begin a brand new blog–a professional library blog—with a woo-woo* story. But it would not seem odd if you worked in the North Carolina Room at Pack Memorial Library, where woo-woo experiences are as common as pickles next to a grilled cheese sandwich. When this one occurred, I vowed to start