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The
Alison Stirling Collection
The Stirling Collection of the James H. Carson Library was established
with the aim of preserving a variety of materials relating to the Southern
Appalachian region. In 1929, when
Alison Stirling joined Lees-McRae College in Banner Elk, North Carolina as its
first librarian, one of her goals was to create a special North Carolina and
Appalachian Collection. Miss
Stirling’s goal was in full accord with the college’s motto: “In, of,
and for the mountains.” Her
creation has proven to be farsighted in its lasting benefits to a succession
of researchers, authors, journalists, students and faculty for whom the
special collection bearing her name is a rich, unique and multifaceted
resource.
The catalogued material in the Stirling, or
North Carolina Room, includes books, pamphlets,
sound recordings (folk music and tales and field interviews), videotapes, and
microfilm (primarily local area newspapers).
It is classified by the Dewey system.
Most of the uncatalogued materials consist of
loose clippings, brochures, leaflets and other such media in the collection’s
vertical files. A subject guide
to the vertical files identifies general categories.
A series of box files preserves materials on topics with a
proliferating literature or of a particular interest (items relating to
Lees-McRae founder Edgar Tufts, for example).
Other uncatalogued material includes maps and prints.
The collection contains many artifacts; these
range from an impressive hand-built lathe once used in the campus woodworking
shop to pottery by famed North Carolina master potter Ben Owen.
The collection doubles, then, as a campus museum.
Currently the Stirling Collection contributes
content to a pilot digitization project sponsored by the Appalachian College
Association. Some of the rarest,
most unique items in the collection will thereby be shared electronically with
a wider audience.
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