,. , Carolina Comments Published Bimonthly by the North Carolina Division of Archives and History VOLUME 43, NUMBER 2 MARCH 1995 Museum Welcomes New Administrator, Hosts Major Symposium James C. McNutt of San Antonio, Texas, became administrator of the North Carolina Museum of History on February 15, 1995. Dr. McNutt, a native Texan, holds an undergraduate degree from Harvard University and an M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin. Most recently, he served as assistant director for planning at the Institute of Texan Cultures in San Antonio. Dr. McNutt has been on the staff of the institute since 1982; he began as a research associate and rose through the ranks as the facility expanded. His past duties involved a host of professional museum tasks. In announcing Dr. McNutt's appointment, Dr. William S. Price Jr., director of the Division of Archives and History, said that the Texan was not only the most qualified candidate to emerge from the national search but also the most impres­ sive person to interview for the position. A three-member search commit­ tee chaired by Larry G. Misenheimer, deputy director of the division, and con- N.C. DOCUMENTS CLEAP H1ffi HOUSE APR 3 1995 N.C, STI\TE UBfiARV RAL86H The North Carolina Museum of History hosted " Southern Women and the Learning Experience," a major symposium, on March 20. This sampler, made by Harriet W. Higgs in August 1841, when she was a student at Vine Hill Academy in Scotland Neck, exemplifies the skills young women were expected to master in the mid-nineteenth century: a knowledge of the alphabet, numbers, and spelling; a grounding in moral piety; and the ability to perform detailed needlework. The sampler is part of the major museum exhibit North Carolina Women Making History. (All photographs by the Division of Archives and History unless otherwise indicated.} Dr. James C. McNutt of San Antonio, Texas, became the new administrator of the North Carolina Museum of History effective February 15, 1995. One of his first tasks as administrator was to welcome to the museum the participants in the March 20 symposium. sisting of Millie M. Barbee of the North Carolina Historical Commission and Eve Williamson of the North Carolina Museum of History Associates screened dozens of applicants and recommended three finalists. Dr. McNutt succeeds John D. Ellington as administrator of the North Carolina Museum of History. Mr. Ellington retired April 30, 1994, after serving in that capacity since 1974 and working for the museum since 1958. Ellington retired within days of the official grand opening of the new $31 million museum build­ ing, which featured a two-day gala public celebration. Dr. McNutt has expressed admiration of the new museum's design, as well as its variety of specialized areas and facilities. One of Dr. McNutt's first duties as administrator was welcoming to the museum participants in a March 20 symposium on southern women's history. The daylong conclave, "Southern Women and the Learning Experience," fea­ tured a series of panel discussions and papers on topics related to the means by which southern women have experienced education. Following Dr. McNutt's welcome, opening remarks by Betty Ray McCain, secretary of the North Caro­ lina Department of Cultural Resources, and an introduction by Dr. Margaret Supplee Smith, Department of Fine Arts, Wake Forest University, Elizabeth Fox-Genovese, Elenore Raoul Professor of History, Emory University, delivered the keynote address. The symposium continued as a series of concurrent panel discussions moder­ ated by notable scholars. Titles of the sessions included: "Visibility and Invisibil­ ity: African American Women and Strategies for Educating Southern Blacks in the Era of Jim Crow," led by Glenda Gilmore of Yale University; "The Role of Female Education in Southern Society," Richard Bardolph, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, emeritus; "Defining Women's Roles in the Early Repub­ lic," Holly Brewer, North Carolina State University;"'Act First as a Lady, Then as a Student': Opportunity and Ambiguity in Student Life, Woman's College, 1891- 1941," Allen W. Trelease, UNC-Greensboro, emeritus; "Overcoming Gender Roles in the South," Beverly Jones, North Carolina Central University; "The Public and Private Writings of Antebellum Southern Women," Elizabeth F. 30 CAROLINA COMMENTS ___ ,.._,..,..._ .. , ·-:--e ... ~·~ Warrenton Female College in Warrenton was a typical institution for the education of young women in the mid-nineteenth century. It was founded in 1856 and supported by the Methodist Church until it closed in 11373. Most such institutions, commonly known as "female seminaries," existed largely to train young women in the social graces. Buford, North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources; "Educating Women in Twentieth-Century North Carolina," Anastasia Sims, Georgia Southern Uni­ versity; "Learning and Unlearning Gender Roles," Pamela Tyler, North Carolina State University; "Southern Female Voices," Linda Flowers, North Carolina Wesleyan College; and a concluding round-table discussion titled "What Differ­ ence Does Region Make? Teaching, Writing, and Living Women's History," led by Sally McMillen, Davidson College, and featuring as panelists Dr. Fox­ Genovese, Jacquelyn Hall of UNC-Chapel Hill, and Nancy A. Hewitt of Duke University. Individual sessions featured the following speakers and their topics: Valinda W. Littlefield, University of Illinois, '"Publicity from Neither Friend nor Foe': Annie W. Holland and African American Education in North Carolina, 1910-1934" Ann Short Chirhart, Emory University, '"Gardens of Education': Beulah Rucker and African American Education in the Georgia Upcountry, 1912-1950" Eleanor Shelton, Michigan State University, "A Biographical and Social Study of the Harris Sisters: Three Black Women Educators in the South, 1863-1933" Mary Carroll Johansen, College of William and Mary, "Educating Women to Usefulness in the Upper South, 1800-1835" Lisa C. Tolbert, UNC-Greensboro, "Female Colleges: The Small-Town Business of Edu­ cating Ladies" Genny L. Carter, University of Georgia, '"Vassar of the South': Cox College in the Era of the New South" Catherine K. Foster, College of William and Mary, "By the Book: The Influence of Conduct Literature on Eighteenth-Century Virginia Women" Darryl L. Peterkin, UNC-Chapel Hill, '"I was so vexed at being stared at': The Public and Private Lives of Professorial Wives at the University of North Carolina during the Early Republic" VOLUME 43, NUMBER 2, MARCH 1995 31 These women are shown studying on the steps in front of a building at St. Augustine's College in Raleigh, an institution of higher learning for African American women that opened in 1868. The photograph dates from about the time of World War I. Pamela Dean, Louisiana State University, '"Hated Rivals' and 'Dear Sisters': Basketball at UNC-G, 1898-1920" Cheryl Junk, UNC-Chapel Hill, '"Our Motto "Service" Will Remain': Student Mission in the lnterwar Years" Faye Spencer Edwards, Valdosta State University, "Learning Experiences and the Preacher's Kid" Donna N. Sewell and Elsie Rogers, Valdosta State University, "Demanding to be Heard: Collaboration to Overcome Southern Silence" Heidi Schultz, UNC-Chapel Hill, "Women Writing in the American South: Writing at Female Academies and 'Writing without Teachers,' 1800-1860" Kathryn Fenn, Duke University," An Early Sprout in the Southern Mass Media: Gender and Racial Ideologies in Caroline Gilman's Rose Magazine" Kathleen C. Berkeley, University of North Carolina at Wilmington, "The Sage of Sedalia: Education and Racial Uplift as Reflected in the Career of Charlotte Hawkins Brown, 1883-1961" Lu Ann Jones, UNC-Chapel Hill, '"I had rather interview politicians and fight than plan meals': The Professional Culture of Home Demonstration Agents in North Carolina, 1920-1940" Judith L. Meece and George Noblit, UNC-Chapel Hill, "Women Who Make Virtue" Katy Coyle, Nadiene Van Dyke, and Kimberly K. Wargo, Tulane University, '"Womanly Women and Homely Girls': Dorothy Dix as Conservator of Gender Roles" Deborah Moss Zeringue, UNC-Greensboro, "Voodoo: The Rhetoric of Louisiana in George Washington Cable, Shirley Ann Grau, Berthe Amoss" Jennifer Ritterhouse, UNC-Chapel Hill, "Unlearning Ladyhood: Sarah Patton Boyle and 'The T. J. Sellers's Course for Backward Southern Whites'" Ethard Wendel Van Stee, Chapel Hill, "I Didn't Come from Nowhere" Kathryn Thompson Presley, Lamar University-Port Arthur, "Sharecropper's Daughter" Elizabeth S. Knott, East Carolina University, "Public Education in North Carolina: One Teacher's Experience. 32 CAROLINA COMMENTS These young women resided at Oxford Orphanage in Oxford, the state's best-known such fac ility. Th ey are shown taking a course in "science and biology" about 1930. During lunch guest curator Margaret Supplee Smith spoke informally about North Carolina Women Making History, a major exhibit at the North Carolina Museum of History, and Glenda Gilmore discussed When Southern Women Went to College, an exhibit from the Museum of the New South in Charlotte. The sympo­ sium concluded with a late-afternoon reception. In commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of the end of World War II, Constance Stuart Larrabee: World War 11 Journal, a Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition, will be on display at the Museum of History from April 22 through May 28. The exhibit consists of sixty-seven photographs and six photomurals that highlight the work of Ms. Larrabee, one of only a few female correspondents who