The Development of Public Libraries in Progressive-Era North Carolina, 1896-1929
THE DEVELOPMENT OF PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN PROGRESSIVE-ERA NORTH CAROLINA, 1896-1929 A thesis presented to the faculty of the Graduate School of Western Carolina University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in History. By Robert Michael Manzo Director: Dr. Alexander Macaulay Associate Professor of History History Department Committee Members: Dr. Mary Ella Engel, History Dr. Gael Graham, History April 2020 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The strengths and weaknesses of this paper are entirely the product of my own intellectual ability, or lack thereof, but invaluable help was given to me by many generous individuals who must be acknowledged. First, Dr. Alexander Macaulay, Dr. Gael Graham, and Dr. Mary Ella Engel at Western Carolina University (WCU) donated their time to reading the paper and offered much-needed critiques. Second, Dr. Jesse Swigger at WCU made me aware of several primary and secondary sources on educational and political history. Third, I owe thanks to the staffs of the State Library of North Carolina, the North Carolina Collection at the Durham County Library, the Southern Pines Public Library, the Wilson Library at UNC-Chapel Hill, the Hunter Library at WCU, Dr. James V. Carmichael, Jr. of UNC-Greensboro, Mac Whatley of the Randolph Room at the Randolph County Public Library, and Della Owens of the North Regional Branch of Durham County Library. I am sure there are others whose names escape me at the moment. I am grateful as well to the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, and their partners, who have digitized a vast amount of newspapers, photographs, the Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, and the Encyclopedia of North Carolina, all available at NCpedia.org and DigitalNC.org.
[Show full text]