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WORKS PROGRESS ADMINISTRATION
OF NORTH CAROLINA Federal Writers' Project
Chapel Hill, N. C.
October 12, 1938
Mr. Henry G. Alsberg
Federal Writers' Project
gth and G Streets, N. W.
Washington, D. C.
Dear Mr. Alsberg:
illeT11311133
I am sending you herewith all the stories we have
collected to date except for the following which have been
sent under separate cover for possible use in a manual.
The Dunnes
The HaithcoCks
Josephine Wallace
Jones I. Freeze
John Rogers, Produce Trucker
A Day on Factory Hill
The Hollifields
Description of a Mill Village,
Asheville
I have not been able to give as much time as I should
like to reading this material and considering it for use in a
manual. I think that others who are fresh to the material
may be able to make some good suggestions, and I would appreciate
your reading the stories and having them read with this purpose
in mind.
I am seriously handicapped by the lack of the services
of a secretary on the Project, and am having to use for this
work my secretary and typist on the staff of the Press. I hope
I will have a regular Project secretary within the next week or
two.
Please let me have criticisms and suggestions. I am
specially anxious for Botkin and the editor of your racial -ethics
series to read the stories, and I will appreciate it if they will
turn loose with all their critical forces. If the work is not
thoroughly discussed and criticized at this stage, it will cer-
tainly not be as good as it ought to be.
I believe we can get good narrative case histories
of persons on relief from State Departments of Public Welfare. I
have already secured materials from Tennessee, and4it is possible
to get a volume of material illustrative of the relief problems
throughout the South. As quickly as possible I plan to consult
heads of State Departments in other Southern states.
Mr. Alsberg
—2— October 12, 193g
I have consulted also the Regional Director of the
Farm Security Adminstration and he is going to see if he can not
get from some of the members of his staff narratives that may
be used in the volume or volumes on tenants and farm owners.
So far we have done very little outside of mill
villages. I hope soon to be able to get into the other fields.
Sincerely yours,
61(44-44
William T. Couch
Regional Director
wtc b
encl.
WORKS PROGRESS ADMINISTRATION
OF NORTH CAROLINA
Federal Writers' Project
Chapel Hill, N. O.
August 5, 1938
Mr. Henry G. Alsberg
Federal Writers' Project
Sth. and G Streets
*Li
Washington, D. C.
Dear Mr. Alsberg:
I am sending you herewith 9 life histories of mill
village families. These samples indicate to some extent the
kind of material I think ought to be collected on people in mill
villages.
It is not going to be desirable to establish a pattern
and follow it closely. The reason for this is that the villages
are different, and the families in them are different. I am
drawing up general instructions for the personnel that will
collect this material but I am certain no schedules can cover
everything that should be covered, and that elaborate schedules
would be a hindrance rather than a help in doing the job. A
very good statement of the problem involved in this work is given
in the preface to Thomas Minehan's Boy and Girl Tramps in America.
We shall not want to follow Minehan's method of dealing with
his subject matter, but his conception of his task and of the
problems involved in dealing with it seems to me sounder than
any other statement I have seen on this subject.
I would be glad to have any comments or criticisms on
the enclosed material from yourself or members of your staff.
Within the next two or three weeks I hope to get other types of
stories. I shall try to get this same kind of subject matter
related from the point of view of a section of a mill village,
or a street, or a particular house which has had a succession
of families live in it. The approach to the subject matter can
be varied almost indefinitely.
One of the important things we have not yet done and
which needs very much to be done is the securing of descriptions
of the mill villages themselves. Of course, it is generally
known that villages are different, but how different and in
precisely what respects is almost completely unknown.
Mr. Henry G. Alsberg
2 August 5 1938
I have sent copies of four of the mill village stories
to Mr. Foreman and Mr. Goldschmidt.
I am much worried over the delay in the appointment
because, of course, I am not able to make any real progress
with the work until this matter is definitely clarified.
wtc
Sincerely yours,
Af. r. (otat.
William T. Couch
Assistant State Director
Federal Writers' Project
NORTH CAROLINA WRII:1851 PROXECT
Surplus Project Hecords
Here included;
30
(1) A. 5. Life Histories *manuscripts
1 Balfour and The Deever Taylors /64-/-2_
2 c-6-ktio 4
ly- Battelle Berry
3 .Tim McDowell (Negro) ("Blue Ditmondel") 2c -z/1-4-" ii
The Belks /c -q" --d-.. fl 11,
411
,sr.--- Craftsman Born R.41 -7
2, c-oft.A24
6fel' :ames Peak 1 6
fl'r. Henrietta Pendleton
r 4 Robert William Croasdell (Publicity VW /crit., in
I 0
"Roxie Owens"
0 Margie Rushing 2 "ir-41;')
it Cora Simon
as Geneva Street
I 5
Cordie Underwood .24w
L1 Uncle Ulysses: Relief Client -2 cA4-LP--49
I 5— Basis) Watts 2 (42;)
Edgar Wynoe "2.4•44
1? The Life Story of George Horton, Colored
Betty Lowe -2- t'r4A-1:°
I Joe Matheson t
bete Meadows it-4444-
2cti-x-o
s-
1
-2-
et
7_ Mary ilizabeth Moore (Colored) 9- e-ekt Ito
2,1 Dolph Parsons
3
Alexander T. Paradis
ornf
34 —Counselor -At -Law
*II The Clubhouse
Scotch -Irish /(--41---
/c.eltAy
.2 ur-itAf,0
V
1,_%adsworth Wilson
3
a1,1 e L Sk.Lhe
N. G. MIMS, PROJECT
Surplus Project Records
Here Included:
00 A. Life Histories 2 manuscripts
Stella Dean: Waitress 1
Sarah Norman: Spinster2
The Schmidt
Allen Teavis (Farmer) 2_
k.` r
Up
ficoliny Creek
Mossie Williams (Glove Maker)q--
John Polk Wallace (Farmer)
Gus Constantin Gerarisl
Alfred and Clara Stamey (ftite)2--- 1
Schoolmaster and Rxploreri
Mrs. Jim Sheltonl
fttisfied with Life 1
Ole Ant Broke 1-
Old Xosil. Doveri
A Day With The Boone District Nursel
Perennial Contestant'
The Rosses
Reverend Thurman F. lowere‘
Shouting For Heave*'
Josephine Wallace\
N. C. WRITERS' PROJECT
Surplus Project Records
Here Included:
Up A. 5 Life Histories -V Manuscripts
A Negro in Business -/i/M
The Marshalls
I /4
Mary Cox
Neurotic "6/ /4"
john Leard: Ploughman 3 M.-- c -'1%e-;•
Like You Hear On The?ediol"'s*A6-444-4'
Life in A all Mountain Town -q H(`'
Edna Lutz
The Mathis Family
Mr. and Mrs. Pace -34
emYIdi
-A--Bay-Oir-areretory-H±It--
-Description-of-Mt11-71Thge--
H. Perry Davis 24 111),•
Dcotor Gray-
James T. Dunlap: Ex -Industrialist
Early and Lillie Holbrook —30
"Every Penny Count"
44- Ex -Soldier
"d Fisherman's Paradise 2-7Y e
A Good Time, in the AMY- 'I /,h.
The-HAttheuuky------
He Never Wanted Land Till Now
Her Ungodly Grandson
An Irascible Negro --/-TA/Y-.2-41rAte,"
I Used To Be A Bad Nigger— gAg-
If I Couldn't Talk I'd Bust ?AA
The Inventor 744
Janitor and Odd Job Man
N. C. WRITERS' PROJECT
Surplus Project Records
Here Included:
(1) A. 5. Life Histories 4 manuscripts
"All Our Folks was Farmers"
Barning Tobacco -7,'b1 c °1"-e
"The Story Of Sudie Holton"- Wfiti
john Sam Johnson (White Farmer) -Ali A-4- 2-- c-
Cecil Kanipe (Textile Worker) --,-)14%. 2- c -4A4^
Glenn Kanipe (Textile Worker)
Mrs. Laurence Long (Farm Widow) cAiA-te-
Mrs. Georgia Lunsford 612 c
Mrs. Mary Grover
Molly Mauney—
Jake Mack (Mountain Sharecroppers) J04/ 2_
Mountain Farming At Its Best
Winifred Morton (Postmistress) 2
Robert H. Delvechio (Orphans Two)
Mrs. Bessie Parish4 1
Zoe Penniger-
2 til,42-
cp--/LAZI)
T. H. Phillips e-vit-ceia
Mrs. T. C. Ingle (Prayers That Worked) 7/9
Public School Teachers
A Small Merchant 9-- CCIVAE)"4:.
-2
Mary :ane Sherrill
Alialter-Elmittr-44fr^
EnCSUIrteria-
Shave Them Week Days, Save Them Sundays
Walter Smith -CM,
W. 3. Thompson /OM,
.0
N. C. iintaltSt PROJECT
Surplus Project Records
(3) A. 5. Life Histories 3, manuscripts
Joe Matheson- 6.
Rosie Meadows- Y
Ruth Kanipe
Laughing at Poverty -I If
Lizzie Linberger 2
3. R. Glenn
Henry Houston
Dewitt Hines
Jack Gallup: Meat Clerk- 6
Gone to Seed -4
Judge Sidney Saylor- t
Frank Thomas Arthur
r. L. Alley -6 Le -A.4;
Mrs. Daisy Barringer
George and Cora Brauscom-ii-1-"1414
W. A. Borter-- 2""
William A. Cooper- 9
Harriet Crow -2
Alma Covel--
N\
C. )4.: 100.- /I -otii,A•i4
A. i•-• Dunea,U,- it? (-1"-;-.0
*leach Gibson 2'40;
Begging Reduced to a System
Tessa W. Bowser 1,- 4" 44`44-1
"Mary jane Brown" --?-e-4-4--;
Mrs. Nannie Carson I? 1-14(69
Fannie Colbert C 2- e., -/AA",
Clara Edwards --q
Amos Farrell
The FarloWs -16
Ormay--Andy-
Lillie. Craig.- 4 a. c44.4...,
M -C9001
VIOD *TAT S NO MOUSAIIQWI
(beltupe, soodlso S)
eTha
e*skta
$ostdua
LW illzirM111 OT RILL sadrend me ?turf Poltylss
Tho Dooms
Ike Naltbsesks
now Sol*
The Roams
Ida Anon
The will:las Really
The Jestsen
Deseription of nil Mime west Daises
Jetspittas 'alas*
nee tsea *Wu
Ileac sod Latta walker
noire Robes
"Jones I. him
The netobere
knee audio
Joel* Wales
rim loon,
nill. Robertson
Catherine sad Will domes
Robert ialth
aid Joe'zmms
l'..7oka &wire, ?rodeo. ::romber
Prier Yeallies Oo Reeerweir t.
goat Nob= Nill
Mamie Ruth arks
A Dv On hetes,' Rill
Weill: Ric*.
Jamie
ima Baekmar
the Rollifislde
Daseriptieu of Mill Village, ksheville
Sarah *all
glsie gall
73i11 Brszeh
Deseripticul of Pill Villape, vake Permit
John :Urea
ti Minn
Dere 3tepheam. Colored Tanaat
John and trah Autrey