Women's History Month Books: 7 local NC histories and one from just down the road a ways

Today begins Women’s History Month, and all month Henry Bemis Books is proud to showcase our substantial holdings of books by, and about, women.

Today’s selection is a sampling of Carolinas/Georgia histories by women authors.

Women have long made the best local historians. This has because of the roles men long shoehorned them into or let them develop some space for: teaching, community groups and service, preservation, the church, genealogy, librarianship and archiving. And as the profession of historians evolved, men kept all the top-end bits to themselves. The Oxford Book of Family and Local History (2010) documents the unsung role of women as local historians; Carol Kammen, author of Zen and the Art of Local History (2014) has been the champion of the work of small-town historians since the 1980s.

When I was a boy, you always asked a local woman about local events if you wanted the correct answer. In the seventh grade, spring of 1969, my class went on a field trip that included a visit to Mrs Hubbard Hamrick, the guest beds in whose large 19th-century home were an archive of Shelby, North Carolina’s history in newspapers she’d saved.

Here are a few excellent examples of the preservation of the past in places Big History would zoom right past on the interstate:

Ira Baker Lee and Franklin Scarborough, From Chinaberry Trees to China Grove (Salisbury Printing Co, 1st ed. 1989). Centennial history of the Rowan County, North Carolina town. Hardcover, no dust jacket, blue boards with black illustrated cover. Very good condition. Rare. Octavo, 246 pp. Autographed by both authors. HBB price: $75 obo.

Diane Cobb Cashman, Cape Fear Adventure: An Illustrated History of Wilmington (Windsor Publications, 1st ed., 1982). ISBN 0-89781-057-0. Meticulously researched history of the coastal Carolina city, whose most recent reincarnation has been as a center of television and film production. Hardcover, price clipped dust jacket, very good condition. Quarto, 144 pp, many illustrations. HBB price: $75 obo.

Charlotte Crawford, et al, editors, Bessemer City Centennial 1893-1993 (Walsworth Publishing/Herb Eaton Historical Publications, 1st ed., 1993). LOC 93-77221. Local history at its best: a Piedmont North Carolina community looks at its first 100 years. Many photos, memorial pages, and local ads. Hardcover, quarto, red boards with gilt titling. 202 pp. No dust jacket. Very slight, almost indiscernible, damping along bottom edge. HBB price: $39.95 obo.

Mary Norton Kratt and Thomas W. Hanchett, Legacy: The Myers Park Story (Myers Park Foundation, 1986). LOC 86-63043. Well-researched and

illustrated history of the historic “streetcar subway” in Charlotte, North Carolina. Hardcover, green leather with gilt titling, no dust jacket. Fine condition. Octavo, 200 pp. Rare. HBB price: $150 obo.

Mary Norton Kratt, A Little Charlotte Scrapbook (Briarpatch Press, Davidson, NC, 2nd ed., 1990). Originally written for Prime Time, a magazine show broadcast on PBS Charlotte, WTVI, in the 1980s, these essays by the noted regional historian were intended to “‘save’ some persons, as well as a few events and places, simply because they interested me,” and because then, as now, the relentless pace of growth and change has the habit of sweeping away all in its path of the past. Stories of life in the Queen City over a century, all well-told. Paperback,  very good condition, autographed by the author. 79 pp. Octavo. Rare. HBB price: $40 obo.

Amy T. and John R. Rogers, Charlotte: Its Historic Neighborhoods (Arcadia Publishing/Images of America series, 1st ed. 1996). ISBN 0-7524-0515-2. Lavishly illustrated, well-researched account of Charlotte’s inner, “streetcar” suburbs. Softcover, very good condition, autographed by both authors. HBB price: $50 obo.

Maud Thomas, Away Down Home: A History of Robeson County, North Carolina (Historic Robeson, 1st ed., 1982). Excellent history of the Sandhills area county. Hardcover, blue boards with gilt titling. No dust jacket, as issued. Octavo, 277 pp. Rare. HBB price: $175 obo.

Barbara Whipple, Reflections of Northeast Georgia, 1903: A Pictorial Diary of Judge Ulysses V. Whipple, Sr. (Colson Printing Co, 1st ed., 1997).  In 1903 Judge Whipple leased a house in Clarkesville Georgia for a four-month summer holiday, if such a thing is possible to consider today. He kept a diary of the summer vacation, which his great-granddaughter pulled together,with photos and annotations, into a charming book. Paperback, octavo, 165 pp., very good condition. HBB price: $49.95 obo.

Henry Bemis Books is one man’s attempt to bring more diversity and quality to a Charlotte-Mecklenburg market of devoted readers starved for choices. Our website is at www.henrybemisbookseller.blogspot.com.  Henry Bemis Books is also happy to entertain reasonable offers on items in inventory. Shipping is always free; local buyers are welcome to drop by and pick up their purchases at our location off Peachtree Road in Northwest Charlotte if they like. #RareBooks #HenryBemisBooks #LocalHistory #WomensHistoryMonth