Connecting the Docs: True Stories from the Old North State

Feb 26 2025 51 ep. 37 mins 31
Connecting the Docs: True Stories from the Old North State Podcast artwork

Connecting the Docs is a podcast from the State Archives of North Carolina. Our archivists use archival materials to bring you fascinating, true stories from around the Old North State. Sometimes archival records solve a puzzle, and other times, they start one.

  History  Government
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Letters from Liberia and an Interview with Dr. Claude Clegg

Feb 26 2025 82 mins  
During the 1800s, some free people of color and formerly enslaved people emigrated out of North Carolina. Many went north or to Haiti, and quite a few went to Liberia. Join host John Horan, former intern LaWanda McCullor and podcast regulars, Annabeth Poe and Katie Crickmore on this episode. Listen as the crew focuses on several letters and wills housed at the State Archives of Nor

Concerning Art: The Black Mountain College Experience

Feb 12 2025 40 mins  
What would you think about a concert that was pure silence? Or an event that hosted four different performances all at once? These sort of avant-garde performance pieces were commonplace at North Carolina’s Black Mountain College. Founded in 1933 by John A. Rice and Theodore Dreier, Black Mountain College operated as an experiment of “education in a democracy,” wherein the cr

From Regulators to Revolution: The War of Regulation

Jan 15 2025 62 mins  
Before the Revolutionary War began, a movement unfolded in the backcountry of North Carolina, sparking the short-lived but influential War of Regulation. In the first episode of our series “From Regulators to Revolution,” Annabeth Poe and Katherine Crickmore are joined by Nathan Schultz, the Site Director of Alamance Battleground, as they discuss the Regulators, their grievance

The Mystery Box

Dec 11 2024 51 mins  
Have you ever conducted research at the State Archives of North Carolina, or any other archival institution for that matter? It’s a unique thrill when you discover history in your hands and read the words of the past as written by the people who lived it. Even when you know the basics about what you’re going to research, you never know exactly what you’ll find during an archi

Myth Busters: Unpacking North Carolina Legends

Nov 13 2024 31 mins  
This week on Connecting the Docs, host John Horan welcomes Reference archivist Katherine Crickmore, former Digitization Archivist Chauna Carr, and Records Description Unit head Joshua Hager to investigate the validity of popular North Carolina legends. First, Katie tackles the mysterious disappearance of Theodosia Burr, daughter of American Vice President Aaron Burr. Leaving South

Class is in Session: Integration and Busing Controversies, 1969-1972

Oct 30 2024 53 mins  
Our final episode in our school-centric series takes us to Charlotte, home to one of the most famous legal cases involving school integration. By the time it reached the U.S. Supreme Court, Swann v. Mecklenburg addressed whether school systems could legally use busing routes to create more integrated school populations (or if they had an obligation to do just that). In this episode

Class is in Session: American Indian Education Spotlight, Part 2

Oct 16 2024 34 mins  
In the second and third episodes in our Class is in Session series, we focus on hearing from American Indian students about how they navigated school segregation and desegregation inside and outside of the classroom. Using a combination of government records and oral histories, join host John Horan and producers Josh Hager and Annabeth Poe for an overview of American Indian public

Class is in Session: American Indian Education Spotlight, Part 1

Oct 02 2024 64 mins  
In the second and third episodes in our Class is in Session series, we focus on hearing from American Indian students about how they navigated school segregation and desegregation inside and outside of the classroom. Using a combination of government records and oral histories, join host John Horan and producers Josh Hager and Annabeth Poe for an overview of American Indian public

Class is in Session: The Legacy of Rosenwald Schools

Sep 18 2024 44 mins  
Welcome to Season 5 of Connecting the Docs! We start this season with a trip to the classroom as we focus on three topics relating to North Carolina schools and education history. In our first episode of the series, we take a look at the history of Rosenwald Schools in North Carolina. Join host John Horan, podcast intern Lawanda McCullor, and producer Josh Hager as we learn how the

Uncovered Stories, Episode 3: The Revolutionary Ruthey Jackson Letter

Mar 06 2024 61 mins  
Welcome back to the final series of Season 4, “Uncovered Stories.” In this series, you’ll hear about incredible records that archivists uncovered during work assigned for other, sometimes unrelated projects. These discoveries add new significant research topics to collections held by the State Archives for decades and shine a light on people and subjects upon which previous c