Clara Whiteley travel scrapbook

Collection

Identifier: AC-029

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

This collection consists of a travel scrapbook created by Clara Whiteley of an automobile trip she took with her husband, mother, and aunt from June 22-30, 1935 from their home in Philadelphia to Asheville, NC and back. It is presumed that the scrapbook was created after she returned home from the trip. In addition to photographs and ephemeral items (programs, pressed flowers, brochures, clippings, maps, etc.), Whiteley includes typed entries that explain the significance of places visited as well as anecdotal stories. For example, while visiting Harpers Ferry, Whiteley describes meeting a little girl who lost a ring and after learning that the ring was cheap, Whiteley and her travle party stopped assisting in the search and went on about their business. She also provides information about where they ate, what they ate and the direction in which they traveled. She describes the experience of driving through Shady Valley and Mountain City, Tn. including how the locals looked and reacted to visitors. In regards to housing in Shady Valley and Mountain City, she wrote "The homes where these people live are a disgrace, they are only one roomed log shacks, plastered together with mud. Sometimes there were five or six children playing around the shack, while the man sat with his chair tilted back against the house and Mom was out digging in the fields." Whiteley also mentions that they saw convicts doing road work and comments that in Asheville, earrings are called ear bobs. Of particular note are her descriptions of rural southerners, both white and black.

The scrapbook covers all aspects of the trip to Asheville, with content specific to Frederick, Harpers Ferry, the Shenandoah Valley, Bristol, Blowing Rock (mistakenly called Blowing Rocks), Chimney Rock, Tappahannock, Petersburg, Richmond, Wakefield, Annapolis, and Washington, DC.

Photograph subjects include Harpers Ferry (Jefferson Rock), New Market, Va., Skyline Drive, Natural Bridge, Shady Valley, Tn. (post office), Blowing Rock, Chimney Rock, Swannanoa, Greensboro, Reidsville, NC, Danville, Va., Tappahannock, (Riverside Inn), Richmond, and Annapolis (Naval Academy).

Dates

Creation: circa 1935 July

Creator

Whiteley, Clara (Person)

Conditions Governing Access

The materials from Appalachian State University Libraries' Special Collections are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study, pursuant to U.S. Copyright law. The nature of these collections means that copyright or other information about restrictions may be difficult or even impossible to determine despite reasonable efforts. As a result, the user must assume full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials. Any materials used for academic research or otherwise should be fully credited with the source.

Conditions Governing Use

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the Appalachian State University assumes no responsibility.

Biographical Note

Clara Whiteley was born on January 21, 1908 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to John and Mary Virginia Steckle. She was married to Howard Whiteley and died on December 10, 1997.