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Educator, gay rights activist, and author of many works on sexuality, identity, and sex education, and the history of homosexuality and the gay rights movement in the United States. The James T. Sears Papers span the dates 1918-2011, with the bulk of the material covering the period between 1950 and 2004. The papers are arranged into the following series: Audiovisual Material; Other Activities; Personal Papers; Photographic Material; Professional Papers; the largest series, Research and Writings; Jack Nichols Papers; and Oversize Material. The Research and Writings series is divided into subseries for major works by Sears, as well as subseries for other writings and editorial work, research files, and a small set of writings by other individuals. Formats include but are not limited to correspondence, research files, writings, interviews, recordings, serials and newspapers, photographs, and diaries. The collection also houses the personal papers of Hal Call (1917-2000) and Jack Nichols (1938-2005), both early activists for gay rights. Taken as a whole, the collection offers a deep and rich source of information on gay, lesbian, and bisexual culture in the United States, especially in the South, and its representation in literature and in the press, both positive and negative; the history of the gay rights movement in the U.S. and abroad, including the evolution of organizations such as the Mattachine Society and related gay movement publications; sexuality studies in the U.S. and teaching sexuality in primary and secondary classrooms; gays in the military; drag queen, lesbian, and bisexual communities; and many other topics relevant to sexual identity in society.

Lithography company founded in Cincinnati, Ohio, in about 1847. The Strobridge Lithographing Company Advertisements span the years 1910 through 1954, documenting much of the company's printed poster advertising work from that era. All images are black and white. The core of the collection, the Image Files Series, consists of around 1000 8x10 photographs ("A" images) of advertising designs, and a similar number of smaller printed cards (approx. 5x7 to 5x8, "B" images) of outdoor advertisement designs. The images are accompanied by three different Access Files to be used to browse the collection. These files are in the form of image photocopies ( "job tickets" ) and catalog cards. Most images are of poster (billboard or transit card) designs, but there are also some photographs of tabletop display advertising, window cards and other point-of-purchase displays. The collection documents advertising during a time when transportation was changing in America, and the automobile was gaining in popularity. Billboards began to replace smaller posters, accommodating a more mobile public. It was then that Strobridge turned from its emphasis on circus and theater posters (not represented in the collection) to billboard ads for mass-produced products. Many different products are featured, but perhaps the two most prominent and well-represented campaigns are those for Camel cigarettes and Palmolive soaps. The images form a valuable reference collection of advertising designs, relevant for researchers from a variety of disciplines including commercial artwork, advertising history and design, and popular culture. The collection documents outdoor advertising design during the first part of the twentieth century for what were mostly national brands. Numerous examples are from the era of hand-drawn and painted designs, often signed by artists including Norman Rockwell, Howard Scott, and Dr. Seuss (see his designs for the product Flit). Rarely, an artist is listed on the back of the image. Later designs from the 1940s and 1950s include photographic images, often peppered with celebrity likenesses including John Wayne, Maureen O'Hara, and Charlton Heston. Many of the celebrity advertisements promoted tobacco products. Some designs are clearly war-era, such as advertisements depicting a 1943 female factory worker, or one from Schlitz (1942) mentioning war bonds.

Textile manufacturer, politician, and United States Senator from North Caroina (1958-1972). Collection includes Senate office files from Jordan's Washington office consisting mainly of correspondence, committee and legislative files, speeches, memoranda, clippings, photographic negatives, and background materials. Topics include public works projects in North Carolina, especially those related to water resources such as rivers, harbors, beaches, inland navigation, flood control, the B. Everett Jordan Lake, and the New Hope Dam. Other subjects represented in the files are U.S. foreign relations, in particular with the Middle East as well as the Vietnam War; agricultural laws; civil rights; school desegregation and busing; pollution; the National Park Service; transportation and highways; social security; public health; the United Nations; the Senate Rules Committee investigation of Bobby Baker, 1963-1966; labor laws; economic policy; library legislation; and economic conditions in North Carolina.

John Hope Franklin was an African American historian specializing in Southern and African American history. The papers document his entire career as well as his personal life and political interests: his prolific writings on African American and Southern history; his role as a mentor and colleague, including his time as professor at Duke University; his role in associations such as Phi Beta Kappa, the American Historical Association, the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, and others; his participation in the civil rights movement, including his work with the NAACP Legal and Educational Defense Fund, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, and Justice Thurgood Marshall; and his engagement with numerous civic, community, and educational organizations such as the Board of Foreign Scholarships and Fisk University's Board of Trustees. There is also a significant amount of material from Franklin's work on President Clinton's Advisory Board for the President's Initiative on Race in 1997 and 1998. Items in the collection include files of correspondence in original order; research sources and notes; writings by and about Franklin; materials relating to family history; papers and diaries of other family members, including his father, and wife, Aurelia; printed material; event folders; many informal and publicity photographs; video and sound recordings; and awards and other memorabilia.

W. Bryan Bolich (1896-1977) served as a Professor of Law at Duke University from 1927 to 1966. Papers contain family memorabilia, general correspondence, photographs, an oral history, diaries, course notes, writings, drafts of statutes revisions, and clippings. Major subjects include family work at Southern Railway in Forsyth County, N.C., Duke Law School curriculum development and reorganization, Law Day, the Rhodes Scholarship, Trinity College Class of 1917 alumni activities, Law School Alumni Association, North Carolina House of Representatives, and property and alien rights laws authored with the North Carolina General Statute Commission.

President of North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company, 1923-1952. NC Mutual is the oldest currently active African American-owned insurance company in the United States, founded in 1898 and headquartered in Durham, North Carolina. The collection contains photographs, miscellaneous business papers, programs, speeches, clippings related to C. C. Spaulding, black civil rights, and to African American life more generally, in addition to administrative materials and various publications created by and related to North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company. These papers document the growth of North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company in the mid-twentieth century, Spaulding's and the company's connection to the community, and their involvement in African American issues (local and beyond) and livelihood. Acquired as part of the John Hope Franklin Research Center for African and African American History and Culture.

Basil Lee Whitener (1915-1989) was a U.S. Representative from Gastonia, N.C. Collection includes correspondence between Whitener and his constituents, other congressmen, and government officials, legislative materials, drafts of bills, financial papers, speeches, invitations, printed material, clippings, photographs, and other papers, chiefly from congressional files (1957-1968), relating to issues of national importance during the 1960s, including the Vietnam War, crime legislation, gun control, riots, civil rights legislation, foreign aid, social security, and the Taft-Hartley Act. Correspondents include Sam Ervin, John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, Sargent Shriver, and Strom Thurmond.

Abraham Joshua Heschel was an internationally known scholar, author, activist, and theologian. He was born in Warsaw, Poland into a distinguished family of Hasidic rebbes, and studied philosophy in Berlin, Germany. In 1938 he was deported from Frankfurt to Warsaw where he escaped to London just before the Nazi invasion. After a brief time in London he immigrated to the United States, first teaching at the Hebrew Union College and then at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America where he taught as Professor of Ethics and Mysticism until his death in 1972. In addition to his active participation in social justice issues and his interfaith work, Heschel was also a scholar and religious thinker who made significant contributions to Jewish studies. As a philosopher of religion, his goal was to make the spiritual insights of Judaism understandable and over the course of his lifetime influenced generations of Jews and non-Jews. The Abraham Joshua Heschel Papers span the years 1880 to 1998 and document Abraham Joshua Heschel's personal, academic, and public life. Items in this collection include correspondence, writings by and about Heschel, typescripts, clippings, printed material, and a small amount of photographs and artifacts. The materials in the collection provide insight to Heschel's identity as a spiritual leader and how this role was inextricably connected to his personal and professional life. The collection is organized into the following series: Audio, Correspondence, Personal and Family Materials, Public Activity, Restricted, and Writings.

Collection consists of the personal and professional correspondence of James Hinton Pou, Sr., lawyer, politician, and land developer of Raleigh, North Carolina. Topics cover late 19th and early 20th century North Carolina politics and legal system, business and land development in North Carolina, the history of Raleigh, N.C. and Wake County, and the Pou-Bailey families.