The Southern Appalachian Archives

Please see Contact Us & Arrange a Visit for hours of operation.

The Southern Appalachian Archives is a rich storehouse of manuscripts and collections that document regional history and culture. Notable among the treasures held in the Southern Appalachian Archives are:

• the Bascom Lamar Lunsford Collection, which includes an oversized scrapbook, photographs, sound recordings, transcribed ballads, and instruments;
• the James G. K. McClure, Jr. Collection, which includes over 3,000 photographs documenting western North Carolina agriculture from the 1920s to the early 1950s and a vast array of materials from the Farmers Federation and the Lord’s Acre Initiatives, including recordings of several Farmers Federation Picnics;
• a variety of collections featuring western North Carolina mountain musicians: the Byard Ray Folk Festival Association Records; the Jackie Ward Collection featuring selected materials from the Mountain Dance and Folk Festival and Shindig on the Green; the Bascom Lamar Lunsford Festival Collection; the Obray Ramsey Memory Collection; the Tommy Hunter Memory Collection; and the Roger Howell Memory Collection of Fiddle Tunes with recordings available through Mars Hill’s Digital Library of Appalachia web page.

Other special collections include:

• the Southern Appalachian Photographic Archives;
• the Gertrude M. Ruskin Collection of Cherokee Indian artifacts and materials;
• the Evelyn Underwood Collection of important Madison County early documents, photographs, and oral histories;
• and the university archives, including papers and photographs relating to the history of Mars Hill University. Interviews about the history of the school can be found through the Memories Collection website.

In addition to the non-circulating special collections, other Appalachian-related materials can be accessed through the Renfro Library catalog and are available for circulation. More information about the archives can be found on the Southern Appalachian Archives website.

An endowment in support of the Ramsey Center’s Southern Appalachian Archives has been made possible by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities :  Exploring the human endeavor.