Special Collections Research Center

The "Black Mountain College: Innovation in Art, Education, and Lifestyle" exhibit examines the history and legacy of the experimental educational institution known as Black Mountain College in the Swannanoa Valley of North Carolina from 1933 to 1957. This digital exhibit and document repository is based off a physical exhibit by the same title on display in 2013 at Belk Library and Information Commons. It was greatly expanded and developed in 2018.

James Thomas Broyhill was an American businessman and politician from North Carolina. This digital collection of photographs is from the James Thomas Broyhill Papers (AC-100), which cover the 23 years he served in the US House of Representatives and the 6 months he served in the US Senate. 

This collection includes images of the Dollar Family, dated November 9, 2011.

Jack Jeffers is a fine arts photographer who spent almost forty years documenting the people and landscapes of the Appalachian region. This collection features his photographs, which he donated in 2011. Photo subjects include landscapes, people, animals, and the logging railroad.

The Jesse Amos Hampton Family Photographs collection consists of photographs of several identified and unidentified persons and families taken between 1917 and 2004, mostly by Mr. Hampton.

This collection contains materials relating to Leo Finkelstein, resident of Asheville, North Carolina, the Asheville Lions Club, and the Beth Ha-Tephila Cemetery in Asheville.

The Moonshining in Burke County: The Career of N.C. ABC Officer Fred Hennessee scrapbook collection was created by Fred Hennessee during his law enforcement career.

Open from 1924-68, Lincoln Heights educated and employed black southerners through the Jim Crow Era and the height of the 20th-century Civil Rights Movement. In 2017 Appalachian State University organized an event involving the digitization of 133 artifacts associated with the school and provided by the alumni.

This digital collection contains seven images from the photograph series of The Reverend J. Norton Atkins Papers. The photographs in this collection were taken by Reverend Atkins, an amateur photographer, during his time in Ashe and Watauga Counties in North Carolina.

This digital collection includes select photographs from the Shull's Mill papers (AC-621), which also includes documents, land deeds, and ledgers. Shull's Mill opened around 1835 as a gristmill owned and operated by Phillip Shull. The town of Shull's Mill was a small farming community and stopping place on the toll road from Valle Crucis to Blowing Rock, North Carolina. 

Smyth County, Virginia Lifetime Collection is a compilation of materials related to Smyth County, Virginia. Subject areas include religion, mills and industry, folklife, agriculture, architecture, education, and community events.

The scrapbook primarily concerns farming and rural life in the Appalachian region. The purpose of the scrapbook is "to show how community, family, and tradition have stayed constant in a time when holding on is much more difficult then letting go."