Local Group Receives Humanities Award

Each year the North Carolina Humanities Council presents the Harlan Joel Gradin Award for Excellence in the Public Humanities.

Significant projects reflect, affirm, and promote the mission and vision of the council. This year’s award went to the Friends of Buncombe County Public Libraries for their support of the Asheville-based Twilight of a Neighborhood project.

The Twilight of a Neighborhood project began in 2006 when Karen Loughmiller was visiting with local community resident Andrea Clark. Andrea had taken more than 1,000 photographs in the 60’s and 70’s of the East End neighborhood and surrounding areas of Asheville. Andrea had moved to Asheville from Boston to live with her father, who was born in Asheville.

Andrea is the granddaughter of  James Vester Miller, an accomplished builder in the area, whose family line goes back generations into WNC. Out of the discovery of the photographs grew a collaboration of multiple organizations including Pack Library, UNC Asheville, A-B Tech, and the Stephens-Lee Alumni Association. The goal was to learn from Andrea’s work, and to re-imagine how to strengthen the social fabric of our mountain home.

In programs held at such places as UNC Asheville, the YMI Cultural Center, and others, Andrea’s images evoked memories, conversations, stories, emotions, and started a community dialogue. As a follow-up to a series of programs, a 16-page booklet was created to commemorate the history of East End, Southside, Stumptown, Burton Street, and the impact urban renewal had on these close-knit communities.

In accepting the award, Andrea Clark said, “All I was trying to do was to find my own story in this beautiful little hamlet in the mountains.”

Her personal act of discovery has led to a much larger discovery for the far wider community. Other projects have continued from that initial exhibit.

To view Andrea’s images visit:
http://library.unca.edu/exhibits/
blowers/andrea_clark.htm