Wendy Duncan interview with Janice Kimsey, Jena Whitlock, E.E. Adams, Betty Escoe, and Gurlene Mouchette (part two)

The John Burrison Georgia Folklore Archive recordings contains unedited versions of all interviews. Some material may contain descriptions of violence, offensive language, or negative stereotypes reflecting the culture or language of a particular period or place. There are instances of racist language and description, particularly in regards to African Americans. These items are presented as part of the historical record. This project is a repository for the stories, accounts, and memories of those who chose to share their experiences for educational purposes. The viewpoints expressed in this project do not necessarily represent the viewpoints of the Atlanta History Center or any of its officers, agents, employees, or volunteers. The Atlanta History Center makes no warranty as to the accuracy or completeness of any information contained in the interviews and expressly disclaims any liability therefore. If you believe you are the copyright holder of any of the content published in this collection and do not want it publicly available, please contact the Kenan Research Center at the Atlanta History Center at 404-814-4040 or reference@atlantahistorycenter.com. This is the second part of a two-part interview. The recording begins with Janice Kimsey discussing the origin story of Robertstown, Georgia. She gives some historical background to the town and the buildings, specifically how the schools changed over the years. She talks about a loom on which she learned to weave in school, and recipes for persimmon pudding and rhubarb pie. She recalls a tale about how Yonah Mountain was founded, and about the forbidden love of two young Native Americans born to warring tribes. A Mrs. Kimsey, presumably Janice's mother, chimes in with some local legends about Dame Dot and Old Darby Dar then recites a few poems about the town. They sing "Sweet William, a variation of the folk song "Barbara Allen." Jena Whitlock explains how she taught herself to play the autoharp. She then plays music on a harp, starting with "Please Mommy Stay Home with Me, then a few Byron Herbert Reese poems that she put to music, including "Less the Lonesome Bird," "Who's Eye is on the Sparrow," and "Flow Gently Sweet Afton." She also tells the life and tragic death of Reese, who died by suicide. Betty Escoe briefly interjects with a description of her very superstitious great aunt. Then E. L. Adams discusses Young Harris College, where he taught multiple subjects, its many presidents, the 1886 foundation of the school, and its shift from a four-year college to a two-year college. He also explains how Young Harris functioned before the installation of electricity. Adams recalls school traditions, including different societies, debates, and commencement. Next Adams tells the legend of how Hiawassee, Georgia, got its name from the Cherokee Indians, as well as how mountains in the area got their names. He speaks about the Native American history of the area and says that although none remained in the mountains when he arrived in 1898, the older generations remembered them well. Adams discusses locals who practiced water witching, that is divining the location of water, and a Baptist preacher who was successful at it. He also talks about the decline of farming in the area, how the invention of cars made travel between towns much easier, and the local Mountain Fair. He claims that his house belonged to a doctor during the Civil War who treated wounded Confederate soldiers from North Carolina. At the conclusion of the interview, the conversation returns to Young Harris College, and Adams discusses the original name of the town and the school as well as the campus acreage. He also talks about a campus building. Janice Kimsey (1945-) lived in Robertstown, Georgia. Jena Whitlock (1948-) lived in Demorest, Georgia, and attended Piedmont College. No additional biographical information has been determined about Janice Kimsey or Jena Whitlock. Emory Lovick (E.L.) Adams (1880-1979) was born in Madison County, Georgia, to Thomas Jefferson Adams (1847-1895) and Elizabeth Catherine Tucker (1852-1892). He worked as a professor at Young Harris College. He married Arry May Sanderson (!883-1971) and they had seven children: Ruth Adams Meares (1905-1981), Clarence Sanderson Adams (1906-1972), Gwendolyn Adams Wright (1910-1970), Mary Agnes Adams Galloway (1912-2003), Marjorie L. Adams Foster (1914-2010), Reba Adams Phillips (1918-2008), and Emory Lovick Adams, Jr. (1922-1998). Betty Ann McCune Escoe (1930-2013) was born in Athens, Georgia, to Clarence (1905-1978) and Annie Gann McCune (1905-1981). She married Thomas Lee Escoe (1930-2008) and had two children, Donna Escoe Flournoy and Terry Lee Escoe. She lived in Athens for most of her life before moving to Milton, Florida, where her daughter lived. Gurlene Mouchette (1947-), possibly spelled Girlene Mouchet, lived in Atlanta, Georgia, and attended Southwest High School. is Hartwell, Georgia is the garden spot of the world. T~ is where my father grew up. This old man decided to build a well or dig a well the way he used to s~nce he was better than any two men put together in the country and that was do it yourself. That was, you get the old pulley and get two people after you had filled the bucket up with dirt. ',fell he was doin,' pretty good and he had gotten down about fifteen or twenty feet and was tryin~ to hit a g,)od strain of water and just as he was -.bout to hit one, the two m8n with the bucket heard a commotion aown the road and decided they would go down and investigate. Well, the two men decided to go and left the bucket in the road and the old man was sort of mad about that. i;~ father grew up on a farm and there was a man that lived with hi~ there. Oh probably lived with the family for about fifteen years in an old house down on the south forty a~ my father would say so I would know what he was talking about. The man's name WIlS "Ir. Parks. And ;';r. Parks shared this old house with a Dal'l named nark La>Trence. And Hark L,,'.rence and my gr'ndpa were practical jokers in the country styl~, pull teasers on people. They decided since ~r. Park~ had run off andleft his first wife and three children that the thinJ to do was for him to get him alother wife. So they started writing ficitious letters to a mail arder house specializing in brides, of course. And see what they could come up with. My grandf~ther would sit down with Mr. Parks and would say Mr. Parks this has got to be the most beautiful letter you've ever written. It's just got to be perfect. And Mr. Parks would take all kinds of - 2 - trouble, dictionaries, papers andFPencils, sit down for hours and write the most beautiful letters you can imagine. He would mail them off supposedly, to this mail order house when of course, all the time it was my grandfather who would be getting them or suppose to be posting them anyway. And Mr; Parks was fully expecting the best. At least the truth. So when the day came and.themail order bride was suppose to arrive in Hartwell, an aunt of my father',s who was a good seamstress and Mr. Mark Lawrence, who wLth a little stretch of the imagination could be a female?? They all went down to the seamstress' house, sewed him up a fine gown and got rome make-up from the dime store and Mark Lawrence proceeded to become a female. About a mile out of town he got on a slow moving train and when Mr. Parks met his bride to be at the station he was so overcome and floored by the whole idea that he didn't realize that this lady didn't look too much like a lady. And my grandfather was standing around enjoying the whole thing. Well, they went through a mock-up ceremony, had the whole thing planned out, went to the hotel and here comes this man running and knocking on the door. Mr. Parks, Mr. Parks, somebody done stole yer mule. Ah, I can't be worried wLth no mule now, I got me a bride. Well, it was all a big hoax to get Mr. Parks out of the room 'cause somehow they had to get Mr. Lawrence out of the room. Well, they finally managed to get Mr. Parks out and come down see about the fire downstreet Where his horses were staying at the livery. And of course there was no fire but they made him think there was. They got Mr. Lawrence out of town and largest search that ever instagated in Hartwell then ensued. Everybody in the town was running around trying to find - 3 - Miss Flora. That's what they had decided to call her. Well, :1r. Parks went from door to door knocking sayinif, llHave you seen l1iss Flora?" And everybody would look at him like well, you know: And he went on lookiu; for her and everybody said that she m'~et have lit out for parts un~nown or something like that and Mr. Mark Lawrence destroyed all of the evidence of Miss Flora and til today people in Hartwell laugh about Mr. Parks and his wail-order bride. Mr. Parks did other things beside help my grandfather. He used to peddle meat. He was a butcher of sorts. He did pretty well at this sort of thing. He would take my father with him and they would go around selling things like beef and sometimes pork. Usually not very good grade of course, and the cheapestfuey could come by. One day the called upon one neighbor in 1921. And he aaked her if she would like to sell her ye<,rling down in the pasteur that he had aeen when he was comine up. And she said well I don't know ~r. Parks, I've been thinkinG about selling it, but I just don't know. ;:en., Nr. Parks !I'oceeded to give her a big sales spill and all. Well, let me go check on my stew which is on the stove. lry fath"r and 1-Ir. Parks would sit out on the steps and spin other. yarns that I don't know anything about. She would run across to her nei,,;hbor's house and use their telephone. She woul'; call Jenby's Market. How much is meat bringing Mr. Denby? Oh, it's a bringing about 6 cents, a pound. ~ell, thank you very ffiuch Mr. Je~by. Well, she would run back and try to compose herself and try not to l.)ok like she had run three.,pastenr... Mr. Parks, I tell you I'm not too much in the mood for selling that yearlinc. How m ch were you thinking of offering? Well, I tell you, I was a - 4 - thinking about 4 or 4 1/2 cents a pJund. 'Iiell, I tell you Hr. Parks, I think I'll just wait In that ye'rlig a while. But I've got somr~ nice eggs. TWell, sellinr- ez;ss to this nice man was the biggest insult. ;'jhat W,1S he going to do wi th e,o(;s! I mean you :enol1, he was planning to travel around all the day and the re xt daymd they would probably set broke and just make a big mess. lIell, I tell you neighbor, I don't think I need any e"gs but I and this young boy be travelinr and we don't know what we will do with any eggs. There was a woman who lived there near my f~ther. Her name was hr;. Mitchell. Xow she waS a widow woman with five children. She had a bit of a problem raising her children the way she thought they ought to be raised and she had to >0 rk days and her children wouldn't go to school rometimes C-1lu they were what we woull call juvenile delinquents. I don't :rnow what they would call the',. But, t: ere was a man in town na ed Blake who owned the wei;hing station. Kow Blake he waS a big blow heart kind of fellow. He must he.ve been red-headed probably six' 2 and weighed 250 T)'mnds. He must have been a lumberjack some day back in his past. But anyway t~ere he was in Hartwell at the weighing station. Mr. Parks, he probably wasn't a very big man. The sl ightest IitUe affront to his statue or to his apearance to people and he got a little bit snippety. He got kinQ of on edge. He didn't li~e it much. And he'd go in and say somethiniI about :.rs. l':itchell and Blake woul~ start tearin~ in on . bout ~ood a woman Mrs. Kitchell was in more ways than one. ~r. Parks would get so upset and so riled that he would get so ~pset he wouldn't be able to see straight. He would - 5 - start crawlinb" armnd on the floor. Sayin,' just Blake now you just hush u~;, now. No~l'f that Hrs. I,Ti tchell is a fine WO!'2, ti. s.nd. you just leave her alone and all that stuff. And Blake would carry on harder ',ecause he knew what Lr. Parks would do when he started in m all this mess. Andof course fr. Parks would start cprryir.g on when Blake would start in even though ~r$. Mitchell wasn't the finest woman in Hartwell. Mr. Parks used to tell rey daddy not to ever do any tal~ing when they went around to t he different pople who they were going to buy meat from or sell meat to. "Because, Buddy,"he would s y, "you will just spoil it. I know you mean well, but you ,:ill just spoil it." ).!y father had an uncle whos name w"s Tom believe it or not. And Uncle Tom had the best watermelon p.tch in Hart County. He grew the biggest, the juiciest, the reddest watermelons, you ever did see. Of course he wasn't the 'est far~er in Hart County. That was my daddy's daddy. But uncle Tom did have a good watermelon patch and he was proud of it. He useQ to mve q problere though of people who would come in and steal his watermelons and run off and he never quite knew who they were. At leaet'-he made on like he didn't know who they were. One night he went out with a double barrel mot-gun wi. th buck mot an" he man"ged to wound at least the pri~e of the >latermelon snitchers and the next day when his 0'011 sons came in to breakfast sli';htly disturbed in th cir hind q~arters and rather peturbed at the idea of havins to face a day of work "hen they were so sore. He proceeded to say well, I think I finally got me them watermelon pickers. -6 - I'm Janice Limsey 'end I live in Robertstow!l. '!'he Ie-end of Robertstown is fairly interestinG. It see~s that there was this 0' d chap who came over from En..'land and built a home overlooking the valley of Robertstown. He would write to England lrhen he got 2hort of money and he lead those in F:n"land to belie'e that he was a successfu.: busine SSl"an in America. ';.'hen actually he w"'s spendinL~ his money on 'tine making. Hr. Roberts was supposedly a conniJse,r of c ....isine aJ:.d wine. He Tew his own hops and his own yeast for makinb bread. He taught orne of the first settlers of RObertstown the art of bakin bread. He was a ,bachelor "nd v~ry ;:uch of a, individulilist. He expressed the wise to be huried on the hill iirectly facin" his home. He said that so:neday his hous e and the land surroundil',' it would be covered wi th W," ter. He wCllted to be buried up hi{(h facine his home and too he would be in ss danger of being covered with Wi ter. The ~rave shows that he was a mason. He died at the age of f0rty four and the town was named 'cfter him. The area now surrounding his grave is a cemetery. I live in the home that he built. It is an English type house and it overlooks the valley of Robertstowll. "'he home is complete wi th a wine cellar or rather w's comple te with a wire cellar and a tllnnel leading to the serva~t's quarters. The house was surrounded by Vineyards and flowers. Arooni' the orchards ar:d vineyards were the servants' q~arters. ,landy: "1lhere is Robertst Jwn?" Janice: It's in upper North Georgia. It's about ten ~inutes from Cleveland which is the last town you get to before Hiaw'ssee which is across the mountain. - 7 - The house, the window penes in one of the r80ms are dra'nll on !Ul~ they say t,lat Charles RobLT,ts did this with his diamond ring ar.d he has somethinG t at looks sort of like a coat of arms and on anotler one he h,s Charles Ro ,'erts 1900. I don't ",noW if this is done in Latin or what, but I can't make it out and I haven't ever met anybody that could. Betty? ';lhat is that on one of the windows? Janice? Yes, on three of the window panes in mother's bedrooffi. And there's a fireplace in the living room put together out of soap stone and old Snglish coins and its said thct he got his soap stone at the foot of the ~ountain where he was buried. BettY:llhere did he get the coin"? Jenico: From England. Betty': Did he brin,; thee' ov',r wi th hin or did he send them? Janice: "ell, they say that he was always writing ho~e and his parents "'oulci sent it and I J11ess thnt's where he'ot it. i:end;,: How old is Robertstown? Janice:,;Gll, Charles Roberts Was here and he died sonoewhere around in the early 1900's obout 1910 or somethinG or it might h,<ve been before that. '/[e,ldy: Did they naf,e it Robertstown before his denth? Janice: No, it was after he died. You see he owned, it really wasn't a town t' en. He owned a big est teo de owned this house. He had servsnts' qu-rters ",-,,,i vineyards and all of this area around here belonged to him. So people just started callin" it Robc"tstown after him. It'" about 400 people. ;;e have, we did have a school here an elementary SChool here. The first school w's a little , - 8 - log cabin in 1912 and in about 1911 dosses were held in one of ;'lr. Roberts' Jld tenan t houses. A.nd, at one time schoo.l was held in the courthouse. About 1914-'916 a grammar school was built. It was a large tW1J-story bric' buildin,". The 'rammar school ~ust went througn the seventh zrade and consisted of about three teachers. Ana the bell in the old school house hrd the verse John 3:1f pasted in it an" this was so when it rang out people would be reminded of God I c love. A new .;rammar school was buil t in about 1949 and rcade of blocks. It had a sn "ll stage, mditorium, lunchroon; aad t'.o classes. After the seventh ;rade people "'Juld go on to high school at :iacoochee. There was a bus to bring children to sch'101 who lived too far away to ';lalk. The school was noted for its operettaa and its co~enceoent. ~he average daily atteldance was very hi,:h here. It was the highest in the coun y. About 19fO ,,"ost of tte "rallliCar schools of ';,'hi te County '"ere cons )liJated. Robertstown went to Nacoochee. Shortly after the consoli':lation of the school it waS converted into thE- Evangelical J:ethodist Church. And then t:,e 01: school buildinc the wooden on.;, has teen used for the raising of chic 'ens. The first floor is used for living quarters, at the Il"esent time is a storage house for grain. "'8ndy: -db-sn't that movie "I Climbed the Highest ~:ountainll made here in Robertstown? Janice: Yes, most of it was filmed here in RObe,tstown. Any lilany of the bac!<ground ch, racters were f rOlL around here. Tl:e little church ~sed in the movie Wes the Chattahoochee Methodist Church. /:,' er~d.,: Are you in it? Janice: No, I wadn't born. Or else I WaS just born. - 9 - .endy: ~re any of your relatives or frie;ds i: it? Janice: Yes, my .:rauQ'f ther wa.s.~n.~t. ,''!,y s~'ster and on' of my irlfriends '3.;,d sh,' w..s eatin,: oatmeal andhad it allover her face in it. Any HIlother frie";d of mine was a little baby in it. And "0 ','Il at:; aC00chee at the wind"i' 1 cb ,m t ere where th' little boy was suppose to have gotten drowned it's still in use today. They don't cr~sh as ~uch corn and grain as they used to but its still used it S01'''-. The little b~y in there lived in Helen and most of these chP.racters except for Rory Calhoun and the biIT stars most of those caine fro'" ar~und. l1iss Cora Harriss, t '3.t wrote the Circui t Rid,r's ';Iife, c&llle up to Robcrtstown on vac,. tion and '.,'hile she w[.s living here she was inspired to write that book. ~n" it was from this book that the Dovie was t ken. Betty: What were you 1~in6 to tell us about the IJom? 1lrs. Ki.O\sey: \Iell, I have this old loom thatis re"l old and I got it from a lady from across the mo'"ntain. And she let me have it and I used i' for a couple of yersafter I rad'lated. I went to Tulaluah Falls School an., I got my ceFtificate in dying, '"eavinG and cr ft rr:akini'. And I had made cov rlets an. it t 'kes quite a while to Dake t'lem, b,.t I =de two wi th the Wig rose desig:; and I sold this frieni of Dine one for $25 and now it would be douhle that I SUppOSe. But I don't have it threaued up and its all delapidated ri.:;:;t no;;. But sometirre s I hope to get it fixed back up aGain and start weavinG 8Gein. ;,endy: You ShY you ha'.e some recipes" l:.1's. Kimsey: Yes, I IE. ve sorre recipes that were pUblished.by the Union :irove ~~ission Church at Cleveland, Georgia. And oz:e is a I _I .... - 10 - Persimon ?uddin, ana I will ?,ive you t~t recipe here. 2 cups of ma.shed and sed persireon pulp mash fres or frozen, 3 e<gs beaten, 1 3/4 c~ps of milk, 2 c ps of sifted flour, 1/2 teaspoonful of bE..kinz soda, " teaspoonful of sp,l t, II? cups of sugar, 1 teas onful 0..p. Erottl':dcOIadn er, 3 tablespoonfuls of butter. melted, and he"vy crean: Whipped. i':.ix persimon pulp, ee!;s and illl'.I'l<:. Sift tagether fl our, bak1'.nC"ooda, o0 alt, s~gar and colander, pour persimon mixture into dry !Oixture and add butter, stir briefly, ba"e in buttered shallow pan in slo',; oven at 325 dee;rees a bout one hour. Serve with whi1;ped cream o.nd tus serves a baut twelve people. And then an0t'ler)ne, I have tried t"is, is the Rhubarb pi.;. You cut your rhubarbs in thin slices 3 1 2 cups. 3 eCJ yolks beaten and addit to the rhubarb. 1 3 4 c~ps of sugar. sift level tablespoon of flour, 1/2 teasponbul of cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoonful of nutn.eg, 1/2 teasponful of salt. Sift together all dry ingredients and add your rhubarb and ~ix well. Put in a nine inch unbaked pie shell, dot this ~th bu'ter and ba~e this at 325 degrees ablut 30 !.;) 35 uinutes. 0se e:g \ihi tes for the merinGUe and tr,is recipe wa::.; eiiven by Hallie :larwick .. ;;""dy: ;;ould you tell me that story about those Indian",? Janice: You ::nerln Yoni'.h DQunt'in? -~lel.l., frau. YOIH-::.h ~'4oUT.~tLin t"".drE;.'S a gre,. t ledge a stone or big rock cliff anQ they call it lovers' leap. That's ;,ecause there were t wo Indiana tribes at the time livinb in the valley. One WeS Sautee anu that was the ~qn and the other ~as ~acoochee and th,t was the girl. Their fathers were both chiefs of differeut tribes and they were in love but their f-thers s)uldn't let them get married or anything and there's really tW0 leaeJ ds and one says since they were so ~uch in love and couldn't - 11 - get ,aarried they went up to Yonah 'nd j'Jlllped off together holding hands and another is that Naco'}chee' '. father pushod Sa'~tee o"f so she jUwped with him. delldy: Is ;;cooch,C'e Valley named after her? Ja~'1ic: Yes. And l~ac'.Jochee school has a picture of :~a.coochee and Sautee. \/ell, I don't knoVl really if it's them but they're tW0 Indian heads on the fr0nt of Nacoochee SchJol. i, endy: ;/hat were you tellinG a bout t ,d t.,o,b? Betty: Aren't they both buried in the val:ey? Mrs. Kimsey: I.,. the valley and they h,ve this cover over it and it stc.:.;dsout tecause its ana n:ound ana. the grassis around that a"d they keep the grass Cllt and. it looks real nice and a lot of people stop by and see it and then they learn t~e story of Sautee and ~'~"coochee. Janice: This mound is not ri~ht exactly at the foot of Yonah ?ount::iin )...l.t you can spe Yonah fr0m there. :an~ce: ,:ell, there's 'I joke th, t' s "oin,; around here that all the kids are always asking me about. You see it started Jut as I just aci:,d one of the children that if they WJuld go over to i,'.x. Roberts' grave and wl.J.k around it thr:e tinJes a~:6, ber..d over and say "Sir, "hat did you die of?" R,'ll sa.y nothLlg. A.nd they think this originated with tlr. Roberts grave and they think it's re'!lly fa3cinating. It's true you kno,:, beCF-'lse he won't reclly say anythinG' And t at's just a joke th~t sprane up lat8ly. Betty: Could you tell ",e the story of little da',e dot. /,:rs. Kins ey: 1'/ell, little de-roe dot WI'S a real tiny little la dy. And sh alwayci sat outside in a chair a knitting and she t~d this - 12 - great ba:'l of thread. So ~ne day she was ~utside JrJli tting all the folks '.,ere "oing t) So off and leave c.er emd they asked 1i >tle da.~ Dot if me would sit there until they came back. She soid nOh, sure. 1 1 11 be :<ni:-ting "tIl the tir[e. II So, the ~..i n-J stc:rted blowing real h"rd and Ii ttle dace Jot just kept on '~nittin' and diun't offer to ,':0 insi:Je 80 the wind got a Ii ttle r..~rder. So the first t1inrr you knew little dane Jot was Just floating up in the sky. But still sh, was knitting. Her knittin..; need'es would 1'0 cl.ickety, clicke:y, click. And so whel they came kckfrom wherever they md been, I think they md been to town, so wher they came back they herd this sound ami t'-:ey started lookin. up to see what it ,,"s. And it W'"8 little dame Do:. So they said, oh, 1001: at little da~e Dot in the sky. How will we get her down? And so one oL the little ole boys grabbed her big old ball of threa', and started winding. And here ca'''e little dat:e dot d )'ffi. ','end.;: PIe ,se tell ole Joby Dar. ()l '" n'1by Jar fell i. the firlt The Fir was so hot he jumpedin the pot. "'he pot was so blac,- he jumped in the kettle The kettle w, s so little he ,:umped in the cree'" The creek Was so mallow he called for a piece of tall.w. The Tallow was so s oft he jump' d in the lof t And the loft caub~ht a fir "nd that "'as the "st .. 01 ~ ~ 01 e J0by Dar. This is a poem entitled RobertstoW11. In the clr-y hills 0" :iorth Geor"ia liss a little country town. 0 It~ people aren't ripb or fancy 3ut the best th,. t ca', be found. - 13 - There are !'Iany tourist attractions In these lUI' ~eorgia hills. And we re ve. y proud of them In f~ct they fill the bill. Our b~bb:ine strealliS are fil~d with fish R.ainb;)" troclt and brim. And you will surely get a catch If JE tience you will wait for the". 'de hese thr',e ~all churches \Lth steeples straiJht and tall. And the doors ~re always open To welc)ITe one and all. Our neighbors are really neishb0rs They lend and borrow too. And there isn't aayt.'ine that they won't do for you. Our people are always happy They never wear a froWl,. So for a friendly smile and welcome ~JIJ:e to Robertsto,,'Il. This poem waS written by :';rs. Lili'31l 'laclldin, who is a native of '.fendy: ;;hy don't yOI" two sin.,; that sonl; of "Sweet ;ril'iam" Sweet ':JilL, rn 'li,d or his true love And Barb"ry died also. They buried the~ in the 01 churchy'rd. In a gr"ve both "eep and wide. Ana out of her'n there ~rowed a r~3e ,end out 0;' his' n a briar. They clumb and clumb the old churc' tower. Til they coull clinb no higher. And ti:ere t",ey formed a tr' e love vine The rose WI''ipj!ld r0und the bri"r. Wendy: Jena, would you tell us a little about Yourself and a little about your autoharp. Jene: well, I'~ from Tocoa, Georgia, and the autoharp that I play I've had about a year. And I learned how to play it under no instruction or anything. And, I "~on I t know, the way I learned to play it. I got D'lt by ",yself in the woCD's and just started ~iddling And - 14' _. around with it. And I found out a few cords and I took it from there. And I start~d singing ~ome songs my parents especially like. I don't, mama taught me one song. and I will sing it for you if you want me to. Wendy: Didn't you say you put a poem to music? Jena? Yes, this Byron Herbert Reese Wendy: Who is that? Jena: He's a poet of the mountins and he's callrl up here at Young Harris. He was a teacher here. He wrote several poems and they were printed and we were studying him in English and in Speech this quarter and I became interested in his poems and I put one of them anyway to music. And if you want me to I'll sing it. It's call ed "Less the Lonesome Bird." - 15 - "Lest' -toe LOl'esorr,e Bird" }lother lay the fire again And put the kettle ~n the stove The hills ~re cartained by the rain And I heve lost my lJ{e. Son, the fire leaps in the grate The kettle whistles throuGh its spout Ar.d supper on the Jord will wait cLtil your story's out. Well Kother, yest~rday I sa> 4'Y loved one ''1alki;:1e in the hills Pinninrr roses in her hair And picking daffodils. And there was 'lothing strar.ge in that. Had she no word to say to you. That you JO likem angry cat The whole day through. 110 ,"other ere the hills becaJ:.e green .ith the young leaves I was lost. By loo~ing on a cold dirt flame. That burns at the heart of cross. And yesterday I saw my love. With ~nother lover in the woods And "ho but I should walk wi th her In the green solitude. I could r.Ot bear to see her bend Her lips to another's ruin. And it was never friend and friend That kiss that they were doinG' StraG{?;'er thinJ's were done my son 1;'othin,3' !UciY come of it at last. So let your head see what is done The heart ~~ns too fsst. The heart too fast and the feet too fast And the hands too fast to slaurrhter. Someone sits in the woods so vast Tonight for a lost dauIThter. Afid mother lest the l~nesome bird ,,:t,unt ~ile fro!:'. the wi1lo}l. I ~ade her a prayer that no one heard And gave ~er ~ stone for a pillow. - 16 - "Lest the LonesoI:\e Bird" (Continuel) ;':other liclten to the rain It ~ashes ever harder. Her handso~e lover I have slain I left him there to guard her. ,"other listen to the ni.:ht That howls about the eve. I hid there well f..nd out of sight ~ith many little leaves. Mother hush ond tend the fire And lay the bed Wi th a clean cover. I sleep tonight with a new desire "ith a dread and faithful lover. With a dread and faithful lover. Wendy: ~ould you tell us the story of the poet please? Jena: ';;ell, as much as I know. ',Ie disc.ssed him a eood bit but I'E still not sure that they say ~ay be fact or fiction. I don't know. Byron Herbert Reese was one hundred per cel;t Mountain. He had t ,berclosis and as you know in winter time it gets" lot worse and as time grew on he was thinking that he might be cured. And he uent to a hospital and at this hospital I think it was Atlanta, I'm not sure. But anyway he wrote a lot of poems there about how he hated the sid8walks with the people there and he didn't like anJthing about the city and that's why he wouldn't stay there. He possibly could have been cured but he loved the mountains so much that he had to get back. And he was a teacher here and from what I hear he was quite ~oody and I don't know, toward a few years ago everybody could tell that he was gettinF in a worse condition Eentally ar.d one time he even talked of killing himself or something but no one thou~ht anything of it. These boys were visiting him in his r)om one time and they came back from that visit, they - 17 - said that they wanted to get he"p that he waS going to try to kill himself. And a few, two men from the campus went to his apartment or ',;herever he ::;tayed but it was too late. He had already shot hi, 'self. No one knew exactly why except that they pro"ably figuiPed out that his condition would be c;iser,ble from just now on. His condition wouldn't help his people that he has associated with and I thiM that it "las at the enD. of the school year. He just killed himself. And '''e have a mec.:orial here and it is to be transferred into our library. It is in our auditorium right now. And it has plenty of his writings, his sonl~s and poens. He seerr:ed to think a little that he himself real so much better or something because he loved the ffiountains and soce people couldn't understand the ~ountains or love the outdoors as he did and another song that he wrote or poem that I put to ;,;usic is "',iho' s Eye is on the Sparrow" "liTho t S Eye is on the Sparrow" I saw a fallen sparrow Dead upon the gr ss. And use to see Jur sparrow The wine that poor it was. But by unlucky chance The bird had c oue to settle Longside near the fe; ce. In sword grass it nestled. I have no means to know But this I minded well inco's eye was on the "parrow Shifted and it fell. And to close I guess I better {,O now and I'll play "Flow Gently Sweet Afton." Betty: I have a great aunt on my father's side of the f~ily who is a very superstl'ous pers'ln. S"r:e bel'leves that sloe can't sit at a table where there's thirteen, the number thirteen is present. - 18 - If there is she rether just go in the kitchen and eat by herself. Then endanger her life by sittin3 at the table with that thirteen number. ( This begins side two with ~r. Adams of Young Harris, GeorGia) ';:hen I came to Youn,: Harris College Rev. Robertson 'iaS Presiaent ano. he'd been here for ei(!ht years and the SUIllILer of 1899 Charlie Spence had beer' presided before him. ',"hen he le ft J.A. Sharpe carre in August of '99 and served until 1917 and he Was away for five years and during his absence George 1. King was president and after him John 1. Hall and when Hall left Dr. Sharpe came back '3l1d served from '22 til 1930 when he died and then Jack LRUce WeS elected presio.ent a~d ,fter Jack Lance we had Charlie Clegg !in<. ",fter Charlie Clegg we had, well after Jack Lance I believe the next we had 'las ',forth Shar.e and then after Wort, Sharpe we had Mr. Downs and after ~[r. Downs we had r:r. Cle gg and after ,;r. Clegg we had :.r. Cooll:, for two years and then Lr. Sasser Car.le. Wendy: How was the valley founded? ;Ir. Ad&:s. ;/ell, the college? It was started in 1886. It was the first year of school was held in old storehouse here next to where the store is then they g')t 3l me land t~'en they buil t the first school building and went into it in 1887. Soon "fter that about '91 Youn,' L. G. Harris who was a l."lwyer in Athens, Georgia, and 100 t his wife and he waEted to do someLing to honor her. He gave them the money and built the Susan B. Harris Chapel. But he was ~ever up here. He never saW the chapel that was built in honor of his .ife and then after that they got to buildir.., various buildin/"s - 19 - around up there but all of those are gone now except the Susan B. Harris Chapel. :.0;; when I came here to go to school they had about eight or ten teachers. Professor Joe Boyd was vice president and was elected presider.t when hr. rtobertson left, but he didn't accept. He "ent back to Dahlonega and taught a,athematics and that's when Jr. Sharpe came. ,!hen Dr. Sharpe c"'~e professor '. E. Lightsey cane here ~ th him and he's the father of Mrs. Ed Rivers. Had qui te a number of stude!; ts back in those days fran: the communi ty around here who grad rated here. It was a four year college when I came and they gave Betty: Didn't they have a high school when you c~e? ;,r. Adams: Yes, they had a r.igh ochool and college when I ca",e ar,d they gave two degrees, an AB degree and a RS degree at the four years of colle ge. Wendy: hen did they ch,nge it to two years? ;:r. Ada""" They changed it about 1920, I fUess. '. nd they finally did 'iway '"ith the hieh school the ecaderrdc departr:ent. I taueht in the "cI.demic departmeI;t for years and in the college part of the time. _.'et iy: ~ihat di 1 you teach? ;:r. A:'a",s: I taught, at the begim:in," I talll,ht math an.' Enc;lish but l~ter on after I graduated in 1903 and taught here for ten years then I went to Flayesvill" , ~;orth CarolinA and stayed here foI' nine years and I c-,ole back here in 1922, when :Jr. Sharpe came back. But I taucht Latin for several years. I taught the Bible. That's ~hen Jr. Sharpe quit te,chinc it for a long period of time and tau"ht psychology but I taught Bible a.J.d Latin more than anythine else. - 20 - .. ~endy: Do you know when they discontinued the Latin? Kr. Adams. They discontinued the Latin in sometimes about 1952 or 3 I think. Betty: ::r. Adams I've heard that X"thy and I :lse to talk ahout that a long ti~e ago thFt they use to have shecks on an old road. Kr. Adm,s: Yes, they had rows of double cabins. ~ost of them were just two room cabins. Betty: llhere the st.de.'ts lived~ :.r. hdaEs: The boys roomd in tho se cabins but the girls had a dormitory from 1887 on. They never stayed in the cabins. The cabins after a while were torn mwn and after ~while torn down and they built larger dOTIQitories. The dormitory that is now Hamby Hall was built for a girls dormitory at first. The girls used to stay in what they called the Old Dormitory which had a wooden building which had a bell fry like a church and had S) DE classrooms in it and upstairs over these rooms wld the adjacent rooms were for the girls dormi tory. The class I grad'~ated in just had ten students in it. Two girls eight boys. ~endy: I heard that a lot of families would come up and stay ~th their children while they were Going to school. ;';r. Ada ,8. Yes OOIlE of them diil. Lived in houses round on the buildings were given for different persons. Sam Joresput up a bUilding here and there. Tw) or three preachers cp~e Nlth their children and ~tayed with them ar.d then there was people that moved into the town and surrownding sections built homes and sent their children to school. I reckor. the most prominent men t"at,ver .. , - '-,":'".- campus and stayed here with the chil~ren and - 21 - moved h~~re s.n educated his children wa.s a fello;; from over in UnLm County, who h:-.d a IBr:;e family and five or six of his children gredu ted, three or four girls and some boys. That waS :'~r. Dyer, J2.yette Dyer. Betty: There're qui~e a few uyer's in this valley ~ren't they~ ~:r. _" dams: There a good many over in ChOW-Storey section in Union County over here. The last one of thdt family died this last Sllmffier that wa.s ::rs. C. u. Corn, Charlie Corn's daughter. l;ow we of course made a gooa deal of progress. The biggest thing that ever hit this country was gettin~ electricity in here. Jelley: 'ihlit did they do before the elecrici ty car.le? :;r. Adams: liell, we had a local plant here for ,ewhile run by diesel e~gine and we had a power plant that run for two or three years down on the creek here. That was back in the days of John L. Hall. '"e hf.d ;;hen "e got the el ectric service and got some better roads. "hen I came here it was a good pretty good day's journey ~ th horse and bUGgy to GO to Blairsville or to ~ayesville or Hia.' ssee and ~ur)hy, it took two days to go down there and tend to any business and then COllie back. riendy: ~as it nine months the: or J8 r-rouna? Mr. Adams: It started in the first of September and got Jut the first of :.ay. Betty: Jidn't meEt of them just live here all the time ,Her they CaL,,) rather thWl going home. ;;r. AdalCs: :.0, they went home at Christmas time. But nO'lody ev"r thoueh of goin . home at Thanksgiving or Easter. They stayed here. I mentioneG Xr. Dyer's family awhile ago. ~r. Jyer was very - 22 - interebted irr the school and one of thi~'s he did th&t we always enjoyed. On Eacoter Sunday he gave to t r.e graduatir.g class and the faculty an all day dinner. They '.ould cook-up chickens and sometimes he had turkey, all kinds of good food. "nen we got throUi:h with Sunday Sch001 and preaching we went there and te, spent the afternoon and usually te all we wanted for supp~r before we left. Had a nke time and we always appreciated that. Betty: How did the tradition, you know while we were up cere we hHd a tr~dition on Eas'er of romeone stayin~ out in back o~ the cookini' pI ce anr! fixing tw) siles of be-ef 'nd we had ,eef Easter Sunday. Kr. Ada:js: Yes, you had b rbecue. Betty: How did that start, do you know? ~r. AdaRs: ~ell, that started when Dr. Sh,rpe was here. tlways sometime in the sprinG the senior class was given a picnic. They, and all of them we, t to the picnic. All the school and faculty. And they picked out oome nice place out of tow> somewhere they had barbec"e then. Those were great events then 'cause we couldn't go anywhere for any er.tertdnment. Use to put, heap of err.phasis on cert in programs that would cO"~ alone throuGh the year. ~here were two 3Jcieties t,ce Youn, L. G. 3:arris society ~ nd the Phi Chi society and each ,ne of those had co',panion soci,ties of the girls the Susan B. H"rris with Youn- Harris and the Phi Jelta with the Phi Chi's. We would have about two or three what we would call pUblic deb tes frot:. each society d'_iring the yer,r the regular school year. An,I haa ehampion debate at comn:encement time. They took a great deal of interest in that. Then we wouli have entertainllients - 23 - that the senior class would give and er:tertainment that the junior class l'll) ul. give and we had prominm.t visi tors the' t would come here. I,nd 3.t commencement tine it would 1 st froTl'. about '!'hursd~y until about ;';onday or Tuesday. ;'.nd;le h'ld various proc;ralCs at the c)mmencerr.ent time. And always had some speakers who came. And we h, d three or four bishops to come here qnd preech forus prominent preachers would come. SM' Jones came here once at comm,mcement time. 'de had rome visitors who came here once Dr. L',mbreth from Japan was here. ;Ie ~fterwards becp-me Bishop Lambreth. A tiro Cobb and a ,'lr. CainG here with him from !,ashville ".nd that Was q..tite an occasion. Nendy: Howald is Youn" Harris, the town? !:r. AdaI1s: The town was st<:rteli when the school st8rted. It wasn't called Youn.- Harris at the beginning. It was kno..-n "s ~kTyre ""d the school was l:cTyere Institute.'nd after Youne L. G. Harris gave the Susan B. Harris Chapel then they changed the name fro", ;lcTyere to Youn" Harris. It became Youn" Harris College. Betty: Ho.: many people were here when you came? ;'~r. AdanJs: In school? Betty: No sir, the co~,unity v lley. NoulQ you say the number of people. ;~r. Adams: I sus,ect that there was about 200 that lived ~bout in the valley. Betty: ,:.bout how many do you think is here new? :lr. Adams: Well, I thillic there's about 4(10 or 45'"\, r - 26 - Jena: She we~t ~t on a party She left at home her baby son. He de;,rly be ~:;ed her not t1 leave him But she would not give up her fxn. She b.u",hed and laughed and did so[",e drinking. "er life 'N' s empty "Jld carefree. But still she heard his voice repeati4 ' P18~se morr~y please, stay home with ~e. She left the party feelir-g dizzy. The smell of whiskey on her breath i;hen she got home she found her baby In r'i:,:-ine pain 8.,::,d nearing death. 1,ow mothers who this plea eive ',mIT.ing Jo not fors,ke your darlinc; onelil. l<'or "hen they're gone you' 11 never forget them Still be';,;inc you to please stay home. This is a co ntinuation of the interview with :,r. E. L. Adams of Youne Harriss, ~e0rEia. ',jendy: Jo you kr-ow the :!'gend of Hiawassee or 'he name, how it got started. ,'Jr. AdwJs: The \\0 rd Hiawassee is 8 Cherokee Indian name I think ]immsseeUaughili,~Twater." :iow Bald :lountain up there is Cherokee Indian name for Bald !10untain was :'lolUrt Enotah. They have various interpretations of that but 01, UQcle Alfred Corn who was a Baptist preacher and 113 e to preach to the Cherokee Indians here in t!:eir Cherokee lall,.;uaee and also he ~'l.d what he called a linkister. One that linked him up with the... , an interpreter. And he told m.e that the meaning of the Cherokee wlrd Enotah was l'l.urel crm"ned. Said that if I ever went to Bald Mountain I would find the top of it bald and barren and laurel and other shurbery growine around the top and said that it really meant laurel crowned. - 27 - Delaney: Do you know any other stories about ny of the names of any of the other mountains ar~und here? Mr. Adams: .e:l, we hove Cedar nountain. It got its name because it use to be a heap of cedar trees that grew on it. Crowe's Gap is named after an old settler th<t came in here and he might have been COlh'e cted with the Cherokee Indians. By the mrr.e of Srowe and lived up there. Track Rock ~ap over here was narr.ed Track Rock bec1>use of animAl tracks and their different things ;that pe rtaining to animals that the Cherokee Indin,ns took there, but it was mainly the tracks of animals, and it wa;~ ~C1Own 3.8 Track Rock. ~ilendy: How Ions hc,ve the Indians been Gone out of the n::ountains? i,ir. Adams: They were taken out of here and taken to the T;'l'est, when the rest of ther' were taken out. And there hasn't been any living here since I came here in '98. But a good many of the people living here ~ew the Indians well. This old uncle Alfred Corn livin,: here said they IS e to corre to his place and camp and he use to preach to thene. And they la j a regular carr,p out l:ere on the ed:;e of to,m. The old Johnny Bryson pl' ee where the rural eleccric buildin; is now. ~endy: Have you ever done any water witchin'r? .:r. AdaJ.ls: Any what? Wen.d.y: Findin:.~ water? :tr. Ada:;ls: ::0. Wendy: I heard that they did it in the mountains .~th the stick you know. gr. Adarrs: ';Iell, there's an old Baptist preacher do,m here that practiced that ar0und here f0r years. ~endy: iii: he hove any luck? - 28 - l"'.rA. daI1S: Yeah, ,rell he alA'ays had luc:>:, if he went deep enough. Well, he's still a livine. It.'el.ldy: Oh, really. What's his natLe? Mr. A~ams: Reverend Henry Brown ";ler.dy: Does he still preach? ",r. Ada,.;s: "Jell, he's just one week older than I am. I'n: in my ei"hty-eighth year now. He and I have preached together allover this country here, since about nineteen hundred and two or t"ree. "r. A~al~: I'm ~~thodist, anc he's Baptist. But we never knew any difference. And I think our pr~cticing without any religious differences of any kind whatever, I think it has had a heap to 0.0 wi th the two Jenominations gettinG al Jng hamoniausly in this co.mtry. The local people have ',l'-mys been very loyal to the school. ~:endy: Jo moo t of the people aromd here still farm? :~r. Adams: ::o.They've about i1:.lit farminG'_ ~;ow when I came here they had two reguBr crops. They rotFted their crops. They'd have their field in corn one year and in the fall sow it in rye. And that "'as the crops th2t al ternated. 3ut later on they chan.-ed and quit raising rye a:ld wheat and started raising cttle. About all that's done in this country now is raising hay and grazing the cattle. Wendy: Is that how they make their living? ;[r. Adar:;s: ;lost of the people now have quit the terms and they work away from here.A heap of them go up north, the youn folks do and stay.They use to '0 out ';Iest. A good many of the students that first graduated here went to the West. And now they h.,ve - 29 - small factories in Hayesville, they have a dress factory over there, they have a shirt factory here, and hove a shoe f'lctory and dress factory over at Blairsville. Ttlendy: HO\-l far is YO'ln ~ Harriss from the r~orth Carolina line? l\~r. Aciru;;,s: It's three miles. "iendy: How fs.r is Hayesville? ~~r. Ad ;J.8: Hayesville is ei;'Y,ht ~r~ile s froe: here. So is ~[iawassee a,ld so is Blairsville. It use t) be 'lS !:'.uch trouble to ,,:et to those towns as it is now to Jet to Chattanoof,a, Atl'nta, or Ash8ville. I,.nd r:ake a trip t,~ Hurplly and back in a couple of hours, and tend to all the blSiness you wanted to and ',e go down to Atlanta, get up from here early and leave and be down there at .'line a I clock and stay and tend to any business and stay as long as "e'ant to an, still be bac;' here before the day is over. It '~se to ta./,e us a day and a half when Ford cars were first invented to :;et down to Atlanta to the SO'ithe",stern Fair. 'i,e went vari,Jus routes to ~et dO'dll there. \'/endy: Could you tell us " Ii ttl e something about the i:ountain Fair? rIr. Ad8.:~-S: '"fell, t\ey orghl1ized the ~loufltain Fair 3 t Hiawassee The Lion's Club has backed that up. Wendy: \\'h"t year was it f)rmed? :.r. Adams: It I S been running some ten or fiftee- years now, but I dm't ree',ercber just .hat year. But it has gotten to be quite an interestin~ fair now .'eedy: I.'hat all do they have? ~r. Ad~~s: They have argricultural product", fruits, thiQ's that - 30 - they canned, fruits that they ;row, flower shows, erte "tainment rifle sh'ots, thinGS like that. ~hey brinJ the cattle and t~ey h've judges ani give pri~es for t~e best hoes, test sheep and best cows, av:': it's an interestir],X time. '"endy: It's in .',.<gt;st isn't it? ..;.r. Ad~tl;iS: Yes, itt s in AUGUst. ';Ieidy: Have you always lived in this house? ~"r. Adaus :.e".l this house was here before the Civil 'ilar. '1Iendy: Oh, really! Do you kno>! who built it? ~.r. Ad~..lr;s: "ell, Dr. Stephen.s lived here back before the Civil ;'iar. And d. rin.i' the Civil ~Iar, he was practicing a sort of Conf )derate wJU[;ed soliiers of North Carolina here. I got holi of a letter th,t '.as written to him before l:ncle Johnny Bryson wLo lived 0 It here cen 1864. Jrywm had been to the Wiir .~nd come bac~{. 'jlendj : ~~ere they reR.l pro-South then. i,r. 1,dllliiS: It w,.s ab)ut a fifty-fifty proposition in this region here. Part of the til:::e the ;;orthern soldi ..rs woul . be sIipping in here and part of the time. There were a few foIks kil'ed here in the va.lley. One old ;an, an old I:Ian by the name of Sanson, who we.3 in the Confederate army run and come ,",orne and he was sick 'llld t';e onion . rmy slipped in and carried him off and they never did know what beca." of him. :!is .ife and a bunch of sons, I :,new three or four of his sons. His gracdchildren 'nd zre' t-grandchildren live all aro~d in this part of the country now. Old l:ncle Corn that I told you about, the preacher had a son th"t belonged to tte Confederate Army. :Ie C8!oe hone Rnd they go t him oVer here on - 31 - Ivy Log. Shot him and killed him. He was the gr',ndfather of Charlie Corn and tile Great-gr".dfatc:er of ~. ;;. Corn thrt lives here now. 'd" en~(.'J.;.y'. Dl'd you bu.Ji.. ld the rest of this house yourself? :,;r. Ad:n:s: ::e11 , I remodeled it in ..bout 1907. Then ron:e ten or twelve years ago I built the porch and ':lade an "1." to it. It always had an one-story "L" and I tO'e it off. ::ow, t:1is old Dr. Stephens who lived here during the Civil .ar who gave the land to start the school then 16.ter ,n they bou,ht some .'11ore lend. ,;e,dy: How much land does the schJol have? ;.r. Ad':,,~: It has about 25 h'mdred acreas. They o'm , heap of the :notntain land around loere. \je,dy: Does thct include the farm too? ;:r. Adams: Yes, that incl udes the far:" ';[end. : Jo t,: ey do any farD.in" over tJcere? ;'r. Ad'ms: ;;0, tt.ey just raise hay and cottle 'lP therenow. i;endy: Didr.' t they have an a:;ricul tural school here at one time? ;:r. Ade. s: '':ell, they a.:lowed the boys to work up there to pay part 0, their tuition but it ,lever was an agricultural school. It just gave some boys the opportunity to ~rk their way throu~h school. There use to be a heap of wild t'lrkey and deer in the mountains. T'oere are still deer and turk,y in the n:o\l1ltains now. And a few bears have been up on Bald ~ ~untain. Cne got down in the v lley t'1is year a.~d tore up seven or eigf:t bee .,:uns do,m there. }.:eI.i..dy: Jo you kIlo'." why it was first nac.ed ~,~cTyere? dr. Ad8Jn3: B~shop :.cTyere belonged to the :,rethod.i st ~r.urch 8 r.d wa" a promine, : t bishop back then in the 7~ I san'; '30' s an.l they - 32 - named it for bishop ;,:cTyere. And then it w's cha; Jed to Young L. i. Hariss ""hen Your1"~ L. Ci. Saris, no':..". YOclnt'r L. G. 5:ariss was a lawyer a:cd he lived in Athens and there's a !;ethodist church in Athens t ~,t is called Youn--s '2ariss ;,ereoriq.l Church. The rest of his conversation was concerning the building of the Sharpe Hall which is still a class r')om b'.,i Iding and st'.lde t center. ;,;r. Adan. was tellin'; of i ts co~struction when it was CLlt off a.ld then he told the story of the "Three Sisters" which I have alre,dy relqted to you. A PDF transcript exists for this recording. Please contact an archivist for access. Professor John Burrison founded the Atlanta Folklore Archive Project in 1967 at Georgia State University. He trained undergraduates and graduate students enrolled in his folklore curriculum to conduct oral history interviews. Students interviewed men, women, and children of various demographics in Georgia and across the southeast on crafts, storytelling, music, religion, rural life, and traditions. As archivists, we acknowledge our role as stewards of information, which places us inaposition to choose how individuals and organizations are represented and described in our archives. We are not neutral, andbias isreflected in our descriptions, whichmay not convey the racist or offensive aspects of collection materialsaccurately.Archivists make mistakes and might use poor judgment.We often re-use language used by the former owners and creators, which provides context but also includes bias and prejudices of the time it was created.Additionally,our work to use reparative languagewhereLibrary of Congress subject termsareinaccurate and obsolete isongoing. Kenan Research Center welcomes feedback and questions regarding our archival descriptions. If you encounter harmful, offensive, or insensitive terminology or description please let us know by emailingreference@atlantahistorycenter.com. Your comments are essential to our work to create inclusive and thoughtful description.