Picturing North Carolina
Another facet of the Press's regional focus has been the visual documentation of North Carolina and the South. Pairing photographs, watercolors, or drawings with scholarly texts, Press publications have mapped the southern colonies, depicted native peoples, and introduced North Carolinians to the cultural treasures of the Old North state.
North Carolina Architecture
The University Press has published three outstanding photographic
studies of North Carolina's architecture, two of which are displayed here.
The first, Bayard Wootten's Old Homes and Gardens of North Carolina
(1939), which combines scholarly insight with stunning photographs, set
the standard for the two that followed.
The Early Architecture of North Carolina (1941) is a history of the development of building design and construction in North Carolina from the early eighteenth to the mid-nineteenth century. With photographs by Frances Benjamin Johnston, the preeminent architectural photographer of her day, and a text by Thomas Tileston Waterman, former architectural director of Colonial Williamsburg, the work became a touchstone for preservationists and has influenced which buildings North Carolinians cherish and why.
Catherine W. Bishir's North Carolina Architecture (1990), with photographs by Tim Buchman, brings the state's architectural history into the twentieth century and includes the quieter beauty of more common structures as well as familiar landmarks. Its stunning photographs, some in color, make this one of the most visually memorable books published in recent Press history. It received numerous awards, including the 1991 Citation for Excellence from the American Institute of Architects, and the 1991 Mayflower Cup from the Society of Mayflower Descendants in the State of North Carolina.
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