Billy E. Barnes Photographic Collection, 1959-2014

Summary

Creator:

Barnes, Billy E. (Billy Ebert), 1931-2018.

Abstract:

Collection contains images made by white photographer Billy E. Barnes taken during his career from 1959 to 1996. The majority of the images are black-and-white 35mm negatives, photographic prints, and 35mm transparencies (slides). Images were taken across the state of North Carolina and depict poverty in both rural and urban areas, racial tension, experiments in integrated education, poverty prevention/alleviation programs, and the social/political changes that occurred in the state during this span of almost four decades. A large portion of the collection documents the activities of the North Carolina Fund (1963-1968) as well as related organizations and programs that outlasted the Fund project. Images were taken across the entire state, but with a concentration in Durham and Orange County. There are also some images of locations outside North Carolina. Barnes's original descriptions are used when available (from personal photographic log) and, whenever possible, individuals, organizations, events, locations, and dates have been identified. Known groups, organizations, and individuals are listed as subject access points, as are identified locations. Throughout his career, Barnes incorporated new photographic formats and technologies into his work as a freelance photographer and as an official photographer for several N.C. organizations and companies. In 2003, he made the transition from traditional film-based (analog) photography to digital photography. The collection also includes 50 GB (61,200) of digital files representing his digital photographic work.

Extent:

60,500 items (35.5 linearfeet)

Language:

Materials in English

Library Catalog Link:

View UNC library catalog record for this item

Background

Biographical / historical:

Billy Ebert Barnes was born in Winston-Salem, N.C., on October 27, 1931, and graduated from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill in 1953. He served in United States Marine Corp in the early 1950s and worked for McGraw-Hill in New York and Atlanta. In 1964, he became the Public Relations Director of the North Carolina Fund, a state-chartered, non-profit corporation established by Governor Terry Sanford in late 1963 to seek new ways to address the problem of poverty in North Carolina. Barnes held this position until 1969. After the funding for the North Carolina Fund expired in 1969, he continued to work as a photographer with several of the organizations/projects founded by the efforts of the North Carolina Fund. Both during and after his work with the North Carolina Fund, Barnes did free lance and contract work for several companies and organizations in and around the Triangle area of North Carolina.

Barnes's photographs have appeared in Time, Newsweek, U.S. News and World Report, Fortune, and other periodicals. Barnes has produced several film documentaries, filmstrips, slide-tape programs, and television programs (including North Carolina Now). He is also the author of numerous articles related to the history of North Carolina with an emphasis on social conditions and issues across the state during the 1960s and 1970s. Billy Barnes continued to work as a free lance photographer until his death in Chapel Hill, N.C., on September 5, 2018.

Scope and content:

The Billy E. Barnes Photographic Collection contains approximately 80,000 images taken during Billy Barnes's career from 1959 to 1996. Most of the images in the collection are black-and-white 35mm negatives, photographic prints, 35mm transparencies (slides), but the collection also includes approximately 29,000 digital images taken by Barnes from 2003 to 2013 after transitioning from analog-film to digital photography. Throughout his career, Barnes worked both as a freelance photographer and as an official photographer for several organizations and companies. Also included are images taken across the state of North Carolina that highlight poverty in both rural and urban areas, racial tension, experiments in integrated education, poverty prevention/alleviation programs, and the social/political changes that occurred in the state during this span of almost four decades. A large portion of the collection documents the activities of the North Carolina Fund (1963-1968) as well as related organizations and programs that outlasted the Fund project. The majority of the images were taken across the entire state of North Carolina, with a concentration in Durham and Orange County. There are also some images of locations outside North Carolina. Barnes's original descriptions are used when available (from personal photographic log) and, whenever possible, individuals, organizations, events, locations, and dates have been identified. Known groups, organizations, and individuals are listed as subject access points, as are identified locations. The following groups, organizations, and companies are included: Blue Ridge Opportunity Commission, Duke University, Education Improvement Program, Frank Porter Graham Child Development Center, International Business Machines, Lockheed Martin Aeronautical Systems, Low Income Housing Development Corporation, Manpower Development Corporation, Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority, Neighborhood Youth Corps, the North Carolina Fund, Regional Education Laboratory for the Carolinas and Virginia, State Advisory Council on Education, State Advisory Council on Vocational Education, United Organizations for Community Improvement, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Volunteers in Service to America. The materials include the following individuals: Ann Atwater, Anne Barnes, Billy Barnes, James Beatty, Skipper Bowles, Jim Burney, Bill Clinton, Mary Deyampert, George Esser, Howard Fuller, Nathan Garrett, Frank Porter Graham, Paul E. Green, Jim Hearn, Jesse Helms, Wanzo Hendrix, Mort Hoffman, Luther Hodges, Lyndon Baynes Johnson, Martin Luther King Jr., William Koch, Howard Lee, Carroll H. Leggett, Jack Mansfield, James McDonald, Dan K. Moore, Janelle Moore, Richard M. Nixon, Harriet L. Rheingold, Terry Sanford, Dick Schoener, Bob Scott, Sargent Shriver, Dewitt Sullivan, Patrick Thomas, John B. Turner, George C. Wallace, and Warren Wheeler.

Images in this collection depict members, slogans, and paraphernalia associated with the Ku Klux Klan, a white supremacist and domestic terrorist organization.

Acquisition information:

Billy Barnes donated these materials to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2003 (Acc. 31052), 2005 (Acc. 31053), 2014 (Acc. 102033), and 2019 (Acc.103593).

Processing information:

Processing by Patrick Cullom in 2008-2009, 2011, 2015, 2019

Encoded by: Patrick Cullom, July 2015

Updated by: Amelia W. Holmes and Patrick Cullom, September 2016; Patrick Cullom, May 2019

Remediation by: Nancy Kaiser, July 2023 (added statement about "Croatan")

NOTE: In 2017, we began using "white" as an ethnic and racial identity for individual and families, in addition to "Black," "African American," "Jewish," and other familiar identity terms that we have used for decades in collection descriptions. We use this identity term so that whiteness is no longer the presumed default of the people represented in our collections. To determine ethnic identity, we rely on self-identification; other information supplied to the repository by collection creators or sources; public records, press accounts, and secondary sources; and contextual information in the collection materials. Omissions of ethnic identities in finding aids created or updated after August 2017 are an indication of insufficient information to make an educated guess or an individual's preference for ethnicity to be excluded from description. When we have misidentified, please let us know at wilsonlibrary@email.unc.edu.

Archivists have not removed racial terms "Negro" or "Colored" because we feel they provide important historical context about the materials and who created them and they facilitate the research process. We recognize that these terms also may cause harm and will periodically revisit our decision to include them. We recognize the complexity of this issue and welcome feedback on this decision at wilsonlibrary@unc.edu.

NOTE: "Croatan" (or "Croatoan") is an identity term that was used by the Indigenous peoples of the Hatteras and Roanoke Islands in the late 16th century. In subsequent centuries, the Indigenous peoples of Sampson, Craven, Robeson, Cumberland, Hoke and Scotland counties in North Carolina were thought to be the descendants of the Croatan Indians and were so called by North Carolina state officials; however, many tribal nations existed and exist now in this area who prefer to use their own identity terms, including the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina, the Tuscarora Nation of North Carolina, and others.

In 2023, archivists examined the use of "Croatan" in Wilson Library archival collections and decided to leave this term in places where it refers to the Indigenous peoples of the Hatteras and Roanoke Islands, is part of a title, or is the proper name of a geographic feature or location. We have replaced "Croatan" with the appropriate identity term for materials that refer specifically to the groups noted above. When we are unable to make a determination, we use "Indigenous peoples." We recognize the complexity of this issue and welcome feedback on this decision at wilsonlibrary@unc.edu.

Sensitive materials statement:

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.

Related

Related material:

• Oral History Interview with Billy E. Barnes, 7 October 2003, in the Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007), Southern Historical Collection, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
• The Billy E. Barnes Collection on Subjects of Poverty, Poverty Programs, and Rural Life in North Carolina, 1964-1968 (1977).
• Hugh Morton Photographs and Films, late 1920s-2006 (P0081)
• Edward J. McCauley Photographic Materials (P0082)
• Don Sturkey Photographic Materials, 1951-2007 (P0070)

Other finding aids:

The Billy E. Barnes Collection on Subjects of Poverty, Poverty Programs, and Rural Life in North Carolina, 1964-1968 (1977).

Billy Barnes Photographic Log (see Series 4).

Indexed terms

Subjects:

Adult education--North Carolina.
African American business enterprises--North Carolina.
African Americans--North Carolina.
African Americans--Political activity--North Carolina.
Airlines--North Carolina.
Children--Services for--North Carolina.
Community centers--North Carolina.
Community development--North Carolina.
Community development corporations--Management--North Carolina.
Community organization--North Carolina.
Community power--North Carolina.
Economic assistance, Domestic--North Carolina.
Economic development projects--North Carolina.
Educational innovations--North Carolina.
Equal rights amendments--North Carolina.
Head Start programs--North Carolina.
Housing--North Carolina.
Indians of North America--North Carolina--Social conditions.
Low-income housing--North Carolina.
Neighborhood government--North Carolina.
Occupational training--North Carolina.
Poor--North Carolina.
Poverty--North Carolina.
Race discrimination--North Carolina.
Rent strikes--North Carolina.
Rural development--North Carolina.
Rural development projects--North Carolina.
Rural development projects--Southern States.
Rural health clinics--North Carolina.
School integration--North Carolina.
Social surveys--North Carolina.
Tobacco curing--North Carolina.
Tobacco farms--North Carolina.
Urban renewal--North Carolina.
Vocational education--North Carolina.
Voluntarism--North Carolina.
Volunteer workers in community development--North Carolina.
Women political activists--North Carolina.
Women's rights--North Carolina.
Photographs.

Names:

American Public Welfare Association.
Boy Scouts of America.
Community Action Program (U.S.)
Community Action Technician Training Program.
Duke University.
Experiment for Self-Reliance, Inc.
Frank Porter Graham Child Development Center.
Head Start Program (U.S.)
International Business Machines Corporation.
Lockheed Martin Aeronautical Systems (Firm)
Low Income Housing Development Corporation of North Carolina.
Manpower Development Corporation.
Manpower Improvement Through Community Effort.
MDC, Inc.
Neighborhood Youth Corps (U.S.)
North Carolina. General Assembly. House of Representatives.
North Carolina Advisory Council on Education.
North Carolina. State Advisory Council on Vocational Education.
North Carolina Fund.
North Carolina State University.
Operation Breakthrough.
Poor People's Campaign.
Regional Educational Laboratory for the Carolinas and Virginia.
United Organizations for Community Improvement.
University of Massachusetts at Boston.
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Volunteers in Service to America.
WAMY Community Action, Inc.
Wheeler Airlines.
Atwater, Ann, 1935-
Barnes, Anne Craig
Barnes, Billy E. (Billy Ebert), 1931-2018.
Bowles, Skipper.
Cleaveland, Frederic N.
Clinton, Bill, 1946-
Esser, George H.
Fuller, Howard, 1941-
Golden, Harry, 1902-1981.
Graham, Frank Porter, 1886-1972.
Helms, Jesse.
Hodges, Luther Hartwell, 1898-1974.
Johnson, Lyndon B. (Lyndon Baines), 1908-1973.
King, Martin Luther, Jr., 1929-1968.
Koch, William J.
Lee, Howard, 1934-
Moore, Daniel Killian, 1906-1986.
Nixon, Richard M. (Richard Milhous), 1913-1994.
Sanford, Terry, 1917-1998.
Schoener, Dick.
Scott, Robert Walter, 1929-2009.
Shriver, Sargent, 1915-
Turner, John B.
Wallace, George C. (George Corley), 1919-1998.
Wheeler, Warren H.

Places:

Ahoskie (N.C.)--Photographs.
Alamance County (N.C.)--Photographs.
Albemarle (N.C.)--Photographs.
Asheville (N.C.)--Photographs.
Atlanta (Ga.)--Photographs.
Avery County (N.C.)--Photographs.
Banner Elk (N.C.)--Photographs.
Battleboro (N.C.)--Photographs.
Beech Mountain (N.C.)--Photographs.
Boone (N.C.)--Photographs.
Boston (Mass.)--Photographs.
Brevard (N.C.)--Photographs.
Burnsville (Yancey County, N.C.)--Photographs.
Carrboro (N.C.)--Photographs.
Carteret County (N.C.)--Photographs.
Cary (N.C.)--Photographs.
Chapel Hill (N.C.)--Photographs.
Charlotte (N.C.)--Photographs.
Chatham County (N.C.)--Photographs.
Cherokee (N.C.)--Photographs.
Cullowhee (N.C.)--Photographs.
Craven County (N.C.)--Photographs.
Durham County (N.C.)--Photographs.
Durham (N.C.)--Photographs.
Farmington (N.C.)--Photographs.
Forsyth County (N.C.)--Photographs.
Franklin (Macon County, N.C.)--Photographs.
Franklin County (N.C.)--Photographs.
Fulton County (Ga.)--Photographs.
Gastonia (N.C.)--Photographs.
Goldsboro (N.C.)--Photographs.
Graham (N.C.)--Photographs.
Greensboro (N.C.)--Photographs.
Greenville (N.C.)--Photographs.
Guilford County (N.C.)--Photographs.
Harnett County (N.C.)--Photographs.
Hillsborough (N.C.)--Photographs.
Hilton Head (S.C.)--Photographs.
Hyde County (N.C.)--Photographs.
Jamestown (N.C.)--Photographs.
Jekyll Island (Ga.)--Photographs.
Kure Beach (N.C.)--Photographs.
Lexington (N.C.)--Photographs.
Louisburg (N.C.)--Photographs.
Love Valley (N.C.)--Photographs.
Lumberton (N.C.)--Photographs.
Kinston (N.C.)--Photographs.
Macon County (N.C.)--Photographs.
Madison County (N.C.)--Photographs.
Manteo (N.C.)--Photographs.
Mecklenburg County (N.C.)--Photographs.
Merrimon (N.C. : Township)--Photographs.
Mitchell County (N.C.)--Photographs.
Monroe (N.C.)--Photographs.
Nash County (N.C.)--Photographs.
New Bern (N.C.)--Photographs.
North Carolina--Photographs.
Orange County (N.C.)--Photographs.
Pawley's Island (S.C.)--Photographs.
Pembroke (N.C.)--Photographs.
Person County (N.C.)--Photographs.
Pinehurst (N.C.)--Photographs.
Pittsboro (N.C.)--Photographs.
Raleigh (N.C.)--Photographs.
Research Triangle Park (N.C.)--Photographs.
Robeson County (N.C.)--Photographs.
Rockingham (N.C.)--Photographs.
Rocky Mount (N.C.)--Photographs.
Rowan County (N.C.)--Photographs.
Roxboro (N.C.)--Photographs.
Salisbury (N.C.)--Photographs.
Savannah (Ga.)--Photographs.
Shelby (N.C.)--Photographs.
Siler City (N.C.)--Photographs.
Smithfield (N.C.)--Photographs.
Snow Hill (N.C.)--Photographs.
Southern Pines (N.C.)--Photographs.
Spencer (N.C.)--Photographs.
Spindale (N.C.)--Photographs.
Spruce Pine (N.C.)--Photographs.
Wanchese (N.C.)--Photographs.
Wake County (N.C.)--Photographs.
Washington (D.C.)--Photographs.
Washington (N.C.)--Photographs.
Watauga County (N.C.)--Photographs.
Whitakers (N.C.)--Photographs.
Wilkes County (N.C.)--Photographs.
Wilkesboro (N.C.)--Photographs.
Wilmington (N.C.)--Photographs.
Winston-Salem (N.C.)--Photographs.
Whiteville (N.C.)--Photographs.
Yancey County (N.C.)--Photographs.
Durham (N.C.)--Race relations.
North Carolina--Economic conditions.
North Carolina--Race relations.
North Carolina--Social conditions.
Southern States--Economic conditions.
Southern States--Race relations.
Southern States--Social conditions.

Restrictions to access:

Subseries 1.5 contains Barnes family photographs and is closed to the public.

Restrictions to use:

Copyright is retained by Billy Ebert Barnes.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], in the Billy E. Barnes Photographic Collection (P0034), North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives, Wilson Special Collections Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Location of this collection:

North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives

Louis Round Wilson Library

200 South Road

Chapel Hill, NC 27515

Contact:

(919) 962-3765

wilsonlibrary@unc.edu