The Edith M. Clark History Room is located on the third floor of the headquarters branch of Rowan Public Library in Salisbury, North Carolina. People travel from all over the country to research their roots in this wonderful place. This research library collects materials primarily for the north-west quarter of North Carolina and the states from which early pioneers migrated to this area. Materials covering all states in the Eastern Seaboard as well as most Southern and Mid-Western states are also located in the History Room. There is a large map collection; newspapers, county and military records on microfilm; national, state and county historical and genealogical journals; biographies, immigration and emigration records and many more items.
In 1988, the History Room was named in honor of the Rowan library’s first professionally trained librarian, Edith Montcalm Clark, who was hired in 1936. Edith M. Clark served as Director of Rowan Public Library for nearly 36 years. She was a Salisbury native, who earned a Master’s degree in Library Science from UNC-Chapel Hill. Miss Clark retired in 1972 and died in 1994.
In 1954, the library acquired the research papers of Mrs. J. Frank McCubbins, the former Mary Louise “Mamie” Gaskill. Mrs. McCubbins’s work formed the core of the original history room collection; her research notes in the “McCubbins Collection” are available in the History Room or can be accessed online.
Scroll through the surnames; selecting one will bring up a PDF file containing her research on that particular surname.
The Rare Book Room Adjoining the History Room
The History Room also has a Rare Book Room built primarily to house the Craige Collection of North Caroliniana. This room is not open to the public, but most materials can be accessed by making an appointment with the History Room librarian. Some of these rare books are also available in the general History Room collection or by using transcriptions of items that are too fragile to be handled. To learn more, watch this video on Rowan Public Library’s YouTube channel hosted by the History Room’s librarian, Gretchen Witt.
Source: Edith Clark History Room, (https://edithclark.omeka.net/edith-m-clark).