This page covers two overlapping sets of books at OCPL: the Orange County works in the index that the library holds, and the Rebecca B. Wall Local History Collection, the library’s wider local history room, from county deed and will abstracts to North Carolina histories. Some books belong to both. Start with the plan of the room, or go straight to either list.
About these counts
The index counts works, not copies or editions: the editions of one book are gathered under one entry, so the library’s own catalog lists more titles than the 357 here. The Wall Collection figure is the library’s inventory of that collection as of September 2026, counted by catalog title; the Orange County works shelved there are in both counts.
The Local History Room
Find your way around the local history room
Find the books, maps, research equipment, and displays of the Rebecca B. Wall Local History Collection at the Main Library in Hillsborough. The lettered locations below match the plan; tap or hover one to see what stands there.
-
Locked cabinet
Fragile items that mending would damage. Above it, a platter Rebecca Wall painted of the law office of Thomas Ruffin, an ancestor of hers, at 201 South Cameron Street, and a pastel portrait of her in her fifties.
-
Gray file cabinet
Microfilm of the local newspaper and federal census returns from the 1800s; Orange County court records, vital statistics, tax lists and Confederate soldier records reaching back to the 1700s. On top, a photograph of Rebecca Wall in her twenties and a wooden model of the Burwell School.
-
Research computer with microfilm reader and scanner
Read and scan the microfilm here, and search Ancestry and other research sites.
-
Genealogy bookshelf, D-1
Historical records of many kinds, color-coded and labeled by county and record type, with books on how to do genealogical research.
Browse this shelf → -
Genealogy bookshelf, D-2
Published family histories, biographies and genealogical journals; the colonial and higher-court records of North Carolina; lives of local figures from William Tryon to John Blackfeather.
Browse this shelf → -
Genealogy bookshelf, D-3
More about Rebecca Wall.
Browse this shelf → -
North Carolina history bookshelf, E-1
North Carolina histories of every kind, from the university and the State Fair to natural history and Durham’s Hayti.
Browse this shelf → -
Reference bookshelf, E-2
Traditional general reference books, still valuable as comprehensive, authoritative sources.
Browse this shelf → -
Framed print: the courthouse
Hope Summerell Chamberlain’s 1926 pen-and-ink rendering of the county courthouse; she was an author, artist and civic worker.
-
Framed print: the 1892 county map
George W. Tate’s 1892 map of Orange County.
-
Framed print: Hillsborough, County Down
Views of the Irish town the county seat is named for.
-
Framed print: the Nash and Kollock School
Chamberlain’s 1926 interpretation of a late-1800s photograph of the school, which stood at 137 West Margaret Lane, the Main Library’s address today.
-
Framed print: Hillsborough Military Academy
Uniform buttons from the academy, which ran from 1859 to 1861 off Barracks Road in West Hillsborough; outbuildings still stand.
-
Framed print: the 1768 town plan
C. J. Sauthier’s 1768 map of the town of Hillsborough.
-
Black file cabinet
Family and local histories researched, compiled and donated by patrons, with local history odds and ends. On top, a model of the county courthouse by Allen Alexander Lloyd (1914 to 2006), lifelong Hillsborough resident and keeper of the town clock, who with his wife Pauline wrote the histories of the town and of its churches that stand in this room.
-
Assorted maps
Maps of the county and the town.
-
Elizabeth Keckly display
Keckly was enslaved in Hillsborough by her half-brother Robert Burwell, minister of the Presbyterian church and founder of the Burwell School. A seamstress of rare skill, after her emancipation in 1855 she became dressmaker and confidante to Mary Lincoln.
-
Elizabeth Keckly display, continued
The second panel of the Keckly display.
On the shelves
Orange County works at OCPL
These works connect to Orange County and are held at OCPL. Search by title, author, or description, or pick a section to browse it in call-number order. Open the catalog record for location and availability.
Civil War and Reconstruction 973.7 to 973.8: 3 works as they shelve at OCPL, in call-number order. All 357, with filters by place, theme, and material, in the search →
-
Mrs. Lincoln and Mrs. Keckly: The Remarkable Story of the Friendship Between a First Lady and a Former Slave
Fleischner, Jennifer · 2003 · Biography
Jennifer Fleischner's double biography of Mary Todd Lincoln and Elizabeth Keckley, the dressmaker who had been enslaved, including years in Hillsborough, before buying her freedom and becoming the First Lady's confidante. Published by Broadway Books in New York in 2003, 372 pages with illustrations and a map. Topics include enslaved women in Hillsborough and the United States, dressmakers and women's friendships in the nineteenth century.
Call number 973.7 FLEISCHNHillsboroughBlack Life & Civil RightsThe Burwell School and the Burwell household View in OCPL catalog → -
The Elizabeth Keckley Reader
McKoy, Sheila Smith · 2016 · Biography
A reader on Elizabeth Keckley edited by Sheila Smith McKoy, gathering criticism and interpretation of Behind the Scenes, Keckley's 1868 memoir of enslavement and of her years as Mary Todd Lincoln's dressmaker. Keckley's enslavement included years in Hillsborough, which is the book's Orange County link. Published in 2016, 274 pages.
Call number 973.709 ELIZABETHillsboroughBlack Life & Civil RightsThe Burwell School and the Burwell household View in OCPL catalog → -
Sparrows' Nest of Letters
2011
Letters of the Sparrow family, including Thomas Sparrow and George Attmore Sparrow, gathered and published in 2011. The correspondence includes material associated with the Hillsboro' Military Academy, which opened in Hillsborough in 1859, and combines family and military history.
Call number 973.782 SPARROWHillsboroughOrange County during the Civil War, 1861–1865Families, Land & Genealogy View in OCPL catalog →
The Rebecca B. Wall Local History Collection
Browse the full Wall Collection
The wider local history collection, named for Rebecca Wall, the retired librarian whose 1986 bequest built it: genealogy, North Carolina history, and regional reference works, alongside the Orange County titles. Browse it shelf by shelf or search by title, author, subject, or description.
Cooking and the home 640 to 649: 5 titles as they stand on the shelf at OCPL, in call-number order. North Carolina history bookshelf, E-1: North Carolina histories of every kind, from the university and the State Fair to the state’s natural history and Durham’s Hayti.
-
North Carolina's Historic Restaurants and Their Recipes
O'Brien, Dawn · 1983 Wider context
Restaurants in historic North Carolina buildings, each with a sketch of its history and recipes from its kitchen, gathered by Dawn O'Brien with drawings by Janice Murphy. John F. Blair published the 184 pages, with a map and an index, in 1983.
Call number NC 641.5 OBRIEN View in OCPL catalog → -
Chefs of the Triangle: Their Lives, Recipes, and Restaurants
Prospero, Ann · 2009 Wider context
Ann Prospero profiles Research Triangle cooks and restaurants, including recipes from each kitchen. Combining biography and cookbook, it covers a region that includes Chapel Hill. Published by John F. Blair in 2009, 224 pages with illustrations.
Call number 641.509 PROSPERO View in OCPL catalog → -
American Express Presents Top Chefs of the Triangle
1996
Cookbook drawn from restaurants across the Triangle, with recipes and portraits of the chefs, published by Raleigh Magazine in 1996 as a first edition of 157 pages with color illustrations. Topics include cooking in Chapel Hill, Durham and Raleigh, so the Orange County share of the book is the Chapel Hill kitchens represented among the contributors.
Call number NC 641.597 AMERICAN View in OCPL catalog → -
Authentic Southern Recipes From The Colonial Inn: Including Notes on Historical Hillsborough, North Carolina and Photographs of Famous Hillsborough Landmarks
1972 Foundational
A cookbook from the Colonial Inn in Hillsborough, published by the inn in 1972. Beyond its Southern recipes, the full title promises notes on historic Hillsborough and photographs of the town's landmarks. 96 pages with illustrations.
Call number NC 641.597 AUT View in OCPL catalog → -
Exploring the Country Inns of North Carolina
Corey, Faris Jane · 1976
A small guide by Faris Jane Corey to country inns around North Carolina, with drawings by Philip Moose and Kate Russell Forbes. Published in Chapel Hill by Provincial Press in 1976, 54 pages; a later edition followed in 1987.
Call number NC 647.947 COREY View in OCPL catalog →
Research help, online and in the room
