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.
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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.
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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.
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Research computer with microfilm reader and scanner
Read and scan the microfilm here, and search Ancestry and other research sites.
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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.
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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.
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Genealogy bookshelf, D-3
More about Rebecca Wall.
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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.
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Reference bookshelf, E-2
Traditional general reference books, still valuable as comprehensive, authoritative sources.
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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.
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Framed print: the 1892 county map
George W. Tate’s 1892 map of Orange County.
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Framed print: Hillsborough, County Down
Views of the Irish town the county seat is named for.
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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.
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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.
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Framed print: the 1768 town plan
C. J. Sauthier’s 1768 map of the town of Hillsborough.
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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.
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Assorted maps
Maps of the county and the town.
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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.
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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.
Local History Collection NC: 226 works as they shelve at OCPL, in call-number order. Shelved in the Rebecca B. Wall Local History Collection, browsed shelf by shelf below. All 357, with filters by place, theme, and material, in the search →
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News of Orange County
1893 · Newspapers
The News of Orange County, the Hillsborough newspaper formerly known as the Hillsborough Recorder, with issues from 1893 to 1964 on optical disc. Part of the Rebecca B. Wall Local History Collection.
Call number NC 071.56 NEWSHillsboroughNews, Journalism & Broadcasting View in OCPL catalog → -
Fall Tour Of Historic Churches And Sites
North Carolina Presbyterian Historical Society · 1983
A tour booklet from the North Carolina Presbyterian Historical Society's fall tour of 1983, covering historic churches and sites in Hillsborough. Church buildings in Hillsborough are its subject, so church architecture and local history are its ground.
Call number NC 275.6 NORTHHillsboroughBuildings & PreservationChurches & Faith View in OCPL catalog → -
A Historical Sketch of New Hope Church, in Orange County, N.C
Craig, D. I. · 1891 · Genealogy
Rev. D. I. Craig's history of New Hope Church, a Presbyterian congregation in Chapel Hill Township, Orange County, printed at Reidsville in 1891. A closing family history section covers the Strayhorn, Craig, Blackwood and Kirkland families.
Call number NC 285 CRAIGNorth Carolina (statewide)Churches & FaithFamilies, Land & Genealogy View in OCPL catalog → -
History of Eno Presbyterian Church, Cedar Grove, N. C
Ellis, A. A. · 1955 · Histories
A. A. Ellis's short history of Eno Presbyterian Church at Cedar Grove in northern Orange County, published by the church in 1955, 22 pages with illustrations and portraits. Subjects include the religious aspects of the Civil War among Presbyterians, along with Presbyterian and church history for Orange County.
Call number NC 285 ELLCedar GroveCedar Grove and rural northern OrangeChurches & Faith View in OCPL catalog → -
History of Eno Presbyterian Church, Cedar Grove, North Carolina
Ellis, A. A. · 1980 · Histories
A 1980 edition, issued by the church, of A. A. Ellis's history of Eno Presbyterian Church at Cedar Grove, Orange County. Twenty unnumbered pages with illustrations and portraits. Ellis's original history of the congregation appeared in 1955.
Call number NC 285 ELLCedar GroveCedar Grove and rural northern OrangeChurches & Faith View in OCPL catalog → -
Journey to New Hope
Murphy, Barbara A. · 2006 · Histories
A congregational history of New Hope Presbyterian Church in Orange County, written by Barbara A. Murphy and published in 2006 by Chapel Hill Press. Chapters take up the five successive church buildings, the land itself, the ministers who served, the cemeteries, members who went to war, the church's organization, its music, gifts and memorials, and its outreach to the surrounding community. It also covers Presbyterian experience of the Civil War. 126 pages with illustrations and portraits.
Call number NC 285 MURPHYNorth Carolina (statewide)Churches & FaithWars & Military Service View in OCPL catalog → -
Little River Presbyterian Church History
1986 · Genealogy
A history of Little River Presbyterian Church in Orange County, compiled in 1986. Topics include the church's history, Orange County church history and Orange County genealogy, along with the Presbyterian Church in North Carolina. A source for family historians with Presbyterian ancestors in the county.
Call number NC 285.175 LITTLENorth Carolina (statewide)Churches & FaithFamilies, Land & Genealogy View in OCPL catalog → -
Church in the Old Fields: Hawfields Presbyterian Church and Community in North Carolina
Turner, Herbert Snipes · 1962 · Biography
Herbert Snipes Turner's history of Hawfields Presbyterian Church and its community from 1738 to 1960. Hawfields lies in what is now Alamance County, land that was part of Orange County until 1849, and the book gives a place to Henry Pattillo, the congregation's eighteenth-century minister. Published by the University of North Carolina Press in 1962, 297 pages with illustrations.
Call number NC 285.175 TURAlamance County (neighboring)Churches & FaithColonial Orange County View in OCPL catalog → -
Mount Adar Baptist Church, 1889-1989
1989 · Histories
The centennial history of Mount Adar Baptist Church at Cedar Grove in northern Orange County, marking 1889 to 1989 under the motto a century of remembrance, a future of vision. Prepared by a centennial committee co-chaired by Nancy Rogers and Jackie Oakley and published by the church in 1989, 36 unnumbered pages with illustrations. Topics include Baptists in North Carolina and church history for Cedar Grove.
Call number NC 286.06 MOUCedar GroveCedar Grove and rural northern OrangeChurches & Faith View in OCPL catalog → -
Facing Tomorrow, Understanding Yesterday
1992 · Histories
A history of Orange United Methodist Church in Chapel Hill since 1832, prepared by the congregation's History Committee and edited by Margaret A. Blanchard with Julia Blackwood, Mildred Stout, Wiley Williams, Kay Creech, Andrea Stark and Shirley Mallard. Published by Taylor Publishing of Dallas in 1992, 161 pages with illustrations, some in color, a facsimile, maps and portraits.
Call number NC 287 BLAChapel HillChurches & Faith View in OCPL catalog → -
Hillsborough Methodist Church, 1807-1961
Lloyd, Pauline O.; Lloyd, Allen A. · 1961
Pauline O. Lloyd and Allen A. Lloyd's history of Hillsborough Methodist Church from its founding in 1807 to 1961, published in Hillsborough that year, apparently by the church. 35 pages with illustrations, portraits and a short bibliography. Part of the library's Wall Local History Collection.
Call number NC 287 HILHillsboroughChurches & Faith View in OCPL catalog → -
Early Quakers in the Eno River Valley
Engstrom, Mary Claire · 1989 · Histories
Mary Claire Engstrom's history of the Quaker settlers of the Eno River valley from about 1750 to 1847, in the country that is now Orange and Durham counties. Published by the Association for the Preservation of the Eno River Valley in Durham in 1989, 73 pages with illustrations, maps and portraits.
Call number NC 289.6 ENGDurham County (neighboring)Churches & FaithHow Orange County’s boundaries changed, 1771–1881 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.
Research help, online and in the room
