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.
Science, medicine, agriculture and technology 500 to 639, 650 to 699: 43 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.
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Exploring North Carolina's Natural Areas: Parks, Nature Preserves, and Hiking Trails
2000
Driving tours of the state's natural areas, 38 in all, written by naturalists from across the state and edited by Dirk Frankenberg, a marine sciences professor at UNC Chapel Hill. Grouped by the coast, the coastal plain, the Piedmont and the mountains, each tour follows a route of thirty to seventy miles linking parks, preserves, hiking and nature trails and scenic overlooks. UNC Press, 2000, 412 pages with 42 maps.
Call number 508.756 EXP View in OCPL catalog → -
Exploring the Geology of the Carolinas: A Field Guide to Favorite Places From Chimney Rock to Charleston
Stewart, Kevin G. · 2007
A field guide to geological sites across North and South Carolina, from Chimney Rock in the mountains to Charleston on the coast, by Kevin G. Stewart and Mary-Russell Roberson. Stops include DuPont State Forest, Whiteside Mountain and Grandfather Mountain, and the text takes up rocks, minerals, gold, fossils and plate tectonics. The University of North Carolina Press published it in 2007 with color plates, maps and an index.
Call number 557.56 STE View in OCPL catalog → -
A North Carolina Naturalist: H.H. Brimley: Selections From His Writings
Brimley, Herbert Hutchinson · 1971
Selected writings of Herbert Hutchinson Brimley, the English-born, self-taught naturalist who studied North Carolina's wildlife for more than sixty years, in the field and as longtime head of the state's natural history museum in Raleigh. Eugene P. Odum edited the collection, which the University of North Carolina Press first published in 1949, three years after Brimley's death; Books for Libraries Press reprinted it in 1971, 205 pages with photographs and portraits.
Call number fNC 574.975 BRI View in OCPL catalog → -
Putting Down Roots: Foundations of Botany at Carolina : With A Concluding Chapter on the History of the Department of Botany
Burk, William R. · 2023
William R. Burk's history of botany at the University of North Carolina, from its early natural scientists such as Denison Olmsted and Elisha Mitchell through later figures including George Francis Atkinson, Joseph Austin Holmes and Henry Van Peters Wilson, closing with a chapter on the Department of Botany itself. Published in Fort Worth in 2023.
Call number NC 580.9 BURK View in OCPL catalog → -
Essays on William Chambers Coker, Passionate Botanist
Joslin, Mary Coker · 2003
Mary Coker Joslin's essays on her uncle, William Chambers Coker (1872 to 1953), the University of North Carolina botanist who began the Coker Arboretum in Chapel Hill in 1903 and chaired the botany department for 36 years. She presents him as scientist, teacher, landscape designer and editor. Published in Chapel Hill by the Botanical Garden Foundation in 2003, the arboretum's centennial year, with drawings by Sandra Brooks-Mathers and eight pages of plates.
Call number NC 580.92 JOS View in OCPL catalog → -
Chapel Hill and Elisha Mitchell, the Botanist
McVaugh, Rogers · 1996
Elisha Mitchell, the University of North Carolina professor for whom Mount Mitchell is named, as botanist and as observer of early Chapel Hill, in a study by Rogers McVaugh, Michael R. McVaugh and Mary Ayers. It covers Mitchell's botanical knowledge, the plants of Chapel Hill and the town's historical geography. Published by the Botanical Garden Foundation in Chapel Hill in 1996, 122 pages with illustrations and maps.
Call number NC 580.92 MCV View in OCPL catalog → -
Botany: Containing A Catalogue of the Plants of the State, With Descriptions and History of the Trees, Shrubs, and Woody Vines
Curtis, M. A. · 1860
Moses Ashley Curtis's botanical report for the state, issued in 1860 as Part III of North Carolina's Geological and Natural History Survey. It catalogues the plants of North Carolina and describes its trees, shrubs and woody vines; 123 pages with an index. Curtis, an Episcopal priest and botanist, was rector at Hillsborough and died there in 1872. A longer edition followed in 1867, and the state reprinted the shrub and vine accounts in 1945.
Call number NC 581.078 CUR View in OCPL catalog → -
Stock-poisoning Plants of North Carolina
Hardin, James W. · 1966
Issued in 1966 as Bulletin 414 of the Agricultural Experiment Station at North Carolina State University, James W. Hardin's guide covers the plants of the state that poison livestock. It runs to 126 pages with illustrations, maps, references and an index.
Call number NC 581.6 HAR View in OCPL catalog → -
Herbs and Herb Lore of Colonial America
Colonial Dames of America · 1995
The Connecticut society of the Colonial Dames of America describes more than fifty herbs and plants that colonial New Englanders used as medicines, dyes, disinfectants and seasonings, from bee balm and feverfew to tansy and yarrow. Each plant has a drawing from an early herbal, its common and botanical names, and an account of its household uses and lore. First published at Wethersfield in 1970 as 'Simples, Superstitions & Solace'; reprinted by Dover in 1995.
Call number NC 581.63 COLONIAL View in OCPL catalog → -
Lindy's Identification Keys for Native Plants Growing in the North Carolina Triangle
Lindholm, Roy C. · 2002
Illustrated keys for identifying the native plants of the Triangle region around Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill, compiled by Roy C. Lindholm and published by him in Chapel Hill in 2002, with a short bibliography and indexes.
Call number NC 581.975 LINDHOLM View in OCPL catalog → -
Atlas of the Vascular Flora of the Carolinas
Radford, Albert E. · 1965
Maps showing where the vascular plants of North and South Carolina grow, compiled by Albert E. Radford of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with Harry E. Ahles and C. Ritchie Bell, three years before their Manual of the Vascular Flora of the Carolinas (1968). Issued in Raleigh in 1965 as Technical Bulletin 165 of the North Carolina Agricultural Experiment Station, 208 pages, chiefly maps, with an index.
Call number NC 581.975 RAD View in OCPL catalog → -
Manual of the Vascular Flora of the Carolinas
Radford, Albert E. · 1968
The standard manual for identifying the vascular plants of North and South Carolina, from ferns to conifers and flowering plants, by Albert E. Radford of the University of North Carolina with Harry E. Ahles and C. Ritchie Bell. The University of North Carolina Press published it in 1968: 1,183 pages with illustrations and a bibliography.
Call number NC 581.975 RAD View in OCPL catalog →
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