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Orange County Indexed

Local history at OCPL

The Rebecca B. Wall Local History Collection and the Orange County books at the Main Library in Hillsborough: a plan of the room, and both collections searchable shelf by shelf.

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.

357Orange County works at OCPL 1,287titles in the Wall Collection 5shelves in the local history room 1library card opens NC LIVE

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.

The collection at OCPL →
Plan of the Local History Room at the Main Library, after the library’s diagram Rebecca B. Wall Local History Collection entrance E D I: Framed print: the Nash and Kollock School I H: Framed print: Hillsborough, County Down H G: Framed print: the 1892 county map G F: Framed print: the courthouse F J: Framed print: Hillsborough Military Academy J K: Framed print: the 1768 town plan K E-2: Reference bookshelf, E-2 E-2 E-1: North Carolina history bookshelf, E-1 E-1 D-2: Genealogy bookshelf, D-2 D-2 D-1: Genealogy bookshelf, D-1 D-1 D-3: Genealogy bookshelf, D-3 D-3 L: Black file cabinet L M: Assorted maps M N: Elizabeth Keckly display N O: Elizabeth Keckly display, continued O C: Research computer with microfilm reader and scanner C B: Gray file cabinet B A: Locked cabinet A
After the library’s own diagram of the space. Bookshelves in dark blue, cabinets in gray, framed prints in orange, the maps and the Keckly display in a lighter blue.
  1. 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.

  2. 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.

  3. Research computer with microfilm reader and scanner

    Read and scan the microfilm here, and search Ancestry and other research sites.

  4. 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 →
  5. 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 →
  6. Genealogy bookshelf, D-3

    More about Rebecca Wall.

    Browse this shelf →
  7. 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 →
  8. Reference bookshelf, E-2

    Traditional general reference books, still valuable as comprehensive, authoritative sources.

    Browse this shelf →
  9. 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.

  10. Framed print: the 1892 county map

    George W. Tate’s 1892 map of Orange County.

  11. Framed print: Hillsborough, County Down

    Views of the Irish town the county seat is named for.

  12. 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.

  13. 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.

  14. Framed print: the 1768 town plan

    C. J. Sauthier’s 1768 map of the town of Hillsborough.

  15. 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.

  16. Assorted maps

    Maps of the county and the town.

  17. 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.

  18. 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.

Filter all 357 in the search →

Orange County 975.656: 10 works as they shelve at OCPL, in call-number order. All 357, with filters by place, theme, and material, in the search →

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.

Search it alongside the indexed works →

United States history 973: 23 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.

  • The Cherokee Indians and Those Who Came After: Notes for A History of the People Who Settled Western North Carolina Browder, Nathaniel C. · 1980

    Nathaniel C. Browder's notes toward a history of the Cherokee and the settlers who followed them into far western North Carolina, centered on Cherokee County, with census material, Cherokee genealogy and the Trail of Tears removal of 1838 and 1839. First issued at Hayesville in 1973 as a draft history of Cherokee County from 1835 to 1860, it was later reissued under its present subtitle; this 1980 printing has 414 pages and an index.

    Call number NC 970 BRO View in OCPL catalog →
  • Chatham County, N.C., Miscellaneous Land Records Dunaway, Stewart E. · 2017

    Stewart Dunaway's photographic edition of Chatham County's miscellaneous land papers, the loose documents kept in two boxes at the State Archives in Raleigh. Each item appears as an image with a short transcript, ejectment suits are among the court papers, and indexes are included. Volume 1 spans 1778 to 1938 and volume 2 1788 to 1938. Chatham was formed from Orange County in 1771 and lies directly south of it. Self-published in 2017.

    Call number NC 971.19 DUNAWAY View in OCPL catalog →
  • Chatham County, N.C., Miscellaneous Land Records Dunaway, Stewart E. · 2017

    Two volumes of images of Chatham County land papers, 1778 to 1938, which Stewart Dunaway photographed from the miscellaneous land files of the State Archives and paired with brief transcripts and indexes. Ejectments and other court matters over land appear among them. Chatham County was created from Orange in 1771 and borders it on the south. Issued by the compiler in February 2017.

    Call number NC 971.19 DUNAWAY View in OCPL catalog →
  • Randolph County, N.C., Ejectments Dunaway, Stewart E. · 2009

    Ejectments, the suits brought to recover possession of land, fill this first volume of Stewart Dunaway's Randolph County series, covering 1792 to 1844. It reproduces as photographs, each with a short transcript, the oldest of the three boxes of Randolph ejectment papers in the State Archives, and indexes follow. Issued by the compiler beginning in 2017.

    Call number NC 971.76 DUNAWAY View in OCPL catalog →
  • Randolph County, N.C., Miscellaneous Land Records (1782-1929) Dunaway, Stewart E. · 2015

    Photographs of one box of loose Randolph County land papers in the State Archives, 1782 to 1929, each with a short transcript, compiled by Stewart Dunaway with an index. The box holds processioning returns, boundary disputes, divisions of land among heirs and many survey plats, among them a plat of the Johnstonville town lots showing names and a plat and report for enlarging the prison. Issued by the compiler in 2017; 436 pages.

    Call number NC 971.76 DUNAWAY View in OCPL catalog →
  • Indian Wars in North Carolina, 1663-1763 Lee, Enoch Lawrence · 1963

    A century of warfare between colonists and the Indian nations of North Carolina, traced by E. Lawrence Lee from early conflicts after 1663 through the Tuscarora War and the Barnwell and Moore expeditions, the Yamassee and Cheraw wars, the decline of the coastal peoples, the Catawbas of the Piedmont, and the French and Indian War and Cherokee War in the west. Published by the Carolina Charter Tercentenary Commission in 1963, 94 pages with maps.

    Call number 973.049 LEE View in OCPL catalog →
  • Indian Wars in North Carolina, 1663-1763 Lee, Enoch Lawrence · 2011 Foundational

    E. Lawrence Lee's account of a century of fighting between colonists and Indian nations in North Carolina: early clashes to 1711, the Tuscarora War and the Barnwell and Moore expeditions, the Yamassee and Cheraw wars, the Catawbas of the Piedmont, the Cherokees of the mountains, and the French and Indian and Cherokee wars. First published in 1963 for the Carolina Charter Tercentenary Commission; this 2011 reprint has 105 pages with maps.

    Call number NC 973.049 LEE View in OCPL catalog →
  • Native Carolinians: The Indians of North Carolina Perdue, Theda · 2010 Start here

    A short history of North Carolina's Native peoples by Theda Perdue, first published by the state's Division of Archives and History in 1985 and revised with Christopher Arris Oakley in 2010. The 1985 text moved from Native life before European contact and relations with whites to the Cherokee, the Lumbee and Native Carolinians of the present; the revision has 101 pages with maps, portraits and an index.

    Call number NC 973.049 PERDUE View in OCPL catalog →
  • Set Fair for Roanoke: Voyages and Colonies, 1584-1606 Quinn, David B. · 1985

    David Beers Quinn's account of the voyages Sir Walter Raleigh sent to the Carolina coast from 1584 and of the Roanoke colonies they planted, summing up close to fifty years of his research. Quinn argues that many of the lost colonists lived on among the Indians until they were killed in the early 1600s. Published in 1985 by UNC Press for North Carolina's committee marking America's four hundredth anniversary; 467 pages with illustrations and maps.

    Call number NC 973.1 QUI View in OCPL catalog →
  • The First Colonists: Documents on the Planting of the First English Settlements in North America, 1584-1590 1982

    Contemporary accounts of the Roanoke voyages and colonies of 1584 to 1590, England's first attempts at settlement in North America, edited by the Irish historian David B. Quinn and Alison M. Quinn, who supply an introduction. This 1982 Division of Archives and History edition revises their 1973 'Virginia Voyages from Hakluyt' and has indexes and a folded plate.

    Call number NC 973.17 QUI View in OCPL catalog →
  • Frustrated Patriots: North Carolina and the War of 1812 Lemmon, Sarah McCulloh · 1973

    Sarah McCulloh Lemmon's history of North Carolina in the War of 1812, including the British raid on Ocracoke and Portsmouth in July 1813. Published by the University of North Carolina Press in 1973; 223 pages with maps, a bibliography and an index. Lemmon, who took her doctorate at Chapel Hill, taught history at Meredith College in Raleigh for some thirty-five years.

    Call number NC 973.524 LEM View in OCPL catalog →
  • North Carolina and the War of 1812 Lemmon, Sarah McCulloh · 1971

    In 1971 the State Department of Archives and History published Sarah McCulloh Lemmon's short account of the state's part in the War of 1812: 54 pages with illustrations, a map and portraits. It includes the General Calvin Jones Grand March, a piano piece by J. F. Gonecke, and the first edition came with a small phonograph record. Lemmon also wrote a fuller study, 'Frustrated Patriots' (1973). The pamphlet was reissued in 2000.

    Call number NC 973.524 LEM View in OCPL catalog →

Research help, online and in the room

More ways to continue your research

Through the library Use OCPL Resources Newspapers, maps, genealogy tools, and reference works that OCPL offers, many through NC LIVE, North Carolina’s statewide library service. Some are free to anyone; others need an OCPL card. Find library resources for local history → Help from a person Get research help Local History Help Hours at the Main Library, or the Local History Liaison for a difficult trail. Find Local History Help Hours → In the room, outside the catalog Microfilm, records and maps Local newspapers and census returns on microfilm, county court records, tax lists and soldier records back to the 1700s, family histories donated by patrons, and the research computer. The collection at OCPL →
Two mice reading back to back against a leaf, with the hand-lettered words Friends of the Orange County Public Library
Illustration by Caldecott Medalist Matthew Cordell, gifted to the Friends 2026