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.
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.
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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.
Browse this shelf → -
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.
No call number on record: 29 works as they shelve at OCPL, in call-number order. All 357, with filters by place, theme, and material, in the search →
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Libba: The Magnificent Musical Life of Elizabeth Cotten
Veirs, Laura · 2018 · Juvenile literature
Laura Veirs's picture book biography of Elizabeth Cotten, the folk singer and guitarist who grew up near Carrboro and Chapel Hill and wrote Freight Train as a girl. Written for young readers, it was published by Chronicle Books in 2018. Topics include African American women singers and singers of the United States in juvenile literature.
Call number JBIO COTTEN VEICarrboroArts, Music & PerformanceBlack Life & Civil Rights View in OCPL catalog → -
Tony Jenzano, Astronaut Trainer: The Man Who Made the Stars Shine
Neece, Michael G. · 2020 · Juvenile literature
A picture book for children about Tony Jenzano, 1919 to 1997, the Morehead Planetarium director who trained the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo astronauts in celestial navigation at Chapel Hill. Michael G. Neece's account, published in Chapel Hill in 2020, covers astronaut training, the teaching of astronomy and the planetarium itself for young readers.
Call number JBIO JENZANO NEEChapel HillLiterature & PublishingUNC & Campus Life View in OCPL catalog → -
Stitch by Stitch
Schofield-Morrison, Connie · 2021
Connie Schofield-Morrison's 2021 account of Elizabeth Keckley, who was born into slavery, learned to sew, purchased her freedom and became dressmaker to Mary Todd Lincoln. The Orange County tie is her years of enslavement in Hillsborough as a young woman.
Call number JBIO KECKLEY SCHHillsboroughBlack Life & Civil RightsThe Burwell School and the Burwell household View in OCPL catalog → -
Chapel Hill magazine.
2006 · Periodicals
Chapel Hill Magazine began publication in the town in 2006, a general interest periodical covering community life and social life and customs in Chapel Hill along with Carrboro and Orange County. Issued in volumes with illustrations at 28 cm, it carries the county's recent decades in magazine form for local readers.
Call number PER CHAPELCarrboroEveryday Life & Traditions View in OCPL catalog → -
Bill Neal's Southern Cooking
Neal, Bill · 1985
Bill Neal's cookbook of Southern dishes, published by UNC Press in 1985. Neal was a Chapel Hill chef, and the book sets out his approach to the region's cooking. 233 pages, also issued as an electronic book.
Food, Drink & Local Culture View in OCPL catalog → -
Bloodmarked
Deonn, Tracy · 2022 · Fiction
Tracy Deonn's young adult fantasy novel set around the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Bree, an African American teenager with newly awakened powers she cannot yet control, learns that the leaders of the secret Order mean to hide the coming demon war, and she and her friends flee so that she can find her own training. Subjects include magic, secret societies, imaginary wars and psychic trauma. Published by Simon & Schuster in 2022, 561 pages.
Chapel HillBlack Life & Civil RightsUNC & Campus Life View in OCPL catalog → -
Bright and tender dark: a novel
Pearson, Joanna · 2024 · Fiction
Joanna Pearson's novel of a cold case at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Karlie Richards was a nineteen-year-old student when she was murdered; decades later her onetime roommate, divorced and in middle age, finds herself drawn back to the crime as online conspiracy theories about it multiply. A psychological thriller with a Chapel Hill setting, published by Bloomsbury in 2024, 275 pages.
Chapel HillLaw, Courts & JusticeSchools & Education View in OCPL catalog → -
Crabs and Oysters: A Savor the South Cookbook
Smith, Bill · 2015
Bill Smith's short cookbook on crabs and oysters, one of the Savor the South series of single-subject volumes from the University of North Carolina Press. Smith was the chef at Crook's Corner in Chapel Hill. An electronic edition appeared in 2015.
Food, Drink & Local Culture View in OCPL catalog → -
The Dynamic Decade
Godschalk, David R. ; Howes, Jonathan B. · 2012
David R. Godschalk and Jonathan B. Howes describe the ten-year building program that reshaped the UNC campus in Chapel Hill, when some six million square feet in new buildings went up and a million more of historic buildings were restored. Chapters treat the campus master plan, siting and design decisions, the historic north campus, the southeast and health-sciences precincts and the planned Carolina North research campus, with contributions by chancellors James Moeser and Holden Thorp. Published by UNC Press in 2012, 175 pages.
Chapel HillBuildings & PreservationGrowth, Land & Planning View in OCPL catalog → -
Hark the Sound of Tar Heel Voices
Barefoot, Daniel W. · 2008 · Histories
Daniel W. Barefoot arranges first-hand recollections of the University of North Carolina by decade, from the 'infant university' of the 1790s through the Civil War years when promise turned to despair, the rebuilding of the 1870s, the 'frosh' life of the 1880s, wartime fame in the 1940s, the controversies of the 1960s and the bicentennial of the 1990s. Thomas Wolfe's student years appear among the voices. Published by John F. Blair of Winston-Salem in 2008, 257 pages.
Libraries, Archives & Public MemoryLiterature & Publishing View in OCPL catalog → -
Hillsborough Recorder
Newspapers
The Hillsborough Recorder was the town's long running weekly newspaper, begun in 1820 by the printer Dennis Heartt, whose shop also produced many of the Hillsborough imprints of that period.
The Hillsborough Recorder begins publication, 1820 View in OCPL catalog → -
Just Listen
Dessen, Sarah · 2006 · Fiction
Sarah Dessen's young adult novel about Annabel, a sixteen-year-old whose friends have turned away from her after a party, and Owen, a classmate whose love of music helps her tell the truth about what happened. Topics include high schools, family problems, models and teenage girls. Published by Viking in 2006, 371 pages. Dessen lives in Chapel Hill.
Families, Land & GenealogyLiterature & Publishing 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.
North Carolina history bookshelf, E-1: 815 titles as they stand on the shelf at OCPL, in call-number order. 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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Selective Service in North Carolina in World War II
King, Spencer Bidwell · 1949
The wartime draft in North Carolina is the subject of Spencer Bidwell King's official history, which recounts how the state carried out the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940 and its amendments through World War II. Published by the University of North Carolina Press in 1949, 451 pages with illustrations, portraits, maps and a bibliography.
Call number NC 151.52 KIN View in OCPL catalog → -
Thirty Sermons by Thirty North Carolina Preachers
1893
Levi Branson, the Raleigh publisher, edited this third volume of his North Carolina Sermons series in 1893, gathering one sermon apiece from thirty contributors; 314 pages. Most were ministers of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, or of the state's local ministers' conference, but Presbyterian, Baptist, Methodist Protestant, Christian Church and A.M.E. preachers appear as well, among them F. L. Reid of Greensboro Female College, Solomon Pool and Branson himself.
Call number NC 252 THI View in OCPL catalog → -
Religion and the American Revolution in North Carolina
Calhoon, Robert M. · 1976
Number 11 in the North Carolina Bicentennial Pamphlet Series, Robert M. Calhoon's study of religion in North Carolina during the American Revolution rests on period sources and ends with a bibliography. The state Division of Archives and History published it in Raleigh in 1976; 81 pages with illustrations.
Call number NC 261.7 CAL View in OCPL catalog → -
Collections of the Protestant Episcopal Historical Society for the Year 1851
Protestant Episcopal Historical Society · 1851
The first volume of the Protestant Episcopal Historical Society's collections, printed in New York in 1851, gathers documents on the Anglican church in early America. It opens with a reprint of George Keith's 1706 journal of missionary travels from New Hampshire to Caratuck (Currituck), with letters by Keith and his associate Talbot. Other papers include Henderson Walker's 1703 letter to the Bishop of London and an account of Blair's 1703 mission to North Carolina.
Call number NC 262 COL View in OCPL catalog → -
A History of Orange Presbytery, 1770-1970
Stone, Robert Hamlin · 1970
Orange Presbytery, the regional body of Presbyterian churches organized in 1770, is the subject of Robert Hamlin Stone's bicentennial history. The synod named it Orange because two of its first six ministers lived in Orange County, and at the start it took in every congregation in both Carolinas. The presbytery published the book at Greensboro in 1970, 430 pages with maps, facsimiles, portraits and a bibliography.
Call number NC 262.4 STO 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 NORTH View in OCPL catalog → -
The Colonial Clergy of Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina
Weis, Frederick Lewis · 1976
Frederick Lewis Weis's reference work on the ministers who served in colonial Virginia and the two Carolinas, one of several regional volumes he compiled on the colonial clergy, with others on the Middle Colonies and on Maryland, Delaware and Georgia. It first appeared in 1955 as the seventh publication of a Boston society of descendants of the colonial clergy. Reprinted in Baltimore in 1976, 100 pages.
Call number NC 280.409 WEI View in OCPL catalog → -
Centennial Ceremonies Held in Christ Church Parish, Raleigh, North Carolina, A. D. 1921: Including Historical Addresses
Raleigh (N.C.) · 1922
Christ Church in Raleigh, the Episcopal parish organized in August 1821, marked its centennial with services and a reception from October 9 to 12, 1921, and the vestry had the proceedings printed the next year. The 55 pages include Bishop Joseph Blount Cheshire's address on the early rectors, a parish history by Marshall De Lancey Haywood, recollections by Samuel A. Ashe, three poems, and portraits of past rectors.
Call number NC 283.756 RAL View in OCPL catalog → -
Ambivalent Churchmen and Evangelical Churchwomen: The Religion of the Episcopal Elite in North Carolina, 1800-1860
Rankin, Richard · 1993
Religious life among North Carolina's Episcopal elite from 1800 to 1860, studied by Richard Rankin, who contrasts the men's ambivalence toward the church with the evangelical devotion of the women and follows the Diocese of North Carolina through the period. Published by the University of South Carolina Press in 1993; xv and 203 pages with illustrations, notes and an index.
Call number NC 283.756 RAN View in OCPL catalog → -
The Moravians in North Carolina: An Authentic History
Reichel, Levin Theodore · 1968
First published at Salem in 1857, Levin T. Reichel's history of the Moravian settlements of Wachovia runs from the land purchase and first settlement at Bethabara in 1753 through Bethania, Salem, Friedberg, Friedland and Hope, the Revolution, Salem Female Academy, the church's Indian mission of 1801, its mission to African Americans from 1822, and the congregations to 1856. Lists of ministers and first settlers close the book. Reprinted in 1968, 206 pages.
Call number NC 284 REI View in OCPL catalog → -
History of the German Settlements and of the Lutheran Church in North and South Carolina, From the Earliest Period of the Colonization of the Dutch, German, and Swiss Settlers to the Close of the First Half of the Present Century
Bernheim, G. D. · 1975
The German-speaking settlers of the Carolinas and their Lutheran churches, in a history by G. D. Bernheim, then pastor of St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Wilmington. The first half follows the Dutch, German and Swiss colonists through the Revolution; the rest traces the Lutheran Church in both states to 1850. First published in Philadelphia by the Lutheran Book Store in 1872; this is the Regional Publishing Company reprint of 1975, running to page 557.
Call number NC 284.1 BER View in OCPL catalog → -
History of the German Settlements and of the Lutheran Church in North and South Carolina, From the Earliest Period of the Colonization of the Dutch, German, and Swiss Settlers to the Close of the First Half of the Present Century
Bernheim, G. D. · 1872
Gotthardt Dellmann Bernheim, pastor of St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Wilmington, traces the Dutch, German and Swiss settlers of the Carolinas and their Lutheran churches to about 1850. Chapters cover the Palatines and Swiss at New Bern in 1710, the colonies at Purrysburg, Orangeburg and Saxe-Gotha in South Carolina, Pennsylvania Germans in central North Carolina from about 1750, and the Moravians at Salem. Philadelphia, 1872; 557 pages.
Call number NC 284.1 BER View in OCPL catalog →
Research help, online and in the room
