Skip to content

Local figure

Adeline Denham McCall

Adeline Denham McCall came to Chapel Hill in 1918 and graduated from the university in 1922. She was music supervisor in the Chapel Hill and Carrboro public schools for thirty years, and she was one of the founders of the North Carolina Symphony in the early 1930s and helped set up its education program.

Source: NCpedia: McCall, Adeline Denham

Also found in catalogs as Adeline McCall.

1900–1989 · Dates from the Library of Congress · On the Friends’ Local Authors roster as Adeline McCall → · Library of Congress authority record ↗

3 works about Adeline Denham McCall are indexed here, as is one work by McCall.

Adeline Denham McCall, Yackety Yack, 1922
Adeline Denham McCall, Yackety Yack, 1922

Life and Orange County connections

Dated events connected with this person, in date order. See these 5 dated events in the chronology →

  1. Lamar Stringfield gives a chamber music recital of his folk-based works in the Playmakers Theatre Lamar Stringfield played the flute and conducted the faculty chamber orchestra, with Mrs. Fred McCall at the piano and D. A. McPherson on violin, in a recital given with the Carolina Playmakers and the music department. The second half was his own compositions drawn from Black and mountain folk tunes. People: Lamar Stringfield, Adeline Denham McCall Place: Playmakers Theatre · Also named: D. A. McPherson · Also mentions: Carolina PlaymakersSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, January 30, 1931, p. 1
  2. University's new Institute of Folk Music gives its first laboratory concert Flutist Lamar Stringfield and pianist Adeline McCall played the first concert of the University's new Institute of Folk Music in Hill Music Hall, with works by three American composers. The institute called these events laboratory concerts and set the second for December 9. People: Adeline Denham McCall, Lamar Stringfield Place: Hill Music Hall, UNC, Chapel HillSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, November 20, 1931, p. 6
  3. The Folk Music Institute announces a laboratory concert with Adeline McCall at the piano The university's Institute of Folk Music announced its second laboratory concert for 4 p.m. on Wednesday, December 9, 1931, in Hill Music Hall, with Lamar Stringfield on flute, Adeline McCall on piano and Thor Johnson on viola. The program was to include a composition by Herbert Hazelman, an Asheville freshman. People: Lamar Stringfield Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: Thor Johnson, Herbert Hazelman · Also mentions: Hill Music HallSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, December 4, 1931, p. 1 (Asheville Youth's Composition)
  4. A puppet Hansel and Gretel is announced for Adeline McCall's music series for children The Music Club and the Parent-Teacher Association announced Hansel and Gretel, a puppet show with music, for 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday, December 9, 1936, in Hill Music Hall. It was to be the fifth in a series of music events for children under Adeline McCall's direction, with elementary school children singing songs from Humperdinck's opera. Place: Chapel Hill · Also mentions: Hill Music HallSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, December 4, 1936, p. 1 (Puppets, with Music)
  5. Chapel Hill Elementary pupils play carols with professional musicians at the school Christmas program At the Chapel Hill Elementary School Christmas programs on December 17, 1957, directed musically by Adeline McCall, supervisor of music in the Chapel Hill schools, children playing psalteries, violins and bells accompanied the carols with two harpists, violinist Dorothy Alden and flutist Dorothy Hickok. The programs also staged the play Alias Santa Claus. Place: Chapel Hill Elementary School · Also named: Dorothy Alden, Dorothy Hickok · Also mentions: Chapel Hill schoolsIn the index: Chapel Hill Elementary School (Chapel Hill, N.C.) · The Chapel Hill Weekly, December 20, 1957, p. 1 (Christmas program photograph)

People named in the same events

People named in the same dated entries as Adeline Denham McCall, those sharing the most entries first. Each line links one of the shared entries in the chronology, where its source is cited. A shared entry shows these people in the same event, not how well they knew each other.

Indexed works

Works about or by Adeline Denham McCall. Each links to the institution that holds or provides it. Background reading appears below.

By Adeline Denham McCall

Adeline Denham McCall photographic collection, 1908-1950s (bulk 1940s-1950s).

McCall, Adeline, 1900-1989 · 1908

Fifty one photographs gathered by the music teacher Adeline McCall (1900-1989), spanning 1908 through the 1950s with most images from the 1940s and 1950s, in the North Carolina Collection at UNC. Subjects include the Orange County Training School and the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools, school music instruction, African American children, the North Carolina Symphony, and portraits of Leonard Bernstein and A. C. Howell.

UNC

About Adeline Denham McCall

A teachers training course in creative music for children : to be given by Adeline McCall, director of music, Chapel Hill Progressive Kindergarten, during the second term of the summer session, July 22 to August 18, 1937, at Chapel Hill, North Carolina

1937

An announcement of a teachers training course in creative music for children, given by Adeline McCall, director of music at the Chapel Hill Progressive Kindergarten, during the second summer term from 22 July to 18 August 1937. McCall lived from 1900 to 1989.

Included because: Catalog heading in the UNC record: McCall, Adeline, 1900-1989.

UNC

Benjamin F. Swalin and Maxine M. Swalin papers, 1903-2006

1903

Papers of Benjamin F. Swalin (1901-1989) and Maxine M. Swalin, 1903 to 2006, roughly 7,000 items in 18.9 linear feet, part of the Southern Historical Collection at UNC, collection 4962. Subjects include the North Carolina Symphony, conductors and women musicians in the state, government aid to music, music appreciation in elementary schools, the music department at Chapel Hill, and the teacher Adeline McCall.

Included because: Catalog heading in the UNC record: McCall, Adeline, 1900-1989.

UNC

Places in this person’s story

Buildings, schools, churches and other sites named in the dated events on this page, the most often named first. The map shows the 3 with a known location.

Map tiles © OpenStreetMap contributors. Site locations from the N.C. State Historic Preservation Office survey, Open Orange, Orange County GIS, OpenStreetMap and a few other published sources named on each site’s page; town and community pins show approximate locations.

All places and the county map →

Research sources

Sources and research tools for this person. For ready-made searches of other catalogs, see Search further. Research guide: Trace a family through historical records.

Background

Records of the time

Collections and databases

  • NC LIVE: prepared search for Adeline McCall Library card Search NC LIVE for this subject and Orange County. You can change the search terms. Sign in through your North Carolina library to access the materials.
  • Ancestry Library Edition In the libraryOrange County Public Library Census, birth, death and marriage records, and more, free on the public computers at OCPL libraries

Local help

Search further

Search other catalogs and collections for this name. Results may include other people with the same name and have not been reviewed by the Friends.

Books about Adeline Denham McCall

Books by Adeline Denham McCall

Find copies at other libraries

Photographs, papers, and newspapers

Historical records and collections

Catalog searches use the Library of Congress name heading: McCall, Adeline, 1900-1989. Historical-record searches use the person’s name and may include namesakes. Links open in a new tab.

Found a book OCPL doesn’t own? You can often borrow it through interlibrary loan at OCPL.

Picture: Adeline Denham McCall, Yackety Yack, 1922. Public domain. Yackety Yack, 1922 (University of North Carolina yearbook); via the Internet Archive

More to discover

Keep Reading Local

The Friends connect people with new library materials, local writers and publishers, and resources documenting Orange County.

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