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Storyline · 1911–1989

Foister’s camera shop on Franklin Street, 1911–1989

Robert W. Foister began selling cameras on Franklin Street in 1911 from a section of E. A. Brown's store. After a 1925 fire he moved across the street, and from 1926 Bayard Wootten made portraits in a studio over his store. Foister's Camera Store had closed by April 1989, one of the closings a downtown merchant blamed on falling foot traffic.

1911–1989 Filed under Business, Shops & Commerce 4 dated events

In 1911 Robert W. Foister began selling cameras from a section of E. A. Brown's store on Franklin Street; the shop moved several times in later years. In 1925 fire destroyed the building that housed Foister's Camera Shop, and Foister moved across Franklin Street, with a photo laboratory upstairs and a student supply and soda shop below; a new building on the burned site later held the University Cafeteria. In August 1926 Bayard Wootten arranged with Foister to use the upper floor of his store as a studio, making portraits there every Saturday and taking photographs in homes and outdoors, and by 1928 the Wootten-Moulton Studio over Foister's was her Chapel Hill base. Foister's Camera Store on Franklin Street had closed by late April 1989, when a downtown merchant named it with Logos Bookstore as closings caused by falling foot traffic as the Rosemary Square parking project collapsed.

Towns
Chapel Hill
Sites
2
People with pages
1

The events, date by date

Every statement above comes from these dated entries in the chronology. Each links to its source.

  1. Robert W. Foister opens his first camera shop Foister began selling cameras from a section of E. A. Brown's store. The shop moved several times in later years. Place: Brown's store, Franklin Street, Chapel Hill · Also named: Robert W. Foister, E. A. BrownSearch the index · Bernard Lee Bryant Jr., Occupants and Structures of Franklin Street, Chapel Hill (1998; Chapel Hill Historical Society, 1999), scan p. 197
  2. Fire destroys the building that housed Foister's Camera Shop The building burned, and Robert W. Foister moved across Franklin Street, with a photo laboratory upstairs and a student supply and soda shop below. A new building on the site later held the University Cafeteria. Place: Foister's Camera Shop, East Franklin Street, Chapel Hill · Also named: Robert W. Foister · Also mentions: Franklin StreetSearch the index · Bernard Lee Bryant Jr., Occupants and Structures of Franklin Street, Chapel Hill (1998; Chapel Hill Historical Society, 1999), scan p. 231 · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, April 9, 1925, p. 1
  3. Bayard Wootten opens a Chapel Hill studio over Foister's store Bayard Wootten arranged with R. W. Foister to use the upper floor of his store as a studio, making portraits there every Saturday and taking photographs in homes and outdoors. By 1928 the Wootten-Moulton Studio over Foister's was her Chapel Hill base. People: Bayard Wootten Place: Foister's store, Chapel Hill · Also named: R. W. FoisterSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, August 6, 1926, p. 1
  4. Foister's Camera Store closes on Franklin Street Foister's Camera Store on Franklin Street had closed by late April 1989; a downtown merchant named it with Logos Bookstore as closings caused by falling foot traffic as the Rosemary Square parking project collapsed. Place: Franklin Street, Chapel HillSearch the index · The Daily Tar Heel, April 26, 1989, p. 5

Places in this storyline

Buildings, schools, churches and other sites named in the dated events on this page, the most often named first. The map shows them all.

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.

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People in this storyline

People with a page of their own whom the dated events above name, those named most often first.

Further reading

No indexed work is about this storyline itself yet. These are the most widely held histories of the theme it is filed under, so they may not discuss it. Follow a link to find a copy or view the material.

Background on Business, Shops & Commerce · the most widely held histories of the theme this storyline is filed under; they may not discuss it

The Research Triangle: From Tobacco Road to Global Prominence

Rohe, William M. · 2011 · University of Pennsylvania Press

William M. Rohe's history of Research Triangle Park and the region around it, published by the University of Pennsylvania Press in 2011. Topics include regional planning and the economic and social conditions of the Research Triangle Park region, one corner of which is Chapel Hill and the university. 298 pages with illustrations and maps.

The Black family in slavery and freedom, 1750-1925

Gutman, Herbert G. (Herbert George), 1928-1985 · 1976 · Pantheon Books

Herbert G. Gutman's 1976 history of African American families from 1750 to 1925, published by Pantheon Books in New York, 664 pages with 38 leaves of plates. Its Orange County connection is the Bennehan and Cameron family plantations, Stagville and Fairntosh: the book discusses the people enslaved by Richard Bennehan (1743-1825) and the Camerons, and follows family ties among them under slavery and after emancipation. Subjects include African American families and enslaved persons in Orange County.

Reviewed in The Journal of Southern History (1977), The William and Mary Quarterly (1977), The American Historical Review (1977), Journal of American History (1977), The History Teacher (1977), Political Science Quarterly (1977), Journal of Black Psychology (1978), Journal of Social History (1978), Civil War history (1978), Signs (1978).

William Terry Couch and the Politics of Academic Publishing

Shiflett, Orvin Lee · 2015 · McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers

Orvin Lee Shiflett's biography of William Terry Couch, 1901 to 1988, the editor who built up UNC Press at Chapel Hill over four decades in publishing, with a subtitle that calls his career a lightning rod for controversy. Chapters treat culture in the South, a case history in book publishing, objectivity and social science and 'The Sainted Book Burners'. It bears on scholarly publishing and university presses in the twentieth century. McFarland, 2015, 268 pages with illustrations.

A Generosity of Spirit: The Early History of the Research Triangle Park

Link, Albert N. · 1995 · Research Triangle Foundation of North Carolina

Albert N. Link's early history of Research Triangle Park, published in 1995 by the Research Triangle Foundation of North Carolina. Topics include research parks, research institutes and industrial research in the state, with the park's own history at the center. 149 pages with illustrations and maps.

The recipe : have a seat at our table

Council, Annette Marie · 2005 · NP Press

Annette Marie Council's book about her family and Mama Dip's Country Kitchen, the Chapel Hill restaurant, published by NP Press in 2005. Subjects include African Americans in Chapel Hill, the restaurant's history and family biography. Fourteen introductory pages and 223 pages of text with illustrations, part local history and part family account.

Show 6 more

From seed to harvest

Link, Albert N. · 2002 · Research Triangle Foundation of North Carolina

Albert N. Link's history of the Research Triangle Park, the research park founded to draw on the universities at Chapel Hill, Durham and Raleigh, published in 2002 by the Research Triangle Foundation of North Carolina in 278 pages with illustrations. Topics include research parks, research institutes and industrial research in North Carolina and the history of the park itself.

Many Missions: Research Triangle Institute's First 31 Years

Larrabee, Charles X. · 1991

Charles X. Larrabee's history of the Research Triangle Institute over its first thirty one years, published in 1991. Topics include research institutes and research parks in North Carolina and the history of Research Triangle Park, the research district that lies between Chapel Hill, Durham and Raleigh.

Brain magnet

Cummings, Alex Sayf · 2020

Alex Sayf Cummings's 2020 book on the knowledge economy of the Research Triangle, technology research and the history of Research Triangle Park. Chapel Hill and its university form one corner of the Triangle.

Bright leaf culture and Thomas Day : Orange and Caswell counties

Vernacular Architecture Forum (U.S.). Conference (2016 : Durham, N.C.) · 2016 · Vernacular Architecture Forum

A tour guidebook prepared for the 2016 Vernacular Architecture Forum conference in Durham, leading visitors through buildings in Orange and Caswell counties. It takes in the architecture of the bright leaf tobacco economy and the work of Thomas Day, the free Black cabinetmaker of Caswell County who worked in the middle of the nineteenth century.

UNC

I raised my hand to volunteer : students protest in 1960s Chapel Hill.

2007 · University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Account of student protest in 1960s Chapel Hill, published by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2007 with illustrations. It draws together the civil rights movement and segregation in the town, discrimination in restaurants, academic freedom and university autonomy, protest against the Vietnam War, Students for a Democratic Society and the Black Student Movement on campus.

UNC

James J. Freeland

Freeland, Maxine · 1999

Maxine Freeland's biography of James John Freeland (1918-1999), a Hillsborough man of the twentieth century, compiled in 1999.

Research this storyline

Each dated event above names its source, the place to start. For finding more on an event across newspapers, records and histories, see the research guide Follow an event across several accounts. Ask at the North Carolina Room of the Orange County Public Library for help with local sources.

Cite or share

Friends of the Orange County Public Library. “Foister’s camera shop on Franklin Street, 1911–1989.” Orange County Indexed, https://focplnc.org/orange-county-books/storylines/foisters-camera-shop-storyline-1911/. Accessed October 22, 2026.

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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