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JUST YESTERDAY: NORTH CAROLINA PEOPLE AND PLACES
Release Date: October 24, 2008

Donna E. Kelly, Administrator, Historical Publications Section, Archives & History, Division of NC Cultural Resources writes:

"In 2005, Steve Massengill, then iconographic archivist at the North Carolina State Archives, invited me to the Search Room to view a selection of black-and-white photographs taken by Bruce Roberts, a prominent twentieth-century photographer. The prints ranged from everyday people doing everyday tasks to famous people and familiar landmarks and landscapes. The images took my breath away, made me smile, or made me cry. The image of the little girl in a wedding dress and veil (pp. 76-77) brought back memories of me, my sister, and my cousins playing "dress-up" in Harnett County in the late 1960s.

"After discussion and negotiation it was decided that the Historical Publications section would publish a selection of Bruce's photographs in book form. At first we were only going to include black-and-white images, but that expanded into the handsome, full-color volume that evokes the essence of life in North Carolina in the mid-to late twentieth century."

Divided into the four geographic regions of the state, the images illustrate the people and places of the Outer Banks, the East, the Piedmont, and the Mountains. Every so-called "baby boomer" who grew up in or lived part of his or her life in North Carolina ca relate to these images that seem like they happened "just yesterday."

Order from the online bookstore.

Selected black and white prints from his original negatives, hand processed by Bruce Roberts himself, on silver Iilford MGIV pearl photographic paper. These are NOT digitally printed photographs! View and order here.