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Grant to fund essays on Morton photographs E-mail
Monday, January 04, 2010

The North Carolina Humanities Council has awarded the library of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill $5,400 for the project “Worth 1,000 Words: Essays on the Photographs of Hugh Morton.”

The grant will fund 13 essays that will provide insight into Morton’s work. The library will post about one essay every two weeks on the blog “A View to Hugh” (http://www.lib.unc.edu/blogs/morton/) beginning in late January.

Morton, who died in 2006, was best known to many in North Carolina as the owner of Grandfather Mountain, now a state park in Linville. He also was an avid photographer with interests in conservation, sports, politics and tourism. He attended UNC from 1939 to 1942, then enlisted in the armed forces.

In 2007, Morton’s widow, Julia T. Morton, gave the UNC Library’s photographic archives approximately 500,000 of Morton’s photographs, negatives and transparencies, plus 60,000 linear feet of motion picture film.

The grant from the humanities council, a statewide nonprofit and affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities, will enable the archives to commission original essays by scholars, researchers and journalists. Topics will include:

  • The Blue Ridge Parkway, by Anne Mitchell Whisnant, author of “Super-Scenic Motorway: A Blue Ridge Parkway History” (UNC Press, 2006);
  • UNC basketball and football, by Art Chansky, sports writer and associate general manager of Tar Heel Sports Properties;
  • North Carolina political history, by Rob Christensen, political reporter for the News & Observer of Raleigh and author of “The Paradox of Tar Heel Politics” (UNC Press, 2008).

For a complete list of authors and essays, visit: http://www.lib.unc.edu/blogs/morton/index.php/2009/12/morton-project-awarded-nchc-grant/. For more information about the project, contact Hugh Morton Collection Archivist Elizabeth Hull, This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it , (919) 962-7992.

Library contact: Elizabeth Hull, (919) 962-7992, This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it