Dough notes that a 

 few other famous and 

 not-so-famous novelists 

 should have darkened 

 his door or that of an- 

 other library before 

 committing words to 

 paper. They could have 

 avoided mistakes that 

 have planted misconcep- 

 tions about the Outer 

 Banks in the minds of 

 the public. 



Take Tom Clancy, 

 for example. In his novel 

 The Hunt for Red Octo- 

 ber, the captured submarine Red Octo- 

 ber is secreted into U.S. waters through 

 Oregon Inlet. 



"You can barely get a rowboat, 

 much less a submarine, through Oregon 

 Inlet," Dough says. 



And Anne Rivers Siddons does a 

 poor job of staying true to the area she 

 uses to title her novel Outer Banks. 



For serious writers of scholarly 

 works and historical novels, the Outer 

 Banks History Center is an undiscov- 

 ered gem in the state's trinity of histori- 

 cal collections. It's not as well-known 

 as the State Library in Raleigh or the 

 North Carolina Collection at the Uni- 

 versity of North Carolina at Chapel 

 Hill, but the size and historical worth of 

 its collection make it a library deserv- 

 ing of notice. 



Dough constantly works to in- 

 crease the center's prominence and the 

 size of its collection. The center accepts 

 gifts of books, recordings, manuscripts, 

 photographs, maps and other items in 

 its field of interest. Call Dough at 919/ 

 473-2655 if you have an item that you 

 think the center may have an interest in 

 collecting. 



The Outer Banks History Center 

 Associates also underwrite some acqui- 

 sitions and programs and provide 

 volunteer help. 



To improve accessibility to the 

 collection, the center will soon have a 

 rest stop on the information highway. 

 Then patrons will be able to search the 

 on-line holdings without traveling to 

 Manteo. 



But until then, here is a listing and 

 description of the center's major collec- 

 tions. 



The David Stick Collection com- 

 prises more than 25,000 books and 

 pamphlets, most of them pertaining to 

 the history and culture of the North 

 Carolina coast, general and regional 

 maritime history or marine science. The 

 collection includes the following note- 

 worthy entries: 



• more than 4,500 wreck reports, 

 rosters and other documents from local 

 Lifesaving Service and U.S. Coast 

 Guard stations from the period 1883- 

 1933; 



• more than 3,000 black-and-white 

 photographs; 



• more than 1 ,300 newspapers and 

 periodicals; and 



• more than 600 original maps and 

 charts. 



In addition, the collection contains 

 Stick's correspondence, research notes 

 and files from numerous agencies, 

 organizations and projects on which he 

 served. 



The Frank Stick 

 Collection includes all 

 g^ 1 of the paintings from An 

 Artist's Catch, newly 

 discovered works and 

 printed illustrations 

 from books, calendars 

 and periodicals. 



For the Aycock 

 Brown Tourist Bureau 

 Collection, picture this: 

 17,000 black-and-white 

 photographs, 3,000 

 negatives and 20 cubic 

 feet of letters and clip- 

 pings. This collection 

 provides a picture-perfect history of 

 the Outer Banks as seen through the 

 eyes of publicist Aycock Brown. 

 During his 60-year career, the tireless 

 photographer snapped more than 

 100,000 photographs of the Outer 

 Banks. Although their composition 

 isn't particularly artistic, they offer a 

 priceless pictorial history of the area. 



The Elizabeth II State Historic 

 Site Collection includes a variety of 

 books, pamphlets and periodicals about 

 the Raleigh colonies, naval and mari- 

 time history, and Tudor and Stuart 

 England. 



The Cape Hatteras National 

 Seashore Library was deposited at the 

 Outer Banks History Center in 1989 

 and includes more than 1 ,500 books 

 and various manuscripts and periodi- 

 cals. Much of this collection is scien- 

 tific in focus. 



For an earful of firsthand history, 

 listen to the Cape Lookout National 

 Seashore Oral History collection, 

 which includes 72 oral histories re- 

 corded in Carteret County on 1 16 

 audiocassettes. The collection is 

 complemented by 48 oral histories of 

 Outer Banks natives recorded and 

 donated by William Harris, superinten- 

 dent of the Cape Lookout National 

 Seashore. □ 



1 8 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 1995 



