Robert Proffit talks about Meat Camp's early history from the first settler John Green in 1788. Over the next few decades, people began to trickle in to Western North Carolina. He talks about the first churches in the area: Hopewell Methodist Church and Meat Camp Church. He also describes the civil war, how many members of the community enlisted with the confederate army, but after the war there wasn't much difference in Meat Camp. Proffit explains Meat Camp well with this statement: "there was never anything here to begin with except just natural things."

Wallace Buchanan, born in 1892 and a resident of Minneapolis, North Carolina has been a teacher for most of his life. He talks about his early education at Berea College, his time in the air force, and his time at Appalachian Training School. It was located exactly where Appalachian State University stands today, only smaller and exclusively for training teachers. He had many jobs, namely as a history teacher at Riverside School.

Loura Edminstin was born in Beech Creek, NC in 1894 and had 13 siblings in her family. She lived in Watauga and Avery County throughout her life.

Ms. Edminstin discusses her childhood including the topics of politics, school, and church. She also discusses the traditions in raising a family.

This is an Andrew Jackson Greene diary recorded from February 19 through June 12, 1925. In this diary Greene wrote his daily activities such as cutting wood, visiting with neighbors, or spending a day studying. He also included information about his work at Appalachian Training School. He wrote about the students, the weather, and current events in education.

Inside the diary, one can find the story of a teacher, pastor, father, and husband. He wrote about the weather, his family and his work. This diary includes information on the Appalachian Training School such as important professors and administrators, certain names of campus buildings, and the daily concerns of the classroom. It also includes information about how people of the time period traveled. Greene walked many places, sometimes a train, and sometimes he found someone with a car to drive him.

Andrew Jackson Greene kept this diary from August 6th through November 10th, during the year of 1928. Each day, Greene recorded entries about the weather, community events, friends and family visits. He also included entries devoted to Appalachian Training School, he even names some of the buildings still found on the Appalachian State University campus today such as Justice Hall and White Hall.

This diary was kept by Andrew Jackson Greene from January 5 through March 3, 1932. The weather is his typical first topic to write about it. He wrote about the winter snow and harsh winds frequently. He also included information about the Appalachian State Normal School and the community in addition to the typical record of his daily activities.

Recorded by Andrew Jackson Greene, this diary is from June 10 through July 27, 1933. In the pages of this diary, one will find Greene’s writings about the weather, the churches, the community members, and the details of his home life. One will find the most writing about his work at Appalachian State Teachers College. He wrote about his concern for the welfare of his students, the special events held on campus, his papers to grade, and the daily assembly.

This diary was recorded by Andrew Jackson Greene from August 18 through September 4, 1938. Inside this diary one will find personal reflections and records. Greene recorded the daily weather, and his many travels. He also wrote each day about what he had done, observed, and heard. Through these writings one can find information about the many different areas of Watauga County from Vilas to Boone, including many landmarks such as Appalachian State Teachers College, and Willowdale Baptist Church.

This diary was recorded by Andrew Jackson Greene from April 8 through June 3, 1939. Beginning the new diary, Greene claimed that he ”hoped to leave on record that life is composed of the common things.” He believed that it is perfectly acceptable to magnify them. He continued to write in this diary, as the previous volumes, his reactions to events and people that he came into contact with. Usual topics range from Willowdale Church, Appalachian State Teachers College, his family and friends, and Watauga County local news and events.

Gene Thomas of Avery County gives his somewhat glorified account of his service in WWII and the Korean War. He fought all over Europe against the Germans, and preferred it to the Korean War. He was shot in the head in the Korean War and has been part of the DAV ever since.

James Oliver Shell was born on January 26, 1891 in Shell Creek, Tennessee where his grandfather owned a farm and worked as a carpenter. His father died when he was two months old, so his mother reared the children living with her father. Mr. Shell had one sister, a half-­‐sister, and four half-­‐brothers. As a young man James O. Shell moved to the Heaton community of Avery County North Carolina and was a farmer and served as the postmaster in Heaton from 1914 to about 1953. He died on July 4, 1980 at the age of 88.

During the interview James O. Shell reflects on working his farm, local politics, and playing baseball as a youth. He discusses log rollings, corn shuckings, and the how neighbors helped each out. Some other topics he discusses are Tweetsie Railroad, homemade coffins, local cemeteries and playing baseball.

Bill Carroll Brinkley was born on July 27, 1917 in Elk Park in Avery County to David Brinkley (b. July 24, 1879 – January 1971) who was from Grassy Creek near Spruce Pine, North Carolina and Carroll Ivey Brinkley who was from Chester, South Carolina, and he had five siblings including a twin brother. He graduated from Cranberry High School in 1934 then started working in the family hardware store and served briefly in the U.S. Army enlisting in February 1945. He died on March 20, 2001 at the age of 83.

During the interview he reflects on a happy childhood during the Depression partly because everyone was self­‐sufficient and raised their own food. He provides several anecdotal stories about his education, the family owned Brinkley Hardware Store in Elk Park, religion and local churches, the origin Elk Park, the railroad, the Cranberry mine, and tourism in Avery County. He also discusses collecting herbs and rationing during the Depression and relates stories about panthers and the Brown Mountain Lights.

Stanley Austin Harris was born on October 31, 1882 in Trade, Tennessee, and reared in Avery County. The son of a Confederate officer, after graduating from Tennessee Wesleyan College in 1903, he worked for the Young Men's Christian Association (Y.M.C.A.) in Kentucky where he was introduced to the British Boy Scout movement. He chartered a troop from the British Scouting movement in 1908, two years before the Scouting program was established in the United States.

He started working for the Boy Scouts of America in 1917 until his retirement in 1947 at the national office in New York City. In 1926, he was the director of the Interracial Service where his responsibility was to build positive relationships with African American and Native American communities across the nation.

The Harris family lived in Boone while he worked in New York City, but would commute by train every few weeks. In 1942, Stanley Harris was awarded an honorary doctorate of humanities from the historically black university Tuskegee Institute; the first Caucasian to receive this honor. Upon retiring, he lived in Boone and was very active with local businesses and civic groups.

During the interview he focuses largely on his retired life and talks about his childhood, the Depression, and Boone history.