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.

This diary includes daily entries from March through July 1919. In this diary Greene wrote about his work at Appalachian Training School, the weather, the church events, and members of the community. At this time, Greene was living and working in Boone, NC. Names mentioned in this diary include Professor D.D. Dougherty, Rev. Mr. Bradshaw, and Mr. Coble of Elk Park.

This diary was kept by Andrew Jackson Greene from March 31st through July 12th in the year of 1924. In the daily entries, Greene includes information about what he has accomplished that day, his opinions about certain events of the day, and who he has visited with recently. He also gives insight into what is happening in the school, the church, and throughout the community.

Andrew Jackson Greene kept this diary from June 13 through September 29, 1925. He recorded an entry for each day. In this diary he kept detailed descriptions of the weather in addition to daily activity records, and travel records. He also wrote about his work in the Watauga county churches. He frequently wrote of work at Appalachian Training School and of the guest speakers that came to visit. He frequently visited sick neighbors and friends such as Conly Glenn.

In this diary, Greene wrote about the weather, the school (Appalachian Training School) and the community members. He recorded how much snow they received, how the students were doing with their work, and who he visited each day. Much of the diary is devoted to church. He wrote about Willowdale Baptist Church, daily chapel, and about Sunday school very frequently because they were so important to him.

This diary was recorded from October 20, 1927 through January 24, 1928. Greene recorded the details of important talks that he heard at the school, such as the talk by Professor Dougherty about saving money. He also included information about how his church was doing. He includes writing about what he thought of the services and his thoughts on Sunday school. Other topics include visits with family and friends, the weather, community events, and travel.

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 written from July 31 through November 3, 1929. Each Day Andrew Jackson Greene recorded he thoughts on every detail of his day. He typically started entries with weather information, and then moved into discussing the events at the school, then church, and his evenings spent with friends and colleagues.

Andrew Jackson Greene recorded daily entries in this diary from September 15th, through November 28th, during the year 1930. He recorded the ins and outs of his daily life. This includes visits from friends and family such as George Hayes as well as information about how his college classes are going. The school was really growing, and people other than locals were beginning to attend.

From July 10 through September 9, 1931, Andrew Jackson Greene recorded this diary about his daily life. He wrote about the weather, the church and the community. At this point, his children were leaving home and he was realizing that it would be a struggle to keep his farm going. He was busy between the farm, the schoolwork, and being a minister. He knew he was aging and found it hard to finish work many days. He also wrote about the college. They reached the 700 mark. He wrote these things in addition to the smallest details of his everyday life.

This diary was kept by Andrew Jackson Greene from August 17th through October 14th during the year of 1932. People name throughout this diary include but are not limited to L.D. Abernathy, Alice Cook, and Dr. Gary Hill. This diary includes the daily recordings of Greene about his everyday life such as what was happening at the college, how the weather was that day, and the well-being of his friends and neighbors that he visited.

The letter included is from a diary reader who enjoyed reading Greene’s diaries. He believed that Greene had a great knack for analyzing major characteristics of people. This diary was recorded in 1934 by Andrew Jackson Greene from July 30th through October 8th. He included the usual current events and reflections. His common subjects were Sunday school, Appalachian State Teachers College, his neighbors, and the weather.

This diary was recorded by Andrew Jackson Greene from July 18th through August 24th during the year of 1936. Inside are personal reflections from Greene about his family, his health, his schoolwork, and his reactions to church sermons or Sunday School lessons. He also chose to record information about community events and happening in and around Appalachian State Teachers College.

This diary was recorded from May 23 through June 14, 1938 by Andrew Jackson Greene. In this diary, Greene recorded personal reflections and important details of each day. These writings are centered around places in and around Watauga County, such as Brushy Fork Valley, Cozy Nook, Elk Park, Boone, Rich Mountain, Vilas, and Cove Creek. He also focused many of these writings around Appalachian State Teachers College, and around other members of the community and conversations held with them.

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.