Mary Ruffin Hanbury
@mrhanbury.bsky.social
Wife, mother, preservationist, Virginian, business owner, Aquarius, singer, voracious reader, gardener, occasional cook, animal adopter, “tweets” are mine alone
Before we had a social safety net, citizens came to county commission meetings asking directly for government $, and often receiving it
June 25, 2025 at 6:11 PM
Before we had a social safety net, citizens came to county commission meetings asking directly for government $, and often receiving it
Anyone who’s researched a Rosenwald school in North Carolina has likely run across Mr. Newbold who was the head of the Division of Negro Education for the state of North Carolina. He worked within a segregated system, but was still a strong advocate for schools for Black students.
April 23, 2025 at 1:18 AM
Anyone who’s researched a Rosenwald school in North Carolina has likely run across Mr. Newbold who was the head of the Division of Negro Education for the state of North Carolina. He worked within a segregated system, but was still a strong advocate for schools for Black students.
Timeline cleanse
April 4, 2025 at 12:09 AM
Timeline cleanse
Drove home from Va and took a detour
April 3, 2025 at 11:10 PM
Drove home from Va and took a detour
I co-wrote the NR nomination for Chavis Park about a decade ago. Today my son's AP US History teacher talked about Chavis in his lecture on the New Deal. Needless to say, I bombarded him with source material tonight
April 1, 2025 at 1:05 AM
I co-wrote the NR nomination for Chavis Park about a decade ago. Today my son's AP US History teacher talked about Chavis in his lecture on the New Deal. Needless to say, I bombarded him with source material tonight
Happiness is local research in a library that was the elementary school.
March 25, 2025 at 9:20 PM
Happiness is local research in a library that was the elementary school.
Timeline cleanse
March 16, 2025 at 5:47 PM
Timeline cleanse
I am grateful for all the labor, paid and unpaid, that has built our country. And I have a new appreciation for the era of internal improvements. 7/7
February 28, 2025 at 3:57 AM
I am grateful for all the labor, paid and unpaid, that has built our country. And I have a new appreciation for the era of internal improvements. 7/7
I am profoundly grateful for the State Archives of North Carolina and its wonderful staff who have been good stewards of these almost 200-year-old documents.I am grateful to have been hired to do this work which afforded me the chance to “Columbus” the payroll records and put them into a context.6/
February 28, 2025 at 3:56 AM
I am profoundly grateful for the State Archives of North Carolina and its wonderful staff who have been good stewards of these almost 200-year-old documents.I am grateful to have been hired to do this work which afforded me the chance to “Columbus” the payroll records and put them into a context.6/
The cadre of folks who hired me for this project are well ensconced down east and will be working to try to trace descendants. Hopefully that can have some sort of event at the canal to honor those who built it.5/
February 28, 2025 at 3:54 AM
The cadre of folks who hired me for this project are well ensconced down east and will be working to try to trace descendants. Hopefully that can have some sort of event at the canal to honor those who built it.5/
Finding names of enslaved people is pretty rare and this record was geographically specific and included enslavers’ names as well. 4/
February 28, 2025 at 3:52 AM
Finding names of enslaved people is pretty rare and this record was geographically specific and included enslavers’ names as well. 4/
I included in the nomination the names of 77 enslaved people indicated by their first names following the possessive forms of their enslavers’ names.
When I found the records, I literally trembled. 3/
When I found the records, I literally trembled. 3/
February 28, 2025 at 3:51 AM
I included in the nomination the names of 77 enslaved people indicated by their first names following the possessive forms of their enslavers’ names.
When I found the records, I literally trembled. 3/
When I found the records, I literally trembled. 3/
In the 1820s, canal construction was brutally hard work all done with hand tools. While rooting around in the state archives I pretty much stumbled over 7 months of payroll and time sheet records for the canal. Most of the entries were for enslaved laborers, rented out by their enslavers. 2/
February 28, 2025 at 3:49 AM
In the 1820s, canal construction was brutally hard work all done with hand tools. While rooting around in the state archives I pretty much stumbled over 7 months of payroll and time sheet records for the canal. Most of the entries were for enslaved laborers, rented out by their enslavers. 2/
I recently turned in a draft National Register nomination for a canal in eastern North Carolina. With the draft in, I thought it was a good time to post about 1 of the great research discoveries during this project. The canal was built over a long period of time, mostly in the nineteenth century. 1/
February 28, 2025 at 3:48 AM
I recently turned in a draft National Register nomination for a canal in eastern North Carolina. With the draft in, I thought it was a good time to post about 1 of the great research discoveries during this project. The canal was built over a long period of time, mostly in the nineteenth century. 1/
Feels like another directive from the ministry of magic
February 3, 2025 at 12:00 PM
Feels like another directive from the ministry of magic
Interior @ Logan’s
February 1, 2025 at 9:57 PM
Interior @ Logan’s
School, now apartments. Macon, GA
February 1, 2025 at 9:57 PM
School, now apartments. Macon, GA
