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Wilmington Bird Club

 Collection
Identifier: SC-MS-321

Scope and Contents

This collection contains documentation of the Wilmington Science Club, founded in 1946 by Edna Appleberry as the Wilmington Bird Club. Included are Appleberry's handwritten field notes from 1947 to 1960 for birds in Wilmington, North Carolina; Appleberry's personal field notebook used from 1956-1959; typed migration, nesting, and field notes spanning from 1947 to 1960; spring bird censuses taken from 1953 to 1959 of bird counts in Wilmington, North Carolina; and correspondence between Appleberry and club members, as well as other individuals and organizations involved in birding and natural science.

Dates

  • Creation: 1947-1972, undated

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open for research use.

Copyright Statement

Copyright retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Biographical / Historical

The Wilmington Science Club was founded as the Wilmington Bird Club in 1946 by Edna Appleberry. Appleberry was born in Pender County, North Carolina, but resided in Wilmington, North Carolina for much of her life. She had an interest in nature from a young age, and found herself drawn to the sciences as she grew older.

Edna married Cecil Appleberry and they had two children together, Cecil Jr. and Thomas Appleberry. While raising her sons, Appleberry became a respected amature naturalist, as well as an avid birder. Nicknamed 'Mrs. A', Appleberry had impaired eyesight. However, her sharp hearing made up for her lack of eyesight and aided in her ability to recognize bird calls.

Appleberry gave lectures to local schools and was the nature director at the Wilmington Girl Scouts Camp. She contributed greatly to the Wilmington community, and North Carolina as a whole, with the founding of the Wilmington Bird Club, her ornithological knowledge, and passion for natural science.

Extent

10 Items

Language of Materials

English

Arrangement

This collection is arranged into two series, Organizational Records and Bird Records. Both series are further arranged at the file level.

Acquisition Information

This collection was donated by James Parnell, date unknown.

Processing Information

This collection was reprocessed by Addison Vestal in the Fall of 2019.

Title
Wilmington Bird Club
Status
Completed
Author
Addison Vestal
Date
2019 October 14
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
English

Repository Details

Part of the Special Collections Repository

Contact:

910-962-7810