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TAC Talk | Making a Mill Village Life

  • Blowing Rock Art & History Museum 159 Ginny Stevens Lane Blowing Rock United States (map)
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The Cone family is justly recognized for building North Carolina’s textile economy in the twentieth century, but what about the workers who ran their factories? How did they build and sustain their lives, and how do they look back on their experiences now? Drawing on dozens of oral history interviews conducted by his graduate students at UNCG, Benjamin Filene, Chief Curator at the North Carolina Museum of History, explores day-to-day life in Greensboro’s Cone mill villages: its opportunities, its constraints—and the dilemma of the Christmas ham.

About the Speaker

Benjamin Filene is Chief Curator at the North Carolina Museum of History in Raleigh. Previously he served for a dozen years as Director of Public History and Professor of History at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Prior to UNCG, Filene was Senior Exhibit Developer at the Minnesota Historical Society, from 1997-2006. Filene, who received his Ph.D. in American Studies from Yale, co-edited the book Letting Go? Historical Authority in a User-Generated World, and is author of Romancing the Folk: Public Memory and American Roots Music. He recently completed a Fulbright fellowship, exploring the museum field in Helsinki, Finland.

Presented to the community by Wells Fargo. Southern Strands: North Carolina Fiber Art is made possible by a grant from the Blue Ridge National Heritage Area Partnership.


Thursday Art and Culture (TAC) Talks bring collegiate level lectures to your museum. Featuring scholars from around the country, the lectures are selected to provide supplemental information on our current exhibits, or highlight the history and heritage of the mountains.

Beginning at 6 pm these events have an hour-long lecture with an audience question and answer session at the end. Unless otherwise posted, all TAC talks are free for members and $5 for non-members.

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The Maker's Table | The Essence of Place, Mountain Tapestries