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this was in my FB memory for today. a biz mural from Carrboro that longtimers will recognize. this building abuts one slated for demo I think, so it will be interesting what happens here. > Mural on facade of Gates of Beauty Body Shop, 405 E. Main St., Carrboro NC

Mural on facade of Gates of Beauty Body Shop, 405 E. Main St., Carrboro NC, Aug. 8 2023. DK Thompson Collection/Southern Folklife Collection/UNC-CH

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dkthompson @dkt-1.bsky.social · 21h

I have kinda "circuits" of walks I have taken around urban areas of a couple of towns I am frequently working in. I tend to document the same areas over & over again and track the changes to the ephemera of street and political art. this Firestone bldg was a part.

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dkthompson @dkt-1.bsky.social · 21h

walking down Davie Street in Raleigh yesterday and came to the intersection with Dawson, looked across the street and the old Firestone bldg was gone. lot scraped clean. I can't say this was too much of a surprise since it's been vacant for a few years, but still I was surprised. that was a haunt

Graffiti tags on old Firestone building, Dawson Street, Raleigh NC, Dec. 23, 2023. DK Thompson Collection/Southern Folklife Collection/UNC-CH

Graffiti behind old Firestone on Dawson Street, Raleigh NC, April 29, 2024. DK Thompson Collection/Southern Folklife Collection/UNC-CH

Kamala Harris posters, designed by Shepard Fairey, wheat pasted to wall, old Firestone building, alley off Dawson St., Raleigh NC, Oct. 25, 2024. DK Thompson Collection/Southern Folklife Collection/UNC-CH

Graffiti in alley off Dawson St., Raleigh NC, Feb. 29, 2024. DK Thompson Collection/Southern Folklife Collection/UNC-CH

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dkthompson @dkt-1.bsky.social · 22h

UNC-CH at the NC Collection has film negatives for the Warren County protests as does the N&O Collection at the State Archives of NC. Both of those are excellent resources for that protest.

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dkthompson @dkt-1.bsky.social · 22h

GNAT used these arm bands to designate team members like obervers or organizers I think. they also had ball caps. as for photos of the protests, most are in news archives, but I discovered working on an exhibit a few years ago, that some of the smaller papers had destroyed their film archives

Armbands assoc. w/ Granville Non-violent Action Team protest group, 1990. NC Museum of History 1994.193.1-2

Baseball cap associated with the protest group "G.N.A.T.", Granville Nonviolent Action Team, 1990-1992. (Photo Courtesy of North Carolina Museum of History)

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dkthompson @dkt-1.bsky.social · 22h

then t-shirts from both groups

T-shirt assoc. w/ Granville County incinerator protest, 1990-1992. “GROW” - w/ G.R.O.W.—Granville Residents Opposed to Waste. NC Museum of History 1993.66.3

T-shirt assoc. w/ G.N.A.T.—Granville Non-violent Action Team—protest group, 1990. NC Museum of History 1993.66.2

T-shirt assoc. w/ G.N.A.T.—Granville Non-violent Action Team—protest group, 1990-1992. NC Museum of History 1993.66.1

T-shirt assoc. w/ G.N.A.T. - Granville Nonviolent Action Team. NC Museum of History 2001.21.2

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dkthompson @dkt-1.bsky.social · 22h

here are some signs from the collection about the Granville County incinerator protest. there were two groups that successfully protested the long haul. GNAT, Granville Nonviolent Action Team, and GROW, Granville Residents Opposed to Waste. GNAT went on to champion other causes afterwards

Protest sign assoc. w/ G.N.A.T.—Granville Nonviolent Action Team, 1990. NC Museum of History 1993.524.2

Protest sign, 1990, used by the Granville Nonviolent Action Team, G.N.A.T., hazardous waste incinerator protest movement. (Photo Courtesy of North Carolina Museum of History)

Protest sign assoc. w/ G.N.A.T.—Granville Nonviolent Action Team, 1990. NC Museum of History 1993.524.3

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dkthompson @dkt-1.bsky.social · 22h

another successful local protest movement happened in Warren County NC as a protest against the illegal PCB dumping that occurred in the 1980s. That is known as the beginning of the environmental protests in the US and was the reason why I covered an EPA event up there a couple years ago

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dkthompson @dkt-1.bsky.social · 22h

I’ve been keeping on this as it reminds me of the hazardous waste incinerator story in the 80s in Granville County that spawned a sustained community protest movement that became known as GNAT, Granville Nonviolent Action Team. I have been documenting signage for the past year because of GNAT

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dkthompson @dkt-1.bsky.social · 23h

My own stuff I just do by date. Year/month/day and then write extensive captions to help with finding it. The film was filed by two last digits for year and then just what number sequence for the roll or sheet. the stuff I donate to the archive has a shit load of metadata. That is the key

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dkthompson @dkt-1.bsky.social · 23h

spans close to fifty years now. Too many derivatives and references to those numbers to change now. too much stuff

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dkthompson @dkt-1.bsky.social · 23h

the important thing is whatever scheme you come up with for the catalog order is to just stick with it. it’s a huge PIA to start again. Btw in our system A means “artifact” AT means “artifact trip” C means “conservation” and so on. It uses date and roll/sheet numbers also

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dkthompson @dkt-1.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

there are more options now for bbq downtown than just coopers when it was there of course. I like sam jones because the pork has never been too fatty or had any indiscernible bits hahaha.

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dkthompson @dkt-1.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

the collards here are perfection

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dkthompson @dkt-1.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

I walked past and was hungry. It had to be done

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dkthompson @dkt-1.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

I always feel like as a photographer you need to share the space and respect the audience. some folks use the photography as a way to get a seat. Get the shot and get out of the way to let someone else in or enjoy the show

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dkthompson @dkt-1.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

It’s okay to be that guy as long as you don’t hog the spot all night imho . photographer here

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dkthompson @dkt-1.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

simple camera it autofocus d and controller exposure but had a thumb wheel for film advance and you had to pop the flash up yourself. noisy. reminded me a bit of the Nikon L35 but simpler

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dkthompson @dkt-1.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

here's a good #WindowsOnWednesday item, from this day October. 7, 2022. A Label 228 sticker from the Covid shutdown era stuck to a window in Raleigh NC's downtown "City Market" across from Moore Square. Basically where Greenshields used to be. you often see the free USPS Label 228s as slap tags.

USPS Label 228 sticker with essential worker Covid era message stuck to window at City Market, downtown Raleigh NC, Oct. 7, 2022. DK Thompson Collection/Southern Folklife Collection/UNC-CH

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dkthompson @dkt-1.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

I had one of these that used AAs. gave it away a couple years ago but it actually worked pretty good and I shot some family snaps that I still use.

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dkthompson @dkt-1.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

the ephemera I collect started as a way to provide provenance to the photos. since I work for an institution I wanted to give them first dibs on what I was collecting, so that's why there's a division with what has wound up where. some of it nobody wants and I still have.

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dkthompson @dkt-1.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

this is what I do on my own time and donate to UNC. cover things I think will be of historical interest to academics. I started with news & music a long time ago but as I became a museum professional I got into documenting stuff I wasn't able to in the day job.

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dkthompson @dkt-1.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Oct 7 2019 - artifact of the day--protest sign i picked up after the women's march back in 2017 and donated to the museum--we had a publication request for it. (NCMOH 2019.15.5)

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dkthompson @dkt-1.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

since were closed now not sure where but check to see. they’re a little cheaper

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dkthompson @dkt-1.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

they used to run a shuttle bus down Hillsborough from downtown stopping along the way. I’d park in my state lot and take rgw bus to the gate. I think this bus now runs up closer to Blue Ridge Road. you can also get advanced tickets from rgw Ag Dept down near Capitol. They used to sell them in MOH

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dkthompson @dkt-1.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

the Fair is great fun! I used to go every year, picking a weekday to beat the crowds, which can be a lot if you go on the weekends. also certain days like the free “can day” food drive. parking can be a PIA along with traffic if you go when something else at the stadium is planned

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dkthompson @dkt-1.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

yep. went from optical to hybrid Lightjet / Lambda RA4 prints to Scotchprints then inkjet. The Lightjet prints were best of the lot imho.

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dkthompson @dkt-1.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

20x24s were normal for us but largest we did in house. Murals can be made so much better abd cost effective by a lab. We do them all the time

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dkthompson @dkt-1.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

yeah they used to do that with wallpaper troughs in the old lab too. they were getting out of it by time I started in ‘91. It just used so much chemistry and water. this was fiber based. we made a few in the new darkroom that were last minute things that we were forced to make. Otherwise 20x24

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dkthompson @dkt-1.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

the old museum darkroom had two of the big sinks with the standpipes and built in water jets in corners that were used to process murals. for normal operations we had a tray line in one and tank line in other. For the murals there’d be like 25 gallons of Dektol and fixer. Dont miss that one bit

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dkthompson @dkt-1.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

that second one is pretty neat

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dkthompson @dkt-1.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

We had the work stations, sinks. a processor also. I worked in a couple labs that had the big mixers as well. If the machines weren’t Kreonite they’d either be Hope or Colex. Maybe Kodak. There wasn’t much else in US. Kreonite made a lot of Ilford machines but not 2150

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dkthompson @dkt-1.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

we had a bunch of Kreonite stuff over the years. Almost every darkroom I used professionally had stuff from them. Kreonite green those were the days

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dkthompson @dkt-1.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

for us all this happened around the same time as materials being discontinued and the machine manufacturers and support going away. it all fed into the others and sorta coalesced and then rapidly declined. never came back. never will imho

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dkthompson @dkt-1.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

that's right. it won't work unless you run a shit ton of film daily. labs had to run scrap film to make up difference. more process control measures also but that often doesn't work well. you'd have a reliable lab all of the sudden become troublesome and that was the beginning of the end.

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dkthompson @dkt-1.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

on this particular show, Mike Kelsh is with them on second guitar and lap steel. Fred Mills has a cameo as "Blind Penis Trousersnake" the "famous" bluesman on the "Ballad of Jim & Tammy".

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dkthompson @dkt-1.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

the band at this time was in transition between the first lineup and what became the band as it is now. the Pine Cones sets were country-rock, that started acoustic and morphed into electric as the set progressed. a song like Fried Chicken & Gasoline would often be the changeover.

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dkthompson @dkt-1.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

This was a live tape done to two tracks by music writer Fred Mills. During this show, the "Pine Cones" a stripped down SCOTS opened for themselves >Southern Culture on the Skids live at the Milestone. Charlotte, N.C. 16 October 1987 Containers: SFC Audiocassette Box 14, SFC Audio Cassette FS-20479/6

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dkthompson @dkt-1.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

speaking of PTL from my earlier post - reminds me of the live recording I donated to UNC of a song Rick Miller penned in 1987 in his country phase, the "Ballad of Jim & Tammy". I don't believe this has been digitized and may be the only recording at that, but I will put the finding aid below

Rick Miller, Southern Culture on the Skids, in the dressing room for the Double Door, Charlotte NC 1987. DK Thompson Collection/Southern Folklife Collection/UNC Chapel Hill

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dkthompson @dkt-1.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

stacks of product like the albums. the late Mark Sluder was the staff photographer there who got many of the iconic images of Jim Bakker used when the paper won their Pulitzer in 1988 for their coverage into the scandals. he also got the shot of Jessica Hahn.

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dkthompson @dkt-1.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

when I was a student I worked at the Charlotte Observer as both a newsroom "copy carrier" ie a gopher for editors, and on weekends as a stringer in photo dept. in the mid 80s was the peak of their investigation into PTL. I remember staffers watching tapes of the show round the clock and stacks

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dkthompson @dkt-1.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

I see that televangelist Jim Bakker has died. growing up in Charlotte of course I was familiar with him as well as the PTL Club campus he would build just south in Ft Mill SC. I used to go down to Heritage USA as a lark, and donated some postcards to the MOH. I had some swag that went to UNC.

Heritage USA billboard around Fort Mill SC, ca. 1985 or so. scanned color slide. DK Thompson Collection/Southern Folklife Collection/UNC-CH

Jim Bakker's head on Bob Scott's body. this little bit of office humor adorned my bulletin board for many years.

PTL postcard ca. mid 80s. this is one of two I donated to the MOH. accession number 2015.33.2

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dkthompson @dkt-1.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

gotta break it in. symbiotic state between film and chemistry. can be tricky at times. moreso for color. this btw, was the downfall for many labs with the rise of digital, not enough film being run = process control gone haywire.

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dkthompson @dkt-1.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

it had like a half inch of sludge in the bottom that you never churned up. he would always admonish me to just leave it alone. I could use it. tell him how much I ran thru and he'd take care of the rest. it was like this magical vessel for him. years later I ran the work deeptank and felt similar

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dkthompson @dkt-1.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

when I worked at the Charlotte observer, they had film developing rooms - little darkrooms the size of a closet- that the staffers were assigned to and shared. there were like 4 of these. one of the guys would let me use his from time to time and he had a one gallon glass jug of replenished Accufine

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dkthompson @dkt-1.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

TX needed a separate run “pulled” if shot at 400. remember this is all contrast control you’re not gaining speed.

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dkthompson @dkt-1.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

may help to remember with Diafine that a whole lot depends on the scene contrast and what the light was like. fwiw a classic developer for pushing TX is Accufine. FG7 is another. T Max developer will give you a flat out rating of 800 as “normal” for TX.ran a deeptank at work using TMax RS for years

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dkthompson @dkt-1.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

set up for that mirror shot. one thing that's neat about using a mirror for the "background" is you can use hard lights at angles not in the angle of view so the hotspot of the lightsource isn't "seen" in the mirror. what is "seen" is the background blue & wedge of light from the 1K spotlight

tabletop set using three hotlights, all focusing spots, and a mirror as the background.

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dkthompson @dkt-1.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

I see today is #JamesBondDay - reminds me of a few items I had in the studio for the "Toy Boom" exhibit several years ago. I got fancy with the Corgi car and put it on a sheet of acrylic backed with mylar foil (mirror) that I found a scrap of in the exhibit shop. all about angle of view & light

Toy car--James Bond Aston Martin, made by Corgi Toys, ca. 1964. NC Museum of History R6232.1

"James Bond" toy figures. R#6147.2: Goldfinger, .3: James Bond, .4: Odd Job, .5: Dr. No, .6: Moneypenny. NC Museum of History R6147

Board game ca. 1964--"James Bond Secret Agent 007". NC Museum of History R6185.2

James Bond "Thunderball" board game. NC Museum of History 2010.73.13

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