Biographical/historical information

Roger E. Kammerer, Jr., is a freelance artist and local historian living in Greenville, N.C. He was born in 1956 in Nebraska, but spent most of his early life in Swansboro, N.C. Under the mentorship of noted N.C. historian, Tucker Reed Littleton, Kammerer obtained a love for North Carolina history. After receiving a scholarship, Kammerer enrolled in the School of Art at East Carolina University in Greenville in 1974. To date, he has designed numerous book covers, has worked on television commercials and produced artwork for homes and businesses. Kammerer is also known for his oil portraits, historical paintings and numerous mural projects.

In 1984, Kammerer was among the charter members who organized the Pitt County Family Researchers, Inc., a local genealogical group. Currently, he is president of the group, and editor of its quarterly journal. In 2004 the Pitt County Genealogical Quarterly received the award from the North Carolina Genealogical Society for the best genealogical publication of the year. Since 1985 Kammerer has also written a column on Pitt County and Greenville history for the Greenville Times. He is a lifetime member of the Pitt County Historical Society, and in recent years has served on the board of the Village of Yesteryear, a complex of twenty-one historic buildings and extensive collection of farm life artifacts. In addition, Kammerer has led several walking tours of the historic downtown area of Greenville, and has authored, or co-authored, twenty-one books and booklets on local history and genealogy.

Administrative information

Custodial History

June 11, 2002 (unprocessed), 4 items, 0.001 cubic feet, 4 pages; Joe Smith, Jr., V-Mail letter to Ella Frances Viola (Christmas 1943), 1 p.; Photographic print of East Carolina Teachers College scene (ca. 1940's) (b & w, 3? 4.5?) 1 p.; Theater Program (ca. 1933/34) for Betty and Scarlet Bunny: A 3-Act Fairy Play, (By W. A. Lillycrop adapted by Anne Glenn Robeson) presented by The Episcopal Junior Guild, Austin Building, ECTC, 1 p.; Measles in Quarantine Keep Your Babies Away From Measles Broadside (4/7/1934) posted on the home of Ella Viola McGowan when she had the measles, 1 p. (0.001 cubic feet est.). Donor: Roger E. Kammerer, Jr.

July 10, 2003 (unprocessed addition 1) Sepia, v.12, n.8 (August 1963) Magazine published monthly for African American market by Sepia Publishing Company, 1220 Harding Street, Fort Worth, TX. Donor: Roger E. Kammerer Jr.

July 6, 2005 (unprocessed addition 2), 778 items, 4.28 cubic feet; Collection (1856-2001) of manuscripts, research clippings, notes, photocopies, photographic prints, programs, notebooks, and newspapers, relating to the history and genealogy of Eastern North Carolina, especially Robersonville and Williamston in Martin County, NC. See preliminary inventory attached. Donor: Roger E. Kammerer, Jr.

September 27, 2016 (unprocessed addition 3),0.20 cubic feet; Addition includes 21 photographs (most unidentified and of World War II era) belonging to Samuel Lowell May and his wife Clara of Los Angeles, California, and donated via Roger E. Kammerer, Jr., by LaRue Evans. Several pertain to military bases, one is identified as the 657th Engineer Topographic Battalion (40th Infantry Division, U.S. Army), two are of decapitated Asian bodies surrounded by many onlookers, several are of men in U.S. Army uniform, and one is of Cecil May in U.S. Marine corporal uniform. Also included are a photocopy of a letter (1913) containing reminiscences of Confederate veteran John W. Vernelson (of N.C. State Troops) war service and describing the Veterans Reunion at Gettysburg, PA; a photograph of a print (or painting) of Rev. Joseph Peirson (first rector of St. Peters Episcopal Church, Washington, NC); 2 receipts (1909-1910) for sales by Crown Bottling Works in New Bern, NC; 5 Pitt County, NC, land grants and deeds (1782-1837) from the estate of Clarice Mills related to the Boyd, Edwards, and Nobles families; and the book (2011) "One of the Lucky Ones," Edgar Cannon's Contributions in World War II, autographed by the authors Carol Cannon Tuttle and Michael Lawrence Cannon. Donor: LaRue Evans via Roger E. Kammerer, Jr.; estate of Clarice Mills via Roger E. Kammerer, Jr.; Roger E. Kammerer, Jr.

June 13, 2017 (unprocessed addition 4),0.30 cubic feet; Addition includes birth and death information concerning Henry Pittman (Halifax Co., N.C.) and wife Harriett T. Higgs Pittman, Moore and Sewell families of Onslow Co., N.C., and Davis family (Onslow Co.?); and Bible records for John T. Eldridge (Northampton Co., N.C.) and wife Alberta Rogers Eldridge; and a partial 1794 Bible containing Wilder/Hatsell family records. Also included are two 1944 photographs of which one depicts Company 4555 at U.S. Naval Training Station in Bainbridge, Maryland; and deeds and estate records (1886-1917) concerning the Cox family of Pitt Co., N.C.; and an 1858 document concerning the Wardens for the Poor of Pitt Co. account with Thomas E. Nelson. Gift of Roger E. Kammerer, Jr.

November 7, 2018 (unprocessed addition 5), 1.0 cubic feet; Included is a 16mm color silent film titled "Greenville in Reelife" filmed in Greenville, North Carolina, in June 1941 by E. V. Atkinson, director and cinematographer for Reelife Motion Pictures. The film, which needs extensive preservation work, has shots of city officials, city departments, industries, street scenes, churches, civic clubs, and beauty spots and was first shown at the Pitt Theatre. This addition also includes 3 carousels of slides documenting Pitt County, NC, taken by Connor Eagles around 1970; the slides in one carousel show tobacco fields and tobacco related shots, and the two other carousels of slides document old houses. Gift of Roger E. Kammerer, Jr.

September 24, 2019, (unprocessed addition 6), 0.25 cubic feet; Included is a copy of an 862-page journal (1887-1895) said to have been kept by Willis R. Williams (1826-1910 or 1828-1909), a Pitt County, North Carolina, legislator and planter. The location of the original journal is unknown. Gift of Roger E. Kammerer, Jr.

Source of acquisition

Gift of Roger E. Kammerer, Jr.

Gift of LaRue Evans via Roger E. Kammerer, Jr.

Gift of Estate of Clarice Mills via Roger E. Kammerer, Jr.

Processing information

Legacy collection guide encoded by Apex Data Services. Conservation and digitization of the film "Greenville in Reelife" was made possible with grant funding from the National Film Preservation Foundation, a grant-giving public charity, affiliated with the Library of Congress's National Film Preservation Board.

Copyright notice

Literary rights to specific documents are retained by the authors or their descendants in accordance with U.S. copyright law.

Existence and Location of Originals

Special Collections retains four physical copies of the film, "Greenville in Reelife." The original and intermediate negative master are stored in the Conservation Department freezer. The answer print master and the access print are stored in the closed stacks. Because a digitized version of the film is available through Digital Collections, access to the originals is granted on a case by case basis.

Key terms

Personal Names

Cannon, Edgar
May, Cecil
Peirson, Joseph
Vernelson, John W.

Corporate Names

East Carolina Teachers College

Topical

Historic buildings--North Carolina--Pitt County
Land grants--North Carolina--Pitt County
Measles--North Carolina--Greenville
Motion pictures--North Carolina--Greenville
Tobacco--North Carolina--Pitt County
World War, 1939-1945

Places

North Carolina--Genealogy
Robersonville (N.C.)--History
Williamston (N.C.)--History

Container list