Survey (1934) including photographs of schools, option to buy property, information on property location, weather, type of roof, etc.
C. Morgan Williams & Bro., agents in Washington, N.C., for the Insurance Company of North America, prepared an inspection and survey report for Beaufort County, N.C., schools in 1934. The introduction in the inspection report notes that all the schools with the exception of Belhaven, a white school, are beyond access to public [fire] protection. The report recommends the use of chemical fire extinguishers, not storing combustible supplies in closets under stairs, regular fire drills, placing metal mats under the legs of wood stoves to prevent flooring from catching on fire, and closing windows and locking schools when not in use to prevent trespassing. The introduction closes with a discussion of insurance rates.
The body of the report includes photographs and descriptions of eighty-one properties owned by the Beaufort County Board of Education. The description for each property includes information on the location, whether the building is vacant, type of construction, type of roof, type of interior finish and whether partitioned into rooms, type of heating in use, general condition of the building and when it was built if known, and the value of the property and contents. The first fifty-two photographs are of white schools and the remaining twenty-nine are of colored schools. Photographs of the colored schools occasionally include either teachers or school children in the picture.
A separate item included in the collection is an incomplete option for sale of property in the Chocowinity township known as Clarksville to the Beaufort County, N.C., Board of Education.
Gift of Mr. Paul F. Stephens
Processed by M. Boccaccio, June 1996
Encoded by Apex Data Services
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