The papers contain material related to the life of Alison Hearne Atkins. A graduate of East Carolina University, Ms. Atkins earned a bachelor's degree in music education in 1952 and a master's degree in vocal performanace in 1961. She taught voice at Fort Hays State University in Hays, Kansas for 28 years and later taught voice at a private studio. Ms. Atkins performed operatic works and performed and accompanied Scottish folk and art songs at Grandfather Mountain Highland Games in Linville, North Carolina for over 40 years. Included are notebooks containing teaching notes, programs, and clippings related to her career; clippings related to her former students; cards; letters; and documents relative to her being chosen as one of East Carolina University's 100 Incredible Women in 2007. The papers also include compact discs, an audiocassette, and a 5" reel to reel tape.
Alison Hearne Atkins was born on April 30, 1930, in Greensboro, North Carolina. She is the adopted daughter of Closs W. Hearne and Georgia Pearsall Hearne and grew up in Greenville, N.C. Alison Atkins graduated from East Carolina University with a bachelor's degree in music education, majoring in voice, with a minor in piano. She would go on to earn a master's degree in voice performance at ECU. She married Kent Atkins of Wilmington, N.C. and went on to have a son, Reynolds, and a daughter, Alison.
Ms. Atkins taught voice and music at Fort Hays State University in Hays, Kansas for twenty-eight years. She performed twenty-eight faculty recitals at Fort Hays State. She was also a musical adjudicator, judging state music festivals in Kansas, Nebraska, and Missouri, as well as a Metropolitan Opera audition in Lincoln, Nebraska. Atkins was active in Sigma Alpha Lot, which was a professional fraternity for women in music. She would later operate her own voice studio where she taught singing and performed in the Lawrence/Kansas City area.
Alison Atkins sang Scottish songs around the country and in Scotland at events called Highland Games. She and her husband, Kent were active participants in the Grandfather Mountain Highland Games in Linville, North Carolina. In 1987, Ms. Atkins was awarded North Carolina's Order of the Long Leaf Pine for her "outstanding contributions to the Scottish heritage in North Carolina". She was also awarded the prestigious Agnes MacRae Morton award for her outstanding service to the Grandfather Mountain Highland Games. Alison Hearne Atkins died on November 3, 2021.
Sources:
Alison Hearne Atkins Obituary, Wilmington Star-News, Wilmington, North Carolina.
Information gathered from documents within the Alison Hearne Atkins Papers.
The material in the Alison Hearne Atkins Papers focuses on the life and career of Alison Hearne Atkins.The documents cover subjects such as music, and the teaching of music and singing. The types of material include articles, biographical sketches, brochures, clippings, correspondence, programs, publications, photographs, notebooks, loose leaf notecards, as well as material that Atkins used to apply for full professorship at Fort Hays State University in Kansas. Some of the programs in these papers are on Atkins' performances in faculty recitals and in other musical events.
The other types of material included are Atkins' sheet music and songs along with audio recordings on audiocassette, audiotape, and onto compact discs. There are documents that illustrate Atkins' involvement with the National Association of Teaching of Singing and with Scotland and Scottish Heritage events such as the Grandfather Mountain Highland Games in Linville, N.C. One of the photographs (1987) in the papers is of Atkins' receiving North Carolina's highest honor, the Order of the Long Leaf Pine for "outstanding contributions to the Scottish heritage in North Carolina". Among the biographical information includes the publications of when Ms. Atkins' was chosen as one of 100 Incredible ECU Women by the Women's Roundtable as part of East Carolina University's Centennial celebrations (2007).
August 23, 2019, 1.16 cubic feet, Gift of Alison Hearne Atkins and April 8, 2020, 0.25 cubic feet, Gift of Alison Hearne Atkins.
Gift of Alison Hearne Atkins.
Processed by Nanette Hardison, October 2023
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