06/08/23
A collection of books by Southern writer Thomas Nelson Page has been given to Stanley Library by a retired University of North Carolina professor.
Sherry L. Salyer of Apex, N.C., became interested in Page’s work after her grandmother, Eleanor Elliott, gave her a copy of Two Little Confederates, a novel about the Civil War written from the perspective of two Virginia brothers who are too young for enlistment. Salyer says that some of the books were probably presented to her grandmother as rewards for good grades at Pine Grove School outside Mansfield, Georgia. An inscription in a different book reads, “for good spelling” and is dated 1913.
Salyer was a teenager at the time of her grandmother’s gift but had seen the novel displayed in Elliott’s home for many years. Salyer began searching for other Page works, her collection eventually numbering about two dozen. She says locating the additional books was a “conscious, but leisurely” process and also challenging because it happened “in the days before the Internet or Amazon or eBay.” Salyer simply frequently used bookstores and sometimes got lucky.
The books’ author, Thomas Nelson Page, was born in Hanover County, Va., and was eight when the Civil War broke out. He is credited with establishing the “Plantation tradition” of writing, a stylized presentation of life in the antebellum South. His collection of short stories In Ole Virginia is considered a prototype of the style. The collection given to Ferrum also includes three works with “Santa Claus” in the title. In addition to his writing career, Page served as U.S. ambassador to Italy from 1913 to 1919. He died at his birthplace in Virginia in 1922 and is buried in Washington, D.C.
Salyer says she chose Ferrum as recipient of the collection because of her friendship with two members of Ferrum’s English faculty: Katherine Grimes, Professor of English and coordinator of Ferrum’s English program, and Lana Whited, Professor of English and director of the Boone Honors Program. Salyer says the “dedication and longevity” that Grimes and Whited have shown to Ferrum ensure that her collection will continue to be appreciated.
Grimes underscores the collection’s cultural value: “Even though Thomas Nelson Page represents nostalgia for a culture that many of us now find abhorrent, it is important for us to understand the mindset of people who are still devoted to the Lost Cause. His work is of interest to me as a specialist in Southern literature, and it should be of interest to historians of the South.”
Sierra Alley, interim director of Stanley Library, said the gift of the Page collection “will add value to Ferrum’s collection. The generosity to support our collection and campus is greatly appreciated.”
Salyer also became attached to the Ferrum community because of another relative. As a girl, she visited her uncle Kermit Salyer at his home on Turners Creek Road. As the editor of a Rocky Mount newspaper, her uncle was a well-known resident.
Salyer’s role at Carolina, where she spent about twenty-five years, was as a faculty member in Exercise and Sports Science. Yet she loved literature from an early age. After earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Health and Physical Education from Appalachian State University, Salyer decided to pursue a bachelor’s degree in English at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She eventually earned a doctorate from UNCG in ESS.
Despite being an avid reader, Salyer says she read only a few of the books by Page due to fear that she might damage the more fragile ones by excessive handling. She says she always assumed that if she pursued a master’s degree in English, Page’s work would be her thesis topic.
When Salyer recently downsized her library following retirement, she decided to give the Page collection to Ferrum. She kept only one volume: Two Little Confederates, the gift from her grandmother.
