The Roanoker March/April 2024 - 18

Gist
Local Historian Chronicles
the '50s in New Book
written by Sarah Riddell
From entertainment and arts to business and politics, Nelson Harris gives
readers the scoop on this " celebratory and cautionary " decade.
Harris' newest local history volume releases on May 6.
N
elson Harris' journey to writing about the
Roanoke Valley's history began with
a collection of postcards and a stroke
of luck. " Browsing through a bookstore
while out of town, I saw a book
on 'Lexington in Vintage Postcards' and realized
I could possibly do the same for Roanoke, "
he says.
The more he researched for the project, the
deeper his appreciation for the area and its past
became. Harris has since produced 13 additional
titles with Arcadia Publishing, with his
latest work, " The Roanoke Valley in the 1950s, "
coming out on May 6.
The inspiration behind the book is the
same as that of its predecessor, which focused
on the 1940s: to provide a detailed recounting
of the happenings throughout a 10-year span
that shaped and continue to impact not just
Roanoke City, but the valley in its entirety.
While similar to " The Roanoke Valley in the
1940s, " the 1950s installment is " quite substantial. "
It features over 700 pages and 300 archival
photos, giving wide-spectrum coverage of the
ins and outs of a decade that saw both triumphs
and turbulence. Community staples like Mill
Mountain Zoo, Vinton's Dogwood Festival and
Roanoke Symphony Orchestra were established,
18 MARCH/APRIL 2024
Roanoke's Diamond Jubilee and Salem's sesquicentennial
were celebrated and high-profile
entertainers visited the area on the regular.
During the same time period, local lives were
lost as some of the region's own fought in the
Korean War, urban renewal left many displaced
in northeast Roanoke and the US Supreme
Court delivered its verdict on Brown v. Board
of Education. " So the decade was quite dynamic
on many fronts, " remarks Harris.
There are still loads of the Roanoke Valley's
past left to explore, and this local historian,
who writes this magazine's Strange Days of
Roanoke column (see page 10), already has
ideas for what he hopes to focus on next. " I
would welcome the opportunity to do a book
on the Roanoke Valley in the 1960s, and I have
been working on a book on the history of Mill
Mountain/South Roanoke for some time that
I would like to finalize. "
Harris couldn't be more grateful for the support
he's received from Sheila Umberger, director
of Roanoke Public Libraries, the Roanoke
Public Library Foundation and the individuals
at local museums who work tirelessly to
preserve the valley's history. " Without such
resources, I could not have written any of my
books. " I
Helping
Others Up
written by Georgianne Vecellio
National Volunteer Week is April
21-27, and the perfect time to
give back to the community in
big ways, including at Habitat for
Humanity.
D
ave Tate wants to talk to you, especially
in his official capacity
as director of development at
Habitat for Humanity in the
Roanoke Valley. Since joining
the organization in July 2023, Tate has
spent his days working on public and
media relations, marketing and writing
grants, but his primary tasks are looking
for sponsorships for individual homes
to be built by Habitat and developing
TheRoanoker.com
COURTESY OF NELSON HARRIS / COURTESY OF DAVE TATE
http://www.TheRoanoker.com
The Roanoker March/April 2024

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