Julia A. Purnell Museum to take over after agreement with Dr. Clara Small ended

By Josh Davis, Associate Editor

(Feb. 8, 2018) Plans for Snow Hill to sponsor a book on the cultural heritage of the town were revived last week, with the Julia A. Purnell Museum officially taking over the project.

The town parted ways with retired Salisbury University professor Dr. Clara Small late last year, ending a two-year agreement that reportedly was for $3,000. Small spent four decades teaching African-American History at Salisbury University and has authored several nonfiction books on the subject.

Town officials, during a work session last Tuesday, said Small was unresponsive to requests for updates on the project. Mayor Charlie Dorman said he planned to write a letter, asking for any work she had done and potentially requesting at least a partial refund.

Fulfilling Dorman’s promise in November to continue the project, the town agreed to contribute $5,000 to the Purnell Museum. The nonprofit will provide another $5,000 through grants to reach the total project cost.

Purnell Museum Executive Director Dr. Cindy Byrd is expected to oversee development of the book, with Linda Duyer writing the text. Between the two women, Byrd said they had produced more than 20 books on a wide range of topics.

Of the $10,000 budgeted, Byrd said $3,000 would go to the primary researcher and writer, Duyer, with $2,000 going to printing and $5,000 set aside for museum tie-in programming, ISBN registration, copyright permissions and other related expenses. The museum will own the copyright.

Duyer will be paid $500 per month for six months, with Byrd providing regular progress updates during town meetings.

“Each month she meets with me and I see the progress that’s being made, so that there’s accountability,” Byrd said. “She actually does write books [and] completes them on time, so she has a long record of actually doing this – both of us do.”

Byrd asked for and received a two-year window to complete the project, and was given permission to compose a new outline for the book.

“I was thinking we might divide it into themes, instead of straight up chronologically,” she said, adding those themes could include working on the river, agricultural traditions, architecture and church and family life.

Dorman said there were rumors Harriet Tubman’s famed Underground Railroad at one time ran through Snow Hill.

“If that is there, we’ll find it,” Byrd said. “And we have an African-America oral history that we did some years before I started at the museum, and all of that material is still there. We still have the transcripts and recordings … so we have lots of good connections and stuff that could kind of move this along maybe a little faster than it would otherwise.”