When searching for history of the city or county, locate books and maps through the online catalog. Some useful general subject headings are: Greenville (N.C.)--History; Pitt County (N.C.)--Description-Views; Greenville (N.C.)--Biography; Greenville (N.C.)--Buildings, structures, etc.; Pitt County (N.C.)--Politics and government; Pitt County (N.C.)--Social life and customs

• Boccaccio, Mary. Pitt County: Eastern Reflections. Charleston, S.C.: Arcadia, 1998.
  NoCar Ref F262.P6 B63 1998; NoCar F264.P6 B63 1998
  
  
• Bratton, Mary Jo. Greenville: Heart of the East: an illustrated history. Chatsworth, Calif.: Windsor Publications, 1991.
  NoCar Ref F264.G83 B72 1991; NoCar F264.G83 B72 1991
  
  
• Cotten, Sallie Southall. Greenville on the Tar. 1906?
  NoCar Ref F264.G83 C67x 1906a; NoCar F264.G83 C67x 1906a
  
  
• Duncan, John G. Pitt County Potpourri. Greenville, N.C.: East Carolina College, 1966.
  NoCar Ref F262.P6 D76x; NoCar F262.P6 D76x 1976; also microfilm
  
  
• Illustrated City of Greenville, Pitt County, North Carolina. 1914.
  NoCar Ref Oversize F264.G72 I44 1914; NoCar Rare Oversize F264.G72 I44 1914; Solinet Microfilm Reel 7891;
  also available online at: http://digital.lib.ecu.edu/exhibits/tobacco/htmlFiles/GVIL1.html
  
  
• King, Henry T. Sketches of Pitt County. Greenville: ERA Press, 1976. (Reprint of 1911, with introduction and index.)
  NoCar Ref F262.P6 K56 1976; NoCar F262.P6 K56 1976; the 1911 edition is also available online at:
  http://digital.lib.ecu.edu/historyfiction/item.aspx?id=kis
  
  
• Williams, Thomas A. A Greenville Album: the bicentennial book. Greenville, N.C.: ERA Press, 1974.
  NoCar Ref F264.G83 W54; NoCar F264.G83 W54 In this book you will also find: Wiggins, Marguerite. "A Greenville Bibliography."

 Look also under more specific topics, such as Architecture--North Carolina--Greenville--History; Land use-North Carolina--Greenville-Planning; Public Schools--North Carolina--Pitt County; Historic buildings--North Carolina--Greenville.

• The Architectural Heritage of Greenville, North Carolina. Greenville, N.C.: Greenville Area Preservation Society, 1988.
  NoCar Ref NA735.G7 A73x 1988; NoCar NA735.G7 A73x 1988
  
  
• Horizons: Greenville's Community Plan. Greenville: the City, 1992.
  NoCar Ref HT168.G73 H673 1992

Remember that maps can be very useful and might show where a building, farm, or church was once located. Subject heading: Greenville (N.C.)--Maps

• Map of Greenville, N.C. 1920; Map of Greenville, N.C. 1930.
  Uncataloged. Ask at desk.
  
  
• Map of Greenville, N.C. 1955.
  NoCar Maps G3904.G8 1955 C57 Ask at desk.
  
  
• Map of the City of Greenville 1963.
  NoCar Maps G3904.G8 1963 T3 Ask at desk.
  
  
• City of Greenville, N.C. 1975.
  NoCar Maps G3904.G8 1975 G7
  
  
• Fire Insurance Maps from the Sanborn Map Company. Covers Greenville 1885, 1896, 1898, 1900, 1905, 1911, 1916, 1923, 1929
  NC Microfilm NoCar Sa156b Reel 15; these maps are also available online from the ProQuest Digital Sanborn Map database. Database access is limited to those researcher either working on campus or off campus to those with a Pirate ID and password.
  
  
• Garland P. Stout Maps. Stout researched old maps, deeds, and other records and added historical features to current maps. Ask at desk.

Newspapers also contain a wealth of historical information. Subject heading: Greenville (N.C.)--Newspapers. Most are not indexed but the North Carolina Collection has many papers from the eastern part of the state on microfilm. Older newspapers are not available online, though current ones usually are.

• Eastern Reflector, 1887-1910.
  NC Microfilm
  
  
• King's Weekly, 1895-1902.
  NC Microfilm

Two newspaper indexes that are available are the News and Observer Index in print and on microfilm (see online catalog) and The Daily Reflector Index 1882-1906 available through the North Carolina Collection home page under Genealogy and Local History. Also, selected articles, mainly from the News and Observer and The Daily Reflector, 1991-current with some older, can be located through the Newspaper Clipping File on the North Carolina Collection home page under North Carolina Newspapers. Online researcher can access newspapers electronically through the Newsbank: North Carolina Newspapers database. Database access is limited to those researcher either working on campus or off campus to those with a Pirate ID and password.

Telephone and other directories, too, can provide information on people and businesses and their location during certain years. Subject heading: Greenville (N.C.)--Directories.

• Greenville City Directory (1916-17, 1936-present).
  NoCar Ref F264.G72 A18x

Finally, you can look for individual people, organizations, or institutions, such as Humber, Robert Lee, 1898-1970; Jarvis Memorial Methodist Church; East Carolina University--History

• Bratton, Mary Jo. East Carolina University: the formative years, 1907-1982.
  NoCar LD1741.E44 B73 1986

For journal and magazine articles, search the North Carolina Periodicals Index on the North Carolina Collection home page.

Finally, ask at the desk about the Vertical File. This contains miscellaneous brochures, reports, and other material that doesn't appear in the online catalog. You will find here, for example, folders on "Greenville Cemeteries" and on "Uptown Greenville," which describes redevelopment of the downtown area. The ECU Manuscripts Collection on fourth floor has additional resources.

Searching tips: If you don't know an exact subject heading or title, use a keyword search. You can truncate words to find more possibilities, e.g. Greenville hist* will retrieve "history," "historical," etc.

Guide developed by Nancy Shires (updated August, 2006)