As part of the Dan River History Harvest program in 2015, the Pittsylvania County Public Library initiated Tales Told Out of School, an effort to collect and archive items and oral histories related to the history of education in Pittsylvania County.
The project focused on public high schools that have been closed since 1950 in the communities of Brosville, Callands, Climax, Northside (Gretna), Schoolfield, Southside (Danville and Blairs), Spring Garden, Renan, and Whitmell. Items of interest shared with us during this project included, but were not limited to, yearbooks, graduation programs, assembly programs, team sport rosters and scorebooks, school newspapers, and photographs of various school clubs, organizations and activities.
The target audience for the project included anyone in the county who attended or had some other contact or experience with the local school system through 1950. Family members with inherited memorabilia of interest were also invited to participate.
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Included below are two oral histories, the first conducted with Glenn Giles, who graduated from Chatham High School in Chatham, Virginia in 1948; the second with Edward Hairston, who graduated from Southside High School in Blairs, Virginia, in 1966.
