Durham Bibliography

Learn more about the history and architecture of Durham. Discover the famous families behind Durham’s tobacco, textile, and insurance enterprises. See childhood through the eyes of a young black woman growing up here mid-century. Or, curl up with works of fiction set in Durham.

In preparation for a visit or to follow-up on intriguing facts from your stay, consult this bibliography compiled by staff of the Durham County Library.

Durham County Library
300 N. Roxboro St., Downtown Durham
North Carolina Collection: (919) 560-0171
Readers' Advisory Room and Fiction Collection: (919) 560-0147

History/Architecture

  • Anderson, Jean Bradley. A History of Durham County, North Carolina, 1991.
  • Boyd, William Kenneth. The Story of Durham: City of the New South, Durham, NC, 1925.
  • Darkis Jr., Fred. Durham, North Carolina, City of Medicine, USA, 1991.
  • Dixon, Wyatt. How Times Do Change: a Series of Sketches of Durham and Her Citizens, 1987.
  • Dula, W.C. Durham and Her People: Combining History and Who's Who in Durham of1949 and 1950, 1951.
  • Flowers, John Baxton. Bull Durham and Beyond: A Touring Guide to City and County, 1976.
  • Greene, Christina. Separate Ways: Women and the Black Freedom Movement in Durham, North Carolina. 2005.
  • King, William E. If Gargoyles Could Talk. 1997.
  • Kostyu, Joel A. and Frank A. Durham: a Pictorial History, 1978.
  • Lougee, George. Durham My Home Town, 1990.
  • Massengill, Stephen E. Durham, North Carolina: a Postcard History, 1997.
  • Reynolds, P. Preston. History of Watts Hospital of Durham, 1992.
  • Roberts, Claudia P., et al. The Durham Architectural and Historic Inventory, 1982.
  • Vann, Andre, and Beverly Washington Jones. Durham’s Hayti. 1999.
  • Wise, Jim. Durham: a Bull City Story, 2002.

Growing Up In Durham

  • Davidson, Osha Gray. The Best of Enemies: Race and Redemption in the New South, 1996.
  • Evans, Eli. The Provincials: A Personal History of Jews in the South, 1973.
  • Holloway, Betsy. Heaven for Beginners: Recollections of a Southern Town, 1986.
  • Holloway, Betsy. Unfinished Heaven, 1994.
  • Leyburn, James G. The Way We Lived—Durham 1900-1920, 1989.
  • Lougee, George. Durham My Home Town, 1990.
  • Mebane, Mary E. Mary, 1981.
  • Murray, Pauli. Proud Shoes: The Story of a Family, 1978.
  • Webb, Mena. The Way We Were: Remembering Durham, 2003.

Famous Families/Business

  • Anderson, Jean Bradley. Piedmont Plantation: The Bennehan-Cameron Family and Lands in North Carolina, 1985.
  • Covington, Howard E. Jr..Favored by Fortune: George W. Watts & the Hills of Durham. 2004.
  • Durden, Robert F. Dukes of Durham, 1865-1929, 1975.
  • Durden, Robert F. Bold Entrepreneur: The Life of James B. Duke. 2003.
  • Roberts, B.W.C. and Snow L., Bull Durham Business Bonanza, 1866-1940. 2002.
  • Weare, Walter B. Black Business in the New South: a Social History of the North CarolinaMutual Life Insurance Company, 1973.
  • Webb, Mena. Jule Carr: General Without an Army, 1987.

Fiction And Poetry

  • Applewhite, James. River Writing: An Eno Journal, 1988.
  • Cannon, Taffy. Convictions: A Novel of the Sixties, 1985.
  • Dinin, Aaron. The Krzyzewskiville Tales. 2005.
  • Edgerton, Clyde. Raney, 1985; Walking Across Egypt, 1987; Floatplane Notebooks, 1988.
  • Ehle, John. Move Over Mountain, 1957.
  • FitzSimmons, Foster. Bright Leaf, 1948.
  • Kremen, Barbara H. Tree Trove, 1985.
  • McKay, Amanda. Death is Academic, 1976; Death on the Eno, 1981.
  • Parker, Gwendolyn M. These Same Long Bones, 1994.
  • Patterson, James. Kiss The Girls, 1995.
  • Patton, Frances Gray. Good Morning Miss Dove, 1954.
  • Rogers, Gloree. Love, or a Reasonable Facsimile, 1989.
  • Seeman, Ernest. American Gold, 1978.
  • Sharp, Paula. The Woman Who Was Not All There, 1988.
  • Slaughter, Jane M. Espy and the Catnappers, 1975.
  • Wolfe, Thomas. Streets of Durham, 1982.