Primary Sources
“Accord Reached to End Strike at Enka Firm.” Daily Times-News (Burlington, N.C.). June 2, 1945.
This news article takes place in 1945 when workers had been striking. The article summarizes the final agreements that took place to get people back to work and happy with the wage. This article helped describe these agreements and the labor relations arguments and resolutions that took place.
American Enka Company Architectural Drawings. Papers. Western Regional Archives. Asheville, NC.
The American Enka Architectural Drawings are a 2,000 paper collection consisting of drawings of the buildings, homes, offices, and other places related to or located in Enka Mill Village. It is housed at the Western Regional Archives in Asheville. These drawings were useful blueprint and maps that help someone understand the layout of the town.
Beaver, Pat. Interview by author. October 1, 2021. Interview 1. Transcript. Ramsey Library Special Collections, University of North Carolina at Asheville, Asheville, NC.
The author interviewed Pat Beaver for this project who lived in the Enka Village for a number of years as a child. She gave lots of insight into what it was like to live there from a child’s perspective.
Boyle, John. “Enka Clock Tower Will Be Preserved, Planning Meeting Next Up.” Asheville Citizen Times. November 30, 2020.
Newspaper article from the Asheville Citizen Times all about the Enka Clock Tower ultimately being preserved. Helps to provide context to what the clocktower was and why (as well as who pushed for it) it was preserved.
“Enka Strikers Return to Work: Actions of U.S. Army Ends Asheville Strike.” Rocky Mount Telegram. February 19, 1945.
The article from the Rocky Mount Telegram was monumental in understanding an event that took place in February 1945 when workers could not reach an agreement on compensation so they went on strike and didn’t return until the Federal Government took over.
Enka Voice. Papers. From the private collection of Becca Norris. Asheville, NC.
This is a collection of copies of the Enka Voice, a company newsletter distributed monthly every year from the time they opened until pretty much when they closed. This newsletter talked about daily life at Enka which has been extremely helpful to learn a little bit about every day operations at Enka Plant, as well as how the town operated. It gave insight into services provided such as education, a credit union, and more to the families of the American Enka Company.
Information for Factory Workers. Enka, North Carolina: American Enka Corporation. 1934.
This little booklet has information on wages, overtime, hiring, workmen’s compensation and more. It helped the author understand what Enka’s policies and procedures for these things were.
Lee v. American Enka Corp., 212 N.C. 455, 193 S.E. 809 (N.C. 1937)
The court case cited was an important piece of the Labor Relations page. It helped explain some issues that workers had with the company and helps to understand the worker’s compensation policy a bit more.
“N.C. Textile Plant Seizure Authorized: Enka Officials, Labor Refuse to Mediate.” Knoxville-News Sentinel. February 19, 1945.
This newspaper article covered the seizure of the Enka factory by federal authorities in 1945 during World War II. This event was covered relatively extensively in a paragraph on the World War II page because it showed a lot about the problems Enka was having at the time.
“Operations Stopped After 1,500 Union Employes Walk Out.” Asheville Citizen-Times. March 23, 1941.
The Asheville Citizen-Times article was about the employee walk out that took place in March 1941 due to union strikes and wage disagreements. This helps provide more information about the events that took place during Enka’s various issues with their workers.
The Robesonian (Lumberton, N.C.). September 27, 1928. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/86608151/ (accessed September 30, 2021).
This news article gave information about the construction of the Enka Plant. It was helpful in providing information about the cost of building it.
Silveri, Louis. “J. Wilson Ayers.” transcript of an oral history conducted 1975 by Dr. Louis Silveri. Southern Highlands Research Center, Ramsey Library, University of North Carolina, Asheville.
This oral history is a great primary source from Ramsey Library’s Special Collections website. The interview was conducted by Louis Silveri for a Southern Highlands Research Center project. J. Wilson Ayers was the editor of the Enka Voice, a newsletter distributed throughout the company. This source was helpful in learning more about the newsletter as well as daily life at the Enka Plant.
“Union May Call Strike at Enka.” Rocky Mount Telegram. May 27, 1951.
This newspaper article refers to the union that Enka workers were part of and it covers the discourse between workers and the corporation. It also covers how the workers were planning to strike. These strikes were fairly common for Enka but this article illustrates some of the issues workers had and illustrates one instance of the strikes.
Wesley Lee v. American Enka Corporation and Fred Baker. State Archives of North Carolina. Supreme Court Record Group. Original Cases File. Fall. 1937. 37F-27.
The transcript of the court case decision was used as a visual aid so the reader can read the exact words of the final decision in this court case.
Image Citations
Aerial View of American Enka Plant. Courtesy of Asheville Citizen-Times. Accessed October 28, 2021.
This was useful because it provided imagery of what the factory looked like at one point during operations from an aerial viewpoint. It really helped put the full scale of the entire place into perspective.
American Enka Corporation. Boundary Lines for Community Store. December 11, 1931. American Enka Company Architectural Drawings. Western Regional Archives.
This architectural drawing shows the community store in relation to where it was located off Sand Hill Road. It provides some insight as to how the town was laid out and where things like the community store or library were located.
American Enka Corporation. First Section Enka Village. December 21, 1940. Buncombe County Special Collections.
This architectural drawing helps to explain the layout of some of the residential areas. It listed several of the recognizable roads in that area that are still there today, such as Lake Drive, Sand Hill Road, and Orchard Avenue.
American Enka Corporation. Preliminary Plan of an Industrial Town. November 23, 1928. Buncombe County Special Collections.
This Preliminary Plan is most certainly a plan. It shows the entire village in full, or at least how it was planned to look. The drawing really helps to lock in just how massive Enka Village was and how many people lived there and worked for the company.
Key Map for Community Store. February 2, 1931. American Enka Company Architectural Drawings. Western Regional Archives.
This map shows the community store layout which is helpful in understanding the layout of the sorts of services Enka provided like a post office and store.
Lockwood Greene Engineers, Inc. 5 Room House Type No. 7. December 21, 1928. American Enka Company Architectural Drawings. Western Regional Archives.
This architectural drawing shows a typical 5 room home layout that would have been occupied by a worker and their family. This drawing is used to visually display a typical layout and the size of the homes that most workers lived in.
Proposed Layout For Post Office. January 16, 1931. American Enka Company Architectural Drawings. Western Regional Archives.
The proposed layout for the post office helps one to understand what the community aspects of the village looked like. It helps one visualize the buildings utilized by workers and their families and the types of services Enka provided.
William Waldo Dodge Jr., Residence Mr. Moritz American Enka Corporation. January 7, 1929. American Enka Company Architectural Drawings. Western Regional Archives.
The architectural drawing for Mr. Moritz’s home is useful because Mr. Moritz was president of the company and came with all the other Dutch people to help start Enka in the US. The drawing displays the planned layout for his home which is fairly grand and large in scale, much different from the workers’ homes. This allows one to see the differences between the officers of the company and the workers.
Secondary Sources
Byerly, Victoria. Hard Times Cotton Mill Girls: Personal Histories of Womanhood and Poverty in the South. New York: Cornell University, 1986.
Victoria Byerly’s scholarship titled Hard Times Cotton Mill Girls provides information about women’s labor history. It helps one understand textile mill work in the south and especially what it was like to work in textile mills as a woman.
Byrd, Travis. Unraveled: Labor Strife and Carolina Folk during the Marion Textile Strikes of 1929. Tennessee: University of Tennessee Press, 2015.
This book is all about labor unrest, mill strikes, and the unionization of textile mills in the 20th century. It provided insight into unions and mill strikes, especially since Enka was unionized.
Chase, Nan. Asheville: A History: Contributions to Southern Appalachia Studies. North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2007.
This book can provide context about Asheville’s history and what was going on in Western North Carolina during the 20th century, when Enka was in operation. This was helpful in understanding what life was like not only in Enka, but also for the rest of the population throughout the 1900s.
Clark, Daniel C. Like Night and Day: Unionization in a Southern Mill Town. North Carolina: University of North Carolina Press, 2000.
This book is all about unionization in Henderson, North Carolina post-World War II. Enka was unionized, and World War II played a decently huge role in mill village life at Enka so this source provides context into those aspects of the company. This book helps one understand unions in the south a bit more.
Franks, Kathryn Anne. “Enka North Carolina: New Planning in an Early Twentieth Century Southern Mill Town.” 1990.
Frank’s thesis on Enka as a planned town and mill village provides insight into the planning of Enka from a historic preservation standpoint. It helped the author understand the layout of the community and the types of homes people lived in and why it was like that, as a Dutch community.
Glass, Brent D. The Textile Industry in North Carolina: A History. North Carolina: University of North Carolina Press, 1992.
This book looks at the history of the textile industry in North Carolina. It goes all the way into the 1980s and talks about buy-outs and the closing of many mills across the state. Enka was one of the mills that closed in the 1980s and was incorporated into another company before shutting down completely. This book was important in understanding how textile mills in the south and North Carolina specifically worked (especially in the 20th century).
Hall, Jacquelyn Dowd. “Disorderly Women: Gender and Labor Militancy in the Appalachian South.” The Journal of American History, 73, no. 2 (1986): 354-82.
This journal article provided information about women and labor history in the south. This is important because women did work for Enka and it was a southern milll village despite being Dutch.
Hall, Jacquelyn Dowd. Like a Family: The Making of a Southern Cotton Mill World. North Carolina: University of North Carolina Press, 1987.
Jacquelyn Hall’s book Like a Family looked at the southern mill industry and groups of people and families that worked at various mills in North and South Carolina.
Hollins, Hunter. “The War Bond Poster: State Fundraising and National Cohesion Through Mass Media During the World Wars.” Journal of the Society for History in the Federal Government, no. 7 (2015): 50. http://www.shfg.org/resources/Documents/FH%207%20(2015)%20Hollins.pdf.
This journal article goes into detail about war bond posters and war bonds during World War I and II. It helped provide some context regarding these posters and what bonds were used for during the war effort as a way to finance the government.
Knowlton, Steven. “About Historiography – Historiography – Research Guides at Princeton University.” Princeton University. The Trustees of Princeton University, August 27, 2020. https://libguides.princeton.edu/historiography#s-lg-box-1604641.
Steven Knowlton’s definition of a historiography helped to describe what one is meant to do. It helps explain it to the every day reader of this website, who might not specialize in history or understand the components of a historical research paper.
McHugh, Cathy L. “Schooling in the Post-Bellum Southern Cotton Mill Villages.” Journal of Social History 20, no. 1 (1986): 149-61.
This article takes a look at the school system in the southern mill villages. It helps to understand how schooling worked.
Tullos, Allen. Habits of Industry: White Culture and the Transformation of the Carolina Piedmont. North Carolina: University of North Carolina Press, 2017.
Allen Tullos’ Habits of Industry focuses on labor history in North Carolina. One specific thing Tullos focused on was the transition between agriculture and industrial labor. This was something similar that occurred at Enka since workers were used to farming in Western North Carolina and then transitioned to working in a factory.
Simon, Bryant. A Fabric of Defeat. North Carolina: University of North Carolina Press, 1998.
Bryant Simon’s Fabric of Defeat is about labor history in North Carolina. It contributed information about politics and how that related to the labor industry in North Carolina. This was helpful because many workers at Enka participated in some form of political activism and in their case it was usually wage strikes.
Wilhelm, Christopher J. “Cultural Modernization in Southern Cotton Mills.” 2004.
This Master’s Thesis was a great place to learn about the southern mill industry, especially since he mentioned North Carolina mills. It contributed information about the culture of North Carolina mill village life.
Wilkins, Mira. “Dutch Multinational Enterprises in the United States: A Historical Summary.” The Business History Review 79, no. 2 (2005): 193-273. Accessed March 22, 2021. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25097027.
This article takes a look at economics and the drive for Dutch corporations to build companies elsewhere, especially in the United States, and especially post-World War II. It does mention Enka Mill and how that was started by a Dutch corporation. Overall, this article is helpful in understanding the reasons behind European companies opening up locations in the US, such as American Enka.
