The Descendants of Captain Thomas Carter 1652-1912. This rare, monumental, and massive  genealogical work, published in 1912, details tens of thousands of Carter & allied family descendants. The most detailed and extensive Carter genealogy work ever published. It is the source book for Carter research.

Many of the items are not especially rare, but they include autographed biographies of Cash and wife June Carter Cash, songbooks, photographs, programs and other odd memorabilia — such as Maybelle Carter’s hunting and fishing license.

Not to mention her Holiday Inn “Inner Circle” card. And a collectible seat cushion. And the funeral programs for Johnny and June.

“There are definitely some quirky items,” said Kira Dietz, acquisition and processing archivist for Tech’s Special Collections department at Newman Library.

Special Collections obtained the items from a Tennessee-based memorabilia dealer. Most items were purchased at an unspecified cost; others were donated. The department began acquiring the items in June.

Dietz said the materials help “to document Southwest Virginia history.”

“The Carter-Cash materials will appeal to people interested in our social history,” she said. “Part of that social history is bluegrass and country music, which has long-standing ties to this region.”

The original Carter Family was a trio that consisted of husband-and-wife tandem Alvin Pleasant “A.P.” and Sara Carter, and sister-in-law Maybelle Carter, who was married to A.P.’s brother, Ezra.

In 1927, the Carters journeyed from their Scott County home of Maces Springs to Bristol, Tenn., where they participated in an important recording session for the Victor Talking Machine Co. The session made the Carters famous and launched a family musical career that would stretch at least three generations.

Many of their best-known songs — “Wildwood Flower,” “Keep on the Sunny Side” and “Will the Circle Be Unbroken” among them — are still country and bluegrass staples. The group was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1970.

After A.P. and Sara Carter divorced, the group went through incarnations that included Maybelle’s daughters, one of whom — June — would marry country music star Johnny Cash in 1968.

Two of A.P. and Sara’s children, Joe and Janette, operated the Carter Fold, a rustic music venue near the family homestead in Hiltons. The fold plays host to weekly music performances and was the scene of Cash’s last public performance shortly before his death in 2003.

Some of the Carter-Cash materials are expected to be put on public display at the library within a couple of weeks, Dietz said. After that, the materials will be available for research.

The original group consisted of Alvin Pleasant “A.P.” Delaney Carter (1891-1960), his wife Sara Dougherty Carter (1898-1979), and his sister-in-law Maybelle Addington Carter (1909-1978). Maybelle was married to A.P.’s brother Ezra (Eck) Carter and was also Sara’s first cousin. All three were born and raised in southwestern Virginia, where they were immersed in the tight harmonies of mountain gospel music and shape note singing. Maybelle’s distinctive guitar playing style became a hallmark of the group.