There is another a big job before us. To tell our story we must know the facts and preserve the historic record.

As yet, there is no real MAP OF THE COTTON MILL SOUTH. Over the years some old mill towns and villages have literally dropped off the map, especially those family-owned mills which later experienced corporate take-overs. We need a complete inventory and mapping of the entire industry.

Next, we must document the people of this industry. Cooleemee volunteers have entered the entire census record of their town into a database [1900-1930]. This enabled them to discover that over 80% of the "mill kids" in their 1911 Spinning Room photo could read and write.

With the help of community volunteers and "tech buddies" from nearby community colleges we can create a regional census database using the U.S. Census tracks from 1880-1930.

Last, are thousands of photographs, pay stubs & office records, reed hooks to big looms that must be preserved. Every community needs to get busy now creating their own local archive.

The Textile Heritage Center at Cooleemee has begun planning for a regional digital Cotton Mill South Archives & Gallery to provide storage for digital copies of these items of common life that might otherwise will be lost as their owners pass on. Such a website will be of value to school children and scholars for years to come and is projected to be on-line late in 2005.