St. Clair wins state history contest

Price St. Clair, 11, of Boone, recently won a statewide history contest in the elementary (fourth/fifth grade) literary division for his paper, "The Night the Lights Came on in Raleigh."

He summarizes an oral history interview he conducted with his great-grandfather, Dr. E.W. "Buddy" Price Jr., 91, of Banner Elk.

As a 9-year-old, Price attended the first-ever floodlighting of the state capital building in Raleigh on Oct. 15, 1929. The lighting was held in conjunction with a national event, the Lights' Golden Jubilee, which commemorated the 50th anniversary of Thomas Edison's invention of the light bulb. Several dignitaries attended the ceremonies at the capitol, and the keynote speaker was the then-governor of New York, Franklin D. Roosevelt.

The history contest was sponsored by the Tar Heel Junior Historian Association (THJHA) through the N.C. Museum of History in Raleigh. The THJHA was created in 1953 "to encourage North Carolina students in the study of their local communities' and state's histories."

Junior historian clubs include students from grades four through 12. The winning entries from each of the contest categories will be displayed at the N.C. Museum of History for one year. For more information about forming a chapter of the THJHA, or about the North Carolina Museum of History, visit ncmuseumofhistory.org/thjha.