Pulley, Raymond H.

Raymond H. Pulley was a professor of history at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1966-1973, and at Appalachian State University, 1973-1995. While a student at Oscar Frommel Smith High School in South Norfolk, Va., 1955-1957, Pulley worked as an engineer and disc jockey at the student-run radio station WOSFM, hosting "The Cuzin' Ray Hoedown," a daily two-hour program that featured rock and roll, country, and hillbilly music. On 12 February 1956, Pulley interviewed Elvis Presley, Maybelle Carter, Helen Carter, June Carter, and Anita Carter in conjunction with their appearance at the Norfolk Municipal Auditorium. The collection contains materials assembled by Raymond Pulley when he hosted "The Cuzin' Ray Hoedown" radio program. Included are news clippings about the station; Cuzin' Ray letterhead; a Carl Smith Award presented to the radio station; sheet music; publicity photographs (many autographed) of country and pop musicians including Roy Acuff, Jack Anglin, Anita Carter, Helen Carter, June Carter Cash, Maybelle Carter, the Chordettes, the Clinch Mountain Clan, Stoney Cooper, Wilma Lee Cooper, Red Foley, Bill Hayes, Sonny James, the Louvin Brothers, Marion Marlowe, Benny Martin, Dusty Owens, Webb Pierce, Elvis Presley, Jerry Reed, Jim Reeves, Mimi Roman, Tommy Smith, Hank Snow, Ernest Tubb, Justin Tubb, Kitty Wells, the Wilburn Brothers, Johnnie Wright, and Faron Young; 45-rpm single recordings by Johnny Cash and Elvis Presley on the Sun Records label; and an open-reel audiotape of interviews conducted on 12 February 1956 with Elvis Presley, Maybelle Carter, Helen Carter, June Carter Cash, and Anita Carter. There are also photographs of those interview sessions and of the artists performing on stage.

Raymond H. Pulley was a professor of history at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill from 1966 to 1973 and at Appalachian State University from 1973 to 1995, where he also developed and managed an administrative computer training program. He is the author of Old Virginia Restored: An Interpretation of the Progressive Impulse, published in 1968 by the University Press of Virginia.

While a student at Oscar Frommel Smith High School in South Norfolk, Va., from 1955 through 1957, Pulley, an avid collector of records and musical memorabilia, worked as an engineer and disc jockey at the student-run radio station WOSFM, the first educational FM station in Virginia. As Cuzin' Ray, he hosted a daily two-hour program, The Cuzin' Ray Hoedown, which featured rock and roll, country, and hillbilly music. When Elvis Presley and Mother Maybelle Carter and the Carter Sisters played at the Norfolk Municipal Auditorium on 12 February 1956, Pulley conducted interviews with them that aired on the program.