Mac Whatley

Director of Local History and Genealogy Resources

Mac is the Director of Local History and Genealogy Resources at the Randolph County Public Library, having retired after practicing law for thirty years. He is a graduate of Asheboro High School (class of 1973), Harvard University (BA 1977), UNC-Chapel Hill (MSLS 1985), and NC Central School of Law (JD 1988). He worked as an archeologist for the State of Virginia and an architectural historian for the State of North Carolina. He has served as Mayor or Commissioner of the Town of Franklinville for more than 30 years. He is the author of The Architectural History of Randolph County (1985) and Randolph County: A Pictorial History (2010). He was the Adjunct Curator of Industrial Machinery for the American Textile History Museum until it ceased operations in 2017. He managed to preserve most of that ASME landmark collection by warehousing it in North Carolina and hoping for better appreciation of our industrial heritage.