“When I Was at UNC”: Preserving the Work and Legacy of Student Organizations through Documentation

Student organizations have long been integral to the UNC experience, with more than 600 clubs, societies, and other groups in existence today.

On Tuesday, March 26, the University Archives will host “‘When I Was at UNC’: Preserving the Work and Legacy of Student Organizations through Documentation” at 5:30 p.m. in the UNC Student Union Room 3201.

The program will describe how student organizations can make their mark on Carolina permanent and ensure that their accomplishments are remembered by future generations.

It will also feature a display of manuscripts and photographs on the history of student organizations at UNC, scrapbooks from early fraternities, the original charter of the Campus YMCA, and old Yackety Yack yearbooks.

The event, sponsored by University Archives and Records Management Services and the Office of Student Activities and Organizations, will be presented by graduate students Carla Davis-Castro and Morgan Jones.

Students who have or know of materials relating to student organizations at UNC can also contact UNC Archivist Jay Gaidmore at (919) 962-6402 or gaidmore@email.unc.edu.

Related links:

• Why Donate Your Organization’s Records (Information from University Archives and Records Management Services)
• Student organizations virtual exhibit from the Virtual Museum of University History

Hurricane Hazel at Carolina Beach, 1954. Photograph by Hugh Morton.

The Wilson Library exhibit Photographic Angles: News Photography in the North Carolina Collection will remain on view until Feb. 10, 2013.

The exhibit is in the North Carolina Collection Gallery on the main floor of Wilson Library.

The extension offers an additional week to view 30 published and unpublished photographs taken for the News & Observer of Raleigh, the Daily Tar Heel, the Durham Herald-Sun, and other newspapers from 1891 through 2000. The images show how photographers use low camera angles, wide-angle lenses, and personal perspectives to create compelling news photographs.

The photojournalists represented include Hugh Morton (UNC ’43); UNC School of Journalism and Mass Communication faculty members Jock Lauterer (UNC ’67) and Paul Cuadros; Roland Giduz (UNC ’48), former editor of The Chapel Hill News Leader and The News of Orange County; Charlotte Observer photographer Don Sturkey; and The Hatterasman author Ben Dixon MacNeill.

The exhibit is sponsored by the North Carolina Collection and draws on the holdings of its North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives.

Hurricane Hazel at Carolina Beach, 1954. Photograph by Hugh Morton.

The work of photojournalism will be the subject of a lecture by former Daily Tar Heel student photographer James Wallace (’64) on Nov. 1 at Wilson Library.

The 5:30 p.m. talk, sponsored by the Friends of the Library, Wilson Library’s North Carolina Collection, and the Center for the Study of the American South, is part of the Center’s James A. Hutchins Lecture series. It also serves as the keynote for a Civil Rights in Chapel Hill Celebration Weekend taking place Nov. 1-3 at locations around Chapel Hill and Durham.

Beginning at 5 p.m., attendees can enjoy a special viewing of the North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives exhibit Photographic Angles: News Photography in the North Carolina Collection.

The theme for Wallace’s lecture will be “That we may know by our eyes,” and he will also discuss his new book of photographs, Courage in the Moment: The Civil Rights Struggle, 1961–1964. Also presenting will be Patrick Davison, associate professor of journalism at UNC, who will examine the current and future state of the photojournalism profession.

Davison previously worked as a staff photojournalist at the Rocky Mountain News (Denver) and the Dallas Morning News.

Wallace served for 25 years as director of Imaging and Photographic Services at the Smithsonian Institution, and currently serves on the board of advisers of the UNC School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

The exhibit features 30 published and unpublished photographs taken for the News & Observer of Raleigh, the Daily Tar Heel, the Durham Herald-Sun, and other newspapers from 1891 through 2000. The images show how photographers use low camera angles, wide-angle lenses, and personal perspectives to create compelling news photographs.

The exhibit will be on view through February 3, 2013. February 10, 2013.

Among the photojournalists represented are Hugh Morton (UNC ’43); UNC School of Journalism and Mass Communication faculty members Jock Lauterer (UNC ’67) and Paul Cuadros; Roland Giduz (UNC ’48), former editor of The Chapel Hill News Leader and The News of Orange County; Charlotte Observer photographer Don Sturkey; and The Hatterasman author Ben Dixon MacNeill.

The exhibit is sponsored by the North Carolina Collection and draws on the holdings of its North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives.

The website www.jacksoncenter.info/events contains complete schedule information for the Civil Rights in Chapel Hill Weekend.

Download event flier (pdf)

Gridiron Glory Film Showings
Saturday, Oct. 27, 2012
9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. (continuous 20-minute loop)
Wilson Library, Pleasants Family Assembly Room
Free and open to the public
Information: (919) 962-3765 or wilsonlibrary@unc.edu

The football rivalry between UNC and North Carolina State University will be played out in the archives as well as on the field Oct. 27.

In this third annual Gridiron Glory event, great football moments from UNC’s past will again be on view in the Wilson Special Collections Library, from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The 20-minute film, Gridiron Glory, will run in a continuous loop during the University’s Tar Heel Town pregame festivities.

New this year, the UNC University Archives and the NCSU University Archives will team up for an exhibit of football memorabilia from both schools. Programs from past match-ups between the two, historical photographs of both teams, and student newspapers will be on view. UNC and NCSU have been football rivals since 1894.

A special feature will be materials from the collection of Jack Hilliard, UNC class of 1963, including pennants, ticket stubs, bubble-gum cards, and sheet music for the song “All The Way Choo Choo” about UNC great Charlie “Choo Choo” Justice.

The film showings and exhibit are free and open to the public.

The archival film clips in Gridiron Glory feature highlights from 13 UNC games played between 1934 and 1985. Woody Durham, who retired last year as the “Voice of the Tar Heels,” provides the narration.

Among the highlights are:

• UNC’s first game against #1-ranked Notre Dame at Yankee Stadium in 1949, with a brief appearance by an injured Charlie “Choo Choo” Justice (#22);
• Justice passing, running, and kicking in the 1950 Cotton Bowl game against Rice University;
• All-America #85 Bob Lacey in the 1963 UNC vs. University of Virginia game;
• #20 “Famous Amos” Lawrence rushing against East Carolina in 1978.

Gridiron Glory films are drawn from the University Archives in Wilson Library, where they are part of the records of the UNC Football Office. Most are original 16mm recordings and are badly in need of repair.

To learn more about the University Archives’ football collections and the efforts to preserve UNC’s football films, contact Jay Gaidmore, University Archivist, gaidmore@email.unc.edu or (919) 962-6402.

Related Links

• Gridiron Glory preview (video selections only, no voice-over)
• Photos of Woody Durham recording sound for Gridiron Glory

"Rose of the Eno" by Alex Armstrong

Photographs of the Eno River as it passes through Durham, N.C., will be on view in the Pleasants Family Assembly Room in Wilson Library through Dec. 31.

The images are the work of Alex Armstrong, a Hillsborough-based artist and photographer.

Armstrong selected the 22 photographs from his series, “Reflections of the Eno,” which documents reflections and optical effects on the river in the Eno River State Park.

“The play of wind, water, and light produces effects that are reminiscent of impressionist works of art,” said Armstrong in an artist’s statement.

“Reflections of the Eno” continues Armstrong’s decades-long interest in landscape photography. His photographs of Hillsborough landmarks are on view at numerous locations, including the Orange County Courthouse, St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church, and the Eno River State Park Office and Museum.

The Wilson Special Collections Library is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays, and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sundays. “Reflections of the Eno” is not available at all times. Call (919) 962-0104 for exhibit availability.

For event information, contact Liza Terll, Friends of the Library, liza_terll@unc.edu, (919) 548-1203.

August 25, 2012
The Banjo: Southern Roots, American Branches (read more)
Symposium and concert inaugurating the Southern Folklife Collection’s Instrument Series. The concert will feature Tony Trischka; Riley Baugus with Kirk Sutphin; and Dom Flemons of the Carolina Chocolate Drops.
10 a.m. – 4 p.m. – Symposium
7:30 p.m. – Concert
Concert in Memorial Hall. Free tickets required from the Memorial Hall box office: 919-843-3333.

August 29, 2012
The Carolina Parakeet and Relatives: A Look at Some Natural, Un-natural, and Cultural Histories (read more)
A talk about the exotic extinct bird, with scientists from the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. In conjunction with the exhibit The Carolina Parakeet in Art: Images from the Powell Collection.
5:15 p.m. – Exhibit viewing; reception for Friends of the Library and guests
5:45 p.m. – Program

Sept. 6, 2012
Preserving Your Intellectual Legacy at UNC: An Information Session for Faculty and Staff Nearing Retirement (read more)
Retiring faculty and staff members can get answers to the question “What do I do with my books and papers?” Spouses and guests are welcome.
4 p.m. – Program followed by reception

September 13, 2012
Two Captains from Carolina: Moses Grandy, John Newland Maffitt, and the Coming of the Civil War (read more)
UNC professor Bland Simpson shares a grand tale of race and maritime culture in the antebellum South.
5 p.m. – Reception for Friends of the Library and guests
5:30 p.m. – Program

September 14-15, 2012
“To Gain Attention to Their Various Claims”: Historic Political Campaigns in North Carolina (read more)
An examination of significant North Carolina campaigns from the 19^th and 20^th centuries. Dinner will feature a moderated discussion between Republican strategist Carter Wrenn and Democratic political consultant Gary Pearce. (Conference: $10 per person. Dinner: $50 per seat.)
Visit the conference website for schedule information.

September 20, 2012
Rufus Edmisten Watergate Materials (read more)
Chancellor Holden Thorp interviews Rufus Edmisten, Deputy Chief Counsel to the Watergate Committee, honoring the donation of Edmisten’s papers to the Southern Historical Collection.
5 p.m. – Display of selected materials from the Edmisten papers and related collections; reception for Friends of the Library and guests
5:30 p.m. – Program

October 2, 2012
First Amendment Day: Banned and in the Rare Book Collection (read more)
Readings from original editions of banned and rare books.
5 p.m. – Display of rare editions; reception for Friends of the Library and guests
5:30 p.m. – Program

October 7, 2012
Honoring Doris Betts
A remembrance of the beloved North Carolina writer and UNC professor, sponsored with the Department of Creative Writing.
3 p.m.
Program in Alumni Hall, Hill Alumni Center

October 11, 2012
Knowledge Capital and Human Flourishing: Educating North Carolinians, 1865-1970 (read more)
Yale historian Glenda Gilmore delivers the keynote address for the second New Voyages to Carolina conference, organized by the North Carolina Office of Archives and History.
5 p.m. – Reception for Friends of the Library and guests
5:30 p.m. – Program

October 25-26, 2012
13 Bak’tun: New Maya Perspectives in 2012 (read more)
A symposium on Maya civilization in recognition of the end of the current great cycle in the Maya Long Count calendar. Programs and exhibits in Wilson Library, the FedEx Global Education Center, and the Morehead Planetarium and Science Center.
Symposium website: http://maya2012.unc.edu/.

October 27, 2012
Gridiron Glory at Carolina (read more)
An encore presentation of archival videos, along with photographs, programs, and memorabilia.
Begins three hours before kickoff.

November 1, 2012
Photojournalist James Wallace (read more)
The James A. Hutchins Lecture, sponsored by the Center for the Study of the American South. In conjunction with the exhibit Photographic Angles: News Photography in the North Carolina Collection.
5 p.m. – Exhibit viewing; reception for Friends of the Library and guests
5:30 p.m. – Program

November 13, 2012
Help Me to Find My People
Heather Williams, associate professor of history at UNC, will discuss and read from her new book about the African American search for family lost in slavery.
5:30 p.m. – Program

December 6, 2012
20^th Annual Winter Stories for Children of All Ages
Special anniversary presentation of a beloved Chapel Hill tradition.
5 p.m. – Cookies and juice
5:30 p.m. – Program

Early Dolly Parton publicity photo, from the Goldband Recording collection in the Southern Folklife Collection.

Dolly Parton’s first recording is among the items that the Southern Folklife Collection (SFC) in the Wilson Special Collections Library will preserve, thanks to a new grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

The $131,765, three-year grant is called “From the Piedmont to the Swamplands: Preserving Southern Traditional Music.” It will help the SFC digitize and make available more than 1,650 hours of rare sound recordings and 4,500 photographs of musical figures from the 1920s to the 1980s.

The Parton recording dates from 1960, when the 13-year-old Dolly traveled by bus from Tennessee to Lake Charles, La. There she recorded “Puppy Love” for the Goldband Recording Corporation. The SFC holds the original master tape for the recording.

Other rarities to be preserved include:

• Studio and field recordings of musicians B.B. King, Elizabeth Cotten, Hazel Dickens, Bob Dylan, Iry LeJune, and Tommy Jarrell;
• African-American musician “Boozoo” Chavis’s “Paper in My Shoe,” the first commercial recording of Zydeco music (1954); and
• Early photographs of the musical Seeger family, whose members include musician and folklorist Mike Seeger and his sister Peggy and half-brother, Pete.

“This grant allows us to preserve national treasures and provide online access to our collections for the first time,” says Steve Weiss, curator of the Southern Folklife Collection.

The SFC will use the grant to preserve materials from four of its most significant collections:

Goldband Recording Corporation Collection, 1930 – 1995 – The Goldband Recording Corporation has played a key role in documenting American musical traditions and shaping tastes since 1944. The grant will digitize the Parton recording and an additional 550 hours of recordings and 1,500 photographs from the Goldband collection.

William R. Ferris Collection, 1910s – 2003 – Ferris is professor of history at UNC and a former director of the National Endowment for the Humanities. The Ferris collection, consisting of music and oral history interviews that he conducted in the 1960s and 1970s, is one of the most comprehensive archival collections documenting the music of the Delta.

Mike Seeger Collection, 1955 – 2002 –  The Seeger collection contains photographs, interviews, performances, and studio and field recordings that document Southern traditional musicians; Seeger’s group, the New Lost City Ramblers; and unedited masters for some of Seeger’s commercial recordings.

John Edwards Memorial Foundation Records, 1960 – 1988 – The SFC acquired the collection of the Foundation dedicated to American folk music in 1983. Its photograph holdings document key figures in Southern traditional music, including artists such as the Carter Family and Jimmie Rodgers.

Once digitized, the materials will be accessible online through the UNC Library website.

Related Links

• “Grant to preserve rare American music recordings and photos” (from UNC News Services)
• Southern Folklife Collection

Download event flier (pdf)

Researching African American Family History Workshop
Saturday, Apr. 14, 2012
Wilson Special Collections Library
9:30 a.m. Coffee and Pastries | Main Lobby
10 a.m.-1 p.m. Program | Pleasants Family Assembly Room
Free and open to the public
Register by emailing Biff Hollingsworth at biff@unc.edu

Information: Liza Terll, Friends of the Library, (919) 548-1203

Researching and preserving African American family history will be the topic of a workshop at UNC on Saturday, Apr. 14.

The workshop will focus on resources and methods for genealogical research; preservation of African American family collections; and use of primary sources in library collections.

The free public event, set for 10 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. in the Wilson Special Collections Library, is being sponsored by the Southern Historical Collection (SHC) and the Friends of the Library. Due to space limitations, attendees are requested to register by emailing Biff Hollingsworth at biff@unc.edu.

Coffee and pastries will be available for workshop participants at 9:30 a.m.

Speakers:

• Dorothy Spruill Redford, former manager of the Somerset Place State Historic Site and the author of Somerset Homecoming: Recovering a Lost Heritage, will discuss use of primary resources such as the Southern Historical Collection’s Pettigrew Family Papers,  Anne Cameron Collins Papers, and Cupola House Papers to document her enslaved ancestors at Somerset Plantation.

• Holly Smith and Biff Hollingsworth, UNC librarians in the Southern Historical Collection, will discuss how to preserve personal collections of archival material and how to use library resources to conduct genealogical research on African Americans.

• Joey Fink of the Southern Oral History Program will share tips for conducting oral history projects.

The workshop is part the African American Family Documentation Initiative, an effort to acquire and make available for research a wide range of archival materials (letters, journals, photographs, and the like) to document the experiences of black North Carolinians and their families.

Also included in the initiative is the exhibit Southern Roots, Enduring Bonds: African American Families in North Carolina, on view in the Southern Historical Collection (4th floor) through July 1, 2012.

The exhibit tells the stories of black families and communities in the South, and encourages African American families to partner with the Library in preserving their family history.

To learn more about the African American Family Documentation Initiative, contact Holly Smith in the Southern Historical Collection at (919) 962-1345 or email wilsonlibrary@unc.edu.

Related Links:

• Southern Historical Collection (SHC)

• Exhibit Encourages African American Families to Preserve Their History

• African American Family Documentation Initiative

• UNC Press page for Dorothy Spruill Redford’s Somerset Homecoming

Update: The application deadline has been extended to March 19, 2012.

UNC students with an interest in documentary photography are invited to apply for one of four North Carolina Documentary Photography Awards. The $1,000 awards will enable the winners to pursue an independent documentary photography project in North Carolina during summer 2012

The North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives in the Wilson Special Collections Library is sponsoring the awards as a way to develop collections that depict events, topics, or places within the state.

“This is a way to build collections today that researchers of tomorrow will be able to use well into the future, as well as to acquaint students with the archives,” said North Carolina Collection Photographic Archivist Stephen Fletcher.

Applicants must be rising sophomores, juniors or seniors during the summer of 2012, or graduate students who will be enrolled at UNC during fall 2012.

Applications are due March 12, 2012, March 19, 2012, at 5 p.m. See the call for proposals for details.

Related Links

2012 North Carolina Documentary Photography Award (call for proposals)

Working amid hundreds of thousands of Civil War-era documents, images and publications, UNC’s librarians and archivists sometimes can’t help but play favorites.

The Wilson Special Collections Library at UNC is home to one of the nation’s largest assemblages of primary source material about the Civil War. In April, to mark the 150th anniversary of the conflict, Wilson Library launched The Civil War Day by Day. It’s an ambitious four-year effort to scour the stacks and post one item each day relating to the corresponding day of the war.

Through diaries and letters, telegrams, newspaper ads, photographs, maps and mementos, readers of The Civil War Day by Day walk with those who lived through the war, having no idea what their future would hold.

For the staff who encounter and research those items, poignancy and reflection are inevitable. Here’s a look their work and how others can find it.

What have been some of the most meaningful finds?

Every document tells a story. Jason Tomberlin, North Carolina research and instruction librarian, focuses on newspaper ads from the beginning of the conflict. The search for recruits and notices of new cash-only business policies reflect a population thrust into uncertainty.

African American Materials Specialist Holly Smith came across a small notation in the minutes of Chapel Hill’s University Baptist Church that marked a huge shift: the departure of African American congregants to form their own church.

For Biff Hollingsworth, collecting and public programming archivist, meaning was more personal. Looking by chance in a box of papers bearing his family’s name, he came across a letter apparently removed from the body of a Union soldier, replete with what look to be bullet holes.

Who can use these materials?

The collections of all UNC libraries, including Wilson Library, are open to the public. No special permission is required to use special collections at UNC.

Can Wilson Library Civil War materials be found online?

Civil War publications and documentation from Wilson Library can be found online:

• Civil War Day by Day – blog publishing one item per day during the period of the 150th anniversary of the war.
• Digital Southern Historical Collection – large scale digitization program for manuscript items in the Southern Historical Collection
• Documenting the American South – several collections in this digital library relate to the Civil War, including “The Church in the Southern Black Community,” “First-Person Narratives of the American South,” “Library of Southern Literature” and “North American Slave Narratives.”
• North Carolina Civil War Image Portfolio – selected woodcuts, engravings, lithographs and photographs depicting the war.

To Learn More

To learn more about Wilson Library and its collections, contact Wilson Library Research & Instruction: wilsonlibrary@unc.edu or (919) 962-3765.

Related Links

• Civil War Day by Day
• Library to note Civil War’s 150th daily for four years (UNC News Services, Jan. 10, 2011)
• Wilson Library