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Board and CommitteesLinda Sellars, Manuscripts Processor, and Jill Snider, Kuralt Collection Archivist, gave LAUNC-Chapel Hill members and others a grand tour of some of the new and interesting acquisitions of the Manuscripts Department, including a special view of the Charles Kuralt papers, in the Assembly Room of Wilson Library on Tuesday afternoon, October 13.
The officers for 1998-99 are President, Terri Saye (Law Library); Vice-President/President-Elect, Eileen McGrath (N.C. Collection, Wilson Library); Secretary, Brynn Mays (Health Sciences Library); Treasurer, Betty Waynick (Davis Library); and Past Preside nt, Jean Blackwell (Health Sciences Library).
Linda briefly described the history of the department and emphasized not only the increasing size of manuscript holdings over time (the department now houses around sixteen million items), but also their increasing diversity. The Southern Historical Coll ection, the core unit of the department, established early strength in collecting material related to the antebellum south, the Civil War, and Reconstruction. While continuing to build in these areas, the Southern Historical has branched out into such ar eas as business history, African American life and culture, social reform, and the history of journalism. In addition, the Southern Historical has been joined in the Department by new units such as the Southern Folklife Collection, which focuses on south ern music, and University Archives, which documents the history of the campus at Chapel Hill.
The Southern Historical Collection added some 1,500,000 items last year in 200 new accessions. These accessions ranged from a few items to hundreds of boxes in many stages of organization and preservation. One important addition in African American mate rial was a set of manuscript collections transferred from North Carolina Central University and now held here in cooperation with NCCU. They include the papers of well known activist Floyd McKissick; William Kennedy of North Carolina Mutual Insurance; an d the White Rock Baptist Church of Durham. The NCCU material also includes videotapes of the television show "Reflections" produced by WTVD and oral histories done by NCCU students.
The papers of Eddie McCoy of Granville County, North Carolina, comprise interviews with older African Americans documenting their lives and times. Rice Ballard of Virginia was a slave trader in the Antebellum south, and his papers, a rare find, contain valuable if disturbing insight into this vital part of the slave economy. George Washington Baker, a Union soldier in the Civil War, left vivid descriptions of campaigning in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Virginia, and Maryland.
Linda described the trip which she and Tim Pyatt made to Glencoe Mill in Alamance County where they searched an abandoned mill and rescued company records from forty years of dust and droppings. The resulting collection makes an important addition to the Department's already substantial holdings of papers relating to the textile industry in Alamance.
Linda also discussed additions to the Department's collections of North Carolina writers, including Tim McLaurin, Clyde Edgerton, Margaret Maron, and our own Jeffrey Beam. These include manuscripts of published works and in some cases letters and other p ersonal papers of the authors which document, for instance, Margaret Maron's work with mystery writers' organizations and Clyde Edgerton's days as a student at UNC-Chapel Hillapel Hill and as a pilot in Viet Nam. She invited us to look at the Department's North C arolina Writers web site at www.lib.unc.edu/mss/writers/.
Jill Snider gave us a closer look at perhaps the best known of the Manuscripts Department's new acquisitions, the Charles Kuralt papers, and used the papers to illustrate problems and concerns with processing this type of material. The Kuralt papers comp rise about 160 cubic foot boxes of material, with smaller amounts continuing to come in. About three-quarters of this material is more or less traditional, consisting of personal correspondence, fan mail, scripts, speeches, working story files, and story idea mail. The remaining quarter of the collection consists of audio-visual material and physical artifacts. Jill reported that the physical artifacts, which include such things as a bust of Kuralt and his many awards (among them thirteen Emmys) will be sent to the Journalism School to decorate a replica of Kuralt's office. Jill pointed out that the most important missing items were computer files. Kuralt's personal computer was given away after his death, and whatever was on the hard drive went with it.
One processing problem unique to the Kuralt collection is organizing the traditional manuscript material. In 1994 Kuralt retired and began to reorganize his files. This work was very much unfinished when he died, and it has proven difficult and time cons uming to reconstruct the original order.
Jill feels the Kuralt material illustrates in a more general way problems which will challenge processors of other late 20th century collections. One example of this is the handling of audio-visual material. The Kuralt collection contains video and audi o tape in a variety of formats from reel to reel sound recordings to modern video recordings. It is necessary to transfer these to standard formats both for preservation and use. Kuralt's papers also contain a large amount of story idea mail to which is often attached a wide variety of material. For instance, to illustrate the story idea, a person might enclose with their letter newspaper articles or drawings or even buttons or bumper stickers. These pieces must be separated, put into acid-free buffer s or envelopes, annotated, and then reattached to the letter. Processing such collections will require great commitments of labor, time, and money.
Audiotapes and videotapes in the Kuralt collection illustrate all phases of his career from his days as a foreign correspondent, through his On the Road years, to the mature journalism of his Sunday Morning program. Jill also believes that as one of the best described and most accessible collections on a 20th century journalist, Kuralt's papers will help answer questions on the impact of technology on news reporting, the relationship between print news and newer technologies, the redefinition of news its elf, and the emergence of the journalist as an entertainer and celebrity. She thinks that even disciplines such as American Studies and Folklore will find much of value in the papers of Charles Kuralt.
Harry McKown
"Poets at Gehenna, 1959-1995"
The Rare Book Collection is sponsoring a major exhibition of works from the Gehenna Press, one of the most important American private presses in this century. Established in 1942, the Gehenna Press takes it's name from a line in the first book of Milton' s Paradise Lost: "And black Gehenna call'd, the type of Hell." Over the past half century the press has consistently issued innovative books of textual and illustrative interest.
"Poets at Genhenna, 1959-1995" will feature selected works of Ted Hughes (A Primer of Birds and Capriccio , Anthony Hecht (The Seven Deadly Sins and Presumptions of Death), and other premier poets published by the press and illustrated by Leonard Baskin, founder of the Gehenna Press and one of the country's most notable living artists. The exhibition highlights the process of creation and collaboration between artist and poet. In addition to the books and broadsides, the exhibition includes preliminary drawings, proof sheets, original wood blocks and etched plates.
"Hard Cash & Hard Times: A History of North Carolina Currency"
The North Carolina Collection Gallery is in the process of preparing for a large exhibition entitled "Hard Cash & Hard Times: A History of North Carolina Currency", which will open November 4, 1998. The exhibit will feature over 150 pieces of currency an d will trace the evolution and use of money throughout North Carolina's past, focusing not only on money's impact on the overall economy but on the lives of average citizens. On Wednesday, November 4, the Friends of the Library and the North Carolina Col lection will co-sponsor a talk by Dr. Richard Doty, Curator of Numismatics at the Smithsonian Institution. A reception and exhibit opening will precede Dr. Doty's presentation. To register, please call the Friends of the Library at 962-1301. The exhibi tion will be open through May, 1999.
In preparing for this exhibition, several previous exhibits have been moved or expanded. Most notably, the popular exhibit on Eng and Chang, the original Siamese twins, has been expanded.
Wilde Ideas!
In conjunction with the Playmakers Repertory Company's presentation of Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde by Moisès Kaufman, the Friends of the Library is sponsoring an exhibit for the Davis lobby cases entitled Wilde Ideas: Oscar Wilde, A L ife Aesthetic, 1854-1900. The exhibit will be on display from October 26 through the end of November. The Ackland Museum is also mounting an exhibit entitled The Urge to Outrage: Oscar Wilde and Aubrey Beardsley from November 1 through December 4.
Merlin Holland, Oscar Wilde's grandson and author of one of the texts instrumental in illustrating the exhibit (The Wilde Album), will be on hand for the opening of Gross Indecencies. Mr. Holland will share thoughts on his famous kinsman as he presents " Killing One Peacock With Two Stones: Dorian Gray and the Downfall of Oscar Wilde," Monday November 2 at 7:30 in the Paul Green Theatre. Admission is free.
Upcoming Programs
November 8 - Second Sunday Reading - Poet Tony Abbot and fiction-writer Tony Earley. Pleasants Family Assembly Room, Wilson Library. The readings begin at 4:00 p.m.
With distance education becoming mainstream on campuses, colleges and libraries need to keep the disabled student in mind when creating web pages. The following resources can help in making sure your site meets ADA requirements. Lynn Eades
Celine Noel presented a three-part workshop, "Cataloging Internet Resources,"on Aug 23-25 at Davis Library.
Donna Cornick and Diane Strauss attended the Distance Education Workshop in Raleigh, September 16 and 17, co-sponsored by NCSU's School of Engineering and UNC General Administration.
Dr. Joe Hewitt attended the ARL Membership Meeting in Washington, DC, October 14-16. He was elected to serve on the ARL Board for a term of three years.
Linda Drake has been appointed as Staff Development Coordinator. She will serve ex-officio on the Staff Development. Committee and will assume responsibility for the New Staff Orientation program. She will also work with Mari to coordinate and tr ack library committee assignments. She will have a carrel (rm. 240) and a phone in Davis. Use the Administrative office number, 962-1301, to reach her.
The Area Health Education Centers have received a Spanish Language and Cultural Training Grant funded by the Duke Endowment. In the first year of funding, $150,000 will go to building a web site for health care providers to assist them in caring for Spanish speaking patients. The project is co-directed by Diana McDuffee, NC AHEC LIS Network Coordinator, and Monique Mackey, Area L AHEC Librarian.
Margaret Moore, Julia Shaw-Kokot, Bob Ladd, and Lynn Eades wrote a paper which Lynn presented at the 2nd UNC Workshop on Use of Technology in Distance Education, September 17th in Raleigh. The paper was titled "Integrating Library Resources in Distance Education."
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