Viewing entries posted in November 2018

Sketches of the Battle of Kings Mountain and More Now Online

A sketch of the Battle of Kings Mountain, drawn by Kathryn L. Bolin.

New photographs and sketches of Kings Mountain have now been digitized and uploaded to DigitalNC, courtesy of our partner, the Kings Mountain Historical Museum. These sketches were created by Kathryn L. Bolin, and depict militiamen and soldiers at the Battle of Kings Mountain. These sketches were designed for the Mural of Battle of Kings Mountain in the Kings Mountain City Hall.

These sketches in particular join the collection of materials on the Battle of Kings Mountain we have already digitized on DigitalNC. In our holdings, we have photographs of the bicentennial celebration of the Battle, materials like programs from that celebration, histories of Kings Mountain, and more.

Having these materials in our collection helps complete our understanding of the Battle of Kings Mountain, as well as how we remember it. To see more from the Kings Mountain Historical Museum, check out their contributor page here, or click here to visit their website.


Over 90 issues of Lambda, UNC’s LGBTQ student newspaper, now online at DigitalNC!

Over 90 issues spanning nearly the entire run of Lambda, UNC Chapel Hill‘s LGBQT student newspaper, are now online at DigitalNC. Publication of Lambda started in 1976 and ran until at least 2013. The paper began as simple newsletter for the UNC gay community, but later appeared in a number of formats, from an “activist newspaper” (Lambda January 1993), to a “LGBTIQ-Affirming Magazine” (Lambda Spring 2004), and finally to an online blog.

The issues now online constitute a valuable resource for those interested in LGBQT history at UNC Chapel Hill, in the greater Triangle area, and in the United States as a whole. Most of the writing within deals with topics like sexuality, identity, and politics at all of these levels. Many notable events, such as the deadly anti-gay assaults at Little River in Durham in April 1981, as well as the national debates around the issue of same-sex marriage in the early- to mid-2000s, are covered in detail.

Lambda Spring 2004 Front Page

Front Page of Lambda, Spring 2004

In browsing the paper’s many issues, one gets a distinct sense of the scope of the LGBQT movement throughout its history as well as the identities involved. This is exemplified by the progression of organizations that sponsored the paper over the years. Beginning with the Carolina Gay Association in 1976, the paper later became the voice of the Carolina Gay and Lesbian Association; the Carolina Bisexuals, Gay men, Lesbians and Allies for Diversity (B-GLAD); The Queer Network for Change; and finally the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transsexual Student Association.

 

The newly digitized issues of Lambda are another addition to the already considerable amount of UNC Chapel Hill materials currently hosted at DigitalNC. For more information about Lambda and the various LGBQT student associations that form an important part of UNC history, visit The Carolina Story and its exhibit on UNC student organizations.


Nashville Business and Professional Women’s Club Scrapbooks Now Online at DigitalNC

Nearly a dozen new scrapbooks from the Nashville Business and Professional Women’s Club are now digitized and online at DigitalNC, courtesy of our partner, the Harold D. Cooley Library in Nashville, NC.

A 1981 clipping from the Nashville Graphic about the Nashville BPW setting up for the Stonewall Christmas Open House.

One clipping advertising the Nashville Opry, put on by the Nashville BPW, featuring an Elvis impersonator Tim Bunn.

Chartered in 1921, the National Federation of Business and Professional Women’s Clubs was designed to promote the professional and business interests of women, extend professional opportunities to women, “elevate the standards for women”, and more. This batch includes the articles and bylaws of incorporation for the BPW Club, as well as over 12 years of scrapbooks for the group. Inside these scrapbooks are documents, photos of members and of state conventions and functions, newspaper clippings about local events, and newsletters all about the clubs and its members.

 

Having this material on our website is crucial to preserving information about social clubs and increasing representation online. To see more materials from Harold D. Cooley Library, please check out their contributor page or visit their website.


How DigitalNC materials are being used across the web: Legeros Fire Blog

We love hearing about ways that materials digitized through the North Carolina Digital Heritage Center have impacted research and recreation. We thought since they have done such a great job highlighting us, it’d only be fair to turn around and highlight a few we’ve found recently.  

Cover page of Raleigh Fire Department women's group scrapbook, features a firetruck illustration

Cover page of the Raleigh Fire Department Ladies’ Auxiliary 1968-1969 scrapbook, digitized for the Raleigh Fire Museum

 

Our focus today is a particularly fun one because the author of the blog is not only a heavy user of DigitalNC, but also our main contact for one of our partners, the Raleigh Fire Museum.  Mike Legeros’s Fire Blog provides a very detailed look into the history of fire departments in North Carolina, as well as keeping up to date on what’s going on in those departments today.  It also links to a Fire History page, which has resources of the history of fire departments across the country, including historic and present day photographs of fire stations.  

screenshot of city directory on the fire blog

We are particular fans of the post that explains in great detail how to use our city directories, which is one of our favorite resources on DigitalNC and one that Mike has used extensively in his research.  You can check out his tips and tricks here:  https://legeros.com/blog/burlington-and-graham-fire-alarm-box-locations-1920-21/ 

If you have a particular project or know of one that has utilized materials from DigitalNC, we’d love to hear about it!  Contact us via email or in the comments below and we’ll check out.  To read about other places on the web that feature content from DigitalNC, check out past blog posts here.  

 


Nine new scrapbooks covering 1920-1974 from High Point Heritage Research Center now on DigitalNC

Nine new scrapbooks from High Point have been digitized and are now available at DigitalNC, courtesy of our partner, the Heritage Research Center at High Point Public Library. These scrapbooks are from throughout the 20th century, with a few dating from 1920-1940, while others date from 1963-1974. They join previously digitized collections, dating back to 1952.

Clippings from a 1967 issue of the Greensboro Daily News, where a new Anheuser-Busch brewery was to be built in Jamestown

These scrapbooks contain newspaper clippings from the High Point Enterprise and the Greensboro Daily News, arranged in chronological order. In many cases, articles were pasted and taped into the scrapbooks overlapping each other, so digitizing these required taking multiple images of each page. Some of the scrapbooks also contained handwritten indexes in the front for easy navigation. Many of the newspaper clippings related to local events in High Point and Greensboro. For example, one page contained articles about the selection of police officers in High Point, city employees attending a safety meeting, changes made to the High Point City Hall offices, and more. Other events covered included political events and local races, and decisions about town planning. Every so often, national and international events are also included.

To learn more from the Heritage Research Center at High Point Public Library, please visit their partner page, or check out their website.


Select issues of UNC Chapel Hill’s Asian Students Association publication East Wind now online at DigitalNC

 

East Wind Fall 1994 Front Page

Front page of the Fall 1994 issue of UNC ASA’s East Wind newspaper

Seven issues of East Wind, a publication of UNC Chapel Hill‘s Asian Students Association, are now available online at DigitalNC. Started in 1993, the paper appeared roughly once a semester for the first several years of its run. The issues now on DigitalNC (December 1993-Spring 1998) cover a wide range of topics relevant to the Asian-American student community at UNC. With its editorials, advertisements for upcoming events, restaurant reviews, and much more, East Wind provides a forum for both ASA members and others to promote, criticize, and discuss Asian-American culture from numerous angles. Much of the paper’s contents focus on issues of race and identity within the Asian-American community.

The newly digitized issues of East Wind are another addition to the already considerable amount of UNC Chapel Hill materials currently hosted at DigitalNC. For more information about East Wind and the Asian Students Association at UNC, visit The Carolina Story and its exhibit on UNC student organizations.


Maps, Sketches, and Blueprints from Chapel Hill Historical Society Now Online at DigitalNC

A portion of one map of Carrboro and Chapel Hill – showing Franklin St, Main St, and Greensboro St.

Nearly three dozen maps and blueprints have been digitized and added to DigitalNC, courtesy of our partner, the Chapel Hill Historical Society. Dating from 1929 to 1963, these maps really illustrate how much the city of Chapel Hill has changed in the last century.

Blueprint of the west side of Dr. J.B. Bullitt’s house in Chapel Hill.

This new batch contains many different types of maps and blueprints, including cross sections of the Chapel Hill Municipal Building, a survey of East Rosemary Street, cross sections of local doctor J.B. Bullitt’s home, and Planning Board maps of the Chapel Hill and Carrboro region. Also included are maps for proposed developments of segregated cemeteries, which would have been established next to NC state highway 54. These maps are fascinating to see and compare to what we know of the area today, and to see how much has changed since these maps were created.

These maps are very large, with some stretching out to be over 6 feet in length! While most could be scanned with our overhead PhaseOne camera (our process is documented on video here), several were so large that they had to be framed in a vacuum-sealed rotating container so that they can be preserved in the highest quality. Some of these largest ones took two different shots to compose together, resulting in images that were 7000 pixels tall by 11000 pixels wide. That’s far larger than anything even the most high-tech cell phone cameras can shoot.

One of the maps being scanned inside a vacuum-sealed container for maximum quality

Having these maps and blueprints in our collection is very important, as it helps us understand the changes to the city which DigitalNC calls home. To see more from the Chapel Hill Historical Society, visit their partner page, or take a look at their website.


Durham United Fund Scrapbooks Online Now

A batch of scrapbooks documenting Durham’s United Fund Campaign are now online at DigitalNC courtesy of our partner Durham County Library. These scrapbooks hold newspaper clippings and advertisements for the United Fund for the years 1953 and 1955 to 1960. Efforts to develop a United Fund for Durham officially began in 1953, so these scrapbooks document the early days of the fund and its subsequent growth.

United Fund Story

The United Fund Story from the 1953 United Fund Scrapbook.

The United Fund joined the campaigning efforts of more than 30 Durham community organizations in an effort to lessen the fundraising burden of each and increase the funds raised for all. The scrapbooks detail the ways in which many local businesses and citizens donated to the United Fund. Monies collected went to support organizations like the Girl Scouts, the Red Cross, and to fight diseases such as polio, cancer, tuberculosis, and heart disease.

Give Once For All Advertisement

An advertisement from a local newspaper encouraged citizens to “Give Once For All” for Durham’s United Fund and detailed many of the organizations included. 

Some of the clippings promise that displaying evidence of earlier contribution “provides the basis for immunity from further solicitation” by any of the organizations included in the United Fund.

Give Only Once Clipping

This clipping promises “immunity from further solicitation” once donations were made to The United Fund. 

Others communicate the fund’s urgency in some interesting ways … like by asking if participants will need “victory whistles or crying towels” at the next meeting.

Victory Whistles or Crying Towels Clipping

United Fund contributors were invited to the first annual meeting. 

 

These scrapbooks detail times of considerable change in Durham, and join an already substantial collection from Durham County Library. To access more from Durham County Library, visit their partner page or their website.


More additions to the R. Kelly Bryant Obituary Collection Now Online at DigitalNC

More additions to the R. Kelly Bryant Obituary Collection, provided by our partner, the Durham County Library, are now online at DigitalNC. This collection of funeral programs and obituaries of African American residents of Durham was compiled by R. Kelly Bryant (1917-2015), a historian with an extensive knowledge of Durham, North Carolina.

This collection is arranged alphabetically by the last names of the individuals included. Names included in the newest addition cover the surnames Raines through Sykes. The funeral programs are an excellent source for genealogical research, and often include details such as birth and death dates, names of family members, locations lived, and parts of an individual’s life story. We are always in the process of digitizing this collection, so please check back for more entries in the coming months.

To take a look at what we have digitized so far from the R. Kelly Bryant Obituary Collection, please visit the collection’s exhibit page. Information about the collection is also available in the finding aid on Durham County Library’s website.

To see more materials from Durham County Library, visit their DigitalNC partner page, or take a look at their website.


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This blog is maintained by the staff of the North Carolina Digital Heritage Center and features the latest news and highlights from the collections at DigitalNC, an online library of primary sources from organizations across North Carolina.

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