Viewing entries posted in July 2019

College Profiles, Campus Cookbook, Catalog and Student Handbook, and More from Durham Technical Community College

group of adult students working around a table filled with potted plants

Durham Tech students volunteering and gardening at the Briggs Avenue Community Garden

A new batch of digital materials are now available and online at DigitalNC, courtesy of our partner, Durham Technical Community College. Included in this collection is over a half-dozen editions of College Profiles for Durham Tech, the 2017-2018 copy of their Catalog & Student Handbook, the 2018 Campus Harvest Food Pantry Cookbook created by students, and the 2018 copy of The Final Draft.

Included first in this set is a series of College Profiles for Durham Technical Community College. These profiles are short summaries of the statistics about life on campus and curricula at DTCC. These profiles include enrollment rates, student demographics, rates of completion, the number of programs available to students, numbers of faculty, and more. They even include statistics about the facilities and library. Using these profiles, we can see how much Durham Tech has grown in the past decade. For example, the DTCC library had 5 e-books in July 2009, and by July 2016, they had 193,875!

tens of padlocks fastened around fencing

“Paris Love Locks” by Meredith Murray, included in the 2018 edition of Final Draft

Next is a copy of the 2017-2018 DTCC Catalog & Student Handbook. It includes information on admission, tuition rates and enrollment statistics, as well as information on student services, programs of study, and classes that are available.

There is also the 2018 DTCC Campus Harvest Food Pantry Cookbook, a cookbook created and published by the college’s students and members of Campus Harvest Food Pantry. It includes information on food education, several dozens of recipes for breakfast, lunches, dinners, and more, and nutrition facts for every dish. Operated on donations, the cookbook also includes contact information if readers want to support their efforts.

Finally, there is a proof copy of the 2018 edition of The Final Draft, a literary journal created by students and faculty of DTCC, designed to be “A Collection of Creative Works”. It includes short fiction, poetry, photographs, and artwork throughout its pages.

To learn more about Durham Technical Community College, visit their partner page, or take a look at their website. Click here to view other digitized material from DTCC, including other reports, catalogs and student handbooks, and other editions of The Final Draft.


New partner on DigitalNC, Wachovia Historical Society

newspaper clipping of black and white photo of moravian church behind trees

An exterior photo of the Moravian Church in (at the time) Salem, North Carolina, built in 1800.

Several new scrapbooks have been digitized and added to DigitalNC, courtesy of our first-time partner, the Wachovia Historical Society. These four scrapbooks are the first batch from Wachovia.

Dating from 1836 to 1941, these scrapbooks contain newspaper clippings, typed letters, photographs, church programs, manuscripts, and more, that relate to the Wachovia Historical Society and the Moravian Church in the local area. Many include information on the history of Winston-Salem, Forsyth County, and important figures in the community.

The scrapbooks also each include typed and handwritten indexes in the front. They provide a valuable look into what Moravian Church members and those who lived in the Wachovia area found important and worthy of preserving in scrapbooks.

This batch of scrapbooks represents the first materials on DigitalNC to come from the Wachovia Historical Society and we are privileged to have them as a contributing partner. To see more from Wachovia Historical Society, click here to visit their partner page or check out their website


Discover Charlotte – A City in Motion

film title printed over charlotte sunrise

In partnership with the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library we’re pleased to share this 1968 film entitled Discover Charlotte – A City in Motion. Created by the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce and narrated by famous journalist and North Carolinian Charles Kurault, this promotional film boasts about Charlotte’s industrial and economic growth.

air traffic controller in tower with view of tarmac and planeIn color with an upbeat soundtrack, Discover Charlotte lauds the motion of Charlotteans, beginning with a look at the city’s role in trucking, rail, and air transport. Turning to the banking industry, the film shows people processing large amounts of checks and cash and using adding machines at lightning speed. Shots of the Charlotte Record newspaper offices include coverage of Record employees learning via Teletype that Gene Payne, the Record’s cartoonist, had won a Pulitzer. You’ll see pilots and passengers at the Charlotte Douglas airport, Arthur “Guitar Boogie” and the Crackerjacks playing at the WBT station, computers whirring in a new data processing center, workers constructing a Duke power complex, and researchers examining newly woven textiles.

Most of the film features scenes of middle and upper class white Charlotteans in work, social, or religious settings.  In Charlotte, there is “a church for every man” and there are brief views of a number of religious institutions including Covenant Presbyterian Church, Dilworth Methodist Church, Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Cathedral. Other events and activities shown in the film include

  • Festival in the Park at Freedom Park,pit stop with race car being gassed up and tires changed
  • the Mint Museum Drama Guild rehearsing a play,
  • a wedding reception for an unnamed white couple, 
  • a Carolina v. NC State basketball game,
  • a Charlotte Checkers hockey game, and 
  • a NASCAR stock car race.

There are also views of two university campuses, Johnson C. Smith and the relatively new UNC-Charlotte.

Filmed during the Civil Rights movement, there are only brief allusions to racial tensions. There is a snippet of white police officers talking about “riding with Negro officers,” which cuts to a group of black men and officers talking about a local march. The end of the film describes Charlotte’s participation in the Model Cities initiative and its “total attack on poverty,” efforts that were meant to eradicate urban blight that, as in many cities in America, ended up displacing and/or destroying minority-owned homes and businesses. The film ends with drawings of a planned expressway, widened streets, parks, new hotels and high rises.

This is one of a number of items Charlotte Mecklenburg Library has shared on DigitalNC. You can see more on their contributor page or learn more about their North Carolina collections on their website.


How North Carolinians reacted to the Apollo 11 moon landing in 1969

50 years ago on July 19, 1969 , the Apollo 11 entered lunar orbit and hours later on July 20, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed the lunar module the Eagle on the surface of the moon.  It was there Armstrong famously said “One small step for man, one giant step for mankind.” The moon landing was watched with bated breath by the entire nation, which had been engaged throughout the 1960s in an intense “space race” with the Soviet Union during the height of the Cold War.  The landing also fulfilled the promise President John F. Kennedy had made in a famous speech in 1962 that before the decade was out, America would go to the moon. 

Many resources on DigitalNC show how North Carolinians celebrated the moon landing and how they viewed it in relation to the space race.

black and white photograph of the moon above a poem

Poem written by the editor of the New Bern Mirror commemorating the moon landing

    

The front page of the New Bern Mirror published the Friday after the landing described how many of New Bern’s citizens were glued to their televisions to watch the grainy footage come back to Earth of Aldrin and Armstrong, starting off with “Like us, you’ll find it hard to believe, but there were New Bernians who didn’t have their television sets turned on Sunday afternoon and night.” and later referring to the event as the biggest thing since “Christ rose from the dead.”  The front page spread  also included a poem by the editor of the paper about the landing. 

cartoon of a man sitting at a desk and a short column about pride in the moon landing

Frank Count, a well known local columnist for the Franklin Times’ take on the moon landing.

The Franklin Times had a full page spread about the landing in their July 22, 1969 issue, pulling in not only national press materials but also including a short Frank Count column stating “Me and them…we’re mighty proud of the Ask-her-naughts and we’re mighty proud to be Americans.”  

Headline reading "Our Old Problems Remain Despite the Hope of Apollo"

Headline from the Carolina Times published after the moon landing.

Some publications took a slightly different tone; while being inspired by the scientific feat of getting to the moon, the Carolina Times, the African-American paper in Durham, noted that while it was great the United States got to the moon, on Earth there were still wars being fought, people in extreme poverty, and many other unresolved problems.  The editor closed the editorial wishing for Americans to be inspired to think differently and broader now that they knew they could reach the moon. “The moon landing undoubtedly dramatized the rapidity of change in the world and may therefore encourage new approaches, new attitudes, and new policies toward contemporary problems. In a way, this great achievement focused the mind of the entire race on a single event and said to the world what Lincoln said to the American people in 1862. ‘As our case is new, we must think anew and act anew. We must dis-enthrall ourselves and then we shall save our country.'”

Photograph of astronaut's footprint on the surface of the moon

Introduction of the 1970 Junius Rose High School yearbook.

Showing the landing still had an impact a year later, a 1970 yearbook from Junius Rose High School in Greenville, NC compared the graduates of Rose High School to the astronauts who landed on the moon and commented on their next move to make “a giant leap” into adulthood as they leave high school behind.

This is just a small sampling of the many reactions in the newspapers in communities across the state, as well as other materials on our site related to interest in the space race and Cold War, which you can look at here.  The overwhelming feeling from almost all of them is a strong pride in being American and thus a part of this great scientific achievement and a sense that now anything was possible for the country.  


Agricultural Photographs from the Historical Association of Catawba County

farming

Laborers threshing wheat on the Carpenter farm

Agriculture is the theme of our latest digitized collection. Our partner the Historical Association of Catawba County provided photographs from the 1920’s through the 1950’s that show farm workers, mills, and the cultivation of crops from that era. There are also pictures of farm equipment and farm animals such as horses, mules, and cows. And if you have ever wondered how farmers threshed wheat, there are a few photographs that will show you how its done. Other photographs include farmers proudly displaying their crops and farm animals. While the majority of photographs were taken in Catawba county, there are pictures from other counties throughout North Carolina. To see all of the photographs in this collection click here.

 

agriculture

A man, a police officer, and two large watermelons.


Civil War Correspondence, Letters, and a Memoir by Civil War Veteran J.M. Hollowell from the Wayne County Public Library

The ripples of the Civil War still resonate throughout the United States, especially in the south. North Carolina seceded from the Union in 1861 and joined the confederacy in its fight to maintain the institution of slavery. North Carolina was host to numerous battles during the war and there has been much historical research of those encounters and how towns and people were affected by those tumultuous events. Primary source materials from the Civil War and Reconstruction era are useful for better understanding our past, present, and improving our future as fellow citizens of North Carolina.

 

Letter

Letter certifying that Hollowell was a prisoner of war

Now on our site you can read, though it may be disconcerting at times, original letters and correspondence from J.M. Hollowell, thanks to our partner Wayne County Public Library.  Hollowell was a confederate soldier from North Carolina who was imprisoned by Union troops for a period of time during the Civil War. Included in this collection is a memoir, of sorts, by Hollowell that was published in 1939. Based on a series of articles he wrote in 1909 for the Goldsboro Weekly Record,  this memoir published nearly thirty years after his death, gives the reader insight into the life, culture, and prejudices of a North Carolina citizen and confederate soldier. Reflecting the views of his peers at the time who were also fighting to maintain the status quo of slavery in the South during the Civil War, this collection of Holloway’s letters and writings gives insight into the daily thoughts of those fighting for the confederacy and how they reacted to Reconstruction, racial progress, and politics following the war.  Explore J.M. Hollowell’s documents here.

Cover of Book

War-Time Reminiscences and Other Selections by J.M. Hollowell


More Durham United Fund Scrapbooks are now available

Seven scrapbooks documenting Durham’s United Fund campaigns of the 1960s are now available on DigitalNC thanks to our partner, the Durham County Library. These scrapbooks supplement seven others from the 1950s which share the origins of the campaign. The scrapbooks are mostly comprised of clippings from local newspapers, with most dates transcribed on the clipping itself.

The United Fund campaign began in 1953 as a collaboration of over 30 Durham community organizations to better facilitate their fundraising needs. The newspaper clippings in these scrapbooks document the Fund’s progress to help Durham communities by sharing organization news, advertisements, and even some event programs.

"Open Letter to the Citizens of Durham," United Fund scrapbook, 1961

“Open Letter to the Citizens of Durham,” United Fund scrapbook, 1961

"Durham Cares, Durham Shares" pamphlets, United Fund scrapbook, 1968

“Durham Cares, Durham Shares” pamphlets, United Fund scrapbook, 1968

To see all United Fund scrapbooks, click here. To learn more about the Durham County Library, visit their partner page here or their website here.


Mid-Century Newspaper Clippings Now On DigitalNC Courtesy of Partner Duplin County Library

black and white photo of wood and metal building debris

A photo showing damage to a tobacco warehouse in Wallace, North Carolina after Hurricane Hazel

A new batch of newspaper clippings and articles that tell the story of Duplin County are now available on DigitalNC, courtesy of our partner, the Duplin County Library. This is the first material of its kind that they have donated and we are privileged to have it.

black and white newspaper clipping of four individuals sawing through a tree trunk

A 1951 photo of Duplin County Rev. L.C. Prater sawing timber that would go to rebuilding the local Universalist Church.

Included in this collection are clippings from the Duplin Times from 1949-1962, clippings from the Raleigh News & Observer from 1950-1965, and clippings from the Wallace Enterprise from 1953-1964. Many of these assorted clippings focus on Duplin County activities, highlighting important figures of the community, the goings-on at local schools, and what regular people were doing in Duplin County in the middle of the 20th century. There are other articles included here, as well. One of the articles from the Duplin Times also includes a transcribed letter from General Sherman in March 1865, and the clippings from the Raleigh News & Observer include profiles about the life of Dr. John Atkinson Ferrell, a doctor who fought the spread of hookworm in North Carolina.

This is the first material of its kind from the Duplin County Library, and it is a valuable addition to DigitalNC. To learn more from the Duplin County Library, please take a look at their partner page or visit their website.


Ahoskie High School Scrapbooks on DigitalNC from our new partner Ahoskie Woman’s Club

students and chaperones in a group photo with the US Capitol in the background

Part of the Ahoskie High School Senior Class of 1958 on a trip to Washington D.C.

DigitalNC is proud to welcome our new partner, the Ahoskie Woman’s Club. Located in Hertford County, having them as a contributor adds to our growing list of those who represent the Inner Banks region of the state. Their first contribution is a new batch of scrapbooks and materials, mostly containing newspaper clippings about Ahoskie High School, primarily dating from 1953 to 1961. This marks their first contribution to the collections on DigitalNC outside of yearbooks.

headline Ahoskie Teams Win with two photos of the team members

Newspaper clipping celebrating the championship victories of the Ahoskie sports teams

Most of these scrapbooks are arranged chronologically, including information about Ahoskie High School in the 1950s. Most articles are about the school football team, the Ahoskie Indians, and how they did those years. A few of the articles also relate to school clubs, other school sports teams, or school events themselves. On one page, newspaper clippings mention faculty positions being filled at Ahoskie High School, a speaker from East Carolina University coming to speak to Hertford County teachers, and the Ahoskia PTA holding film viewings.

These scrapbooks give us a glimpse of what the high school experience was like for Ahoskie High School students at the time. To see more from the Ahoskie Woman’s Club, please visit their partner page or check out their website.


DigitalNC Blog Header Image

About

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.

Social Media Policy

Search the Blog

Archives

Subscribe

Email subscribers can choose to receive a daily, weekly, or monthly email digest of news and features from the blog.

Newsletter Frequency
RSS Feed