Viewing entries posted in September 2015

Suggestions for Viewing Scrapbooks on DigitalNC

Even for those of us who work at the Digital Heritage Center, browsing scrapbooks or other printed items on DigitalNC can be frustrating. The viewer for a single item, which displays yearbooks, photographs, and short booklets pretty well, can be cumbersome for longer and larger items. Here are a few features that may not be immediately apparent but that we hope might help.

This is a screenshot of the viewer, showing the page of a scrapbook.

Item page in CONTENTdmAt default, maybe about one third of the scrapbook page is showing (your screen may vary from mine). To the right, only a few thumbnails are visible at any one time. To move back and forth between pages, you’ll need to scroll through and click on each thumbnail one by one. If you want to see the full text for items, you have to toggle back and forth between tabs. So, what are your options?

Try Making the Scrapbook View Larger and Switching to “Content”

If you drag down the little toggle arrows at the bottom of the viewer, you’ll have more control over how much of the page is visible on your screen. You can also switch from “Thumbnails” to “Content” in the right-hand ribbon. This means more page links are visible at once, so you have to scroll less when moving from page to page.

Manipulate main CONTENTdm interface

Try “Page Flip View” for a Quick Browse

The second tip is to try Page Flip View. The button for Page Flip View is located over the top of the page image:

Page Flip View Button

We use this option if we want to browse an item fast. Sometimes the image quality isn’t that good (I won’t go into why here). However, Page Flip View can be helpful if you want to get a quick sense of what’s inside a scrapbook, or if you’re looking for something in particular. Here’s what Page Flip View looks like on my screen:

Page Flip View

To move back and forth, just click on the page you’d like to turn.

Try “View PDF & Text” for a Better Layout

A favorite way to view scrapbooks and similar items is to click the View PDF & Text button, located right next to the Page Flip View button. View PDF & Text brings up an alternative view that takes advantage of a lot more screen real estate. See below.

Viewing PDF image and text

With this view, you’re able to see more of each page. A lot more thumbnails are stretched out across the bottom of the screen, so you’ll scroll less. Full text (if it’s present) comes up on the left hand side with each page. If you’ve searched for text, as above, and there are hits on the page, you’ll see the highlight right away instead of having to switch back and forth between tabs. You can hide the full text by using the button in the upper left, if you’d like even more of the main image to show.

We hope these tips are helpful. If you have any questions about the interface or what we’ve mentioned, let us know.


Twice-a-Week Dispatch Newspaper from Burlington NC Added to DigitalNC

The Alamance County Public Libraries has just shared issues of the State Dispatch, later known as the Twice-a-Week Dispatch, on DigitalNC. Issues are available from 1908-1915 (with some exceptions).

The tagline of the Dispatch began as “A Republican newspaper devoted to the upbuilding of American homes and American industries,” and later changed to include the word “progressive.” The paper covers Republican events and ideas, as well as local news from Burlington and surrounding areas of Alamance county like Graham and Whitsett. Later issues see the beginnings of World War I.

This paper joins other Alamance county papers on DigitalNC: The Alamance Gleaner, the Mebane Leader, and the Elon University Student Newspaper. Alamance County Public Libraries has also shared additional items that can be found through their contributor page.Twice a Week Dispatch headline, 8- 4-1914


Reports, Student Creative Writing, and Yearbooks Shared Online by Durham Technical Community College

finaldraft2014durh_0001We’ve helped Durham Technical Community College add several additional campus publications to their collection of digitized materials on DigitalNC.

Recent issues of The Final Draft, 2013-2015. The Final Draft is a journal that shares creative works produced by Durham Tech students and faculty. These journals include poetry, short stories, and visual art.

Recent issues of Learning Matters, 2010-2014. Learning Matters is the journal of the Durham Technical Community College Teaching-Learning Center, and includes articles on “the scholarship of teaching and learning.”

Two additional volumes (1968, 1969) of The Widget. Durham Tech’s yearbook, these two join one earlier volume already on the site.

View all of the items Durham Technical Community College has shared via DigitalNC.


New Materials from the Grand Lodge of North Carolina

A new batch of materials has been uploaded to DigitalNC from The Grand Lodge of Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons of North Carolina. These new materials are all proceedings from the meetings of various groups associated with the Freemasons. Most of the proceedings from this batch are from the Grand Lodge of A.F. & A.M., but there are also documents from the Convention of Royal Arch Masons, the Grand Commandery of Knights Templar of the State of North Carolina, the Grand Council of Royal and Select Masters of North Carolina, and the M.E. Grand Royal Arch Chapter of North Carolina.

Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons of North Carolina [1891]

Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons of North Carolina [1891]

Secrets of Leaksville Lodge #136

Secrets of Leaksville Lodge #136

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These proceedings are just a few of the many items that the Grand Lodge of North Carolina has provided for digitization. For more information about their other materials on DigitalNC, visit their contributor page or see these previous blog posts. For more information about the Grand Lodge of North Carolina itself and their activities, see their website.


Additional Livingstone College Yearbooks Added to DigitalNC

Livingstone College 1942 yearbook, Page 63

Livingstone College’s Andrew Carnegie Library has contributed another 13 yearbooks to be shared on DigitalNC, including the earliest volume from that school on the site to date (1927). There are now over 50 online.

Located in Salisbury, Livingstone College was named after explorer David Livingstone. It has a long history – it was founded in 1879 and is one of North Carolina’s eleven Historically Black College and Universities (HBCUs).

View all of the Livingstone College yearbooks currently available on DigitalNC.


North Carolina HBCU History Available on DigitalNC

Students at Shaw University, 1911.

Students at Shaw University, 1911.

With the recent addition of student yearbooks from Livingstone College, DigitalNC now hosts historic materials from ten different Historically Black Colleges and Universities in North Carolina. These materials document more than a century of African American higher education in North Carolina. From our earliest projects in 2010 to the present, the North Carolina Digital Heritage Center has worked closely with libraries and archives at historically Black colleges around the state, and we continue to add materials from these collections on a regular basis. Follow the links below to browse yearbooks, newspapers, photos, scrapbooks, and more materials by school.

Bennett College (Greensboro)

Elizabeth City State University

Fayetteville State University

Johnson C. Smith University (Charlotte)

Livingstone College (Salisbury)

North Carolina A&T (Greensboro)

North Carolina Central University (Durham)

Saint Augustine’s University (Raleigh)

Shaw University (Raleigh)

Winston-Salem State University

Sophomore class officers at North Carolina Central University, 1963.

Sophomore class officers at North Carolina Central University, 1963.


More Chapel Hill High School Yearbooks Now Available on DigitalNC

Cheerleaders from Chapel Hill High School, 1925.

Cheerleaders from Chapel Hill High School, 1925.

Thanks to recent work by our neighbors at the Chapel Hill Historical Society, we are pleased to announce that an additional eleven early yearbooks from Chapel Hill High School have been digitized and are now available on DigitalNC.

The earliest added was from 1925, labeled “Volume I,” most likely the earliest high school yearbook available for Chapel Hill. It contains a lengthy history of the school. The new additions also include a few volumes from the early 1960s, showing a much different school, recently integrated and on the verge of moving to a larger, modern building away from Franklin Street. There are now 37 issues of “Hillife,” spanning the years 1925-1965, available in the North Carolina High School Yearbooks collection on DigitalNC.

Chapel Hill High School, 1963.

Chapel Hill High School, 1963.

 


Bellamy Mansion and Carriage House Building Plans Added to DigitalNC

bellamymansion_032

Bellamy Mansion Carriage House 1st and 2nd Floor Power Plan

21 building plans of the Bellamy Mansion restoration are now available on DigitalNC.

The Bellamy family began construction on the mansion in 1859, in Wilmington, N.C. The Bellamy grandchildren maintained possession of the historic home until the late twentieth century; however, the mansion was in need of major renovations due to years of decay and an arson that took place in 1972. In 1992, Preservation North Carolina took over control of the home in order to open it to the public and began the restoration process. Boney Architects oversaw the structural renovations and published all of the recently added plans. Several feature the Carriage House on the plantation property, which is now the Visitors Center of the museum.

All of the Bellamy Mansion site and building plans found on DigitalNC offer a picture of what structural restoration can look like for a major historic home. Many of the maps feature the hand-written notes of contractors on the project. They demonstrate the work that lies beneath the finished product of restorations.

For more information on the building plans of Bellamy Mansion, please see the blog post for the previously added plans. For further research on the Bellamy Mansion, visit the website.


Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College Yearbooks Now Available On DigitalNC

Screen Shot 2015-09-18 at 3.30.58 PMWe’re pleased to welcome a new partner with the addition of 14 student yearbooks from Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College. The school began in 1959 as the Asheville-Buncombe Industrial Education Center. The earliest yearbook we have online is form 1963. The school provided professional education for students in the area. The early yearbooks show students working in classrooms devoted to a variety of jobs, including machine repair, industrial chemistry, automotive maintenance, nursing, welding, and woodworking.

After joining the statewide community college system in 1963, the school changed its name to Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College. The yearbooks are from the college history collection in the Holly Library at A-B Tech.

From the 1968 edition of The Mountain Tech, Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College.

From the 1968 edition of The Mountain Tech, Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College.


New Photos from the Benson Museum of Local History

A new batch of photographs from the Benson Museum of Local History has been uploaded to DigitalNC. Many of these enlarged photographs feature prominent members of the Benson community throughout the years. Whether formal or informal, these portraits let viewers see the faces of the individuals who played important roles in the town, and some show quite a bit of their personalities as well!

Mr. and Mrs. Preston Woodall

Mr. and Mrs. Preston Woodall

Reverend and Mrs. Noah McLamb

Reverend and Mrs. Noah McLamb

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another theme in this batch of photos is the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad that ran through Benson, and was later known as the Seaboard Coast Line. The photographs range in time from the early days of the railroad in the early 1900s up through more modern times with portraits of workers.

Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Water Tank

Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Water Tank

Telegram Operator, W. Ralph Barbour Jr.

Telegram Operator, W. Ralph Barbour Jr.

Smith, Seaboard Coast Line Railroad Worker

Smith, Seaboard Coast Line Railroad Worker

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To see other photographs the Benson Local History Museum has shared on DigitalNC, check out their contributor page on our website, or this previous blog post. For more information about the Benson Local History Museum and their collection, visit 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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