DigitalNC is happy to announce a new set of Southwestern Community College materials have been uploaded to the site! This is our fourth batch of SWCC records since welcoming them as a partner earlier this year, and this latest addition builds substantially upon our preexisting collection of SWCC materials. Located in Sylva, N.C. in Jackson County, SWCC has been operating for over fifty years and today offers over forty academic programs. 

The college has historically been a major force in its community and has been heavily involved in the economic development of surrounding counties. As such, the bulk of this collection comprises SWCC annual reports from 1969-2000 and county development surveys from Jackson, Macon, and Swain counties dating from 1965-2002. These reports are comprehensive and incredibly informative for anyone seeking to know more about the economic and demographic situation in Western North Carolina in the twentieth century. More documents from Jackson County, including an annual report, Chamber of Commerce publication, a 1992 county study, and a genealogy book on the Richard McDowell Wilson descendants provide further insight into the region.

Additionally, this new batch includes many records relating directly to the college, including course catalogs, student handbooks, newsletters with student profiles, promotional literature, and much more. We are also excited to digitize commemorative materials for the college’s fortieth and fiftieth anniversaries, as well as a student-published literary magazine from 2023! Read more about the history of SWCC in our previous blog posts or on their website. 

Researchers can see the rest of our digitized materials from Southwestern Community College here. To view more materials from community colleges across North Carolina, please view our North Carolina Community College Collections exhibit here