Thanks to our partner, New Bern-Craven County Public Library, a batch containing content related to First Baptist Church (New Bern, NC) is now available on our website.

The batch features nine minute books, a book detailing the history of First Baptist Church, over forty photographs, and various other documents. Photographs include images of the interior and exterior of the church, pastors, the choir, Sunday School on Easter, and most notably, Harry Truman’s visit to the church on November 7, 1948. A more detailed description of his attendance and a copy of the invitation to the event can be found here and here. 

Harry Truman visits First Baptist Church

A letter sent from the headquarters of the 3rd Division, 10th Army Corps on September 1, 1865 returning the church to the Deacons of First Baptist Church after the end of the Civil War.

First Baptist Church Women’s Missionary Union [1947]

To learn more about the New Bern-Craven County Public Library, please visit their website. 

To view more content from the New Bern-Craven County Public Library, please visit here.

Thanks to our partner, Central Carolina Community College (CCCC), over 100 new photographs from the 1960s to 1980s are now available on our website.

These photographs heavily feature Paula Larke, a storyteller who was an artist in residence at the college in 1982. The Paula Larke photos show her at an event with elementary school children and seniors, performing on stage, and on a train in downtown Sanford, North Carolina. Other artists in residence in this batch include classical guitarist Gail George and Folk musician Clark Jones. The Central Carolina Community College, in addition to their Artist in Residence program, had the Visiting Artist program. Both of these programs were a collaboration between the North Carolina Arts Council and the North Carolina Department of Community Colleges.  Two visiting artists, saxophonist Gregg Gelb and playwright Ed Devaney, are featured in this batch.

Classical guitarist Gail George, artist in residence at Central Carolina Technical Institute in 1980.

Paula Larke at a community event with seniors and elementary school children.

Other photographs in this batch include portraits of Board of Directors members such as Meigs Golden, Hal T. Siler, Douglas H. Wilkinson; the swearing in of the Board of Trustees and Board of Directors, and images of the Board of Trustees. 

Swearing in of the Central Carolina Technical College Board of Directors.

To learn more about Central Carolina Community College, please visit their website. 

For more images from across North Carolina, visit our Images of North Carolina collection here.  

Thanks to our partner Edgecombe County Memorial Library, another batch of architecture research materials for structures in the county are on DigitalNC.  This batch covers 58 buildings in Edgecombe County, including Norfleet Plantation, the supposed oldest house in Tarboro, and the African American Masonic Lodge in Tarboro.  Photographs, research notes, maps, and other materials are included for many of the buildings.  

Photographs of the African American Masonic Lodge in Tarboro

To view more architecture research from Edgecombe County, view previous posts here.  To view more architecture materials on DigitalNC, go here. 

Clipping of Hog Killing at H W Strickland’s Farm.

DigitalNC now has 60 images of the hog slaughter process as performed on H. W. Strickland’s farm courtesy of the Johnston County Heritage Center. Be warned, these photos show graphic, up close details!

Taken in 1976, the photos depict the various steps involved in hog killing, starting with hanging and ending with meat preparation. Scalding, evisceration, and beheading procedures are also shown. Notably, the images show the outdoor setup as well as the many hands that go into the process.

If these have piqued your interest, click here for a quick link to all hog killing information as found in the many DigitalNC collections. For more images from Johnston County Heritage Center, click here. And to learn more about Johnston County Heritage Center, click here.

We’re happy to share a new batch of photographs from Mitchell Community College, located in Statesville, North Carolina. This batch includes seven photos from the Women’s History Month kickoff event with Emily Herring Wilson and related Women of Mitchell historical exhibit.

Several photos are of Wilson’s talk held at the Rotary Auditorium in the J.P. and Mildred Huskins Library. Wilson spoke about her book North Carolina Women: Making History, focusing on Mitchell’s history and women’s contributions. The remaining photos are of the related exhibit consisting of memorabilia highlighting women employees of Mitchell.

Emily Herring Wilson Challenges the Audience.

Notably, Wilson’s talk was held on March 2, 2020, right before the COVID-19 pandemic cancelled campus gatherings and the rest of the in-person Women’s History Month events. Later in the year, Mitchell held a new, online event for Women’s Equality Day, The Women in Leadership Panel, which is available to view on DigitalNC.

To view all digitized materials from Mitchell Community College, click here. And to learn more about Mitchell, please visit their website here.

A clipping of a photo of animals and an icy pond at Johnston Community College in 1996.

Approximately 130 photographs from Johnston Community College have been digitized and are now available online, adding to our vast collection of Johnston Community College photos. This batch is from the mid-1990s, highlighting Johnston Community College’s campus, staff, educational programs, and various events.

Quilting at the 1995 Johnston Community College Christmas Open House.

Annual events, such as Week of the Young Child, were especially prevalent in this upload. Most frequent were the Christmas open houses. While each Christmas open house showcases festivities and decorations, a common thread through the years are the extravagant quilting displays. In several shots, people demonstrate their quilting techniques for onlookers.

This batch also includes photos of retirement parties, the nursing department, and the truck driver training program as they go for test drives around the community. Construction of both the softball field and health building are documented. Additionally, there are photos of the open house for the new Cleveland Campus.

Bagpipe player Reit McPherson at the Johnston Community College 1996 Christmas Open House.

To see all of the photographs in this batch, click here. To learn more about Johnston Community College, visit their partner page here or their website here.