Here at the Digital Heritage Center, we’re able to scan or photograph almost all kinds of two dimensional items and even a goodly number of those in three dimensions. However, audiovisual materials are sent off site for digitization to a vendor and, as such, it’s a service we’ve only been able to offer annually. We just concluded our second round of audiovisual digitization and, like last year, our partners came forward with a wide variety of film and audio nominations. This is the second in a series of posts about the accepted nominations, with links to the items in the Sights and Sounds collection.
State Archives of North Carolina
One of the best parts of “Wildlife Babies” is the footage of baby ducks jumping out of their bird house into a lake.
Appropriate for this election season, the State Archives has shared a number of short spots from the 1968 Governor’s race in which Robert W. Scott compares his policies and campaign tactics to those of his opponent, Jim Gardner. Scott’s criticisms of Gardner and his campaign echo some of what we hear today, and are also reflective of pressing issues in the state at the time, ranging from criticisms about Gardner’s attendance record to “misleading” campaign literature in which Scott was shown standing next to an African American man. There is also footage of a campaign speech made by Scott in Greenville, North Carolina, shortly before election day.
In addition to these are shared a number of films from the Wildlife Resources Commission. Many show both freshwater and saltwater fishing, both for sport and science. If you need your baby animal fix, you can check out “Wildlife Babies,” an award-winning feature that shows baby birds and mammals of North Carolina.
Mauney Memorial Library
We are always pleased to uncover and make available more films by H. Lee Waters, and during this round of digitization the Mauney Memorial Library came forward with two such films from Kings Mountain, N.C. These two most recent films are similar in style to the many produced by Waters, available both here and through an astounding collection at Duke University Libraries. There are many shots of school children walking in front of the camera, sometimes shy, sometimes silly. Some notable features include an aerial view of Kings Mountain, views inside local stores, and a product demonstration of a refrigerator (minute 26).
We’ll be posting several more blog posts in the coming weeks which will introduce the other films from our partners now viewable on DigitalNC.
Kings Mountain School “Milestones” yearbook, 1939.
Yearbooks from Kings Mountain High School have been digitized and added to DigitalNC. The yearbooks were provided by Mauney Memorial Library in Kings Mountain, North Carolina. There are 23 yearbooks, titled “Milestones,” from 1939 to 1966. The yearbooks include students, staff, class photos, activities, clubs, athletics, superlatives, and autographs.
You can view more from Mauney Memorial Library at the DigitalNC page or their homepage.
The following microfilmed newspapers have been selected for digitization in 2015. Almost 90 reels were chosen from over 600 nominated reels, according to our Criteria for Selecting Newspapers to Digitize from Microfilm.
| Title |
Years |
Nominating Institution |
| The Brunswick Beacon (Shallotte, N.C.) |
1985-1992 |
Rourk Branch Library |
| Jackson County Journal (Sylva, N.C.) |
1921-1943 |
Jackson County Public Library |
| The Journal-Patriot (North Wilkesboro, N.C.) |
1933-1947 |
Wilkes County Public Library |
| The Kings Mountain Herald (Kings Mountain, N.C.) |
1937-1954 |
Mauney Memorial Library |
| Polk County News (Tryon, N.C.) |
1923-1926 |
Polk County Public Library |
| The Sylva Herald and Ruralite (Sylva, N.C.) |
1943-1950 |
Jackson County Public Library |
| Trench and Camp (Charlotte, N.C.) |
1917-1918 |
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Public Library |
| The Warren Record (Warrenton, N.C.) |
1929-1970 |
Warren County Memorial Library |
| Watauga Democrat (Boone, N.C.) |
1923-1950 |
Watauga County Public Library |
| Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.) |
1974-1996 |
Forsyth County Public Library |
“From Horse to Horseless,” pages 32 and 33 in History and program commemorating the centennial of Kings Mountain 1874-1974.
Recently, we digitized the 1974 Centennial history and program for Kings Mountain, North Carolina, from new contributing institution Mauney Memorial Library. The booklet includes numerous photographs and a detailed history of the town, with each page sponsored by a different local business. Contents also include various programs for events relevant to the centennial celebration.
This addition to DigitalNC.org is just one of many digitized objects available online related to the celebration of a town or organization’s centennial celebration.
Page 94 and page 96 from the Albemarle, Stanly County Centennial.
Front Cover of the Duke Ellington Centennial Celebration program
Among these materials is the Albemarle, Stanly County Centennial from 1957. The Bridge from Yesterday–Into Tomorrow is an Albemarle Centennial booklet published by the Albemarle-Stanly County Historic Preservation Commission. The booklet includes poetry, personal accounts from locals, and photographs of Albemarle citizens.
A more recent publication is A Duke Ellington Centennial Celebration from 1999. A Duke Ellington Centennial Celebration is a program generated by “Beyond Category: A Symposium on the Life, Works, and Orchestra of Duke Ellington,” a project made possible via the North Carolina Humanities Council. The symposium occurred on February 22-28, 1999, at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. It included lectures on Jazz and many concerts performed by local and recognized musicians, including Kevin Mahogany and The Heath Brothers.
Page 50 of the East Bend Centennial Scrapbook
Another selection is the August 1987 East Bend Centennial Scrapbook, which commemorates the 100 year anniversary of the town of East Bend, which was founded March 7, 1887.
Click here to browse a selection of North Carolina Memory centennial materials.
Farmville residents Mark Mozingo and Lottie Mozingo, 1972
In addition to North Carolina Memory, DigitalNC’s Images of North Carolina also contains photographs depicting Centennial Celebrations. The 1972 Farmville Centennial Celebration, for instance, has over 150 photographs documenting the centennial parade and the Farmville residents posing for portraits in period costume. Accompanying the photographs is Farmville’s 100th Anniversary book, which contains a detailed history of the town’s founding as well as accounts of notable residents, organizations, and events.
Child Posing with Clown on Main Street, Farmville 1972 Centennial Celebration
You may browse other images from North Carolina centennial celebrations here.
This holiday season join us here on the blog for the 12 Days of NCDHC. We’ll be posting short entries that reveal something you may not know about us. You can view all of the posts together by clicking on the 12daysofncdhc tag. And, as always, chat with us if you have questions or want to work with us on something new. Happy Holidays!
Day 9: We’ll Host Items You Scan
Many of our partners have done scanning on their own. However, as we like to joke here at the NCDHC, the scanning is the easy part! It is getting those materials online for the public to view that can be really complicated. Hosting materials online is a key part of our expertise and we are happy to take any items you’ve scanned yourself and load them into DigitalNC for you. We have helped partners who have just scanned a yearbook or two, as well as partners who have embarked on large scale community projects such as DigitalKM, or who have had to migrate their digital collection from their own system, as in the case of Harnett County Public Library.
One of over 200 scrapbooks Transylvania County Library scanned themselves and sent to us to host on DigitalNC
If you are interested in sending us materials you’ve scanned yourself, we have some guidelines for how we’d like to receive it.
- All scanned images must have a minimum image quality of 300 dpi, and preferably come as TIFFs, although we will take JPEGs. There can’t be any watermarks on the images.
- We’ll need at least minimal metadata with a title and unique filename for each item. We will be happy to share a template for you to fill out to send along with the objects and can discuss any questions that arise with that template. This page on metadata requirements is also a handy guide to check.
The scanned items and their corresponding metadata can be sent via FTP, a cloud based storage site such as Dropbox or Google Drive, or you can send us an external hard drive or thumb drive. Once we receive the items, we add it to our normal queue and get them online.
Check back on Thursday as we reveal Day 10 of the 12 Days of NCDHC!
