2012-2013 Carolinian issues now online

As the spring semester closes, we have have added the past year's issues of The Carolinian to the online archive. Except for a fair number of issues from 1945, of which there are no known print copies in existence, almost the entire run of UNCG's student newspaper is currently available online. The bulk of these were digitized in 2010 and 2011 as part of the Lyrasis Mass Digitization Collaborative. New issues are added at the end of each academic year. Since 2012, these new issues have been published as "born digital" PDF files generated directly from the Carolinian's publishing system, resulting in better image quality and superior text search functionality.

In the library

In celebration of National Library Week, a few photos from UNCG's old Carnegie Library (now Forney Building) that were recently removed from a scrapbook, repaired by the library's preservation team, and digitized for an upcoming project.

Circa 1936

Recreational reading room, April, 1938

Books arriving for a library contest, April, 1938

The Carnegie Library scrapbook and photos will be available online in a few months as part of two larger projects presenting historical photographs of UNCG and scrapbooks held in the Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives.

North Carolina slave ads database and website launched

The North Carolina Runaway Slave Advertisements project (NCRSA) provides online access to all known runaway slave advertisements (more than 2300 items) published in North Carolina newspapers from 1751 to 1840. These brief ads provide a glimpse into the social, economic, and cultural world of the American slave system and the specific experience within North Carolina and will be of interest to historians, genealogists, students, and casual users. The project website is available to the public at http://ncslaveadsproject.org.

NCRSA is a collaboration between the University Libraries of the University of North Carolina (UNCG) at Greensboro and the F.D. Bluford Library of North Carolina A&T State University (NC A&T).

Working from microfilmed copies of these rare publications, the project team scanned the ads to provide digital images, created full-text transcripts and descriptive metadata, and developed a searchable database. Users can browse the advertisements by decade and by county of origin, and the NCRSA website includes digital images of the ads, essays to address their historical context and interesting trends, full text transcripts, and an annotated bibliography to aid researchers.The advertisements are also fully keyword searchable. The advertisements were digitized from microfilm created by the North Carolina State Library and other sources. Staff members and student workers at UNCG and NC A&T scanned individual advertisements and then created transcripts and additional descriptive metadata.

NCRSA builds on the work of Freddie L. Parker (Stealing a Little Freedom: Advertisements for Slave Runaways in North Carolina, 1791-1840) and Lathan Windley (Runaway Slave Advertisements). A future enhancement will be the integration of this project with the preexisting Digital Library on American Slavery (http://library.uncg.edu/slavery/), based on the work of Dr. Loren Schweninger of UNCG, so that the two sites can be searched and browsed as one.

The project was funded through a 2011-2012 NC ECHO Digitization Grant. This grant is made possible through funding from the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by the State Library of North Carolina, a division of the Department of Cultural Resources. The website is hosted by the UNCG Libraries’ Department of Electronic Resources and Information Technology.

For more information, please contact David Gwynn, digital projects coordinator for the UNCG University Libraries at 336.256.2606 or jdgwynn@uncg.edu.

Moving on...um...down

The Digital Projects team will be moving from our temporary quarters on the fifth floor of Jackson Library to a new, larger space on the second floor in late spring or early summer. The new digitization lab will add more workspace and will allow for new equipment, including an oversize scanner and more video and audio equipment. It will also reunite the entire Electronic Resources and Information Technology Department (of which Digital Projects is a part) in one space.

Removal of the old shelving units in the former Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives stacks began today and we got a feel for how specious our new home will be:

 

We'll keep you posted as construction progresses.

Christmas shopping in Greensboro, 1912

Some great holiday gifts from Meyer's Department Store in Greensboro, featured in their advertisement in the 19 December 1912 Greensboro Patriot:

For men:

• Automobile English Robes, third floor.
• Bath Robes, eiderdown fleece, second floor.
• Silk Sox, all colors,imported.
• English Cravats, individual boxes.
• Hand-embroidered Handkerchiefs.
• Initial Handkerchiefs, six in box.
• Kid Gloves, lined and unlined.
• Knit Work Gloves, "English."
• Pajamas of silk or fleece.

For women:

• Furs, Lynx, fox, sealskin, moleskin.
• Coats, fur, astrachan, wool, plush.
• Suits, 300 to select from.
• Handkerchiefs, real lace and hand embroidered.
• Slippers, undress kid and hand crochet.
• Toilet articles, in ivory and silver.
• Real Gold Jewelry, high novelties.

Blaustein's and Brown-Belk Co, were featuring suits and coats:

 

Odell Hardware offered just about everything and made "Christmas shopping easy" by staying open till 9:00.

The Digital Projects Team at UNCG wishes you a happy holiday season even if we cannot offer you fancy Japanese china or a good $7.95 suit!

Otis L. Hairston, Jr. (1946-2012)

We were saddened to learn today of the death of Otis L. Hairston, Jr.

Following is Mr. Hairston's biography from Civil Rights Greensboro, which also contains an oral history interview with Mr. Hairston from around 1980.

Otis Hairston Jr. was born in Greensboro, North Carolina, in 1946. His father, Rev. Otis Hairston Sr., was a civil rights activist and pastor of Greensboro’s Shiloh Baptist Church. The younger Hairston participated in his first demonstration as a senior in high school in 1963. He continued to actively participate in demonstrations, and was arrested twice: once, for his participation in the sit-down in the square, and also at the Carolina Theater. He was one of many demonstrators jailed in the polio hospital and processed at the Coliseum in 1963.

Hairston attended North Carolina A&T State University and then pursued a career as a photographer, photographing famous civil rights personalities including Martin Luther King, Coretta Scott King, Jesse Jackson, and Nelson Mandela. He has also photographed famous African Americans such as Alex Haley, Maya Angelou, and Arthur Ashe. Hairston has served as photographer for NC A&T State University, Bennett College, the Greensboro Times and Ebony magazine. In 2003, he published a pictorial book entitled Greensboro North Carolina. In 2004, Hairston served as a member of the Greensboro Bicentennial Commission.

Our thoughts are with Mr, Hairston's friends and family.Greensboro has lost a significant community activist, a talented photographer, and an extremely important part of its history.

Digital collections update

As we start the new academic year, it's time to unveil some new and expanded digital collections:

New collections:

• Greenhouse Cello Music Collection (Initial phase now complete)
  This collection features 230 items, including programs, annotated music scores, and album covers related to cellist Bernard Greenhouse, a revered performer and pedagogue known for his role as a founding member of the internationally renowned Beaux Arts Trio. We hope to expand this collection to include video and oral history materials in the coming months.
• Physical Education Pamphlets (Complete)
  This collection features 236 items created between 1838 and 1975 on such subjects as exercise and physical education, diet and nutrition, and health issues.
• WUAG Exhibit (Complete)
  This exhibit includes 136 photographs, documents, and other items from the records of UNCG's campus radio station that have been added to the University Archives digital collection. We will be adding audio and several interviews later this year.
  

Collections with significant additions:

• Greensboro Historical Newspapers (Initial phase now complete)
  This collection now includes all existing microfilmed issues (nearly 4000) of the Greensboro Patriot from 1826-1922 as well as a collection of World War II newspapers from Greensboro's ORD/BTC-10 army base. We have obtained copyright clearance to digitize the remaining issues of the Patriot and may do so if funding can be secured.
• The Carolinian, 1919-2008 (Complete)
  All existing issues (nearly 3000) of The Carolinian from 1919-2008 are now available online. Issues from 2008 to 2012 are currently being microfilmed and digitized and will be online soon. After that, we hope to add new issues at the end of each academic year.
  
• American Publishers Trade Bindings, Phase IV (Ongoing)
  Over 400 new items have been added in the past year.
• Oral History Collections (Ongoing)
  Approximately 60 new oral histories have been added since March, including 25 from the Rotary Club/Preserving Our History collection.
• Women Veterans Historical Project (Ongoing)
  Numerous oral histories, printed items, and photographs have been added.

Later this month, we will be unveiling the LSTA-funded North Carolina Runaway Slave Advertisements, 1751-1840 project, which contains around 2400 runaway slave ads that appeared in North Carolina newspapers in searchable full-text format.

We area also starting to work on Textiles, Teachers, and Troops: Greensboro NC, 1881-1945 and on the rest of year's roster of priority projects. More about these to follow:

• Manuscripts Scrapbooks
• American Publishers Trade Bindings, Phase V
• ASERL Center of Excellence for Nutrition: Government Documents Pamphlets
• Home Economics Pamphlets
• Greensboro Historical Newspapers, Phase II