UNCG Digital Projects

New and expanded digital collections

2012-03-07T07:14:00.001-08:00

The Digital Projects Team would like to alert you to several new and expanded digital collections that are now available from the University Libraries:

Greensboro Pictorials Collection: http://libcdm1.uncg.edu/GSOPics.php
This collection features seven pictorial books documenting local businesses and institutions in Greensboro and Central North Carolina in the early part of the Twentieth Century. This was a collaboration with the Greensboro Historical Museum.
Greensboro Patriot: http://libcdm1.uncg.edu/GSOPatriot.php
Working with the Lyrasis Mass Digitization Collaborative, we are placing 4600 issues of a Greensboro weekly newspaper dating from 1826 to 1922 online. Currently, issues through 1888 are available. The remainder should be online within the next two to three months.
The Carolinian: http://libcdm1.uncg.edu/Carolinian.php
Phase II of this project will add issues of UNCG's newspaper from 1930-2005. Issues through 1956 are currently available online, while the remainder should be available by May. This project was also completed through the Lyrasis Mass Digitization Collaborative.

In addition, new material has been added to the following collections:

Greensboro City Directories: http://libcdm1.uncg.edu/GSOcityDir.php
Now includes directories through 1963. This project was a collaboration with the Greensboro Historical Museum and the Greensboro Public Library.
Oral History Collections: http://libcdm1.uncg.edu/OralHisCo.php
Several new transcripts have been added and there is also a new audio recording of an interview with Dr. Harold Schiffman, in whose honor our music library has recently been renamed.
Betty H. Carter Women Veterans Historical Project: http://library.uncg.edu/dp/wv/
Several new photos, printed items, and oral histories have been added.

Please take a few moments to look at some of these collections and let me know if you encounter any problems or have any questions.

There will be many more items coming online in the next couple of months, including the Physical Education Pamphlets Collection, selections from the Bernard Greenhouse Collection, an exhibit featuring records from WUAG, our campus radio station, and our NC ECHO-funded North Carolina Runaway Slave Advertisements project.

In addition, we hope to be moving to an upgraded version of the CONTENTdm software within two months. This should provide an enhanced user experience and a cleaner interface.

All our digital collections can be viewed at this link: http://libcdm1.uncg.edu/.

Christmas in Greensboro, 1901

2011-12-19T13:54:00.000-08:00

A sample of Christmas cheer from 110 years ago: The article describes festivities in the mill town adjacent to Proximity Mill, part of Greensboro's Cone Mills. The advertisement that follows shows post-holiday bargains at Greensboro's Harry-Belk Brothers Store (later Belk).

Both are from the Christmas Day, 1901, issue of The Greensboro Patriot and are part of the Patriot digitization project, which should be completely online by the summer of 2012.

Christmas at Proximity

At no place in North Carolina is there more Christmas cheer than at Proximity, Greensboro's suburban mill town. The enjoyment began Friday afternoon, when the Proximity graded school closed tor the holiday vacation Under the direction of the principal, Mis, McMasters, and her three assistants, an enjoyable program had been arranged and was carried out in a most creditable manner. The exercises consisted of songs, recitations, etc., by the school children, who gave evidence of the most careful training.

But the most enjoyable feature of the occasion came after the children had entertained the crowd with their speeches and recitations. When it was anoouiced that Santa Claus had arrived two hundred bright young fnces were turned toward the stage, and when Kris pulled back the curtain and disclosed a beautiful Christmas tree two hundred pairsof eyes sparkled In childish joy.- The tree, lighted by dozens of tiuy candles, was ladened with fruits, candies, toys and other presents. There was a package of fruit and candy and a nice present for each child. And for those childeren who had not missed a day nor been tardy during the school term therewere extra presents, given as rewardsfor faithful attendance and work.

The Christmas tree was made possible by the generosity of Mr. Ceasar Cone, who bought and paid for the gifts. He directed the teachers to prepare as nice a tree as possible and to see that not a single child was neglected. That his thoughtful kindness was appreciated by the little tots and their parents goes without saying.

The older people had their inning Monday afternoon, when a nice fat turkey was left at each of the 250 homesof the Proximity mill operatives. The turkeys also were the gift of the mill management.

The mill closed Monday evening to give the thousand operatives a three days' Christmas vacation. Monday night the Proximity Comedy Club gave a minstrel performance for the benefit of the Proximity band. The entertainment was very creditable and netted the band a nice sum.

Harry-Belk Brothers Ad

Updates

2011-11-28T06:55:00.001-08:00

There’s been a lot going on in Digital Projects the pastcouple of months. Here’s the rundown of what we’recurrently working on and how far we've gotten on each project:

American Publishers Trade Bindings Collection (Ongoing)
We are actively working on the fourth phase of this collection, which involves completing all titles in the Woman's Collection and the detective fiction sub-collection. We also hope to work on some user interface enhancements in the spring, following our CONTENTdm upgrade.
Bernard Greenhouse Project (Completion target: Spring 2012)
This project will make available concert programs, photographs, correspondence, manuscripts, and interviews pertaining to the noted cellist and will be the first in what we hope will be many projects highlighting our important cello collections. A graduate assistant us working with the Libraries and the UNCG LIS Department to complete this project as part of the Real Learning Connections program.
The Carolinian, 1930-2005 (Completion target: 2012)
Issues from 1919-1930 were published several months ago. The remainder have been digitized and assembled. We are currently working on integrating an index--a work in progress for several years--into the metadata for the project. This project was undertaken in collaboration with Lyrasis through a Sloan Foundation grant.
Greensboro Patriot, 1826-1922 (Completion target: Spring 2012)
We will be publishing online the full run of Greensboro's weekly "newspaper of record" from the nineteenth century. Severl test issues from the Civil War era are already online. All the rest have been digitized and are being prepared for publication online, as we assemble the PDF files for each issue and create metadata. We also plan to publish an index of the earlier issues that was created several years ago. This project was also undertaken in collaboration with Lyrasis through a Sloan Foundation grant, and is part of our plan for a larger community-focused local history portal in coming years.
North Carolina Runaway Slave Ads Project (Completion target: Spring 2012)
This project, funded through LSTA funds administered by the State Library's NC ECHO grant program, will digitize and transcribe more than two thousand runaway slave ads that appeared in North Carolina newspapers between 1730 and 1841. A collaborative venture with North Carolina A&T State University, this project is expected to be of great value to historians and genealogists. We have digitized a high proportion of the advertisements and are now transcribing and extracting metadata. Our colleagues at A&T will begin working on ads that were not part of our original source material in January. Three student assistants are currently working on the project.
Physical Education Pamphlets Collection (Completion target: Spring 2012)
These 400+ pamphlets held by the Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives document physical education and related activities over the past 150 years. Scanning is complete on this massive project (over 6000 pages scanned) and the pamphlets will be published online probably by early spring.
University Archives Scrapbooks (Likely completion in 2013)
We are digitizing approximately 110 scrapbooks that are part of UNCG's University Archives and were completed by campus organizations from 1917 to 1993. This has been a challenging project and we have uncovered new issues on a daily basis, but there is a wealth of information contained in these books and making them available online will allow us to preserve the originals, most of which are in a very fragile state.
University Images Project (Ongoing)
The University Archives photo collections are being reprocessed to facilitate digitization and the first (and probably most difficult) part of this reprocessing, the Buildings and Grounds series, is nearly complete. We will be adjusting some of the items already uploaded to the online collection to "match" their new homes in University Archives, which will make both the physical photos and their digital surrogates easier to find.
Women Veterans Historical Project (Ongoing)
This is one of our signature digital collections, and we are currently working primarily on oral history transcription. However, a bigger project that will move the entire collection from a homegrown database platform into CONTENTdm, which will allow for easier updating and increased searching and browsing capabilities.
WUAG/Dead City Radio (Completion target: Spring 2012)
This project will digitize Dead City Radio, a zine published from 1985 to present by UNCG's student radion station, along with other material from the WUAG records, including playlists, program schedules, photographs, and some audio materials. Work will beging in January and will involve a practicum student from the LIS program at UNCG.

Campus Construction, ca. 1949

2011-09-09T07:11:00.000-07:00

We found this interesting article while working on the Class of 1950 Scrapbook as part of the University Archives Scrapbook Collection. It details several construction projects on the Woman's College (Now UNCG) campus around 1949. Included are the original building of what is now Jackson Library, Ragsdale-Mendenhall residence halls, and the Home Economics Building (now Stone).

The article notes that the new $1,000,000 library building, which would open in 1950, "is designed to hold 300,000 books, about double the capacity of the present library" and goes on to discuss "the three soundproof audio-visual rooms" and the auditorium (now called Randall Jarrell Hall). The library was to have closed stacks, just like the Carnegie Library it replaced, but was expected to have a "much wider selection of general books, reference books, and periodicals" in open shelving.

There is also a discussion of the new dormitory, the interior of which was modeled after the already-built Weil-Winfield residence hall and of the many features of the new Home Economics building, which was a significant expansion of the existing building. Noteworthy were the new food storage facilities, the "air conditioned auditorium equipped for movies and television" and the textile research laboratories.

The last section discusses plans for the new infirmary (now Gove Student Health Center), the student union (now Elliott University Center), and additions to what is now the Petty Building. Noted modernist architect Edward Loewenstein was also working on plans for a gymnasium addition.

The early 1950s were obviously something of a building boom at UNCG.

Related:

Ms. Peanut

2011-08-17T12:48:00.000-07:00

I think this is a first. We just scanned a 74-year-old peanut in a dress. It's part of the University Archives Scrapbooks Collection, which we're digitizing this year.

Scrapbooks are always interesting candidates for scanning. They're an incredible source of social history and can provide a wealth of information about the way their "keepers" lived. In this case, the scrapbook in question was created by the State Normal and Industrial College Class of 1917. There are notes, clippings, photographs, and lots of random (and hard to identify) things made out of crepe paper and streamers.

Scrapbooks are also something of a logistical nightmare, alas. They tend to be extremely fragile--at best--and many are literally crumbling in our hands as we try to find the most gentle method of reproducing them. Documents are pasted onto other documents: folded, stacked, and inserted into envelopes. Every day brings a new challenge and we'll be writing about some of them in this space.

I thought the peanut deserved its very own post, though.

Update: That should read "a 94-year-old peanut" rather than "a 74-year-old peanut." In my younger days, I used to be able to add...

New digital collections added

2011-08-03T09:20:00.000-07:00

The Digital Projects unit announces several new or expanded digital collections that have gone online in the past few weeks:

American Publishers Trade Bindings, Phase II and III
Over 700 new images from the Girls Books in Series, Way and Williams, and Woman's Collections have been added, bringing the total digital collection to 1832 items.

Curry High School Yearbooks
The Curry School provided practical experience for student teachers and served as the neighborhood school for the area surrounding the UNCG campus from 1893-1970. These 22 yearbooks document student life at Curry School through photographs and are also full-text searchable.

Hansen Sheet Music Collection
Nearly 500 pieces of popular sheet music dating from 1846 to 1922 have been added to the 100+ items that were already available in the Hansen Performing Arts Collection. These may currently be browsed by composer and by show title (in most cases) and area also searchable by song title, date, and (in some cases) singer.

World War I Pamphlets Collection
Over 400 pamphlets (many of them book length) on topics ranging from specific military campaigns to civilian contributions and homeland propaganda are now available through our partnership with Lyrasis and the Internet Archive. The pamphlets are full-text searchable and also may be browsed by LC subject heading.

Look for several other new collections coming online within the next few months, including Greensboro City Directories (1884-1963), phase one of the Greensboro Patriot newspaper (1826-1922), a selection of pictorial works and newspapers provided by the Greensboro Historical Museum, and the remaining issues of UNCG's student newspaper, The Carolinian (1931 to present).

Collections to be added in the coming academic year include a collection of materials relating to cellist Bernard Greenhouse; a large collection of physical education pamphlets held by the Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives; a number of scrapbooks that are part of the University Archives; issues of Dead City Radio and other materials related to WUAG, the campus radio station; posters from the Women Veterans Historical Project collection; and additional photos and other material in the University History Collections.

It's all about newspapers

2011-06-29T09:51:00.000-07:00

"Hostilities Commenced!"
Greensboro Patriot extra edition, 12 April 1861 .

If you'd told me a year ago that we'd be working on putting the complete runs of two newspapers online in 2011, I might have thought you were a bit crazy. But here we are, thanks to some one-time funding opportunities and the Lyrasis Mass Digitization Program.

We started out last year with the 1919-1930 issues of The Carolinian, UNCG's student newspaper, which provided a wealth of information about the early years of the University. The next project to go online will include the remaining issues through 2008; these issues should be online by the end of the year and they include coverage of activities surrounding World War II, the civil rights movement and desegregation of the University, the transformation of Woman's College into the coeducational University of North Carolina at Greesnboro, and more. The newspapers will be digitized from clean new copies of the microfilm masters held by the Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives. The Carolinian project is part of a larger ongoing initiative to digitize thousands of photos, documents, and other items related to the history of UNCG. We hope to continue past 2008 and into the future using born-digital PDF files obtained directly from The Carolinian.

Also in progress is the digitization of issues of The Greensboro Patriot dating from 1822 to 1922. The Patriot was the weekly newspaper of record in Greensboro for most of the nineteenth century and it continued publishing through 1941. The issues currently being digitized cover the early years of Greensboro, the Civil War and Reconstruction eras, and Greensboro's rapid growth as a railroad and textile center in the early 1900s. The papers contain news, editorials, announcements, and advertisements that will be of interest to historians, genealogists, and anyone who has a passion for local history and culture. Like The Carolinian, the Patriot is being digitized using brand new microfilm copies obtained from the North Carolina State Archives, which should give us the best possible quality. This project, along with the Greensboro City Directories and Civil Rights Greensboro, are some of the first elements in what we hope will eventually be a larger local history portal. We hope to include the final two decades of the Patriot if copyright issues and funding can be worked out.

Next week: Thoughts on metadata and indexing for these and other mass digitization projects involving periodicals.

Greensboro city directories online

2011-05-03T12:59:00.000-07:00

The online collections of UNCG University Libraries now include the city directories published in Greensboro from 1884 to 1923. These volumes were provided by the Greensboro Public Library and the Greensboro Historical Museum and were digitized in 2011 under the supervision of the Digital Projects Unit of UNCG University Libraries. Digitization was completed by the Internet Archive as part of a Sloan Foundation Grant, administered through Lyrasis' Mass Digitization Collaborative.

The city directories are an amazing resource for genealogists, building researchers, and historians, providing names, addresses, and even occupations for most Greensboro residents. Many also include a "reverse lookup" section that allows users to find what business or residence was located at a given address at some point in the past. Also of interest is the fact that some of the older directories are "segregated" into "white" and "colored" sections, illustrating the social order of the Reconstruction Era South.

As time and resources permit, we hope to add more city directories to the online collection.

Geolocation and historical photographs

2011-04-07T06:36:00.000-07:00

This is a very interesting project that involves user-submitted content and a Google Maps mashup. Here at UNCG, we're adding some photos from University Images and Documents mainly as a test to see if it might generate some traffic to our collections, but also because it's just sort of cool and we wanted to be involved. We may contribute a great deal more depending on the response; it's a little labor-intensive adding photos to the site right now.

There's a lot of geolocation planned for our future projects and we're edging into adding latitude and longitude coordinates as part of the core metadata within our photo collections so that it will be there when we decide exactly how we want to use it.

Coraddi, State Normal Magazine, and Alumnae/Alumni News available online

2011-02-15T06:43:00.000-08:00

As of this week, the full run of UNCG's State Normal Magazine and Coraddi (1897-1999) and Alumnae/Alumni News (1912-1998) are available online. These two publications provide a wealth of information about the history and culture of UNCG and the Triad area.

State Norrmal Magazine began in 1897 as a literary and news magazine published by the Cornelian and Adelphian, and later, the Dikean literary societies. In 1919, it was renamed Coraddi (the title came from the first letters of each society's name) and its focus shifted entirely to literature and the arts. Coraddi is still published today.

Alumnae News first appeared in 1912. Its names was changed to Alumni News in 1964 to reflect UNCG's new coeducational status. In 1998, the magazine was merged with another publication into the new UNCG Magazine.

Both publications are fully text-searchable. Digitization was completed in association with The Internet Archive, Lyrasis, and the Sloan Foundation.

Universal masters donated to Library of Congress

2011-01-10T09:16:00.000-08:00

This is really exciting, but I'm curious about the intellectual property issues that aren't discussed in the press release. Copyright issues for sound recordings produced before 1972 are very complicated and the materials are subject to miscellaneous state laws and other factors. Per Cornell's very useful copyright guide, pre-1972 recordings won't indisputably enter the public domain until 2067. It would be really nice if this donation came with intellectual property rights as well, but I have a sneaking suspicion that isn't the case.

We've worked with a lot of sheet music here at UNCG (and we'll be doing more in the next few months) but never much with sound recordings. And the issues surrounding them will probably keep us from doing much in the foreseeable future as well.

In the News: January, 1961

2011-01-03T13:23:00.000-08:00

From Alumae News, fifty years ago this month:

Woman's College (now UNCG) faces the fact that increasing enrollment, combined with the requirement that students without family in the Greensboro area must live on campus, will necessitate the construction of new housing in the near future.
The new McIver Building, erected with one million dollars in state funds over the objections of some preservationists who opposed demolition of its predecessor, is dedicated.
The deaths of William D. Carmichael, Jr. (for whom UNCG's Carmichael Building is named) and Ione Grogan (memorialized by Grogan Residence Hall) are noted.

Goodbye, card catalog

2010-12-15T12:53:00.000-08:00

Here's one of those interesting things you find while working on a new project. We're in the process of doing quality checks on a large amount of material digitized in a project involving Lyrasis and the Internet Archive. One of the things we're working on is the full run of the various UNCG alumni magazines from 1912 to the present. This week, we found this article from 1989 on the dismantling of Jackson Library's card catalog and its replacement by the new JACLIN system.

One thing I can say for sure is that most people below a certain age have absolutely no idea what the reference to "let your fingers do the walking" is all about.

We'll be publishing more of these interesting finds in the coming weeks. Let us know what you think.

UNCG history site goes live

2010-11-10T16:45:00.000-08:00

The University History Collections website includes photos, documents, oral history transcripts, publications, artifacts, and textiles related to the history of UNCG, culled from multiple collections belonging to the Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives.

There’s some really cool stuff already, including a set of historic postcards, correspondence and other material dating to the first years of the State Normal and Industrial School, and some great material about the recently-demolished 1959 Commencement House. New materials will be added to the site on an ongoing basis, and this is sort of a “soft” launch of the first phase. Comments and thoughts are most welcome.

The site also links to the University Yearbooks Collection that went live several weeks ago and within a few months will also link to the upcoming Carolinian, Corradi and State Normal Magazine, and Alumni Magazine projects.