THE NORTH CAROLINA ARCHIVIST

The newsletter of the Society of North Carolina Archivists Number 43/44, Spring/Summer 1996

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Table of Contents

Institution Profile
Around the State . . .
Initiatives Underway
New Publications
A Message from the President. . . .
SNCA Executive Board 1996-1997
Signs of the Times
SNCA Member Receives SAA Task Force Appointment
UNC and NCSU to Join Forces in Archival Education
SAA Workshop to be Offered at the Fall Meeting
Important New Acquisitions at UNC-Chapel Hill
New SNCA Membership Directory
North Carolina Local Records/Educational Assistance Program

Institution Profile

The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
Department of History and Records
Management Services
Montreat, North Carolina

Institution profiles are a new feature of The North Carolina Archivist. Each issue will include a feature profile of a selected archival institution in North Carolina. Institutions profiled will include organizations that maintain archival and manuscript collections as a component operation or as its sole purpose. Fall and spring issues of the newsletter will include profiles of institutions hosting SNCA meetings or that are located near the meeting site.

In 1902 Samuel Mills Tenney, a young minister from the southern branch of the Presbyterian Church (PCUS) founded the Presbyterian Historical Society of the Synod of Texas, which eventually located in Texarkana. The PCUS General Assembly voted in 1926 to establish a denominational historical agency with Tenney's collection as its nucleus. In 1927 the agency was named the "Historical Foundation of the Presbyterian and Reformed Churches" and relocated to Montreat, North Carolina. Tenney, and his successors as director, built an impressive collection of publications, manuscripts, and museum items related to Presbyterianism in the South and throughout the world.

The reunion (they had split during the Civil War) of the two major branches of the Presbyterian Church in 1983 provided the opportunity to combine the Historical Foundation's resources with those of its northern counterpart, the Presbyterian Historical Society, located in Philadelphia. Both offices are now known as the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Department of History and Records Management Services. The Philadelphia office serves as the denomination's archival headquarters, while the Montreat office functions as a regional archives, library and museum serving 15 southern states. The Montreat facility also houses the records center for the PC(USA) Louisville headquarters.

The Montreat staff includes five full-time exempt and 3.5 non-exempt employees. The permanent collection consists of approximately 5,300 cubic feet of manuscripts and archives and 60,000 library volumes, periodicals and pamphlets housed in a 33,000 square foot facility. Our museum collection consists of over 20,000 items including over 17,000 communion tokens; over 500 artifacts (collected by Presbyterian missionaries) relating to the Bakuba tribe in Zaire; many local church items like communion ware, collection baskets, and furniture; as well as other artifacts that in some way illustrate or document the work of the PCUS at home and in the foreign mission field. A new $600,000 HVAC was recently installed to provide state-of-the-art temperature and humidity control.

Most researchers tend to be interested in local church history or genealogy; but, there are a number of more serious scholars working on a broad range of social and religious history topics. In 1995, the Montreat reference staff responded to 885 researchers (1,195 researcher days), Over 2,000 reference requests by mail, FAX, and telephone. Additionally, the staff welcomed approximately 4,200 visitors to the museum during the year.

For the past 18 years the Department of History, Montreat, has hosted the week-long Seminar on Local Church History during which staff members from both offices conduct workshops on starting a church archives, writing and publishing a church history, disaster preparedness, mounting exhibits and conducting oral interviews.

Current special projects include an in-house cataloging of the vast pamphlet collection using an INMAGIC- created database and the reorganization of the microfilm collection.

The PC (USA), Department of History, Montreat, is open to the public Monday through Friday from 8:30 to 4:30.

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Around the State . . .

The Special Collections Department at North Carolina State University Libraries welcomes Paul Kiel to their staff as an Assistant Curator, effective June 10, 1996. Cilla Golas, a graduate student in public history at NC State, also began a summer graduate assistantship at NCSU Libraries. Cilla will be processing and rehousing the Papers of Carl Alwin Schenck, forester at the Biltmore Estate from 1895-1909. Lisa Wood has been accepted to the Simmons College Master's degree program in Library and Information Science. Lisa will be moving to Boston in September. Her duties as the Membership Chairperson will be temporarily assumed by Russell Koonts and Julie Doyle. Todd Crumley is spending his second summer as an intern at the Department of History at Montreat. He is processing a manuscript collection, helping to catalog the pamphlet collection on a database, and will also be doing some conservation work with lantern slides. Todd is currently a student in the Public History program at NC State. Katherine Hufstetler has been named Technical Services Coordinator and Russell Koonts has been named Reference and Information Access Archivist for the Hartman Center for Sales, Advertising, and Marketing History at Duke University's Special Collections Library. Ms. Hufstetler has been working in the Hartman Center for some time, and Mr. Koonts will join the staff as of July 15. Anna Brooke Allan has agreed to be the volunteer archivist for the Residents' Association at Carol Woods Retirement Community in Chapel Hill. Molly Gillespie has been selected to be the Archives Intern for Davidson College. The Internship is a two-year full-time appointment. Jan Blodgett recently completed a Ph.D. in American Studies at the University of Maryland. Her dissertation was selected for the Carl Bode Award for best dissertation by the American Studies Depart. Shiela Bumgarner received the Director's Award at the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County for her work in preparing exhibits at various locations in Charlotte.

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Initiatives Underway

The National Endowment for the Humanities awarded The Manuscripts Department at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill a two-year grant to preserve original sound recordings in the Southern Historical and Folklife Collections. The project will preserve field recordings of traditional music, oral history interviews, and other recordings documenting the traditions, culture and history of the American South.

The Robinson-Spangler Carolina Room at the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County has received funding from the library, the Olde Mecklenburg Genealogical society and the Mecklenburg Historical society to film the city cemetery records including Elmwood, Evergreen, Pinewood, and Oaklawn Cemeteries. The Robinson-Spangler Carolina Room also is featuring a chapter each month from Rose Leary Love's memoirs of the Brooklyn neighborhood in Charlotte at their World Wide Web site, http://www.plcmc.lib.nc.us/cr/carolina.html Also on view are photographs from the current exhibit, "The People on the Hill." This exhibit documents life in a Charlotte mill village.

The Moravian Music Foundation will begin microfilming the music collections in their custody. The project is funded by grants and donations, and will take 18-24 months. The foundation and the Moravian Archives are planning for a new joint facility. The project has completed the architect's conception phase and will begin fund raising with a campaign among the Moravian churches in the Southern Province. The new archival facility, within the historic district of Old Salem, is projected to be 18,000 square feet.

The Special Collections Department at NCSU Libraries mounted an exhibit on World War II entitled "The Mobilization of Education: Soldier-Students and the Wartime Years at North Carolina State College." The exhibit draws from archives and manuscript collections to tell the story of NCSU's contribution to the war effort and campus life during the war. The exhibit is on view in the D. H. Hill Library on the NCSU Campus through August 15.

Donna E. Kelly is editing the papers of James Iredell, Sr. (1751-1799). If your collection contains items written from or to him for the time period 1784-1799, please let me know at the Historical Publications Section, 109 E. Jones Street, Raleigh, NC 27601-2807, 919/733-7442.

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New Publications

Scott Peterson, a partner in the law firm of Hill, Steadman & Simpson in Chicago published a pamphlet entitled "Copyright Permissions." It was prepared and published by the Intellectual Property Law Assoc. of Chicago. It is available for $6.00. Contact Scott Peterson at Hill, Steadman, & Simpson, 85th Fl., Sears Tower, Chicago, IL 60606, 312/876-0200.

The International City/County Management Association (ICMA) announces the publication of Records Management: A Practical Guide for Cities and Counties. Written by Julian L. Mims, CA, a leader in the field of local government records management, this comprehensive guide is for every office that must manage paper or electronic records. The book covers every aspect of records management, from setting up a records management program and protecting against physical loss and legal liability, to making the transition to new imaging technologies. To order the book, phone 800/745-8780. The book is 191 pages and costs $45.00.

The Moravian Archives and Moravian Music Foundation published Be New and Evermore Our Head, Six Hymns by Nicholas Ludwig von Zinzendorf, in new translations by C. Daniel Crews and Nola Reed Nouse. It is available from the Moravian Book and Gift Shop, 614 South Main Street, Winston-Salem, NC 27101.

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A Message from the President. . . .

Thank you to all who attended the Spring Meeting at North Carolina State University in March. The feedback the Board received was positive, and we were glad to see so many SNCA members in attendance. Our thanks also goes out to our hosts at the University whose considerable efforts before the meeting made everything run smoothly. In particular, we're grateful to Ken Marks for local arrangements and David Jackson for arranging the library tours after the meeting.

The 1996-97 Executive Board had its first meeting in April and began the process of planning for the next year. We are looking forward to heading east in October for a meeting in Greenville at the new quarters of the University Archives and the Manuscript Department of the library at East Carolina University. We will be able to combine that meeting with an SAA workshop. In order to encourage attendance at the SNCA meeting by archival education and public history students, the Board decided to offer a student discount for meeting registrations in the future. Membership in SNCA continues to top the 100 mark.

By now you have received your copies of the 1996-97 SNCA Directory, containing listings for 103 members. Membership Chair Lisa Long Wood is responsible for getting this directory out to us. The Board was saddened to learn that we will lose Lisa later this year when she resigns to relocate to Boston to further her education. Lisa's enthusiastic support for SNCA and for archival education will certainly be missed.

The SNCA Board hopes you will keep us informed about any and all issues which you think your professional organization should be aware of. If you have further feedback about our meetings, let us know. If you have ideas about good places for future meetings or would like to volunteer to host a meeting, please speak up! If you are yearning to help SNCA establish a World Wide Web presence, volunteer. If you would like to help on a SNCA committee or throw your name in the hat for SNCA office next year, make yourself known. Contact information for your current Board is in this newsletter, so don't hesitate to get in touch. We are working to make this year's meetings useful and interesting and would appreciate your input and help.
Linda McCurdy

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SNCA EXECUTIVE BOARD 1996-1997

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SIGNS OF THE TIMES

A Bulletin to SNCA members from the Archivist of the United States, John W. Carlin

"The end of the Cold War and the last few years of shrinking Federal budgets has resulted in military base closures and Federal agency downsizing and restructuring. When bases close or agencies contract, staff in charge of preparations to shutdown or move may be unfamiliar with Federal records management regulations and procedures. As a result, you may be contacted by a federal agency representative or contractor who is not sure of the proper procedure for the disposition of Federal records. Should you receive such an inquiry, please refer the requester to the nearest office [see below]. With your cooperation, we can ensure that Federal records are properly preserved. Thank you for your assistance."

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SNCA Member Receives SAA Task Force Appointment

Helen R. Tibbo has been appointed by SAA Council to be Chair of the Task Force on the Future of the American Archivist. Objectives are to make AA the best journal possible and to get it back on a timely publishing schedule. The task force has already begun our work, and they will be reporting to Council next month. There will be an open forum for SAA members at the annual meeting in San Diego so as to gather input regarding the best direction for AA. Anyone with suggestions is encouraged to send them to me at the following address:

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UNC and NCSU to Join Forces in Archival Education

UNC-CH's School of Information and Library Science and NCSU's Public History Program are joining forces so as to provide students with an expanded archival education curriculum. The new relationship between these two schools will allow students to earn both an MA in history and either an MSLS or MSIS degree in a shorter length of time than is now possible. Coordination of course offerings will also better utilize existing resources and allow for future course development.

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SAA Workshop to be Offered at the Fall Meeting

Mark your calendars! As part of our fall meeting at East Carolina University, SNCA will offer an SAA Workshop, "Cyberspace for Archivists," on Thursday, October 17. The workshop promises to get you rolling on the Internet with hands-on experience in the brand new networked computer facilities in the ECU library. You will be receiving more information about the workshop later this summer.

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Important New Acquisitions at UNC-Chapel Hill

Two rare pieces of North Carolina African Americana were acquired by the Academic Affairs Library of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for its Special Collections, an original manuscript poem by the Chapel Hill slave poet, George Moses Horton, and an extremely rare broadside depicting the officers of the Third North Carolina Infantry Regiment, United States Volunteers.

The Southern Historical Collection acquired "Departing Love," an original manuscript poem by noted ante bellum African American poet George Moses Horton (ca. 1797-1883). Horton, a self-taught poet and Chatham County, NC, slave, earned funds which he used to buy "free time" from his master by selling students at the University of North Carolina acrostic poems based on the names of their lady friends. The Southern Historical Collection preserves the largest collection of Horton manuscripts extant. Horton published the first known poem protesting slavery by a slave in 1829 (which appeared in a Massachusetts newspaper); his book of poetry, The Hope of Liberty, also published in 1829, was the first publication in the south by an African American. His literary efforts were encouraged by several well-placed individuals, including novelist Caroline Hentz, Governor and later University President David L. Swain, and newspaperman Horace Greeley.

The North Carolina Collection has acquired an extremely rare broadside depicting the officers of the Third North Carolina Infantry Regiment, United States Volunteers. This unique regiment, composed of both African American troops and officers, was organized to fight in the Spanish-American War (1898). The existence of the all-black regiment, commanded by Republican politician James H. Young, was controversial in an era that saw the climax of fusion politics and the solidifying of "Jim Crow" segregation laws and practices. The poster includes engraved portraits of Colonel Young and thirty-five other officers. It is an important visual complement to books and articles on the regiment and its leaders.

For more information on these items, call the Manuscripts Department at 919/962-1345 or the North Carolina Collection at 919/962-1172. To view images of "Departing Love" and other Horton manuscripts, please see the Library's Horton exhibit on the World Wide Web at: http://www.unc.edu/lib/mssinv/exhibits/horton/

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New SNCA Membership Directory

The 1996/1997 SNCA Membership Directory was mailed out in May. If you have changes or corrections to make please send them to Lisa Wood before she moves to Boston in September. An addendum with changes will be mailed to members in the Fall.

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North Carolina Local Records/Educational Assistance Program

The National Historical Publications and Records Commission has funded a program of the NC State Historical Records Advisory Board (SHRAB) to assist the state's local records holders. The Local Records/Educational Assistance Program, administered by the SHRAB, will offer grants of between $2,000 and $10,000 annually for local and regional records projects. Records holders, including units of local and county government, the state's historically-black colleges and universities, and local libraries, museums, church/religious associations, historical/genealogical societies, and other nonprofit organizations with records holdings, are eligible and encouraged to apply.

The first year grant application period will begin August 26, 1996, and all applications must be postmarked by October 4, 1996. Beginning July 1, and continuing until August 26, 1996, the SHRAB will offer pre-application period consultation to prospective grant applicants. Grant projects will run for one year, commencing in November of 1996. Grants will be awarded by the SHRAB for: (1) consultancies (for things like program planning, disaster preparedness/emergency management, document conservation and preservation techniques, use of electronic media, and records management); (2) preservation and reformatting for traditional records, more recent paper-based records, and newly-created electronic records; microfilming and rebinding; and (3) enhancing and strengthening internal institutional operations through staff/management training, temporary hires for specific projects, etc.

As a part of this program a series of four statewide informational teleconferences on preserving and managing records, automation and electronic records, and access/security/legal issues will be broadcast via satellite to eight selected receiving sites all around the state. The first teleconference, on preserving and managing records, will be broadcast on September 25, 1996. All organizations, local government units, and institutions planning to apply for grant awards, will need to have representatives attend at one of the sites. This teleconference will also be open to the general public (at no charge), especially persons interested in our state's historic records and documentary heritage. For information contact

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