THE NORTH CAROLINA ARCHIVIST

The newsletter of the Society of North Carolina Archivists Number 45, Fall 1996

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Table of Contents

Institution Profile
Around the State . . .
Initiatives Underway
Society of American Archivists Announces Fall 1996 Workshop Schedule
Notes from the SNCA Program Chair...
SNCA Executive Board 1996-1997
Reminder...

Institution Profile

Special Collections Department, J. Y. Joyner Library
East Carolina University, Greenville, 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.

The Special Collections Department of J. Y. Joyner Library offers a variety of resources for research by students, faculty, visiting scholars, and the public in general. As presently constituted, the department includes the East Carolina Manuscript Collection, the University Archives and Records Center, the North Carolina Collection, the Rare Book Collection, and the Hoover Collection on International Communism. Total staffing for the department consists of 9 « FTE staff and more than 120 hours per week of student assistance. The department has just moved into new, expanded, and very handsome quarters occupying the third and fourth floor circular end of the new library building addition.

The department had its beginning in the establishment, by the Department of History, of the East Carolina Manuscript Collection in 1966. The Collection remained an adjunct of the department until 1976 when it was transferred administratively into Academic Library Services. From its early years the Collection implemented a collection development policy that emphasized the solicitation of manuscript sources related to North Carolina, tobacco history, missionary work around the world, and military history.

In more recent years the military emphasis has evolved into a concentration on naval and maritime history, to the extent that the Collection is considered one of the most active repositories in the nation for naval history. Its efforts are endorsed and supported by numerous naval organizations, including the U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation and the Destroyer Escort Commanding Officers Association. The Collection currently contains more than 3,800 cubic feet of documentary materials and is particularly strong in l9th and 20th century North Carolina history and U.S. Naval history.

The University Archives and Records Center did not come into being until 1982 and only after fifteen years of pleading and cajoling by the Manuscript Collection staff. From the very beginning a strong records management program was implemented and a comprehensive effort was made to develop records schedules for all university offices. The Records Center maintains approximately 3,500 cubic feet of records and annually destroys or orders destroyed in the offices of origin almost 500 cubic feet of non-permanent records.

The North Carolina Collection at East Carolina University dates from the early 1940s when the library director began to collect North Caroliniana on a regular basis. Today the Collection contains the most extensive holdings of published North Carolina resources outside of the Triangle area. Holdings include more than 20,000 printed books, serials, and documents; 22,000 N.C. Depository microfiche; 3,800 cartographic items; and approximately 11,000 reels of microfilm. The Collection particularly emphasizes the counties of eastern North Carolina. It also created and maintains the N.C. Periodicals Index, an online index of some 45 periodicals published in the state, which is available through the World Wide Web on the Joyner Library Home Page.

Rare book acquisition at Joyner Library historically has been limited, and only during the last decade has the library adopted a policy that permitted the creation of a Rare Book Collection. Acquisition efforts are concentrated in maritime history and pre-1865 publications regarding slavery.

The Hoover Collection on International Communism is an unusual accumulation of printed material relating to communism. Included are monographs, serials, pamphlets, leaflets, and a variety of other ephemeral material published both by pro-communist and anti-communist organizations. Presently this collection contains more than 5,000 titles.

Special Collections, with the exception of the North Carolina Collection, is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday. The North Carolina Collection is open to 10 p.m. on week nights, with more restricted hours on weekends.

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Around the State . . .

Debbie Blake was promoted to Archivist II, Projects Archivist, at the North Carolina State Archives. Her promotion was effective June 28, 1996. Patricia (Pat) McGee has been appointed Special Collections Librarian at the Randall Library at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. Pat has been at UNCW for a year as a Reference Librarian. She earned her MLIS at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, her MA in history from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and her BA from the University of Pennsylvania. Donna E. Kelly has been appointed editor of the FOA News, the newsletter of the Friends of the Archives, Inc. (North Carolina State Archives). Look for Donna's review of Louisa S. McCordi Poems, Drama, Biography, Letters, edited by Richard C. Lounsbury for the October issue of the North Carolina Historical Review. Dan Daily, Assistant University Archivist, has resigned to return to New England. He will reside in Concord, New Hampshire. William E. King, University Archivist at Duke University, has published an article, "Duke Opens its Doors," about the university's employment of six German emigres in faculty positions in the 1930s. It is published in They Fled Hitler's Germany and Found Refuge in North Carolina, Southern Research Report No. 8 for the Academic Affairs Library of UNC-CH.

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Initiatives Underway

SNCA World Wide Web Home Page Project

The development of the Society of North Carolina Archivists web page is underway. The design will include a home page with SNCA background, current information on meetings and events, The North Carolina Archivist, membership information, awards and endowments, and archives/special collections links to valuable web pages. The Web Team of Paul Kiel and Russell Koonts is currently overseeing its construction. The fall meeting at Greenville will include a presentation of these web pages.

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Society of American Archivists Announces Fall 1996 Workshop Schedule

Digital Imaging Technology Grand Junction, Colorado October 17, 1996 Co-sponsor: Conference of Inter-Mountain Archivists

Architectural Records Cleveland, Ohio October 25-26, 1996 Co-sponsor: Western Reserve Historical Society Elements of Preservation Santa Fe, New Mexico October 25, 1996 Co-sponsor: State Archives and Museum of New Mexico

Business Archives: The Basics and Beyond Houston, Texas November 13-15, 1996

Automating Finding Aids New Orleans, Louisiana December 7, 1996 Co-sponsor: Historic New Orleans Collection

For registration information on these and other continuing education opportunities offered by the Society of American Archivists, please contact the SAA Education Office at 312/922-0140, fax 312/347-1452, or E-mail info@saa.mhs.compuserve.com

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Notes from the SNCA Program Chair, Jan Blodgett

The SAA Workshop, "Cyberspace for Archivists" scheduled for the fall meeting on October 17, 1996, has been canceled due to a lack of enrollment. The reception originally scheduled after the workshop also has been canceled. Those interested in taking this workshop in the future should contact the SAA Education Office for an alternative future date.

The Program Committee is looking for hosts for future SNCA meetings. All you need is a convenient space for 60 people to gather and a place for a meal. Volunteering your site will not only help your fellow North Carolina archivists, it will also give you good local PR with your bosses. Don't pass up a wonderful opportunity--call or email Jan Blodgett (704/892-2632 or jablodgett@davidson.edu) and volunteer for October 1997 or May 1998. Jan Blodgett

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SNCA EXECUTIVE BOARD 1996-1997

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Society of North Carolina Archivists Fall Meeting

BUILDING BRIDGES: PUBLIC RELATIONS AND TRAINING AS ARCHIVAL TOOLS

Don't delay! The deadline to register for the Fall Meeting in Greenville is fast approaching. Registration must be received by October 7, 1996. This meeting's topic on public relations is especially timely with reductions in public funding that place new fund-raising demands on cultural institutions. Contact any executive board member for registration information.

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