Celebrating the Black Experience at UNC

Our friends at the North Carolina Digital Heritage Center (http://digitalnc.org/) have just completed digitizing Black Ink, the official publication of UNC’s Black Student Movement. Publication of Black Ink began in 1969, with the goal of transforming “Blackness … into pictures and words.” 212 issues from 1969 through 2001 are now available online.

Also, if you are in Chapel Hill this weekend celebrating Black Alumni Reunion, be sure to stop by Wilson Library’s lobby to see an exhibit on the history of the Black Student Movement with materials pulled from the North Carolina Collection and the University Archives.   Wilson Library’s weekend hours can be found here.

Happy Birthday, UNC!

October 12, 2011, marks the 218th anniversary of the laying of the cornerstone at Old East–the oldest building at the nation’s oldest state-funded university. Since 1877, the UNC community has proudly gathered to commemorate this historic event. Wilson Library houses memories of many of these past celebrations. Here are a few of our favorite images from the collections:
University President Frank Porter Graham and Chancellor Robert House lead the University Day faculty procession into Memorial Hall. 1940s. (UNC Image Collection, North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives).
Dr. Wallace Caldwell dresses up for the occasion. 1943. (UNC Image Collection, North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives).
President Kennedy speaks at University Day 1961. The president was awarded an honorary UNC degree at the ceremony. (Hugh Morton Collection, North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives).
A favorite son of UNC, actor Andy Griffith (center) spoke at the 1978 celebration, when he was also presented with the distinguished alumnus award. (UNC Image Collection, North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives).

This year’s University Day will celebrate the inauguration of a new UNC System president, Tom Ross; honor five alumni and one faculty member with service awards; and dedicate a plaque to the students who defied the 1963 Speaker Ban. Check out the official site for more information.

Open for Business

Student employees are already hard at work in our new office.

In early August, we let you know that University Archives was getting a new office suite. Well, we are all moved and settled into our new space on the third floor of Wilson Library. We are pleased as can be with our spacious and freshly painted digs.

We have also “moved” onto Facebook. Be sure to “like” us! Search “UNC University Archives” or follow the link: https://www.facebook.com/UNC.University.Archives.

So it’s Rah, Rah, Car’lina-lina!

Students are back, the sky is a crisp Carolina blue, and the leaves are just starting to change. … Must be time for Carolina football! This weekend, before you head down to Kenan Stadium and the new Blue Zone, be sure to stop by Wilson Library to see scenes from UNC’s football past in Gridiron Glory.

Charlie “Choo Choo” Justice, Bob Lacey, “Famous Amos” Lawrence, and a host of other Tar Heel greats are highlighted in footage dating from 1934 through 1985. Woody Durham narrates the 20-minute collection of archival film. Also on display: football memorabilia and materials from the collection of Jack Hilliard (’63),  including pennants, tickets, bubble-gum cards, and sheet music for the song “All The Way Choo Choo.”

Want a preview? Check out this clip:

Gridiron Glory Film Showings
Saturday, Sept. 17, 2011
Noon to 3 pm (continuous 20-minute loop)
Wilson Library
, Pleasants Family Assembly Room
Free and open to the public
Information: (919) 962-3765 or wilsonlibrary@unc.edu

 

 

Collecting the Student Experience

What are your fondest memories of college? Were they formed outside the classroom, hanging out with your friends? Did you warmly remember hours spent singing with the chorus, helping your friend run in student elections, or building sets for an upcoming play?

For participants, these activities rounded out their student experiences. Sadly, the events and memories are too fleeting; little pieces are lost with each graduating class until they are all but forgotten. Last fall, The Daily Tar Heel highlighted this lack of student organizational history in an article focusing on Company Carolina. The article incurred the wrath of many Company Carolina alumni, who believed they had left the group with plenty of unforgettable history!

University Archives would like to help students and alumni better preserve their collective memories. Towards that goal, we are actively seeking to assemble records produced by student organizations. These records might include items such as meeting minutes, rules of governance, production records, ephemera, photographs, and website content. This summer, as we test the best methods for collecting these records, we are focusing on two student theatre groups: the already-inspired Company Carolina and the long-running Lab! Theatre. Eventually, we hope to make contact with many other student groups.

Here’s where you can help! We encourage all current student groups to contact us so we can discuss transferring their records to the University Archives. We are also happy to offer groups advice on how they can preserve their own records. If you are a UNC alumnus with records from your own time working with a student group, we would also like to hear from you! Help us make the student experience part of Carolina’s permanent archival record.

Scene from Lab! Theatre's 2000 production of "Crimes of the Heart"