Welcome to Cooking Through the Counties, where we feature a recipe selected from one cookbook from a specific county in North Carolina. The cookbook featured here can be found in the North Carolina Cookbook Collection, part of Rare Books. This column highlights Beaufort County, and specifically a cookbook created by the Terra Ceia School in Pantego, North Carolina, in 1977.
Put all ingredients in bowl and beat with mixer for 4 minutes. Put into greased and floured loaf pans. Bake 45 minutes. Very good when used with a cheese spread.
This recipe proved both straightforward and speedy, helped along with the use of my KitchenAid mixer. But folks, please read the recipe a little closer than I did on the first go – she tells you to use pans. Not one loaf pan. I was fooled by the size of the loaf pan and thought perhaps she meant the smaller loaf pans. But no. If you fill your regular loaf pan this full:
…You’ve filled it too high. This bread is not only speedy, it is also light and fluffy, almost doubling in size when baked. My first attempt resulted in one full-sized bread loaf pan and two smaller ones.
I’ve since made this recipe several times as those in my household zip through the loaves. I’ve substituted lemon pudding for the coconut and found that the lemon poppy seed pairing suits us better than the coconut flavor. Both are scrumptious when a slice is toasted and cream cheese spread on top.
ENG 337 Introduction to English Literature to 1500
Special Collections Specialist Carolyn Shankle first showed students a selection of facsimiles, which included Roman de la quête du Graal, a thirteenth-century novel relating the tales of the Knights of the Round Table search for the Holy Grail, Le livre de la chasse, a fourteenth-century work on hunting written by Gaston III, Count of Foix, also known as Phoebus, that served as the standard text on medieval hunting techniques, and The Morgan Crusader Bible, created in the early thirteenth-century and known for the unprecedented naturalism and breadth of detail found in the miniatures.
With these texts as inspiration, the students did the following exercise:
For this assignment, you will be producing (obviously not in ink!) your own manuscript “leaves” – each leaf should include three elements:
1) It needs to be ruled, so that you can write a line or two of text. The exemplars for the types of writing are in Latin; don’t worry if you have no idea what it says, just try to replicate the letters of the style you’ve chosen!
2) It needs to have at least one decorative border – you can look at the books we have out on the tables on manuscripts plus all the examples we’ve printed. Feel free to adapt these to your own taste and ambition. Just remember to use bright colors and be creative. Do you want to include animals or weird little hybrid creatures in your border? Go for it.
3) It needs to have at least one illuminated initial – these are the large, highly decorated letters that often begin a line or a page. If you want to be super ambitious, you can try a historiated initial, which is often very large and includes a small picture within it that relates to the text.
TRIAD BLACK LIVES MATTER COMMUNITY PROJECT WINS AWARD
AF Artistry. Artist Collective: B.T.M. (Bend the Mind)
The Triad Black Lives Matter Collection was selected to receive the 2023 Voices of a City Local History Award, an award presented by the Greensboro History Museum for important contributions to local history by individuals or groups. The collection includes photographs and other materials related to the Black Lives Matter movement and the protests following the 2020 murder of George Floyd. The project is coordinated by Stacey Krim, Assistant Professor and Curator of Manuscripts and Cello Music. The purpose of the Triad Black Lives Matters Collection is a community collection the BLM movement, police brutality protests, and race relations in the Triad area of North Carolina.
HISPANIC HERITAGE MONTH
UNC Greensboro is No. 1 in the UNC System for total percentage of Hispanic/Latinx enrollment and is rapidly progressing toward federal designation as a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI). “The Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities, founded in 1986, championed the recognition of HSIs by Congress in 1992. This designation allows colleges to access federal grant funding, enhancing their capacity to serve Hispanic students through infrastructure, faculty development, student support, and curriculum enhancement.” (NCCCS)
Each year, UNCG University Libraries celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month by hosting a drop-in event for Hispanic/Latinx students, though any student may attend. Special Collections & University Archives (SCUA) participated in the event, which included representatives from each library department sharing about the resources they offer to students. Aside from a warm welcome to the library, students were offered free coffee and churros as they learned more about the library’s services.
During this year’s event, SCUA offered students the opportunity to make a letterpress print with library staff member, Suzanne Helms, on our tiny Sigwalt Chicago #11 tabletop printing press. The press was a huge hit with students, and the experience provided them with a hands-on connection to printing history. Participants printed the text “¡Sí se puede!” or, in English, “Yes, we can!” In 1972, Dolores Huerta, United Farm Workers of America (UFW) co-founder, coined the phrase and it has subsequently become the motto of several activist groups. Huerta created the slogan during César Chávez’s 25-day fast in Phoenix, Arizona on behalf of UFW members. Readers may also recognize the motto from Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign. It is also the message we want to communicate to our students, “Yes, you can succeed in college, and we are here to support you on that journey.”
AUDREY SAGE VOLUNTEERS AT THE FAMILY ROOM OF THE TRIAD
The Family Room of the Triad is a Foster Care Resource Center. They provide families that foster and the children in their care with resources they need, such as: beds, clothes, toys, strollers, cribs, blankets, etc. Family Room is a space where children in care often come without anything. They are a space that not only gives them things they need, but also a space to learn and know that they are loved, valued, and important. The UNCG Staff Senate regularly volunteers at the Family Room providing help in organizing, cleaning, and helping with the donations so that when a foster family arrives, everything will be ready to provide them with what they need.
UNCG Staff volunteering at Family Room, October 24, 2023. Pictured from left to right: Allysa Robinson, Staff Senate Service Committee Chair; Audrey Sage, University Libraries; Alice Culclasure, Staff Senator. Photo Credit: Allysa Robinson.
UNCG Class of 1973 50th Reunion Exhibit
Scott Hinshaw prepared an exhibit for the 50th Reunion of the Class of 1973, which took place at the Alumni House on Friday, October 20, and Saturday, October 21, 2023. The exhibit featured a 1973 Class Jacket, yearbook, handbooks, issues of the arts magazine Corradi, and assorted images of student life from the time period. Scott enjoyed talking to the alumni on Saturday and hopes to get oral history interviews for the UNCG Institutional memory Collection with several of them in the coming year. The buffet brunch was excellent and we were so glad that the good folks at the Alumni House invited us to participate!
CURATOR’S TALK: A HISTORY OF UNCG THROUGH 25 OBJECTS
On November 8th 2023 in Hodges Reading Room (Jackson Library), SCUA hosted a curator’s talk by University Archivist Erin Lawrimore to accompany the exhibit she designed: “A History of UNCG through 25 Objects.” From Charles McIver’s death mask to University-branded face masks, this exhibit uses items from University Archives to explore many of the key people and events that have impacted the evolution of UNC Greensboro from its opening in 1892 through today. During the curator’s talk, Erin discussed how items were chosen for the exhibit, how our past informs campus life today, and how University Archives continues to document UNCG today.
In addition to learning more about the physical exhibit, ILRS graduate student Kate Newman introduced an accompanying web exhibit (https://uncglibraries.com/25objects/) that she created as part of a practicum experience.
ERIN LAWRIMORE HELPS UNVEIL A NEW HISTORICAL MARKER HONORING UNCG ALUMNA VIRIGINIA TUCKER AND OTHER “HUMAN COMPUTERS.”
A new historical marker honoring North Carolinians who worked as “human computers” for NASA was unveiled outside of the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh on September 22, 2023.
As part of the unveiling ceremony, UNC Greensboro University Archivist Erin Lawrimore shared information about Virginia Tucker, a 1930 graduate of the North Carolina College for Women (now UNCG) and one of the first human computers hired by the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), the predecessor to NASA. In 1935, Tucker and four other women formed the first “Computer Pool” at the Langley Aeronautical Laboratory.
By 1946, Tucker was promoted to Overall Supervisor for Computing at Langley. In that position, she trained approximately 400 women and placed them in the computing sections across the facility. She also recruited college women from across the South to work with computers. It is believed that the school now known as UNC Greensboro was the alma mater of the largest number of human computers.
The new historic marker is the result of efforts by students in Meredith College’s Spring 2020 Public History course who conducted research to identify Meredith alumnae and other North Carolinians who worked in these fields. The students completed a formal proposal for these contributions to be recognized on a state highway historical marker.
AUTHOR READING WITH LISA TOLBERT
On October 16, 2023 SCUA co-sponsored a reception for Dr. Lisa Tolbert, Professor of History at UNCG. Tolbert’s new book Beyond Piggly Wiggly: Inventing the American Self-Service Store, analyzes the importance of the Piggly Wiggly grocery store chain in the invention of self-service and explores the role of small business entrepreneurs who invented the first self-service stores in a grassroots social process.
LETTERS FROM SCUA: THE FLORABELLE SAGA
On October 2, 2023, Curator of Manuscripts Stacey Krim hosted the latest edition of “Letters from SCUA.” Stacy discovered correspondence about a student who was expelled in 1923 from the North Carolina College for Women (now UNCG). As Stacey led viewers through her story, different staff members read letters to and from college president Julius Foust, Florabelle, her mother, father, and a family friend.
SCUA staff made presentations for a number of events this fall.
Inside the Closed Stacks: Collections of Distinction in Special Collections and University Archives. UNCG Libraries Research and Application Webinar. Stacey Krim and Kathelene Smith. September 29, 2023.
It Was a Train Wreck: Calamitous and Scandalous Tales from the UNCG Archives. Society of American Archivists Archives Month. October 5, 2023.
And Now That You Don’t Have to Be Perfect, You Can Be Good: Flexible Strategies for Digitization as Preservation. David Gwynn, Stacey Krim, Beth Ann Koelsch. North Carolina Preservation Consortium Conference. November 6, 2023.
North Carolina Literary Map. North Carolina Writers Network Conference. Patrick Dollar. November 3-5, 2023.
In Their Own Words: High Impact Teaching with Oral Histories. Oral History Association Annual Meeting. Kathelene Smith, Beth Ann Koelsch, Stacey Krim. October 21, 2023.
It Was a Dark and Stormy Night: The Origins of the Gothic Novel. Kathelene Smith. Century Book Club, Asheboro, NC. October 11, 2023.
AND FINALLY…SCUA has stickers and they are available in the Hodges Reading Room! Collect them all!
The Special Collections and University Archives at UNCG have recently acquired some wonderfully unique artist’s books by Yusuke Oono. These works are a special format of book – a 360° creation.
Yusuke Oono was born in Germany In 1983 and graduated from The University of Tokyo where he obtained both his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Architecture. He is the recipient of the “Art Directors Club of New York” and has received many other awards. He works primarily as an architect but is also active in other related fields including interior product design and art installation. He is the principal of DOMINO ARCHITECTS from 2016.
360° BOOK is an innovative format of expression. With its unique bookbinding technique, the book dynamically opens 360 degrees and shows a panoramic 3D world composed of a series of pages. Each page is cut delicately and bound carefully to create a magical world inside.
MOUNT FUJI
Mount Fuji – first published in 2015, and now in its eighth edition in 2018, is published by the Seigensha Art Publishing group. It is 3.5″ x 3.5″ x 5/8″ and housed in a special enclosure designed by Kazushige Takebayashi.
Mount Fuji is one of the highest mountains in Japan at an altitude of 3,776 meters recognized for its graceful appearance and a symbolic symbol of Japan. In 2013 Mount Fuji was officially registered as a UNESCO World Heritage for its value as a sacred place and a source of artistic inspiration. Mount Fuji is also known as “Reiho Fuji” meaning “Sacred Mount Fuji”. Mount Fuji is also an object of religious faith that has been worshiped by the Japanese people throughout history, beginning with the Manyoshu anthology of poetry in the year 759 serving as a source of artistic inspiration in literature and the literary arts. A great example of this is Hokusai’s series of “Ukiyo-e” woodblock prints, “Thirty Six Views of Mount Fuji” which started in 1823. Mount Fuji continues to be one of Japan’s leading tourist destinations with more than 300,000 people climbing the mountain every year.
SNOWY WORLD
Snowy World was first published in 2017. The library copy is from the Fourth edition published in October of 2022 by Makoto Katayama of Seigensha Art Publishing. The package enclosure was designed by Kazushige Takebayashi and Natsuki Isa.
Fir tree is topped up with snow, and the animals are gathering around. Preparation to deliver presents is about to begin – within the silence of snowy world.
HOKUSAI SUZUME ODORI
Hokusai Suzume Odori was published in April, 2019, the first edition. It is published by the Seigensha Art Publishing group and the packaging for the 360 degree book was designed by Kazushige Takebayashi and Natsuki Isa.
“Sparrow Dance” is one of traditional footman dances performed by dancers literally imitating sparrows’ movements. It is considered to have originated from an improvised dance performed by stonemasons from Sakai in the Senshu region at a banquet celebrating the relocation of Sendai Castle. Hokusai Katsushika (1760-1849) featured this “Sparrow Dance” in the third volume of “Hokusai Manga”, one of his etehon (art manual) series.
Hokusai’s lively brush strokes vividly capture dance movements of people wearing footman’s kimonos and hats, looking as if they are going to start moving at any moment.”
SCUA supports student success by providing opportunities for internships, capstone projects, practicums, student workers, and volunteers. Their projects include conducting research and archival processing, creating libguides and story maps, creating exhibits, and writing blog posts. Some of the experiences in SCUA lead to external internships and job opportunities in the field.
Online University Archives Exhibit
In conjunction with the “A History of UNCG through 25 Objects” exhibit, UNCG Master’s in Library and Information Science graduate student Kate Newman created an accompanying web exhibit as a practicum experience. See it here: https://uncglibraries.com/25objects/.
Annual Women Veterans Luncheon Exhibit
by Tori Hinshaw
I had the pleasure of curating the exhibit for the Women Veterans Historical Project 25th Anniversary Luncheon. I began my graduate fellowship with the UNCG Special Collections & University Archives in the Fall of 2022 and have worked specifically with the Betty H. Carter Women Veterans Historical Project (WVHP), the largest archival collection in the country dedicated to documenting the contributions of women in the military and related service organizations since World War I. Every year, this luncheon brings together women veterans and active-duty servicewomen for an afternoon of conversation, good food, keynote speakers, and an exhibit curated with items from the WVHP collections.
For weeks leading up to this event, I conducted research, pulled artifacts, designed original posters, designed the exhibit layout, wrote captions and bios, planned display materials, and plotted out what is seen in the photos below. By the end, the exhibit involved 75 artifacts, 13 textiles, and 2 original poster designs. The exhibit highlighted the Army, Navy, Marines, Coast Guard, Air Force, American Red Cross, and a special feature on the short-lived Women Air Force Service Pilots (WASPS, August 1943-December 1944). The women I spoke to at the luncheon were kind enough to tell me how much they loved the exhibit, which was such an honor.
A Special Thanks to UNCG Special Collections, UNCG Museum Studies Program, Beth Ann Koelsch, Suzanne Helms, Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville (where I learned a lot about the exhibit curation process over the summer, skills that I utilized when putting this exhibit together), and my friends and family who were encouraging me during this project. And lastly to all of the women veterans, thank you for your service!
Update from MLIS Graduate and former SCUA Capstone student
Adrienne Johnson
After graduating in May of 2023 with an MLIS from UNCG, Adrienne Johnson did an Archives and Exhibits internship at UNC Chapel Hill’s Morehead Planetarium and Science Center. In February 2024, she will start her new job as a Maps and Imagery Access Librarian at the University of Florida’s Special Collections library.
Scrapbooks can often be very fragile, especially if the pages themselves are brittle. Many scrapbooks are filled with uncaptioned photographs and other materials such as programs, postcards, clippings, greeting cards, and ticket stubs. The lack of contextual information makes it challenging to understand the “story” of the creator, especially if we have no other sources of information about the creator such as an accompanying oral history. The Pauline Palmer scrapbook is unusual in that it is primarily made up of newspaper and magazine clippings and almost reads as a straight-forward narrative of Palmer’s military experiences.
Pauline G. Palmer (1901-1952), from Meriden, Connecticut and East Orange, New Jersey, was a 41-year-old music teacher when she joined the U.S. Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC). Unlike most women who joined the U.S. military during World War II, she was married (to a disabled World War I veteran) and had a son. The Women’s Army Corps was the women’s branch of the United States Army. It was created as an auxiliary unit, the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps on 15 May 1942 and became an official part of the military in July 1943 as the Women’s Army Corps (WAC.) On July 9, 1942, 47 women were sworn in as the first officer candidates in the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps. Pauline Palmer was one of the 3,515 initial applicants and one of the few selected. Eleven days later she was part of the first group of women to begin training in the WAAC at Fort Des Moines, Iowa. In November 1942 she was transferred to the new WAAC training facility at Daytona Beach, Florida. There she was named company commander in charge of a group of around 200 new recruits. In 1944 Palmer was promoted to Captain and in 1946 she was Commanding Officer for a WAC squadron as part of the 78th Army Air Forces Base Unit. She was also vetted for work in cryptography. According to the correspondence included in the collection, Palmer’s post-war life was difficult and she died in a car accident under suspicious circumstances in December 1952.
Her scrapbook documents Palmer’s experience in the WAAC and WAC and includes photographs, newspaper clippings and correspondence. Correspondence in the scrapbook includes a letter from the Northern New Jersey Recruiting and Induction District regarding her selection as well as the telegram from Major General T.A. Terry informing her of her acceptance into the first officer candidate class. Ephemera in the scrapbook include WAAC-related invitations as well as a strip of typescript assigning Palmer her squad, bed and wall locker when she arrived at Fort Des Moines, Iowa.
In addition to Palmer-specific information, the scrapbook also includes magazine clippings, one of which includes a photo of African American WAACS.
Created and first distributed in 1943, this poster conveyed the attitude of winning the war effort through cooperation and collaboration.
Rare Books
The Novel That Created the Genre: The Castle of Otranto, A Gothic Story
Generally considered to be the first gothic novel at its initial publication in 1764; Horace Walpole added both his name as the author and the subtitle “A Gothic Story” by the second edition. This book served as the model in settings, tone, characterizations, and plots for future gothic works. The copy in Rare Books is the sixth edition, printed in London by Bodoni for John Edwards in 1791. Some copies of this edition have two states of a view of the castle of Otranto, a portrait of Lady Mary Coke, and six plates representing different scenes from the play. These plates were not printed by Bodoni, but added in 1793 in England. This copy has the frontispieces and four of the six plates and was rebound in half red morocco binding with pink marbled boards and matching endpapers by the Harcourt Bindery by the previous owner, W. Wellington George, MD.
Title Page
Tipped-in image
The Other Vampire Book Published in 1897
Appearing the same year as Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Florence Marryat’s novel, The Blood of the Vampire, is fascinating for its engagement with many of the issues affecting Victorian society. Marryat weaves ideas regarding heredity, race, women’s roles, Spiritualism, and the occult into her sensational plot featuring Miss Harriet Brandt, daughter of a mad scientist and voodoo priestess who leaves her home in Jamaica for Europe. Rare Books’ copy is of the first edition, published in London by Hutchinson & Co. and housed in a custom clamshell box.
Title Page
Clamshell Box
A Key Piece of Witchcraft Canon: The Witch-Cult in Western Europe, A Study in Anthropology by Margaret Alice Murray
It is hard to overstate the impact of this work on academic and literary discussions surrounding witchcraft and paganism. The study, which has been described in style as “fantastic scholarship”, puts forward the theory that medieval European witchcraft represented the survival of the pre-Christian nature cult of Cernunnos, the Horned God.
Although immediately controversial in its claims and methodology, it proved widely popular due to its optimistic and timely presentation of a fulfilling female-led religion, and has since been key in the development of 20th-century Wicca and Neo-Paganism. Murray followed this thesis with her The God of the Witches (1933) in which she cites the late Palaeolithic cave-drawing known as the Sorcerer, found at Trois-Frères in 1914, as “the earliest known representation of a deity”. These two texts eclipsed her previous reputation as an Egyptologist and established her as a fundamental name in the fields of folklore and witchcraft.
This work uses methods common to the study of folklore at the time, which saw folk practices, especially those in rural communities, as potential living fossils, handed down, potentially from pre-history, within inherited traditions. Rare Books copy is the first edition, first impression, of this hugely influential work, inscribed with a blessing by the author on the second blank, “All your cross and troubles go to the door. M. A. Murray 1950”.
Cover and inscription
Title page
Inscription
Special Collections
Before “Jack the Ripper” there was The Edgware Road Murderer
A fascinating assemblage of printed material relating to the cause célèbre of 1837, the brutal murder and dismemberment, on Christmas Eve 1836, of Hannah Brown by James Greenacre, forever after known as the Edgware Road Murderer. This collection was compiled by someone eagerly following the case and the variety of materials attests to the grip that it exerted on the public mind. Included in the approximately 100 leaves of clippings are the scarce Paddington Murder Sheet, and other decidedly uncommon pieces, including Fairburn’s comprehensive coverage of the trial and an issue of The New Doctor, with the front page dedicated to the phrenological aspect of the Greenacre case.
Interior page of scrapbook
Women Veterans Historical Project
Recruiting posters for the U.S. Navy WAVES and U.S. Coast Guard SPARs. [1943-1944]
Recruiting Brochure: Get free training with pay in the world’s proudest profession Join the U.S. Cadet Nurse CorpsHigh School Girls Plan Now to join when you graduate GPO Undated [1943].
Recruiting Brochure WAVES Reserve Officer Candidates School United States Naval Training Center Great Lakes Illinois. [circa 1950]
A Modern Mephistopheles was written by Louisa May Alcott and published anonymously in 1877, when she was 25 years old, perhaps so she could explore a “darker side” without tainting her reputation. It was published under her name in 1889, along with her similarly dark story, A Whisper in the Dark. A mephistopheles is a demon from German folklore. A journal entry from February, 1877 explained what inspired her to write it: “It has been simmering ever since I read Faust last year.”
This chilling tale of lust, deception, and greed begins on a midwinter night as Felix Canaris, a despairing writer about to take his own life, is saved by a knock at the door. His mysterious visitor, Jasper Helwyze, promises the poor student fame and fortune in return for his complete devotion. The embittered Helwyze then plots to corrupt his overly ambitious protégé by artfully manipulating the innocent and beautiful Gladys. When Helwyze decides that he wants Gladys for himself, Felix must defend the adoring young woman from the corrosive influence of his diabolical patron. A novel of psychological complexity that touches on controversial subjects such as sexuality and drug use, A Modern Mephistopheles is a penetrating and powerful study of human evil and its appalling consequences.
From Alcott’s penned preface, 1889:
“A Modern Mephistopheles” was written among the earlier volumes of the No Name Series, when the chief idea of the authors was to puzzle their readers by disguising their style as much as possible, that they might enjoy the guessing and criticism as each novel appeared. This book was very successful in preserving its incognito; and many persons still insist that it could not have been written by the author of “Little Women.” As I much enjoyed trying to embody a shadow of my favorite poem in a story, as well as the amusement it has afforded those in the secret for some years, it is considered well to add this volume to the few romances which are offered, not as finished work by any means, but merely attempts at something graver than magazine stories or juvenile literature.”
“A daughter of the transcendentalist Bronson Alcott, Louisa spent most of her life in Boston and Concord, Massachusetts, where she grew up in the company of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Theodore Parker, and Henry David Thoreau. Her education was largely under the direction of her father, for a time at his innovative Temple School in Boston and, later, at home. Alcott realized early that her father was too impractical to provide for his wife and four daughters; after the failure of Fruitlands, a utopian community that he had founded, Louisa Alcott’s lifelong concern for the welfare of her family began. She taught briefly, worked as a domestic, and finally began to write.
Alcott’s stories began to appear in The Atlantic Monthly (later The Atlantic), and, because family needs were pressing, she wrote the autobiographical Little Women (1868–69), which was an immediate success. Based on her recollections of her own childhood, Little Women describes the domestic adventures of a New England family of modest means but optimistic outlook. The book traces the differing personalities and fortunes of four sisters (Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy March) as they emerge from childhood and encounter the vicissitudes of employment, society, and marriage. Little Women created a realistic but wholesome picture of family life with which younger readers could easily identify. Alcott’s books for younger readers have remained steadfastly popular, and the republication of some of her lesser-known works late in the 20th century aroused renewed critical interest in her adult fiction.” -Encyclopaedia Britannica by Amy Tikkanen.
This volume, published in the No Name Series in 1877, had become worn, the spine cover cloth hanging by threads, and the spine and sewing materials were deteriorating.
Cleaning, mending, and resewing the deteriorated textblock structure.The newly mended textblock is reset into the reconstructed cover using toned Japanese papers and linen cloth.
The newly restored volume of A Modern Mephistopheles is now ready for the next century.
SCUA staff continue to teach classes and give workshops throughout the summer, incorporating primary sources from across our collections. These sessions give students the opportunity to learn from “hands-on” experience with archival materials. Some of the notable classes and instructional opportunities this summer include:
CHANCE Camp Summer 2023
During their weeklong camp on the UNCG campus, CHANCE participants had the opportunity to visit the Conservation Lab, learn about preservation and conservation in the library, and meet the Bindery Donut!
CHANCE is a summer college access program that brings high school Latinx and Hispanic rising seniors from across North Carolina to UNCG for several days to get experience with college level classes and faculty, leadership and civic programming, cultural enrichment, and campus life. The main purpose of CHANCE is to encourage and equip Latinx and Hispanic students with the culturally informed awareness, knowledge, and skills to persist through high school and continue to higher education with UNCG as a school of choice. The campers learn about the resources and opportunities at UNCG, reside in a residence hall, eat in the dining hall, are mentored by UNCG students, meet staff, faculty, and alumni during their stay on campus. (Find out more)
MFA Students Tour the Archives
First year Art MFA students visited SCUA this summer, where they had some hands-on time with the department’s artists’ books and zines! They also toured the Digital Media Commons.
LIS 688: Preservation Management in Libraries/Archives
Beth Ann Koelsch, Audrey Sage, and Carolyn Shankle joined Kathelene Smith’s LIS 688 class to share information about all aspects of archival preservation, including book binding and papermaking, as well as book, photo, and scrapbook preservation. They also discussed the role of digitization in archival preservation efforts.
Carolyn Shankle and Audrey Sage visited Kathelene McCarty Smith’s LIS 688: Archival Preservation class where they lead students through the history of papermaking, printing, bookbinding, and conservation work. Special attention was paid on how the materials and techniques used in the creation of books affects the type of conservation treatment they need as they show signs of age and wear.
SCUA supports student success by providing opportunities for internships, capstone projects, practicums, student workers, and volunteers. Their projects include conducting research and archival processing, creating libguides and story maps, creating exhibits, and writing blog posts. Some of the experiences in SCUA lead to external internships and job opportunities in the field.
Alina Ramirez: UNCG MLIS Student, SCUA Intern
Alina created an online exhibit about the Literary Societies at Woman’s College (now UNCG). In lieu of sororities, which school founder Charles Duncan McIver thought were exclusionary, students were assigned to one of four literary societies: Adlephian, Cornelian, Dikean, and Aletheian.
Since the Spring semester of ’23, I have worked as a student employee in the Manuscripts section of SCUA here at UNCG. I was eager to learn about what it takes to work in an archive and see if it was a career I would want to pursue once I finish my History degree. This position has definitely met my expectations. I feel like I am learning some of the essential elements of archival work while helping to process several fascinating collections. My tasks are primarily processing text, photographs, and artifacts for inventory then entering data into the ArchiveSpace online database to modify or create finding aids so researchers can discover them. The Manuscripts collections focus on North Carolina Piedmont heritage, and the collections I have worked with have direct connections with UNCG or the Greensboro area.
So far, I have helped inventory items for a variety of collections including a WWII veteran and UNC nursing instructor, a bookstore serving the gay and lesbian community of North Carolina, a Greensboro author and UNCG English professor emerita, an association specializing in music education, and a collection of Spanish language poetry from Central and South America. Even just scratching the surface as a part-time student worker, I feel like I am gaining skills and knowledge that will be valuable in my future career search after graduation.
Tori Hinshaw: Graduate Assistant
Graduate student Tori Hinshaw returned to a familiar place for her summer internship – her home state of Tennessee and the birthplace of country music.
Hinshaw, who is working toward a master of arts in history with a concentration in museum studies in the College of Arts and Sciences, is a collections intern at the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville. The collections department is the caretaker of thousands of items displayed in the museum. Hinslaw has worked in several smaller museums including the Muscle Shoals Sound Studio in Alabama and RCA Studio B in Nashville, so she was interested to see how working at a larger museum would compare.
“I saw the collections internship and also took a collections class last fall, which taught me a lot about what that looks like as a career,” Hinshaw says. “I also work with collections in the University Archives, so I thought this would build upon that experience.”
Hinshaw started the internship in May – just in time for Taylor Swift’s “The Eras Tour” to arrive in Nashville and a pop-up exhibit about the music star to be set up in the Hall of Fame.
“It’s been really surreal,” she says. “I got to see the original Taylor Swift cardigan, her ‘Folklore’ coat, you name it. So, that’s been my favorite moment so far.”
She credits many of her professors in the museum studies program with helping her get the opportunity.
“I cannot stress how wonderful the professors in this program are for preparing us,” she says. “Dr. Ann Parson’s class taught me a lot about best practices working with artifacts and working in a museum in general. Dr. Torren Gatson has taught me a lot about professionalism. UNCG has prepared me enormously.”
