News: events or updates pertaining to the State of North Carolina

Funding Boosts for Historical and Cultural Projects in North Carolina

Numerous grants have been awarded to various institutions in North Carolina, supporting a wide range of historical and cultural projects. Here's a snapshot of some of the initiatives that will receive funding:

North Carolina State Historical Records Advisory Board (Raleigh, NC): The board received $6,100 for meetings over a three-year period to improve the NHPRC grant review process and to plan for improved records programs in the state. Additionally, they received $8,880 to cover travel and meeting expenses, including a statewide conference on records issues and the development of a statewide plan.
University of North Carolina at Greensboro: The university will receive $294,603 to digitize approximately 9,800 slave deeds and bills of sale.
City of Greensboro (Greensboro, NC): The city will receive $13,866 to microfilm and catalog the permanently valuable records of the city council.
North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources (DNCR): The department received $43,168 to support two-year programming for its Community Archiving Training & Support initiative and $39,232 to support the America250 project, including in-person training events, online training modules, and scholarships.
Johnson C. Smith College: The college will receive $194,938 to create an online exhibit on the effects of urban renewal in African American neighbourhoods in Charlotte, North Carolina.
City of Fayetteville (Fayetteville, NC): The city will receive $3,720 to assist in developing an online website and records management project for the city.
North Carolina State Historical Records Advisory Board (Raleigh, NC): The board also received $35,310 to support digitization of historical records and training in metadata basics and digitization standards.
Duke University (Durham, NC): Duke University will receive $23,204 to arrange and describe the papers of five U.S. Senators and Congressmen from North Carolina who served between 1901 and 1961.
The State Archives of North Carolina: The archives will receive $83,636 to provide online access to North Carolina's early legal records from 1665 to 1806.
Meredith College (Raleigh, NC): Meredith College will receive $677 for a consultant to survey the records of the college and make recommendations for establishing an online website and records management program.
Queens College (Charlotte, NC): Queens College will receive $5,070 for two consultants to assist in the initiation of an archival program for the college's records.
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC: The university will receive $33,640 for the Southern Historical Collection: the papers of John Macpherson Berrien, the Thomas Bragg Diary, Thomas Burke, Edward Dromgoole, William Gaston, Duff Green, Hilary Abner Herbert, Claude Kitchin, William Lowndes, Christopher Memminger, Edgar Gardner Murphy, David Outlaw, Benjamin Franklin Perry, John Rutledge, Ethelbert Stewart, Henry Clay Warmoth, and Benjamin Cudworth Yancey.
North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources (Raleigh, NC): The department will receive $2,158 to hire a consultant to study the compatibility of the North Carolina State Archives' automated Manuscript and Archives Reference System (MARS) with the United States Machine-Readable Cataloging Archival and Manuscripts Control (USMARC) format.
East Carolina University (Greenville, NC): The university will receive $10,931 to arrange, describe, and make available the papers of three North Carolina women authors and journalists: Inglis Fletcher, Lucy Cherry Crisp, and Dorothy Knox.
Western Carolina University (Cullowhee, NC): The university will receive $25,458 to survey and process collections in the Mountain Heritage Center relating to the southwestern region of North Carolina.
Archives of the North Carolina Lutheran Synod (Salisbury, NC): The archives will receive $17,480 in support of preservation, arrangement, and description of records, and development of future program plans.
North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources: The department received $16,500 to support a planning grant for a project aimed at capturing an overview of African American archival materials in North Carolina.
Appalachian Consortium (Boone, NC): The consortium will receive $25,599 to survey repositories in south central Appalachia for information on their needs, programs, and holdings; prepare and distribute a directory of manuscript sources for Appalachian studies; and conduct a two-day workshop in archival preservation for manuscript custodians.
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC: The university will receive $100,071 for extending the archival program of the university.
United Methodist Church Archives (Lake Junaluska, NC): The archives will receive $17,892 to arrange and describe the records, papers, and photographs of John McKendree Springer, American Methodist missionary and Missionary Bishop for Africa.
North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources: The department received $142,000 to support the America250 commemoration and new civic literacy curriculum standards.
Johnson C. Smith University (Charlotte, NC): The university will receive $2,782 for a consultant to help evaluate the preservation needs of the university's special collections, rich in African-American history materials.
North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources (Raleigh, NC): The department will receive $15,000 to the Archives and Records Section to preserve the photographic collection of Albert Barden, a professional photographer whose work constitutes the most comprehensive photo collection of eastern and Piedmont North Carolina in the first half of the 20th century.
The University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill: The university will receive $75,457 to create a Digital Rocky Mount Mills, a curated digital collection of records documenting the history of the cotton mills and their place in the region.
Western Carolina University (Cullowhee, NC): The university will receive $14,238 for the Mountain Heritage Center to arrange and describe records acquired in its Western North Carolina Mountain Historical Records Project.

These grants will contribute to the preservation and dissemination of North Carolina's rich historical and cultural heritage, ensuring these stories continue to be told for generations to come.

[1] North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources: https://www.ncdcr.gov/ [2] North Carolina Digital Collections: https://digital.ncdcr.gov/ [3] Internet Archive: https://archive.org/ [4] North Carolina American Indian Heritage Commission: https://www.ncaihc.com/ [5] UNC Pembroke: https://www.uncp.edu/

With the funding received, the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill will create a digital exhibit on the effects of urban renewal in African American neighborhoods in Charlotte, North Carolina, which could inspire a cultural-travel itinerary for visitors interested in exploring aspects of American history.
As travel revives post-pandemic, integrating historical and cultural sites like the North Carolina State Historical Records Advisory Board's digitized records on the state's early legal records from 1665 to 1806 into travel plans could enrich travelers' understanding of the region's lifestyle and history, making for a unique travel experience that emphasizes cultural-travel.