Wednesday, December 14, 2016

UNCG's Online History: Now in One Convenient Location!

For the last two years, University Archives has been working with the Internet Archive and their Archive-It member service to capture and preserve numerous UNCG-affiliated websites. You can learn more about the beginning of this work in January 2015 in a previous blog post. Now, in addition to seeing the versions of the site that we have archived since 2015, you can view all of the earlier captures of many of these sites done by the Internet Archive in one location.

You can quickly and easily explore how a single department's web presence has changed over the years (and, in many cases, access documents and other information about the department/unit's work that was never available in another format). For example, the Elliott University Center website has been captured 150 times, with the earliest being on August 19, 2000. On that earliest site, you can learn about the EUC Renewal Project which began in 2000.
EUC homepage in 2000

EUC homepage in 2016


The website of the Office of Housing and Residence Life has been captured 232 times, going back to January 19, 2004. Using this site, a researcher could examine the changes in housing rates from 2004 (where the site proudly advertises that "all rooms have ethernet connections for each student!") to 2016.

Unfortunately, many of these earliest crawls can't display some images, and some of the links will not work (particularly if they link to another web domain). And we are still working with the Internet Archive on a few small issues with missing crawls. But, this web archiving work still gives us a great opportunity to explore the changes to UNCG's online presence while also preserving the valuable and often unique information on those sites for current and future researchers.

Geography Department website, 2000

Geography Department website, 2016
If you have any questions about our web archiving work, please feel free to contact us! Also, if you have a UNCG-affiliated site that is currently not being archived (meaning the domain can't be found in a search of this site), let us know. This includes websites that belong to departments, centers, student groups, faculty/staff groups, and other UNCG-affiliated organizations.


Monday, November 21, 2016

Composer C. Alan Beeler's Collection Donated to Special Collections & University Archives

The Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections &University Archives is pleased to announce the donation of the sheet music collection of composer Charles Alan Beeler (b. February 10, 1939 – d. April 28, 2016). Beeler began his studies at Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington from 1957 to 1961, training with John Sibler and Will Ogden. Beeler earned his MA in Music Theory/Composition at Washington University, St. Louis, 1965 and PhD in Music Theory/Composition, Washington University, St. Louis, 1973, studying theory with Leigh Gerdine and composition with Robert Wykes, Robert Baker, and Harold Blumenfeld. His dissertation was titled “Winter Music, Cartridge Music, Atlas eclipticalis: A Study of Three Seminal Works by John Cage.” Ph.D. diss., Washington University, 1973.”

Beeler taught theory and composition at Wisconsin State University at Stevens Point for four years and at Eastern Kentucky University as Professor of Music Theory and Composition for thirty-six years. While at Eastern Kentucky University, Beeler was the co-author of a four volume music theory textbook. In addition to teaching and composition, Alan Beeler was a talented oboist, teaching oboe and performing in faculty ensembles and the EKU orchestra. His many compositions include works for solo piano, chorus, chamber ensemble, string orchestra, full orchestra, and voice. Several of his works were recorded by PARMA Recordings, Navona Records, and Ravello Records. His compositions have been performed by the Prague Radio Orchestra directed by Vladimir Valek and by the Slovak Radio Symphony conducted Kirk Trevor in Bratislava, Slovakia among others.


The Charles Alan Beeler Collection contains over a hundred manuscript compositions and arrangements, in addition to other music for multiple instrumentation, and some personal papers. Beeler joins a growing collection of composer archives represented in the UNCG Special Collections, including Harold Schiffman, Egon Wellesz, Peter Paul Fuchs, and Rudolf Matz

Friday, November 4, 2016

Nicholas Anderson & Margaret Rowell Join the UNCG Cello Music Collection

Margaret Avery Rowell and Nicholas Anderson



The Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections &University Archives is pleased to announce the donation of two collections. Nicholas Anderson and Margaret Rowell join the company of the legendary artists represented in the UNCG Cello Music Collection. These collections are donated by the family of Nicholas Anderson.

Cellist Nicholas Anderson was acclaimed as an outstanding interpreter of the solo concert repertoire. His unique and inspired performances were received with the highest praise and enthusiasm by audiences and critics alike. Anderson began playing the cello at the age of eight, and made his first solo appearance on television the following year. In his early teens, Anderson studied in Pittsburgh with Theo Salzman, Principal Cellist of the Pittsburgh Symphony and Professor of Cello at Carnegie Mellon University. He spent his high school years as a resident student at the North Carolina School of the Arts. Anderson’s cello playing thrived there under the mentorship of Irving Klein, cellist of the internationally renowned Claremont Quartet. It was during this time that he performed in the master classes of Janos Starker, and studied in the summer with the great "cellist's cellist" Leslie Parnas.

Following this period, Anderson studied at Aspen with Claus Adam, cellist of the Juilliard Quartet, and at the age of nineteen, was invited to study at the Juilliard School. However, he became aware of the work of the master cello teacher Margaret Rowell in California and decided to turn down Juilliard and move to California to study with her in 1971. This evolved into a 24-year collaboration, and as his solo career flourished, Anderson became an expert in Rowell's revolutionary methods, both as a performer and teacher.

In terms of his career as a performer, Nicholas Anderson debuted at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. After moving to New York, his numerous solo concert appearances included the 92nd St. Y Kaufmann Concert Hall, Mannes College of Music, American University, and Community Concerts/Columbia Artists. He has made a specialty of performing the cycle of Beethoven Cello Sonatas, as well as the complete Bach Solo Cello Suites. Anderson premiered many works, as a champion of creative musicality in modern compositions.

In addition to serving on the cello faculty of Queens College, Anderson coalesced the teachings of Margaret Rowell into a dynamic series of classes called the “Breakthrough Cello Seminars,” which he presented worldwide. Organizations that have benefited from Anderson’s seminars include the Associated Music Teacher's League of New York, San Francisco State University, University of Hawaii, Fresno City College, the Pennsylvania Cello Society, the Metropolitan Youth Orchestra Academy of New York, and the Sinfónica Juvenil in San José, Costa Rica.

Margaret Avery Rowell (1900 Redlands, CA- April 21, 1995 San Francisco, CA) was among the most prominent cello pedagogues of the 20th century. In the 1920's and 30's, Rowell had an eminent performing career as the cellist in the Arion Trio, which broadcasted live on NBC radio six days every week. She graduated from UC Berkeley in 1923. In 1927, she contracted tuberculosis and was hospitalized for three years. She later recovered, but after not touching the cello for such a long period, she found that while she still knew the technique and the music, she had lost the instinctive feeling of connection with the instrument. During the journey of Rowell’s intensive journey to recover her physical skill of cello performance, she was able to make conscious the mechanical processes taken for granted by “natural” musicians that she had previously done masterfully but unconsciously. This gave her an unprecedented access to the missing domain of cello-playing, which not only applied to her own work as an artist, but served as the basis for transmitting a breakthrough to generations of other cellists. As a result she came to be in tremendous demand as a teacher of the rarest value.

During her 60-year career, she was known as “the dean of cello teachers in the San Francisco Bay Area,” serving as distinguished Professor of Cello at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Stanford University, San Francisco State University, the University of California at Berkeley, and Mills College. Rowell founded the highly successful California Cello Club, which engaged masters such as Gregor Piatigorsky, Mstilav Rostropovich, Janos Starker, and Pablo Casals to speak to Bay Area cellists. The University of Indiana at Bloomington honored her with the title of Grande Dame du Violoncelle, and the American String Teacher Association presented her with their Distinguished Service Award.

Nicholas Anderson and Margaret Rowell are now the 14th and 15th musicians to be represented in the UNCG Cello Music Collection. Consisting of the archival music collections of Luigi Silva, Elizabeth Cowling, Rudolf Matz, Maurice Eisenberg, János Scholz, Fritz Magg, Bernard Greenhouse, Laszlo Varga, Lev Aronson, Lubomir Georgiev, Marion Davies, and Douglas Moore, Ennio Bolognini, Nicholas Anderson, and Margaret Rowell, the Cello Music Collection at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro constitutes the largest single holding of cello music-related material worldwide.

Monday, October 31, 2016

Happy Halloween from SCUA!!

In addition to our annual sharing of UNCG Ghost Stories, we wanted to show off additional fun and spooky items from our collections for Halloween! Enjoy this selection of fabulous covers from books in our American Women's Detective Fiction Collection:

Garden City, N.Y. : Published for the Crime Club by Doubleday, Doran, & Co., 1941
Philadelphia : J.B. Lippincott Co., 1939


New York : William Morrow and Co., 1942

New York : Scribner, 1943

Philadelphia, New York Lippincott Co. 1941


Tuesday, October 25, 2016

Ennio Bolognini Joins the Cellists Represented in the UNCG Cello Music Collection

The Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections &University Archives is pleased to announce the addition of Ennio Bolognini’s personal papers, photographs, and artifacts to the UNCG Cello Music Collection. Ennio Bolognini (1893-1979) was an Argentine-born cellist, composer, conductor, pilot, and professional boxer. Referred by Pablo Casals as “The greatest cello talent I ever heard in my life,” it is rumored that even Emmanuel Feuermann stated, “For my money, the world’s greatest cellist is not Casals, Piatigorsky, or myself, but Bolognini!”

Bolognini began studying cello performance with his father (Egidio Bolognini), completing his education with José García at the St. Celicia Conservatory in Buenos Aires. He debuted as a soloist at twelve years of age, winning the Luigi Rovatti cello (presently in thecollection of the Smithsonian) at an Ibero-American International competition. Bolognini was awarded an honorary doctorate of music by the University of Buenos Aires in 1921, and spent two years conducting in Chile before immigrating to the United States.
Caricature of Sammy Davis Jr. on manuscript music in the hand of
Ennio Bolognini

Bolognini moved to the States to serve as the sparring partner boxer Luis Firpo to prepare Firpo for his match with Jack Dempsey. Bolognini had been welter-weight champion of South America in the past. In addition to music and boxing, he was also an avid pilot, co-founding the Civil Air Patrol, the civilian auxiliary of the United State Air Force during World War II. Bolognini was responsible for training cadets to fly B-29 bombers. He was known to be extremely proud of his talent in flying, honored to be a member of the elite “Quiet Birdmen’ Pilots” organization.

Bolognini served as principal cellist of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra from 1929 to 1930, when a dispute made him quit the orchestra. After leaving, he enjoyed a successful career as a soloist in the night club scene, as well as performing in major music festivals such as Ravinia. In 1951, he moved to Las Vegas, performing in casino orchestras and founding the Las Vegas Philharmonic Orchestra in 1963. Within the course of his career, Bolognini composed seven pieces for cello, six of which are dedicated to noted cellist Christine Walewska, one of his students.   



The Ennio Bolognini Collection is a small, but growing collection donated by his wife, Dorothy Barber Bolognini. Presently, it contains a few manuscript musical sketches, caricatures drawn by Bolognini, articles, concert programs, and photographs relating to his life and career. Ennio Bolognini is the thirteenth cellist represented within the UNCG Cello Music Collection. Consisting of the archival music collections of Luigi Silva, Elizabeth Cowling, Rudolf Matz, Maurice Eisenberg, János Scholz, Fritz Magg, Bernard Greenhouse, Laszlo Varga, Lev Aronson, Lubomir Georgiev, Marion Davies, and Douglas Moore, the Cello Music Collection at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro constitutes the largest single holding of cello music-related material worldwide.  

Wednesday, October 5, 2016

Happy Founders Day, UNCG!

October 5th is the day we celebrate Founders Day and the opening of the State Normal and Industrial School (now UNCG) in 1892. Here are some fun UNCG Founders Day trivia facts for you!


  • On October 12, 1909, the first official Founder's Day was dedicated to the memory of State Normal founder and President Charles Duncan McIver, who had passed away three years prior. Alumnae met in groups across the state, and students placed wreaths on his grave in Green Hill Cemetery. In a letter to alumnae, the Alumnae Association wrote, "We hope that such a day may help the students to understand and appreciate the life work of Dr. Charles D. McIver, the founder and first president of our college. This day will also help impress upon them their relation to the state. For the opportunities offered at a State's College they must as good and useful citizens give their best efforts and services to the state."
  • In 1911, the date of the event was moved to October 5th in celebration of the day in which classes first began at State Normal in 1892.
Wreath laying at McIver grave site in Green Hill Cemetery in 1939
  • In 1912, the McIver Statue was dedicated on Founder's Day. It originally stood in front of the McIver Memorial Building [site of the current McIver Building], but was moved to its current location in front of Jackson Library in the late 1950s.
  • In 1942, during the 50th anniversary celebration, the Litany of Commemoration for Founders Day by Josephine Hege was first introduced.
  • The 1948 Founder's Day ceremony was the first to be broadcast on the radio. Other programs throughout the 1950s were also carried and distributed statewide by local radio station WFMY.
  • 1955 is the first reference we can find in the archives to the Founder's Day ceremony being televised. L. Richardson Preyer delivered the annual Founder's Day address, and it was televised live on WUNC-TV.
  • 1955 is also the first year that a wreath was placed at the McIver statue. Previously, the wreath-laying ceremony was only at the McIver grave site in Green Hill Cemetery.
Wreath laying at McIver statue on campus in 1957
  • In 1958, the address given as part of the Founder's Day ceremony was officially named the McIver Lecture. Dr. Frank Porter Graham, first president of the UNC Consolidated System and, at the time, U.N. Representative for Pakistan and India, delivered the first McIver Lecture.
  • On Founder's Day in 1959, a cornerstone from the previous McIver Memorial Building (razed in 1958) was laid to start construction on the new (current) McIver Building.
  • In the early 1970s, Founder's Day was encompassed within a larger "Falderal" celebration. Falderal also included a campus-wide lunch, a soccer game, celebrations on the Quad, and fireworks.
  • The 1973 Founder's Day celebration featured a 48-foot long cake that weighed in at 900 pounds (300 pounds of icing alone!). There was also a hula hoop contest, a live band, and other activities.
Serving of the giant cake at Founder's Day in 1973
  • In 1977, the Alumni Association launched a McIver Conference, usually a two-day conference featuring lectures by faculty, alumni, and other scholars on art, architecture, and history.
  • Around 1980, the text for the programs and other references switch from "Founder's Day" (singular) to "Founders' Day" (plural). In University Archives, we have a copy of a program from Founders' Day in 1980 where an alumna circled the apostrophe and wrote "I thought this was a typographical error."
  • The McIver Medal was established by the UNCG Board of Trustees in 1983 to recognize "distinguished public service to the state or nation performed by a North Carolinian." It was first awarded in 1985 during the Founders' Day program.
  • 1989 is when the apostrophe was dropped and we went from "Founders' Day" to "Founders Day." All official references since have been apostrophe-free.
To learn more about UNCG history, be sure to read the Spartan Stories blog. A new story is published every Monday morning. You can subscribe via email or RSS feed on the blog site (located in the column on the right side of the page when viewing on a desktop browser).

Today is also #AskAnArchivist Day on Twitter, so be sure to follow us (@UNCGArchives) and send us your questions about UNCG history!


Monday, October 3, 2016

A Testimony through Music: The Compositions of Lev Aronson. Cellist, Teacher, and Holocaust Survivor

Lev Aronson is remembered as a distinguished cellist, teacher, and survivor of the Holocaust. Born February 7, 1912 in München Gladbach (now Mönchengladbach), Germany, the story of Aronson’s life and music serve as inspiration for countless students and fans, well beyond his death in 1988. With his family forced from their home in Latvia during World War I and losing five years of his life to the camps of World War II, Aronson endured one of the darkest times in human history, surviving these events to bring beauty to the world through music.

The exhibit “A Testimony through Music: The Compositions of Lev Aronson” conveys the story of his Aronson’s life through his sheet music, the collection of which is available for research at the Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections & University Archives at Jackson Library. This exhibit features several musical manuscripts, composed by Aronson, relating to his experiences in the Nazi and Russian labor camps. Included among these pieces are vocal works in Yiddish focused upon his experiences during the war, as well as two concert pieces for cello composed by Aronson and signed with his inmate identification number. The exhibit will be available for viewing from October 3rd, 2016 to March 31st, 2017.

Monday, September 26, 2016

War & Peace Imagined Celebrates Lev Aronson, featuring Internationally-Renowned Cellist, Lynn Harrell



University Libraries UNCG and the UNCG College of Visual and Performing Arts is collaborating to make December 2016 a spectacular month for music fans. As many of you may know, the Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections & University Archives at #UNCG is home to the largest single holding of cello music-related materials in the world, and every few years, we celebrate one of the musicians represented in our collection. This year’s campus theme is "War & Peace Imagined," an exploration of war and peace through the arts and humanities. Therefore, it is most fitting that we celebrate the musical legacy of cellist, Lev Aronson.

Lev Aronson is remembered as a distinguished cellist, teacher, and survivor of the Holocaust. With his family forced from their home in Latvia during World War I and losing five years of his life to the camps of World War II, Aronson endured one of the darkest times in human history, surviving these events to bring beauty to the world through music. Among Aronson’s many students is internationally acclaimed cellist, Lynn Harrell.

We are sponsoring a concert (Dec. 2, 2016) and recital (Dec. 3, 2016) featuring Lynn Harrell. The information is available below and tickets are on sale now:

Ernest Bloch Hebraic Rhapsody for Solo Cello and Orchestra

When: Friday, December 2, 2016, 7:30 pm
Where: UNCG Auditorium

The UNCG Symphony Orchestra will accompany the world-renowned cellist as he performs Ernest Bloch's passionate and exotic work, Schelomo: Rhapsody for Solo Cello and Orchestra. Crafted in faith and misery, Schelomo premiered 100 years ago as part of Bloch's Jewish Cycle. This will be one piece in a larger concert from the UNCG Symphony.

UPAS: Lynn Harrell, recital

When: Saturday, December 3, 2016, 8:00 pm
Where: Recital Hall
Tickets: $30 adult/$25 student/ $25 senior
Lynn Harrell will complete his UNCG residency with this recital of virtuosic works including those of Lev Aronson, Mr. Harrell's cello teacher. Lev Aronson, himself a cellist and composer, was interned in both a Nazi Concentration Camp and a Russian Labor Camp. He eventually made it to the United States where he became the Principal Cellist of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and a beloved teacher of many successful cellists.
Program:
Sonata in G major (edited by Lev Aronson), Henry Eccles

Cello Sonata in C major, op. 119, Sergei Prokofiev
Cello Sonata, Claude Debussy
---------
Introduction, Theme and Variations, op. 82, no. 2 (arr. Gregor Piatigorsky), Franz Schubert
Cello Suite no. 3 in C major, BWV 1009, J.S. Bach 

Monday, August 22, 2016

Hop into History!

On Thursday, September 15 from 5pm until 7pm, archivists from UNCG will be at Gibb’s Hundred Brewing Company in Downtown Greensboro to launch the new monthly "Hop into History
 series with an exhibit on the local civil rights landscape in the 1950s and 1960s.



Come see the typewriter used by one of the first African American students to enroll at UNCG in Fall 1956, a scrapbook created by Curly Harris (the manager of Woolworth’s during the 1960 sit ins), a flyer distributed by students leading a boycott of segregated businesses on Tate Street in 1963, materials from the Black Power Forum held at UNCG in November 1967, and more.

We’ll also have coloring pages for the kids and even some doggie treats for any visiting history hounds. HISTORY IS FOR EVERYONE! We hope you’ll join us for this great opportunity to learn more about your local history and archives while enjoying your favorite beer! Baconessence food truck will be at the taproom too, so you can plan to have your dinner as well!

For more information and updates, see the Hop into History Event page on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/events/171257499949673/.

Thursday, July 14, 2016

Learning from Medieval Manuscripts



On exhibit in the Hodges Reading room in Jackson Library

“Learning from Medieval Manuscripts”


The University Libraries is fortunate to have in its collections, “Fifty Original Leaves from Medieval Manuscripts.  Western Europe: XII-XVI Century”, a portfolio collection created by Otto F. Ege in the 1940’s, a professor of art history and dean of the Cleveland Institute of Art.  His intent through these portfolios was to provide opportunity for many to view and learn from these individual leaves. 

The selected leaves span through several centuries and across countries, taken from imperfect volumes from Otto Ege’s personal collection.  These manuscripts have provided the university community rare and special opportunities to view first hand historical documents that illustrate a time before mechanical printing was introduced. 

Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives  has made available these medieval manuscripts to university faculty and students through teaching opportunities and research.  Through the years the original storage has become less than perfect.  The preservation division was able to design and create new protective enclosures for these portfolio items to ensure their conservation for the future. 

The exhibit documents the construction of the new enclosures and provides a view of several of the leaves from the collections, presenting some interesting historical facts regarding the creation of medieval manuscripts.


-Audrey Sage


Monday, April 18, 2016

SCUA at Reunion Weekend: Welcoming back the Class of 1966!

On Friday, April 15 as part of the University's Reunion Weekend activities, staff of the Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives set up a large exhibit on University history and the University in the 1960s in the Pre-Function Room of the EUC Auditorium. Members of the Class of 1966 were able to reminisce while looking at photographs of former faculty members, gym suits, yearbooks, scrapbooks, and other items from their time on campus. Materials from members of the Class of 1966 who were veterans were also on display.









Wednesday, March 9, 2016

Wondrous Works: Illuminated Manuscripts from Three Continents February 2016 - May 2016

Special Collections and University Archives at UNCG’s University Libraries has mounted an exhibit highlighting the rich tradition of illuminated manuscripts in Europe, India, Persia, Ethiopia, and Armenia.  By presenting these works within a global perspective, the exhibit, Wondrous Works: Illuminated Manuscripts From Three Continents, strives to broaden our understanding of the history of the book, the influence of artistic trends on illuminated works, and the cultural contact and cultural exchange amongst peoples. 

Working with local bookman Norman Smith and his collection of rare works, the exhibit features manuscripts that were created during or shortly after the invention of movable type in 1454.  Despite the wide spread adoption of print technology, the exhibit reveals a continued interest and market for illuminated works well into the 1600s.

The term manuscript comes from the Latin word for “handwritten.”  Before the invention of movable type, all books had to be written out by hand.  It was a time-consuming and labor-intensive process that could take months or years to complete.  Some manuscripts were made even more special by the process of “illumination.”  This term comes from the Latin word for “lit up” or “enlightened” and refers to the use of bright colors and precious metals to embellish initial letters or to portray whole scenes.

The Hodges Reading Room is open to the public from 9 AM - 5 PM, Monday - Friday.

The exhibit closes on May 20, 2016.

- Keith Gorman

Tuesday, March 1, 2016

Student Researcher positions with University Archives for 2016-2017 academic year!

Beginning in October 2017, UNCG will be celebrating the 125th anniversary of the opening of the institution as the State Normal and Industrial School. In anticipation of this year-long celebration, many departments and units across campus will be researching their organizational histories and using the resources in University Archives to plan and promote their commemorative events. To assist with these efforts, we will be hiring six student researchers in University Archives during the 2016-2017 academic year.

These positions are only open to undergraduate and graduate students who will be enrolled at UNCG during the Fall 2016 and Spring 2017 semesters. Each student researcher will be expected to work 10-12 hours during the academic year (pay rate is $10 per hour). Preference will be given to students who are able to work the complete academic year (as opposed to just the Fall 2016 semester).

Available positions are:

Archives Researcher (2 positions available; upper level undergraduate or graduate students preferred). The archives researchers will work with departments and units across campus to conduct historical research, add entries to our online encyclopedia, write blog posts on key subjects in university history, select and scan photos for use in other publications/websites, etc. Previous research experience in an archives is welcomed, but not required. A demonstrated interest in history, strong research and writing skills, and the ability to learn quickly are the biggest requirements.

Oral History Researcher (2 positions available; graduate students preferred but upper level undergraduates with an interest in oral history will be considered). The oral history researchers will conduct oral history interviews with key individuals in UNCG's history. These researchers will also conduct preliminary archival research, create transcriptions of interviews, work on indexing existing interviews to enhance access (using OHMS), and create snippets of interviews for use in promotional videos and websites. Previous experience conducting oral history interviews or archival research is strongly desired, but we would consider training the right person. We definitely want these people to have strong communications skills (oral and written) and a keen attention to detail. This person should also be comfortable with learning new technologies.

Exhibits Designer (1 position available; graduate/undergraduate student with an interest in history or exhibits design). The exhibits designer will work with the SCUA staff as well as the other student researchers to develop online and physical exhibits focused on university history. We would strongly prefer a student who is familiar with Photoshop and basic HTML. Previous experience with archival research would be nice, but not required. This position is one that will be collaborating with many others, so an ability to juggle tasks and communicate effectively is necessary.

Marketing and Events Planner (1 position available; graduate/undergraduate student with an interest in communications and marketing). The marketing and events planner will coordinate events and activities aimed at educating current students about university history in fun and innovative ways. This may include working with Student Affairs and other student groups to incorporate university history in existing events. This person will also assist in coordinating social media efforts in University Archives. This position requires strong communications skills (written and oral), strong organizational skills, and an ability to think creatively in order to reach desired groups.


If you are interested in working as a student researcher in the University Archives during the 125th anniversary celebration, email SCUA@uncg.edu, including your resume along with a cover letter that addresses why you are interested in the job. Please be sure to indicate which of the student researcher position or positions you are interested in. Initial application reviews and interviews will take place in late March/early April.

Thursday, February 18, 2016

Act of Establishment Creating UNCG -- 125 Years Ago Today!!

Today marks the 125th anniversary of the passage of the bill that established the State Normal and Industrial School (now UNCG). On February 18, 1891, the General Assembly of North Carolina agreed to fund a "normal" (teaching) school for women. The act appropriated $10,000 per year for maintenance of the school, but did not include any money to support contribution, land, or other facilities costs. In fact, the act stated that "the institution shall be located ... at some suitable place where the citizens thereof shall furnish the necessary buildings of money sufficient to erect them."

Class of 1893, the first graduating class of State Normal
In June 1891, Greensboro was selected as the official site for this new school, making a bid of $30,000 plus a site location. The chairman of the school's founding Board of Directors, Major S.M. Finger, the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, stated, "I congratulate Greensboro on the result. I believe this is the proper place for [the school]. The Piedmont is the coming part of the State."

Stop by Jackson Library between 1pm and 3pm to see a pop-up exhibit featuring the actual charter, the letter received by Charles Duncan McIver naming his as the first president of the school, and many more photographs and other records from the earliest years of UNCG.

Wednesday, February 3, 2016

New Air Force Recruiting Posters in the Women Veterans Historical Project


Recruiting posters and brochures are a great resources not only for information about the U.S. military, but also for the history of graphic design and cultural attitudes about women.

The Women Veterans Historical Project recently acquired two new WAF (Women in the Air Force) recruiting posters.

In the dark about your future? enjoy travel...prestige...and excellent job opportunities in the WAF is from 1960 and was designed by the team of John Morning and Sheldon Streisand (sadly, no relation to Barbra).  This poster packs quite a visual punch!

 http://libcdm1.uncg.edu/cdm/ref/collection/WVHP/id/10374




Forecast with a smile--who cares about the weather? is from 1968. Well, it IS the first lieutenant's job, so I hope her commanding officer cares!

Monday, February 1, 2016

New Online Exhibit on African Americans at UNCG: A Collaboration between the University Libraries and Google

Starting today, over 200 records from UNCG's University Archives can be viewed online by people around the world due to a new partnership between the Google Cultural Institute and the UNCG University Libraries. Staff in the Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives and the Libraries' Electronic Resources and Information Technologies departments uploaded the records and built the online exhibit "African Americans at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 1892-1971."

Pete [last name unknown] and Ezekiel Robinson, early 1890s

This exhibit traces the history of African American faculty, staff, and students at UNCG, from its opening as the State Normal and Industrial School in 1892 until 1971. Through digitized photographs and documents as well as audio clips from oral history interviews conducted as part of the African American Institutional Memory Project, viewers can learn more about African American employees on campus prior to desegregation, Jim Crow-era debates over the use of facilities by African Americans, the fight to integrate the student body, student involvements in the sit ins and protest movements of the early 1960s, the founding of the Neo-Black Society in 1968, and the hiring of the first African American faculty members.


JoAnne Smart and Bettye Tillman, 1956


The Google Cultural Institute and its partners are putting the world’s cultural treasures at the fingertips of Internet users and are building tools that allow the cultural sector to share more of its diverse heritage online. The Google Cultural Institute has partnered with more than 1,000 institutions giving a platform to over 250,000 thousand artworks and a total of 6 million photos, videos, manuscripts and other documents of art, culture and history. You can learn more about the broader project in this article.

Students in the Neo-Black Society Lounge, 1971

If you have questions about the exhibit, please contact Erin Lawrimore, University Archivist, at scua@uncg.edu.


Friday, January 29, 2016

New Exhibit: African American Staff at State Normal, 1892-1919

A new exhibit titled "African American Staff at State Normal, 1892-1919" is now on display in the case in the Elliott Center University connector. This exhibit features photographs of many of the African Americans who worked on the State Normal and Industrial School (now UNCG) campus during its earliest years.

While the student body of the State Normal was limited to white women, nearly all of the support staff (cooks, maids, janitors, handymen, etc.) were African American. There were at least 21 African American support staff employees at State Normal during its opening year (1892-1893). Two years later, that number had doubled to 42. These African American employees were essential to the operations of the campus, ensuring that the lights operated, the buildings and grounds were clean, the students and faculty were fed, and the general operations proceeded smoothly and did not disrupt the school's educational mission. But sadly many of their stories -- and some of their names -- have been lost to history.

Housekeeping Staff, late 1890s

One person featured in the exhibit is Ezekiel "Zeke" Robinson. Robinson was hired by State Normal's founding president Charles Duncan McIver soon after the school opened. In addition to managing the African American support staff, Robinson performed numerous tasks that were critical to the function of the school, including ringing the campus bell, waiting table at state dinners, delivering the mail, and serving as porter for three college presidents. Ill health forced Robinson to retire in 1944 after a 52-year career. During his time on campus, he saw the transition from horses to automobiles, from oil lamps to electricity, from fireplaces to central heating, and from wells and pumps to running water. He saw the acreage of campus increase tenfold, and saw the student body grow from 200 to over 2200. On December 1, 1960, Ezekiel Robinson died at a local nursing home at the age of 93. He was the last surviving member of the faculty and staff from the first year of State Normal.

Ezekiel "Zeke" Robinson

Please stop by the exhibit to learn more about this important part of UNCG's history. The exhibit will be available through March 1, 2016.

Friday, January 8, 2016


The women detectives and sleuthing young ladies found in the Robbie Emily Dunn Collection of American Detective Fiction Collection and Girls Books in Series Collection of the Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives share three things in common: a sharp intelligence to unravel the intricacies of the criminal mind, a fearless tenacity in engaging unknown dangers, and a time period appropriate wardrobe to blend into the varied environments into which their investigation leads them.


This collaborative exhibit features selections of books from Special Collections and matching period textiles and accessories generously loaned by Dr. James V. Carmichael.

The exhibit can be found in the three display cases next to the reference desk on the first floor of Jackson Library. The exhibited items will rotate every two weeks, from January 8th through March 1st, 2016.

Tuesday, January 5, 2016

2015 Annual Women Veterans Luncheon

The Annual Women Veterans Luncheon was featured in the January 2016 issue of the O. Henry magazine!  You can view it here:



For more images, you can check out the Flickr photo album here: 

2015 Women Veterans Luncheon

Top 10 Spartan Stories of 2015!

It's the time of year for Top 10 lists and countdowns to recap 2015, and we're here with the Top 10 Spartan Stories of 2015. These are the ten stories that were read by the most people during the past year. Have you read them all? And did your favorites make the list?






#10  [tie] The Fiftieth Anniversary Time Capsule (January 12, 2015)
        The Development of the Weatherspoon Art Museum: Bridging Art and Education (October 26, 2015)

#9   Pieces of the Past: Gwendolyn Magee Quilting for a Better Future (February 2, 2015)

#8   The Little Log Cabin on Campus (July 13, 2015)

#7   "Gays Go Home:" The Strong Hall Protest of 1979 (June 1, 2015)

#6   Trailblazing "Human Computer" Virginia Tucker (class of 1930) (March 2, 2015)

#5   Eduard Lindeman, Julius Foust, and the Ku Klux Klan (September 14, 2015)

#4   A History of Adult Students at UNCG (November 30, 2015)

#3   The Tradition of the Daisy Chain: A Link to the Past (April 27, 2015)

#2   Sister Mary Michel Boulus (class of 1947): Educational Leader (March 9, 2015)

And the #1 most popular Spartan Story from 2015 was Another Twist of Fate for Chinqua Penn Plantation (June 29, 2015).

You can read a new Spartan Story every Monday morning by visiting the Spartan Stories blog at http://uncghistory.blogspot.com/. On the site, you can subscribe via RSS feed or email to receive notification of new posts (see the right side column). You can also learn about new Spartan Stories -- and more about UNCG history -- by following us on our social media outlets. We're UNCGArchives on FacebookTwitterTumblr, and Instagram.