Records of the Student Government Association, 1912-2010

The Martha Blakney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives invites researchers to learn more about history of student self-governance at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG) by looking through the recently processed records of the Student Government Association (SGA).  The first instances of self-government began in 1910 when a student council, comprised of three elected officials from each class, was created to act as an advisory group for student issues.  In 1914, school president Julius Foust agreed to the students’ proposal for a more official organization and allowed for the creation of the Self-Government Association.  This new organization, consisting of four elected officers (president, vice president, secretary, and treasurer) would become the SGA in 1921.  Over the next several decades, the SGA would grow into a respected and active organization on campus. This collection helps to document the SGA’s growth and progress by providing a variety of historical materials including correspondence, flyers, memorandums, manuals, meeting minutes, newsletters, notes, reports, and speeches. 

More information about the collection can be found though the collection’s finding aid at:

https://libapps.uncg.edu/archon/index.php?p=collections/controlcard&id=508

The Martha Blakney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives is open Monday through Friday, 9am until 5pm.  The collection is open to the public.  We encourage researchers to make appointments ahead of time by contacting us at 336-334-5246 or at SCUA@uncg.edu.

New pieces join the Hansen Collection

Costume design for The Duchess of Malfi  by Leslie Hurry

Professor Robert Hansen recently donated an additional fifteen pieces of theatrical artwork to the Robert C. Hansen Performing Arts Collection housed at the Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives in the Jackson Library.

The Robert C. Hansen Performing Arts Collection dates from 1753 to 2011, with most items dating from the 1800s, and contains programs, heralds, guidebooks and periodicals, playbooks, sheet music and songbooks, correspondence and autographs, original costume designs and scenery designs, posters, photographs, postcards, tradecards, scrapbooks, subject files, and other visual materials and memorabilia which document the history of the performing arts, mainly theatre, in many countries, mainly the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Further geographic foci within the United States include New York City, Minnesota, and North Carolina.

While the majority of the collection focuses on theatre, other performing arts genres represented include circus, concert, dance, film, minstrelsy, opera, and vaudeville.

Some noted 19th century American stage actors/actresses represented in the collection include Edwin Booth (brother of John Wilkes), Charlotte Cushman, Fanny Davenport, Edwin Forrest, Joseph Jefferson, Julia Marlowe and E.H. Sothern. Famous 19th century European stage actors/actresses represented in the collection include Sarah Bernhardt, Dion Boucicault, Henry Irving, Helena Modjeska, Adelaide Ristori, Tommaso Salvini and Ellen Terry. Other notable personages include theatrical manager and playwright Augustin Daly, costume and set designer Leslie Hurry, and caricaturist Al Freuh.

Theatres, troupes and festivals highlighted in the collection include Minnesota's Guthrie Theatre, the United Kingdom's Royal Shakespeare Company, the Classics in Context and Humana festivals from the Actor's Theatre of Louisville in Kentucky, North Carolina's Shakespeare Festival, and Canada's Shaw Festival and Stratford Festival.

Included in the donation are several large 19th-century theatrical posters and framed broadsides which currently hang in the reference area on the first floor of Jackson Library.  Prints and original costume designs make up the remainder of the gift.  The Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives is pleased to welcome these additions to this extensive collection.

Mark Your Calendars for the Annual Women Veterans Historical Project Luncheon and Panel Discussion

The 15th annual women veterans luncheon will be held on Saturday, 10th November from 11:30-2 at the Elliott University Center at UNCG. The luncheon will feature a panel discussion with activists who work on different military-related issues such as student veterans, homelessness,and sexual assault and trauma in the military. The program is open to everyone, with a special focus on veterans, their friends and families.

Tickets will be $12 for all military veterans and $16 for non-veterans. Table sponsorship opportunities to sponsor students will be available for $300. Invitations will be sent in late September.   

For more information contact Beth Ann Koelsch at bakoelsc@unc.edu or 336/334-5838.

Dean of University Libraries Records, 1905-2011

            The Martha Blakney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives invites researchers to come learn about the unique and extensive history of the library at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG) by looking through the recently processed records of the Dean of University Libraries.  The history of the first library at the State Normal and Industrial School (now UNCG) began in 1892 and was confined to one small room in the Main building (now the Foust building). The collection of the library was relatively small, consisting of only several hundred books. Over the next century, the library would grow dramatically in to a collection of over 1 million volumes.  During this time, the library would also transition from a one room operation to a large nine story building.

Jackson Library, 1988

One of the best ways to learn more about the library’s history is reading through official records of the Dean which reflects their duties as the senior administrative officer of the libraries on campus. These records contain material related to a variety of topics including, but not limited to, annual reports, budgets, collection management, computer technology, construction, donations and gifts, equipment, faculty affairs, correspondence with other academic departments on campus, statistics, and students. In addition, there is correspondence to and from the Dean to various departments within the library as well as correspondence with the Provost and outside community. There is also a considerable amount of material related to committees operated within the library and the ones the Dean sat on as part of their university responsibilities. Materials related to the Friends of the Library are also included in the collection. Formats include correspondence, memorandums, minutes, notes, publications, and reports.

More information about the collection can be found though the collection’s finding aid at: https://libapps.uncg.edu/archon/index.php?p=collections/controlcard&id=490

The Martha Blakney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives is open Monday through Friday, 9am until 5pm.  The collection is open to the public.  We encourage researchers to make appointments ahead of time by contacting us at 336-334-5246 or at SCUA@uncg.edu.

NC Literary Map Exhibit

Where: Hodges Reading Room

When: May 1 – September 1, 2012

The Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives is hosting an exhibit for the online North Carolina Literary Map (http://library.uncg.edu/dp/nclitmap).   The exhibit includes historic photographs, rare books, manuscripts, and plenty of popular materials such as books by the famous North Carolina author Nicholas Sparks.

The literary map of North Carolina is a database-driven, searchable/browse-able, multi-level, multi-media online research tool created to foster interest in North Carolina's rich literary tradition.  This is a collaborative project between the University Libraries at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro and the North Carolina Center for the Book, a program of the State Library of North Carolina, Department of Cultural Resources.

Almost any reader or person curious about North Carolina can find something of interest in the exhibit.  Both prominent historical works and popular book titles are on display.  For example, William Bartram’s Travels through North and South Carolina, Georgia, and East and West Florida from 1793 as well as Margaret Marons’ Up Jumps the Devil can be viewed.

Special thanks to the LIS graduate students who collaborated on putting together an exhibit that highlights some of North Carolina’s best literary features.

McIver Statue Centennial: 1912-2012

 

Charles Duncan McIver, ca. 1895

Charles Duncan McIver was born on September 27, 1860, to Henry McIver and Sarah “Sallie” Harrington McIver in Moore County, North Carolina.
   
McIver entered the University of North Carolina (UNC) in Chapel Hill in 1877 and graduated in 1881.  After graduating from UNC, he accepted the assistant headmaster position at the Presbyterian Male Academy in Durham, North Carolina.  McIver was elected principal of the newly established graded high school in Durham in 1882.  After two years, he resigned his position in Durham for a teaching position at the Winston Graded School in Winston, North Carolina, where he met his future wife, Lula Martin.  They were married on July 29, 1885 and had four children.
   
McIver accepted the position of head of the literary department at Peace Institute, a girl’s school in Raleigh, North Carolina, in 1886.   While in Raleigh, he lobbied for a normal or teacher training school for women.
   
In 1889, he and Edwin A. Alderman were chosen by the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction to conduct a series of teacher institutes to instruct teachers and enlighten the public about the need for a normal school in North Carolina.
   
With an annual salary of $2,500.00, McIver was appointed the first president of the newly established State Normal and Industrial School in Greensboro, North Carolina, in 1891.
   
Unfortunately, he died on September 17, 1906, at the age of 45; however, he did see his dream of founding a college to educate women in North Carolina realized – that institution is now known as The University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
   
Shortly after McIver’s death, a committee was appointed by Governor Robert Glenn to raise funds to erect a statue in McIver’s memory.

 

The eight-foot statue of Dr. Charles Duncan McIver was sculpted by French-born American artist Frederick W. Ruckstuhl in Paris, France, and cast by the Fonderie Nationale des Bronzes in Brussels, Belgium.  Ruckstuhl created two statues.  

The original statue cost $7,000 and was erected on the State Capitol grounds in Raleigh, North Carolina, and dedicated on May 15, 1912.  A duplicated statue cost $1,100 and was erected on the campus of the State Normal and Industrial College now The University of North Carolina at Greensboro.  

The statue was dedicated on Founders Day, October 5, 1912, and stood in front of the McIver Memorial Building until it was moved to the front lawn of Jackson Library in 1960.

 

The original location of the McIver Statue was on the lawn in front of the McIver Memorial Building, site of the current McIver Building.

 

After the McIver Memorial Building was razed in 1958 and the current McIver Building was erected in 1960, the statue was relocated to the area in front of Jackson Library, a more central location on campus.  Note the Stone Building in the background.

Over the years, students painted and decorated the McIver Statue on numerous occasions such as Easter of 1971, when the statue was painted pink and topped with rabbit ears.  

Photograph courtesy of the Greensboro News-Record Library.

 

Starting in the late 1950s, students began to paint and decorate the statue.  By the 1980s, the statue was in disrepair due to the weather and being periodically cleaned with cleaning solutions.

 

In November 1990, the eight-foot statue was prepared to be shipped to Karkadoulias Bronze Art, Inc. in Cincinnati, Ohio, to be cleaned and restored.

 

In May of 1991, the statue was returned to the campus in time for the university’s centennial celebration. Eleftherios Karkadoulias directed the statue back on its pedestal after being restored by Karkadoulias Bronze Art, Inc.

 

After the restoration, which totaled $7,500, the statue was returned to the university on May 10, 1991— two days before graduation.

Alumni Reunion 2012

On Friday, April 13, 2012, the Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives (SCUA) mounted an exhibit of historical items related to the university for the Spartan Expo at the Alumni Reunion.  The exhibit was displayed in the Cone Ballroom of the Elliott University Center.

The exhibit consisted of historic artifacts, photographs, and textiles with particular emphasis on the 1960s as 2012 was the 50th anniversary of the Class of 1962 and the 45th anniversary of the Class of 1967.

The display of vintage textiles was a particular hit with the alumni.  Many had their photographs taken with the 1962 Class Jacket & Skirt and the 1950s Gym Suit on display.

 Display of historic artifacts and photographs.

Class of 1962 alumni chatting with University Archivist Erin Lawrimore.

Class of 1962 viewing the display of historic photographs.

Front row: Edith M. Wiggins '62 and Sheila C. Sims '62.

Back row: Alumni Relations staff member Linda Dunston-Stacy and Mtume Imani '62.

Reunion attendees with vintage textiles in the background.