Invitation to the Women Veterans Historical Project Luncheon

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.

Campaigns and Elections: The Race for Political Office

The Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives invites students, faculty, and researchers to learn more about the history of political campaigns and elections in the United States by viewing the recently installed exhibit titled “Campaigns and Elections: The Race for Political Office.”  The history of political campaigns and elections in the United States can be traced back to 1788 with the ratification of the Constitution. Over the next two centuries, the process of campaigning would evolve from simple word of mouth speeches to the complex and highly technical websites of today.  In addition, the right for citizens to vote has greatly expanded.  Originally reserved for only white male adult property-owners, voting rights are now available to women, African-Americans, and people of at least 18 years of age.  

Using letters, campaign buttons, bumper stickers, yard signs, and other campaign paraphernalia, the exhibit explores the history of presidential, congressional, state gubernatorial, and local elections.  Highlights of the exhibit include a signed letter by John F. Kennedy seeking support for his presidential bid, materials related to local Greensboro area Representative Howard Coble, a signed letter by North Carolina Senator Jesse Helms, and a letter and materials relating to Al Gore’s failed 1988 presidential bid. 

This exhibit will be on display in the Hodges Reading Room from September 1, 2012 – January 7, 2013.   

The Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives is open Monday through Friday, 9am until 5pm.  For questions or comments, please contact the exhibit curator, Sean Mulligan at 336-334-5763 or at Sean_Mulligan@uncg.edu.

Women Vets Historical Project on Pinterest!

The Betty H. Carter Women Veterans Historical Project is on Pinterest!
Please pin away!:

http://pinterest.com/irmaminerva/women-veterans-historical-project/

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.