Identifying the Stories in Our Collections

As part of several recent outreach events, the Special Collections Research Center has produced giveaway buttons featuring images from our digitized collections. The button images generate awareness of and interest in our collections, and often spark questions about the stories behind the people featured in them.

 

Button designs featuring women scientists and engineers at NC State.
Button designs featuring women scientists and engineers at NC State.

In particular, a set of buttons we created for the Science Scircus , a recent event on the Brickyard organized by the College of Sciences Director of Public Science Holly Menninger , featured historic images of women scientists and engineers at NC State.  Students and faculty picking up the buttons were excited to learn about the women highlighted on the buttons, and while we know the names and stories of many of these women, such as Emily Brown Blount , the first female student to graduate with a degree in Civil Engineering, and Frances “Billie” Richardson , the first female faculty member in the College of Engineering , others remain a mystery.

 

We can gather that this woman was working in the College of Textiles in the 1950s.
We can gather that this woman was working in the College of Textiles in the 1950s.
 
This photograph was likely used in recruiting materials in the 1970s. If there any ideas about the equipment or the possible discipline she would be working in, we'd love to know them!

As a sampling of the broader collection, the buttons highlight a broader challenge: the images that we place online in our digitized collections often arrive in the archives without detailed identifying information for us to provide users in the form of metadata. However, as we continue to develop relationships with members of the NC State community through our growing outreach program , we create more opportunities to meet users who can provide this information and help us better describe the materials.

As we connect more users with material in our collections, we invite them to share any information they may have that can help us describe them in greater detail.  If you recognize any of the unidentified people, events, or places in our collections , please let us know !