Special Collections During the Coronavirus Response
April 29, 2020
In support of the NC State University and the Libraries’ Coronavirus Response, the D. H. Hill Jr. Library and Special Collections Research Center reading room are not currently open, but our online services continue.
Research Support
While researchers are not able to access our physical collections at this time, Special Collections staff are working remotely and are fully available to answer questions about our collections and to support researchers using digital materials for their research. You can contact us at any time using our request form or by emailing us at library_specialcollections@ncsu.edu. Special Collections staff are available to schedule virtual research consultations between 8am-5pm, Monday through Friday.
Teaching Support
Special Collections staff continue to support academic continuity as classes move to virtual instruction formats. Our teaching program can adapt instruction to introduce students to research with primary sources, critical thinking, and content-specific instruction using our digitized materials. To discuss ideas for virtual teaching collaborations, please contact us.
Special Collections Digital Resources
NC State University Libraries’ Rare and Unique Digital Collections offer a wide range of resources that are easily accessible for researchers during this time of social distancing. The digital collections document the history of NC State, including historic photographs, architectural drawings, Agromeck yearbooks, archival materials, and more, as well as materials related to our other collecting areas. For those interested in student publications, you can search through the digitized issues of the Technician, Nubian Message, Red & White, and Alumni News.
Historical State allows researchers to search across our discovery platforms to access a variety of historical resources including digitized images, course catalogs, audiovisual materials, and more. Researchers can use Historical State’s timelines to explore the history of athletics on campus, the development of campus buildings, student life, and other topics related to the history of NC State and its communities, academic colleges, and departments.
Alice Reagan’s book, North Carolina State University: A Narrative History, and David Lockmiller’s book, History of the North Carolina State College of Agriculture and Engineering of the University of North Carolina, are two other resources for researchers interested in university history. A few other university histories can be found here.
Special Collections Digital Projects
In addition to our University Archives and university history-related collections available online, researchers can also explore materials digitized through projects related to other collecting areas below.
Agriculture
Better Living in North Carolina provides access to correspondence, reports, audio recordings, scrapbooks, and other primary sources on agricultural extension in North Carolina. These materials provide researchers with primary sources and related historical information on the impact of the NC Agricultural Extension and Cooperative Extension offices, staff, faculty, and students on the development of the state’s agricultural economy and on North Carolina citizens.
Green ‘N’ Growing documents the history of 4-H and Home Demonstration in North Carolina. This project provides valuable information about women, children, race relations, education, agriculture, and rural life in North Carolina during the twentieth century. Materials digitized through this project include photographs, documents, drawings, and audio recordings.
Living off the Land features original images and documents related to North Carolina’s agricultural history and economy. Materials digitized through this project include photographs, documents, and drawings.
Animal Rights and Welfare
‘The Animal Turn’: Digitizing Animal Protection and Human-Animal Studies Collections is a current project and will provide access to approximately 389,000 pages of archival materials from NC State University Libraries’ nationally significant animal rights and welfare collections and the ASPCA’s archival records. Researchers can view the materials that have already been digitized here.
Architecture
Beaux Arts to Modernism provides access to architectural drawings and photographs of hundreds of buildings and structures in North Carolina dating from the early to mid-1900s. This project documents a time period of wide expansion of the architecture profession and rapid urban development and social change in North Carolina.
Built Heritage of North Carolina provides access to thousands of architectural drawings and photographs of hundreds of buildings and structures in North Carolina dating from the 1700s to the early 1900s. Buildings represented in this project include landmarks like the Bald Head Lighthouse and the Bellamy Mansion in Wilmington, as well as lesser known but historically significant structures such as the Charlton-Jordan House in Bertie County (one of the earliest brick buildings in the state).
NC Modern provides access to architectural drawings, photographs, and other materials of influential modernist architects and landscape architects who changed their professions as well as the national and regional landscape.
North Carolina Architects and Builders: A Biographical Dictionary chronicles the lives and works of architects, builders, and artisans who contributed to North Carolina’s rich architectural history.