Religion Around the State

Although the NC Religion project strives to provide a substantive body of religious materials virtually through the Internet Archive, here are a few links to organizations around the state of North Carolina with religious materials that might be of interest to researchers. This is, of course, by no means a comprehensive and authoritative inventory. If there are other organizations like archives, historical societies, museums, libraries and so forth that hold items relevant to religion in North Carolina, let us know in the comments below. We would be happy to add them to the post, which can serve as a running list instead. In no particular order:

Moravian Church Archives located in Winston-Salem. According to their website, the archive hosts over a million pages of handwritten documents including industrial, commercial, civic, ecclesiastical, educational, medical and musical-related records in addition to diaries, correspondence, ethnographic materials, prints, broadsides, photographs and maps. The archive also has a library with 1,600 titles primarily from the 18th century.

Southeastern Jurisdiction of the United Methodist Church in Lake Junaluska features a museum along with records of the Southeastern Jurisdiction, journals and newspapers covering the SEJ Annual Conference, local church histories, biographical information on clergy and a variety of relevant books.

North Carolina Conference of The United Methodist Church in Garner provides records on the Annual Conference, information for local church historians and a digital archive.

The Levine-Sklut Judaic Library and Resource Center in Charlotte is connected to the Jewish Historical Society of Greater Charlotte. The library and resource center hold "photographs, letters, brochures, scrapbooks" and other print materials that represent Jewish life and community in and around Charlotte.

Jewish Heritage Foundation of North Carolina in Durham unifies projects covering Jewish history throughout North Carolina. The site presents a network of statewide resources for those interested in Jewish heritage.

Friends Historical Collection in Greensboro is a collection from the Hege Library at Guilford College. Guilford was founded by Religious Society of Friends in 1837. This collection houses records on the North Carolina Yearly meetings, monthly meetings and other important meetings in the region. Additionally, the collection acts as the main archive for the Quaker House of Fayetteville and the North Carolina Friends Historical Society. The library possesses manuscripts from Quaker individuals and families.

Church History Collection in Elon at the Belk Special Collections Library at Elon University offers items connected to the Christian Church. Records range from church histories to meeting minutes to audio-visual materials to church periodicals.

Presbyterian Collection and Theological Seminary Collection in Charlotte at Johnson C. Smith University. The Presbyterian Collection includes records, such as church bulletins, correspondence, church histories and information concerning the Catawba Synod that demonstrate ties between the University and local Presbyterian churches. The Theological Seminary Collection is comprised of records on the University's Seminary from the early 1900s to 1969. In 1969 the seminary relocated to Atlanta. The records consist of newsletters, annual reports and administrative correspondence.

Top Five NC Religion Items

Since we have been adding digitized materials to the Internet Archive for several months now, let's take a look at our all-time most downloaded items...



1. Presbyterian Orphans' Home at Barium Springs, North Carolina: an album of memories with 386 downloads

2. Annual of the...annual session of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina (Volume 127th 129th (1957-1959) c. 1) with 356 downloads

3. Annual of the...annual session of the Baptist State Convention of the North Carolina (Volume 138th (1968) c. 1)  with 324 downloads

4. Rock Spring Campground (Volume v. 2) with 249 downloads

5. Annual of the...annual session of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina (Volume 88th 91st (1918-1921) c.1) with 209 downloads

These are only the top five items, and they may shift as more materials are added to the Internet Archive. If you're curious to see more of the most accessed titles, check out the home page and click on the more option for a full listing.

Last week, Presbyterian Orphan Home was still the most downloaded item with 25 downloads and Baptist State Convention (1968) was the 5th most downloaded item with 17 downloads. Other popular items included:

2. Journal of the Western N.C. Annual Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South [serial] (Volume 44th 47th (1933-1936)) with 21 downloads

3. Methodist Protestant Herald, 1935 with 19 downloads

4. Journal of the Western N.C. Annual Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South (Volume 1953-1955) with 17 downloads

Currently, we have a total of 2,106 items ready and waiting to be downloaded. If you happen to stop by this blog, we would love to hear what materials you have (or hope to!) looked at and/or downloaded, what you are planning to use the materials for and what types of materials interest you the most.

Happy downloading!

Carolina Baptist News and the Problem of Margins

 
Here is one more quick item spotlight. We digitized this material a few months back but I had forgotten to share it on the blog until now. The item in question is a serial in four volumes called Carolina Baptist News. This serial was particularly memorable because it used colorful paper and images and had many neat ads and foldout pages bound in with the newsletters. One of the project members remarked on the homegrown quality of serial. It is mind-boggling to think of how quickly publication layouts and conventions have changed thanks to computers. Above is volume one of four (go check out all four on the Internet Archive!). Here is a link to the March/April 2013 Carolina Baptist News. You can find several recent back issues on their site if you are interested.

You might notice that the margins on this serial are a bit wonky in places. To digitize materials, we need around a 1/4 inch space in the margins so that everything comes out clearly. However, sometimes that is a struggle with certain materials for a variety of reasons. We do our best to solve these problems, but if nothing can be done we tend to err on side of digitization regardless. Although some text can be lost, we want to share as much information as possible. Generally, even if a little bit is missing, items can still be read. More than anything our aim is for access. Anyway, that's just one of the possible snags in selecting and preparing items for digitization. The creators had no way of knowing how their products would be used in the future so they did not care how close their text was to the margins. Ideas like that can get you wondering how a few generations down the road people might be manipulating our documents in an entirely different fashion. But that's an endless what-if game.

The Religion in NC Collection in Motion!

Project team heading to Wake Forest University to pick up the next batch of materials to be digitized.

Shaneé Murrain and Phu Nguyen push book trucks full of materials to be loaded onto a moving van. These materials will be transported back to their home in Wake Forest's Special Collections & Archives at Z. Smith Reynolds Library after having been digitized in the Duke Divinity School Library. The digitized books are now available on the Internet Archive site for the Religion in North Carolina Digital Collection.

Our mountain work

I'd like to spotlight a serial, Our mountain work, from the UNC branch that went live on the Internet Archive recently. There are twelve volumes available. The first volume dates around the 1910s but the bulk of the serial, volumes two through twelve, cover the mid-1940s to the late 1980s.

As I prepared this serial I found myself admittedly distracted by the content. My part with the NC Religion project asks me to pull and examine items for any conservation issues that might delay digitization. According to my job description, I'm more concerned (or should be) with the physical context of the item rather than the intellectual content. But sometimes when neat material comes along, I can't help but let my eyes wander...

Our mountain work was published by the Home Missions Committee of Asheville Presbytery. The serial focuses on the Mountain Orphanage, which is known today as the Black Mountain Home for Children, Youth & Families. The Black Mountain Home site provides a historical background of the institution. Just to borrow some of their information - Reverend R.P. Smith founded the orphanage in 1904 with a four-room cottage filled with six children. Rev. Smith was orphaned at 12 himself. Asheville Presbytery provided funds for Rev. Smith's initiative and the home expanded quickly. The publication, Our mountain work, was headed by the Asheville Presbytery and detailed many of the happenings of the orphanage such as children's birthdays, graduations, charitable solicitations among other news related to the Asheville Presbytery. For instance, here are a few shots of an article requesting book and magazine donations for the orphanage's library:

For anyone with an interest in Asheville, Presbyterianism, orphanages, children, education and outreach, Our mountain work would be a great serial to consult. Or, if you're just plain curious then click on over to the publication on Internet Archive. And skim through these other neat serials while you're at it!

Visualizing the Religious Makeup of the Collection

Religious Traditions | Create infographics

Religion in Real Time

 

Here's a little bit of religion in North Carolina in real time! This Saturday, March 2nd, St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church in Chapel Hill, NC is holding a 5K Walk and Run to benefit their current project, St. Paul Village.

According to the St. Paul site, the new endeavor, which will be constructed over time in phases, will offer a "worship sanctuary and fellowship hall; mixed-use senior and affordable housing; childcare, youth, and senior centers; recreational facilities; a wellness center, a health clinic; a historical museum; and a memorial garden." Quite an ambitious undertaking! St. Paul AME Church was established in 1864 and the church was built in 1892. (Their site provides an in-depth history.) The Village project will reassert the Church as a community anchor and will, on a practical level, provide more space for the expanding congregation.

The Church envisions that the Village should be a "multi-use and multi-generational" space. Fittingly, the project, centered around community, will be stand on land that was a historically African-American neighborhood dating all the way back to the mid-1800s. In the spirit of charity, St. Paul intends to donate 10% of its proceeds from the walk/run to other local organizations.

If you're interested in the walk/run or the St. Paul Village project, then navigate over to the site for more details and blueprints.

NC Religion has some texts up concerning African American Episcopalians, Methodists, Baptists and more. You can search for yourself under the main subject keyword listings in the Religion in North Carolina section on the Internet Archive.