“Libraries Are About Truth, Evidence and Memory.”
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UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Volume 26, numberWIN 1 • Spring/Summer 2019 DOWS “Libraries are about truth, evidence and memory.” —Elaine Westbrooks, University Librarian 4 News Briefs from the University Librarian 7 And the Grammys go to... Dear Friends, Retired Carolina professor Bill Ferris hits the big time with help from University Libraries archivists When protestors toppled UNC-Chapel Hill’s Confederate Monument on the eve of the fall semester, they set in motion a year of controversy that continues today. 11 Throughout this time, I have found myself thinking again and again about the role that libraries and archives play in helping our communities grapple with the Generous tradition most challenging questions we face. Vance and Shaida Horner’s gifts for Persian Photo: Jon Gardiner, University Communications University Jon Gardiner, Photo: studies bring an ancient culture to life As you read our cover story, I hope you will share my appreciation for Carolina’s librarians and archivists whose work sheds light on the monument’s history and context. They ensure that the historical record of the University is safe, open and accessible. They help learners and researchers find their path through this record, 13 empowering them to dig deeper, ask new questions and interrogate the evidence. In Memoriam: Joe A. Hewitt They also build documentary collections so that future researchers will under- contents Remembering a former University librarian who stand the history we live today. believed in the transformative power of libraries Witnessing our staff There is much to be proud of at the University Libraries. In this issue, you can read about staff who restored engage with difficult artifacts in towns hit by Hurricane Florence, friends and 14 donors whose generosity helps outstanding collections “First, you go to the archives” histories reaffirms for and programs flourish, and even the Library’s role in Carolina’s archivists preserve and share documents me the crucial role of bringing a Grammy to Chapel Hill. But witnessing our Windows is published by that speak volumes about “Silent Sam” the Friends of the Library staff engage with the difficult histories that challenge our under the auspices of libraries and archives community reaffirms for me the crucial role of libraries the University Libraries, University of North Carolina and archives for our democracy and our future. at Chapel Hill. We welcome for our democracy questions and comments at P.O. Box 8890, CB #3900, 20 and our future. Debate over the Confederate Monument is sure to go Chapel Hill, NC, 27515- After the storm 8890 or (919) 962-1301. on. As this next chapter of campus history takes shape, Staffer Christian Edwards battled mold and we at the Library will continue our unique mission to preserve, to teach, to Editor debris to help the Lumbee Tribe Cultural Center Judy Panitch recover from Hurricane Florence document, to share. Thank you for your continued friendship and support in Interim Director of this most important of endeavors. Library Development Ann Horner Art Director Sincerely, Aleah Howell ’15, ’17 22 Design Elaine Westbrooks Alison Duncan ’96 A gift for the future Vice Provost for University Libraries and University Librarian Thanks to Alumnus Howard Holsenbeck on making the Tanya Fortner University Libraries part of his estate plans 33 News Briefs Librarians use data $250,000 grant from AV conservator Erica Titkemeyer’s passion for audiovisual Drew Robertson and Glenn Waters (2nd and 3rd analysis to study Jim Crow Watson-Brown Foundation conservation was sparked by making from left) designed and built the Periodic Table Titkemeyer is Library an undergraduate documentary installation at the Kenan Science Library. They pose with KSL staff (left to right) Tricia Maloney, laws funds research fellowships Journal Mover & Shaker film about their grandfather’s World David Romito and Therese Triumph. at Wilson Library War II experiences. Discovering the grandfather’s oral history in a library Carolina librarians are using a Erica Titkemeyer, project director recently awarded grant to explore and audiovisual conservator in and hearing his voice “was a really Approximately 30 visiting doctoral transformative experience.” the laws and legacy of Jim Crow in students and candidates will have the Southern Folklife Collection groundbreaking ways. Their project, at the Wilson Special Collections the opportunity to conduct research “While I’m motivated by the research On the Books: Jim Crow and the in Southern studies at the Wilson Library, is one of Library Journal’s Algorithms of Resistance, received 50 “Movers & value of the recordings we work Special Collections Library in the with, it’s patron discoveries similar an award of $59,267 from the next three years. A grant of Shakers” for 2019. national Collections as Data – The award recog- to my own that encourage me,” $252,500 from the Watson-Brown said Titkemeyer. Part to Whole initiative. Foundation will underwrite a nizes “top change- graduate fellowships pilot program, makers who are Using optical character recognition Titkemeyer’s passion for providing financial and intellectual transforming what and machine learning, the team audiovisual preservation has led support for both dissertation and it means to be a will build a text corpus of North to volunteer projects as far away pre-dissertation research. librarian.” Carolina session laws from the end as Montevideo, Uruguay, and of the Civil War through the civil Colombia, and to significant Wilson Library’s collections include Titkemeyer came to the University rights movement of the 1960s innovations at Carolina, such as some of the world’s most important Libraries in 2014 as part of a major and will then compile a listing of leading the creation of Jitterbug, historical records and documents grant to investigate audiovisual North Carolina’s Jim/Jane Crow an open-source audiovisual related to the American South. preservation and access for the laws. This effort builds upon work SFC's massive collection of more materials management system. Photos: Aleah Howell Photos: done by civil rights pioneer Pauli “This program will provide an than 50,000 audio recordings, Murray in the 1950s. “Erica is a remarkable colleague intellectually intense and archivally 6,500 video recordings and 8 and a quiet but sure leader, whose creative experience that will million feet of motion picture film. Additional products will be a deft and sensitive guidance allows connect fellows not just to our website for educators and everyone to achieve historic collections but also to the “Erica works with researchers, a white paper our absolute best,” faculty and other rich resources departments across describing methodologies, a code said Weiss. available at Carolina for the study the University repository, and presentations, Elementary! of the American South,” said María Libraries like a con- including a workshop for the Titkemeyer is the R. Estorino, associate University ductor of a symphony 2019 is the International Year of the Triangle Digital Humanities University Libraries’ librarian for special collections orchestra, bringing Periodic Table of the Elements and Institute. together the full range sixth Mover & the system’s 150th anniversary. In and director of the Wilson Special Shaker. A profile of Collections Library. of stakeholders and January, the Kenan Science Library The 16-month project began in divergent skill sets Titkemeyer appeared celebrated completion of a mural- January. The participants are in the March 4, 2019, The grant adds to a growing program to create a complex sized periodic table public art project. librarians Nathan Kelber (principal integrated work flow,” issue of Library Dozens of campus artists represented investigator and project lead), of fellowships and grants for research Journal and on the and creativity at the Wilson Special Steve Weiss, the every element on wooden tiles, with Lorin Bruckner, Sarah Carrier, SFC’s curator, told magazine’s website, designs both literal and fanciful. The María R. Estorino, Amanda Henley Collections Library. It will also libraryjournal.com. support Wilson Library in organizing Library Journal. completed table, measuring five feet (co-principal investigator) and by eight feet, brings art and science Matt Jansen, along with historian a capstone symposium on emerging together at the Kenan Science Library. William Sturkey. trends in Southern studies. 4 5 On Exhibit in Wilson Library News And the Briefs Grammys go to… University Libraries publishes biography of UNC presidents Edward Kidder Graham and Harry Woodburn Chase Between 1913 and 1930, the presidencies of Edward Kidder Graham and Harry Woodburn Chase transformed the University of North Carolina from a small Keeping cool with ice cream in Alamance County, North Carolina, in 1951. institution in the liberal arts From the Edward J. McCauley Photographic Materials at Wilson Library. tradition to a modern research university serving the state. Beating the Heat: Surviving Summers in North In “Fire and Stone: The Making of Carolina Before Air Conditioning the University of North Carolina June 20 – September 29, 2019 under Presidents Edward Kidder Steve Weiss (left), curator Graham and Harry Woodburn of the Southern Folklife Chase,” author The Uses of Books: Early Modern Readers Revealed Collection, and Bill Ferris, in the audio studio at Howard E. May 23 – September 8, 2019 Wilson Library Covington Jr. Readers between 1450 and 1750 found