It’s hard to believe that it is April 2023, but I wanted to share an update on everything Special Collections & Archives accomplished in 2022 before summer is here. I would like to recognize the SCA team: Alayna, Ashelee, Beth, Craig, Finley, Megan, Mel, Rebecca, and Stephanie as well as our student curatorial associates Parker and Tsing. We also appreciate all of the help we receive from our ZSR colleagues and fabulous student employees (nearly 20 of them) who assist in answering reference questions, digitizing materials, shifting collections, and creating buttons and magnets.
As SCA continues to grow in collections, digital resources, and programming, I would like to extend a special thanks to all of our donors and supporters who make collection and financial donations, come to our events, and appreciate what we do–while this report focuses on numbers, so much of what we do is not quantifiable. Our work is about building community and connecting Wake Foresters of the past, present, and the future.
Events and Projects:
Maya Angelou Garden Party; Piedmont Earth Day Fair; “Angelou and Bearden: 40 Years Later” Panel at Reynolda House; Bookmarks Author Naomi Novik; Homecoming Festival on the Quad; Strings Homecoming Parlor Dedication; Family Weekend Open House; Jane Crossthwaite “Shaker Visions of the Divine: Essays on Their Sacred Art and Scripture” discussion event; 125 Years of Dracula Halloween Event; Family Weekend Open House; Deacon Brews
Exhibits:
Pro Humanitate: Wake Forest Presidential Inaugurations Past and Present (Ammons Gallery, ZSR Library)
“Intersections: Roads of Honor” (Shorty’s; ZSR Library; SCA)
“Never Before Published” First Editions from the Wake Forest Library Rare Books Collections” (Room 625, SCA)
Rising Meadow Farm Popup Exhibit, in collaboration with Houck Medford and American Farmland Trust (Rising Meadow Farm)
WFU Swimming and Diving Team Popup Exhibit (Homecoming)
Hosted Presentations and Screenings:
“Looking Back: The History of Wake Forest Sports, A Conversation with Muggsy Bogues” Co-sponsored with Athletics
“Our Story of Faith: The Challenge and Joy of Writing the History of Wake Forest Baptist Church” presented by Shaun Price, Co-hosted with the Original WF Campus and the Wake Forest Baptist Church (Wake Forest, NC)
“From Her Hand: Sally Wait’s Mission South,” presented by Mary Tribble, WFU Senior Advisor for Engagement Strategies
“Why We Archive our Labor: WGSS, Institutional Labor and Practices” presented by WFU Professor & Chair of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Dr. Julia S. Jordan-Zachery
Screening, “I’m a Woman, Phenomenally: A History of Wake Forest Women,” documentary film by Parker Beverly, ’23
“Great Houses and Their Stories: Winston-Salem’s Era of Success, 1912-1940” with Dr. Margaret (Peggy) Supplee Smith, Dr. Samuel Gladding Speaker
Donation-Supported Projects:
Expanded Wake Voices: Inclusive Student Life Oral History Project:
Coordinator, Parker Beverly (’23)
Houck Medford Curatorial Associate: Tsing Liu (’23)
Dr. Wilson Papers Processing Project: Finley Turner
Collections:
Collections Assistant hired: Alayna Veasey
Accessions of new collections: 377.08 linear ft. and 13,112MB
Digital Collections: 14.34TB (686,234 files)
Rehoused and processed collections: 160 linear ft.
128 finding aids edited
45 new finding aids published
Preservation:
Repairs and enclosures: 3,817
Rare Book Cataloging/Updates:
MARC Original Catalog Records: 151
Bib History Created: 10/Bib History Updated: 3,412
Items Created: 2,283/Items Updated: 11,601
Public Outreach:
Campus Instruction: 1,495 (103 classes)
Donor Contacts: 103
Reference Requests (including Research Room): 1,914
Events: 1,322
Digital/Social Media Activities:
Blog postings: 36
Facebook: 465 Followers, 20 posts
Instagram: 990 Followers, 112 posts, 5,217 likes
Tumblr: 1,026 followers
Twitter: 734 followers
Selected Professional Achievement/Development
Bennett, Stephanie (Collections Archivist)
President, Society of North Carolina Archivists (SNCA)
Attended California Rare Book School: “Archives and Climate Change”
Fansler, Craig (Preservation Librarian)
Book Review of Exhibits and Displays: A Practical Guide for Librarians, Technical Services Quarterly, 39:2, 204-205, 2022.
“Home Lab.” Guild of Book Workers Journal, v.51, 49-54, 2022.
Attended Bookbinding Fundamentals workshop and Bibliotech Bookbinding workshop
Taught East to West Book Repair Workshops
Hill, Ashelee Gerald (Processing Archivist)
Member-at-Large, Society of North Carolina Archivists
May, Rebecca Peterson (Public Services Archivist)
Vice President and President of the ZSR Employee Association
Mulder, Megan (Special Collections Librarian and Rare Books Curator)
Forthcoming chapter “Students as Historians: Developing an Open Primary Source Reader in Gender on Gender and Sexuality.” Co-author. Engaging Undergraduates in Primary Source Research (ACRL, 2023)
Attended University of Virginia Rare Book School: “The Bible and Histories of Reading”
Rutledge, Melde (Digital Collections Librarian)
Instructor, ALA CORE’s Fundamentals of Digital Library Projects online course
Reviewer, HathiTrust Copyright Review program
HathiTrust User Support team, Digital Objects Quality Corrections Group
Certificate, Introductory Mentoring Skills Online Certificate Course by WFU’s Mentoring Resource Center
Tanya Zanish-Belcher (Director, Special Collections & Archives)
Member, National Historical and Public Records Commission (National Archives and
Records Administration NARA) representing the Society of American Archivists
Advisor/Participant for Exploring New Frontiers in 21st Century Archival Education National Leadership Grant (Mellon Foundation), Principle Investigators: Dr. Alex Poole (Drexel University) and Dr. Jane Zhang (Catholic University of America): https://archivalfrontiers.cci.drexel.edu/index.php/about/
Appointed Position on the ACRL/RBMS Guidelines for Borrowing and Lending Special Collections Materials Task Force, American Library Association.
7 Comments on ‘2022 Annual Report for Special Collections & Archives’
This is very impressive, Tanya! Thank you for sharing. Knowing what our colleagues are working on, and the scope and breadth of their work, is very helpful. Great Job!
What a busy year. You have been doing impressive work curating, preserving and highlighting our expansive special collections!
The volume of public outreach SC&A does is AWESOME!
Thank you SCA colleagues for all you do! It is always impressive to read your full year’s accomplishments!
Wow! What an amazing year! Thank you, SCA, for the hard work you do. Always, always impressed!
Congratulations on this record of accomplishments and thank you for the valuable summary.
It is a pleasure to work with the Special Collections librarians. Helpful, professional, committed, and,to my mind, doing essential work for WF as an institution for students, for faculty, for alumni, for interested parties, and for friends.