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.