Annual Report, 2024

It’s that time of year to share an update on everything Special Collections & Archives was able to accomplish in 2024. First and foremost, I would like to recognize the SCA team: Alayna, Ashelee, Beth, Craig, Emily, Kate, Marcia, Megan, Melde, Rebecca, and Stephanie as well as our student curatorial associate Parker and our volunteers, Kevin, Nancy, and Shannon, and thank them all for their hard work. We also appreciate all the help we receive from our ZSR colleagues and fabulous student employees (14 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 future.

Exhibits

Pro Humanitate: Wake Forest Presidential Inaugurations, Past and Present (Ammons Gallery, ZSR) (through Fall 2024). Curated by Craig Fansler, Rebecca May, and Tanya Zanish-Belcher

More Than Meets the Eye: Alternative Photographic Processes: Featuring photographs from the Houck Medford Collection (Special Collections & Archives) and the WFU Art Department Print Collection April 26, 2023 – January 31, 2024. Curated by Tsing Liu, ’23 Houck Medford Curatorial Associate

Poets and Publishers of the Black Arts Movement, February 1, 2024 – January 31, 2025, Special Collections & Archives Research Room (ZSR Library Room 625). Curated by Megan Mulder

Donor Supported Projects

Expanded Wake Voices: Inclusive Student Life (History of Wake Forest Oral Histories)

Interviews/presentations completed/ingested/accessible: 80

Houck Medford Curatorial Associate. Kayla Cavanaugh (UNC-Chapel Hill)

Finding aid completed: Houck Medford Papers

Houck Medford Digital Collection

Collections

Accessions: 64 (100.43 LF; 14,129.72 MB)

Processed or inventoried: 1,749 linear ft. (Including Senator Richard Burr Papers, Athletic Records, and President Hatch Inventory)

Finding aids created/updated: 200

Digital Collections:

  • Storage: Local (ZSR_Production): 5.84 TB, 393,997 files
  • AWS: 9.9 TB; 515,808 files
  • Patron requests: 4,471 items digitized
  • Digitization Projects: 2,851 items digitized
  • Items uploaded to Digital Collections: 7,170
  • Metadata Records created: 1,236, and 600 created or revised for North Carolina Baptist Historical Collection Recordings

Rare Books and Print Materials

Physical title count: 56,844

Physical item count: 67,167

New purchases: 79 items

Gift fund purchases of special note:

Don Juan, Lord Byron (London: Thomas Davison, 1819-1824). First edition. Newsome fund.

Lebenslauf [artist’s book], Sauda Mitchell (Privately printed, 2023). Paschal fund.

Preservation: Repairs and Enclosures

General Collections repairs: 236

Special Collections & Archives: 1,558

Cataloging and Database Maintenance

MARC records (original): 95

Bib History Created: 7 collection records created

Bib History Updated: 750

Items Created: 1,000

Items Updated: 1,500

Offsite Permanent Transfers: 101 collections boxes ; 2355 books/periodical boxes

Offsite Reference Transfers: 200 items

Public Outreach

Campus Instruction: 103 sessions for 1,749 participants

Donor Contacts: 71

Reference Requests (including Research Room visitors): 2,034

Visiting researchers (Provost’s Grant for Library Research)

Miriam O’Neal (independent researcher)

Edward Yang (UNC-Chapel Hill)

Hosted Events

January 18, 3:00-4:30

“Of No Great Size or Utility: English Garden Temples in Miniature” (Popup exhibit and presentation)

Phil Archer, Betsy Main Babcock Deputy Director, Reynolda

January 29-February 2: Dr. Samuel T. Gladding Writing Experience

January 29: “An Evening with Dr. Zelda Lockhart: Stories Heal and Build Community”

January 31: “Quantum Poetics: On Physics and Poetry”

With a Live Q & A–Amy Catanzano, Associate Professor/Poet-in-Residence, Wake Forest

February 1: “A Poetry Conversation with Professor Joseph Bathanti (Appalachian State) and Poet Abrea Armstrong (Triad Cultural Arts, Inc)

February 2: Writers Camp

March 13, Henry McCarthy, Educator, Poet, Actor, and host of Poets and Writers WEHC 90.

Dr. Henry Malcom McCarthy:Tells His Story Part I

Dr. Henry Malcom McCarthy: Tells His Story Part II

April 3, 2024 (online recorded presentation with Live Q & A) for Poetry Month

“Demystifying Poetry,” a presentation by Professor Joseph Bathanti (Appalachian State)

April 7, Maya Angelou Garden Party (Bailey Park)

April 11: Deacon Brews–Wise Man Brewing

April 20: Piedmont Earth Day Fair (Piedmont Environmental Alliance)

June 25, 2024: Presentation to Association of Librarians and Archivists at Baptist Institutions (ALABI) Annual Conference, “Documenting the Evangelical Movement of the 20th Century through the NC Baptist State Convention Update,” Presented by Marcia Phillips, SCA Metadata Specialist

July 17: Cocktails and Collections: A One-Night Pop-Up at Z. Smith Reynolds Library

September 10: “Making Meaning: Reimagining Archival Engagement through Creative Connections”

Presentation by the Dr. Samuel T. Gladding Book Artist in Residence Sauda Mitchell

October 30: Halloween: 100 Years of Edward Gorey

November 7: Deacon Brews, Wise Man Brewing

Digital/Social Media Activities

Blog postings: 38 posts

Facebook: 476 Followers

Instagram: 1,014 Followers

Tumblr: 910 Followers

Twitter/X: 691 Followers