| Home | Academics | General Public | Students |
|
|||||
|
|||||
|
|||||
|
Roanoke Colonies Research Newsletter
ECU's Library Features North Carolina Resources by Maurice C. York, North Carolina Librarian, East Carolina University J. Y. Joyner Library at East Carolina University offers significant resources for researchers interested in studying varied aspects of North Carolina’s history and culture. Including, of course, the era of Roanoke colonization. In addition to a general collection of over 1,000,000 printed volumes, the library houses an extensive microforms collection and, in the Special Collections Department, substantial manuscript holdings and North Caroliniana. The Wendell W. Smiley Microforms Collection, which dates to the 1950s, now contains over 1,500,000 microforms of varied format. In addition to hundreds of North Carolina newspapers filmed by the North Carolina Division of Archives and history and a complete set of census records for North Carolina counties (1790-1920), the collection includes manuscripts and archival records related to notable Tar Heels. Researchers interested in Sir Walter Raleigh will find various editions of more than ten of his writings. Also included are works of the early Colonial period by Thomas Harriot and Edward Williams, among others. Rich resources await researchers in the Special Collections Department, which includes the East Carolina Manuscript Collection, the Rare Book Collection, and the North Carolina Collection. Service to patrons interested in manuscripts and rare books is provided in a common search room that displays an original copy of Edward Moseley’s very rare map of North Carolina published in 1733. Dating from the eighteenth century to the present, the more than 2,000,000 manuscripts in the East Carolina Manuscript Collection pertain to North Carolina, military affairs (especially U.S. Naval and maritime history), tobacco history, and missionary life in farflung regions of the globe. Of special interest to researchers of Roanoke colonization are the Inglis Fletcher Papers, including her letters and the manuscripts of her books, such as Roanoke Hundred. Complementing many of these manuscripts are the holdings of the Rare Book Collection, a focus of which is the field of travel and exploration. Centerpieces of the collection are Sir Walter Raleigh’s History of the World (1614) and both editions (1589, 1598-1600) of Richard Hakluyt's Principal Navigations, Voiages, Traffiques, and Discoveries of the English Nation. The North Carolina Collection occupies a separate location in the basement of the library’s West Wing. A separate collection as early as the 1940s, the North Carolina Collection serves diverse clientele. Although the collection makes available library materials pertaining to the entire state, the focus is Eastern North Carolina, and the current goal is to develop the holdings as a unique repository of material reflecting this region’s history. At the same time, the collection provides access to a wide array of current information about the state. The North Carolina Collection's holdings include 18,000 printed volumes, 20,000 pieces of microfiche, 3,500 maps, and 50 linear feet of clipping and vertical files. Among the books are many titles pertaining to Sir Walter Raleigh and the era of exploration. An extensive collection of local histories and books containing abstracts of county and census records facilitate the work of local and family historians. Early state documents shed light on many aspects of the state’s past, while current state documents on microfiche satisfy the needs of patrons interested in the current scene. Reprints of historic North Carolina maps, original maps dating from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and U. S. Geological Survey Topographic Maps enhance the information found in books and documents. Access to current information about the state is provided through an extensive clipping file and the North Carolina Periodicals Index, an automated index of fifty current periodicals. The North Carolina Periodicals Index is available on the library’s World Wide Web home page (the Internet address is http://fringe.lib.ecu.edu). Staff of the Special Collections Department are very excited about Joyner Library’s new addition, which is expected to open in the spring of 1996. The facility was designed with the dual goal of aiding long-term preservation of important collections and facilitating access to them in a stimulating environment. The North Carolina Collection will occupy a portion of the third floor. It will include a closed stack area for rare books and maps as well as a microforms room for all of the library’s North Carolina-related microforms. Researchers will gain access to manuscripts, rare books, and other special collections on the fourth floor of the addition. For more information about special collections at East Carolina University, call (919) 328-6671 (manuscripts and rare books) or (919) 328-6601 (North Carolina Collection). Information about collections, services, and hours of operation is available also on the library’s World Wide Web home page. Joyner Library Hours and Availability East Carolina University’s Joyner Library is going through a much needed expansion expected to be done sometime in 1997, and some departments, such as Special Collections, are already moving into their new quarters. Out-of-town researchers wishing to use the library between January and April should call in advance to find out about any special operating hours. Normal operating hours are: Joyner Library 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 a.m., Monday-Thursday 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., Friday 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., Saturday 1:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m., Sunday Special Collections 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday-Friday 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., Saturday
Top
|