Mitchell Community College Max Tharpe Photographic Collection

FAIN: PG-50935-10

Mitchell Community College (Statesville, NC 28677-5264)
Harry Kendrick Stillerman (Project Director: May 2009 to November 2012)

A preservation assessment of the Max Tharpe collection of 4,000 photographic images in various formats that document the history of the college and the community of Statesville since 1947. The collection documents small town American life and Mitchell, which began as a Presbyterian women's college in 1852, became coeducational in 1932, and is now a commuter college and the only private college admitted to the North Carolina Community College System.

The National Endowment for the Humanities Preservation Assistance Grant will support an overall preservation assessment of the Max Tharpe photographic collection by a professional archival consultant. The collection is housed within the Mitchell Community College Huskins Library. This activity would assess the physical condition of the collection and allow the College to make critical plans for the appropriate storage, care, and maintenance of this significant historical and cultural collection. The assessment will be conducted by Virginia Daley who brings more than 20 years experience as a professional archivist.