Rehousing the Elizabeth City State University Archives

FAIN: PG-51820-13

Elizabeth City State University (Elizabeth City, NC 27909-9913)
Jean B. Bischoff (Project Director: May 2012 to October 2014)

The purchase of archival shelving to store safely a collection of 2,000 linear feet of manuscript materials related to the history of this historically black university. Originally established in 1891 as the Elizabeth City Colored Normal School, the university maintains a collection of books, photographs, manuscripts, and artifacts. Departmental and administrative records from the chief executives of the school, as well as correspondence with state and federal agencies, offer insight into the education of African Americans in the South both before and after racial integration.

Elizabeth City State University (ECSU) Archives houses 2,000 feet of records and photographs documenting 120 years of public higher education of African-American citizens in North Carolina. ECSU requests $5,846 to support the goal of Archives's long-term collections care plan: the purchase of powder-coated steel shelving for its vault, a climate-controlled area housing collections of personal papers, publications, and artifacts. In 2009 the Lyrasis Library Consortium preservation survey report stated "It is essential that proper and adequate shelving and housing be acquired for the materials in ECSU's Archives." The completed phases of the plan have enhanced preservation and access by replacing 540 feet of inadequate shelving with powder-coated steel shelving. University Archives seeks to acquire additional repositionable units to house its priceless collections.