By Gene Hyde, Head of Special Collections & University Archivist, UNC Asheville This article appeared in the Volume 1, Issue 3 Winter 2020 issue of the Appalachian Curator. Click here to view a PDF of the full issue. For this issue of the Appalachian Curator, we take a look at the origins of Special Collections at UNC Asheville. Established in 1977 (and opening its doors in 1978), UNCA’s Special Collections were originally founded as the Southern Highlands Research Center. The 1970s was a fertile decade for Appalachian Studies, Appalachian research, and Appalachian special collections and archives. Much was afoot: the Appalachian Journal was started in 1972, the Appalachian Consortium published the…
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Featured Collection: The Calvin M. McClung Historical Collection, Knoxville, TN
By Steve Cotham, McClung Collection Manager This article appeared in the Volume 1, Issue 2 Fall 2019 issue of the Appalachian Curator. Click here to view a PDF of the full issue. The Calvin M. McClung Historical Collection was created in 1919 with the donation of Calvin McClung’s personal library to Lawson McGhee Library, Knoxville’s public library. McClung carefully built his outstanding private collection of local and regional history over the course of his lifetime, and the new library department became a significant resource for the community and researchers interested in East Tennessee subjects. The McClung Collection will celebrate its centennial on June 15, 2021. Today the collection has 75,000 books; 25,000 reels…
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Featured Collection: The National Park Service Collections Preservation Center at Great Smoky Mountains National Park
By Michael Aday, Librarian-Archivist at the Collections Preservation Center at the Great Smoky Mountains National Park This article appeared in the Volume 1, Issue 2 Fall 2019 issue of the Appalachian Curator. Click here to view a PDF of the full issue. In May 2016 representatives of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the National Park Service Southeastern Regional Office, Senator Lamar Alexander, and local dignitaries gathered in Townsend, Tennessee to cut the ribbon on a project that had been over 10 years in the making. That project, The National Park Service Collections Preservation Center, officially opened that day, though it would be several months before collection items would be moved…
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Featured Collection: The W.L. Eury Appalachian Collection at Appalachian State University
The W.L. Eury Appalachian Collection at Appalachian State University by Trevor McKenzie This article appeared in the Volume 1, Issue 1 Spring/Summer 2019 issue of the Appalachian Curator. Click here to view a PDF of the full issue. The W.L. Eury Appalachian Collection at Appalachian State University recently celebrated half a century of collecting, cataloging, processing, and preserving materials on the Appalachian region. Although customary, it would hardly be appropriate to call this celebration a “golden anniversary.” Perhaps something more Appalachian should mark this milestone, something solid, like the “Amphibolite Anniversary”? Regardless of whatever metal or rock usually shines over these occasions, researchers worldwide know and appreciate the W.L. Eury…
