Guest post from Tanya Zanish-Belcher, Director of Special Collections & Archives, Wake Forest University.
Articles of Faith, 1861, Baptist Church (Mount Gilead, N.C.) Records (MS755)
In 2015, Z. Smith Reynolds Library received an EZ Digitization Grant-Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS)/Library Services and Technology (LSTA) Grant from the State Library of North Carolina for the description and digitizing of archival material that is part of the North Carolina Baptist Historical Collection at Wake Forest University. Nearly 100 linear ft. of original archival records (dating back to the 18th century) belonging to churches throughout North Carolina are now available as part of the Z. Smith Reynolds Library’s online NC Baptist Collection:
https://wakespace.lib.wfu.edu/handle/10339/63998
Dismission letter for Frances Hart, circa 1797 (Grassy Creek Baptist Church).
The funding was used to hire a digitization technician, Kylie Bradley, and metadata specialist, Weihua Wang, who performed the majority of work on this project. In addition, Marcia Phillips, a member of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina History Committee, volunteered to assist with rehousing the physical materials within this collection prior to digitizing. Student assistants completed the remaining digitization during the Fall 2016 semester.
A total of 65,996 pages/objects were digitized for 113 churches, with 6 remaining to be added online. Metadata records were also created for each church collection. ZSR Library is excited and honored to have the opportunity to provide scholars, students, researchers, and the public with access to these Baptist collections.
For further information, please contact Tanya Zanish-Belcher, Director, zanisht@wfu.edu