Joyner Library launches new digital collection
GREENVILLE, N.C. — J.Y. Joyner Library at East Carolina University has created an all-digital collection, Seeds of Change: The Daily Reflector Image Collection, showing more than 25 years of life Eastern North Carolina as recorded by local news photographers. The collection can be accessed at http://digital.lib.ecu.edu/reflector/.
A collage of the collections available digitally through Joyner Library
The collection contains more than 7,000 images digitized from the photographic negatives of The Daily Reflector, Greenville’s newspaper. The negatives were a gift of D. Jordan Whichard III, who was the publisher of the newspaper at the time. The images in this exhibit are taken from the collection’s photograph negatives, which number approximately 85,000. The majority of the photographs date between 1949 and 1967, documenting sweeping changes across Eastern North Carolina from advances in industry to upheavals in race relations and an increasing awareness of public health concerns.
In addition, the collection’s Web site contains supplemental resources to provide a better understanding of the images and the history behind them. Streaming video of an interview with The Daily Reflector’s former editor and photographer along with a full transcript provide an insider’s view of Greenville and The Reflector.
An essay on the history of Pitt County and Greenville during this period, written by ECU history faculty member Christopher Oakley, puts the collection into historical context by examining the trends and historical events that impacted the region. An illustrated timeline examines the national and international perspective, highlighting the events that shaped the era. Tools for browsing through the image collection by subject provide users an easy way to begin to begin their exploration of the collection.
“The Daily Reflector Negative Collection is a rich resource for the study of local and regional history, and the images will be useful to scholars who are interested in socio-economic developments during the 1950s and 1960s,” said Maury York, assistant director for special collections at Joyner Library. “We are delighted to have a role in making these important photographs readily available to users throughout the world.”
The creation of Seeds of Change: The Daily Reflector Image Collection was partially supported with federal funds made possible through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, administered by the State Library of North Carolina, a division of the Department of Cultural Resources. This collection is the latest addition to the Joyner Library Digital Collections, an online resource for the library’s rare and unique special collection materials. That collection can be accessed at http://digital.lib.ecu.edu/.
For more information contact Gretchen Gueguen, Digital Collections Head of Service, at (252) 328-4987.