RALEIGH – A farmer with oxen at the end of the work day, a women’s basketball team in bloomers, a baby picture of former Secretary of State Thad Eure, and a tobacco festival queen bedecked in a gown of dried tobacco leaves, are among the treasured photographs from the North Carolina State Archives traveling with the Telling Our Stories Photography Exhibit organized by the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources. The exhibit showcases some of the many ways the state’s stories can be told, and will travel across the state from October 2008 through December 2009.
The photography exhibit is part of the year-long observance of the Cultural Resources “Telling Our Stories” 2008 theme. It will include top winning photographs from the Our State magazine readers’ photography contest, pictures from professional photographers selected by a panel, and images from the State Archives. Public libraries across the state will show the exhibit, which will bring some of the highest quality photography to venues that might not have access to them.
This will be the first traveling exhibit to feature images from the archives. The State Archives collection dates from daguerreotypes of the 1860s to photographs from the 1970s. The oldest image in the exhibit is a picture of an ox cart at the State Capitol in Raleigh taken before 1895. It is from the millions of images that comprise the Archives’ holdings. The collection is part of the Special Collections Branch, the Non-Textual Material Unit also manages audio recordings and motion picture film.
The majority of images in the archives is in black and white, and range from Dizzie Gillespie to Mount Mitchell. Many are negatives, and include images photographed by Office of Archives and History photographers dating from the 1950s, N.C. Division of Travel and Tourism, and N.C. Wildlife photographs, and negatives by the staff of the News & Observer from 1938 to 1999, both color and black and white. Additionally, historical and family images donated by the public, and private collections complete the holdings. The N.C. State Archives collects, preserves, and makes available to the public historical and evidential materials relating to North Carolina.
For additional information about the exhibit, call (919) 807-7389. To find information on the State Library of North Carolina, visit http://statelibrary.dcr.state.nc.us/NCSLHOME.HTM. The N.C. Department of Cultural Resources is a state agency dedicated to the promotion and protection of North Carolina’s arts, history and culture. Now podcasting 24/7 with information available at www.ncculture.com.