FAYETTEVILLE — The Museum of the Cape Fear will host a special, one-time opportunity for area residents to have their Civil War-era documents and photographs digitally scanned for inclusion in the North Carolina State archives. Documents scanned will be available to researchers and the general public via the Archives and History website.
The Museum of the Cape Fear’s Foundation will hold the event on Saturday, March 9 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the multi-purpose on the first floor. The museum is located on the corner of Bradford and Arsenal avenues. All area residents are invited to participate and will be seen on a first-come first-served basis. This event serves as a pilot for a much larger program which museum leaders hope to rollout, region-wide, in 2013 and 2014.
The scanning project is being conducted as part of the planning for a proposed statewide N.C. Civil War History Center, which would be built adjacent to what remains of the historic Fayetteville Arsenal.
Tad Prewitt, president of the Museum of the Cape Fear Historical Complex Foundation, Inc. said, “We are excited about this program as we believe the documents and photographs people have could potentially unlock some exciting stories, which might fit into the larger story we will be telling with the newly proposed history center.”
“With this being the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, this might be the last opportunity for some people to save their documents from being lost to the ages”, said Prewitt.
Museum officials are particularly interested in any documents residents might have related to General Sherman’s occupation of Fayetteville and the surrounding area.
Professionals from the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources will be on hand to assist museum staff and volunteers in scanning the documents using either a scanner or camera.
Documents, papers and photographs must be originals and the property of those bringing them in for scanning. Oversized or fragile documents, or items such as multi-page documents, may have to be transported to Raleigh for scanning. Documents suitable for scanning include: daybooks/ledgers, diaries, letters, manuscript maps, military passes & discharge papers, pension materials, claims for damage, hand-drawn sketches, photographs, muster rolls, battle reports, dispatches, telegrams, paroles and oaths of allegiance.
“At this stage, we don’t want people to bring any artifacts they might have as we are not far enough along in our planning to know exactly what artifacts we will need”, said Prewitt. He added, “Nor will anyone at the March 9 event be able to offer any kind of appraisal of the materials”.
For questions, contact museum administrator David Reid at 910-486-1330.
The Museum of the Cape Fear is a unit of the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources. For more information on North Carolina arts, history and culture, visit Cultural Resources online.