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MICHAEL F. EASLEY
GOVERNOR
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TELLING OUR STORIES
2008
BY THE GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA
A PROCLAMATION
WHEREAS, 388 community library' branches serving all 100 counties are integral to education and
improve community life, enrich lifelong learning, serve as centers of information, and provide a place to gather for
young and old alike; and
WHEREAS, the State Library of North Carolina and the Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped,
and more than 550 other private and community facilities such as libraries, museums, historic house museums, and
archives help more than 9 million North Carolina citizens appreciate their authentic heritage and culture, and
understand their own lives and the lives of others; and
W'HEREAS, North Carolina's stories include the first English settlement in the New World (1587). first
formal sanction of independence ( 1 776). first state university to open its doors (1795). first discovery of gold in the
U.S. ( 1 799). first powered flight (1903), first state Symphony (1930) and Art Museum (1947). first rural national
park (Blue Ridge Parkway 1935) and first National Seashore (Cape Hatteras 1937); and
WHEREAS, the Department of Cultural Resources has rich stories to share with all North Carolinians
through its support of libraries, performing and visual arts, history, and heritage; and
WHEREAS, stories are protected and preserved through the State Library of North Carolina and the Office
of Archives and History, providing cultural exchange and historical awareness to all citizens of North Carolina. The
State Library’s collections reflect the history, culture and people of North Carolina and include unique items such
as rare books about North Carolina, family histories, and the complete story of North Carolina's state government
as recorded in current and historical documents. The archives collectively contain more titan 300 years of unique
and irreplaceable materials ranging from hand-written letters and diaries to type-written manuscripts, maps,
photographs and other visual materials, motion pictures and sound recordings, and modem electronic data systems;
and
WHEREAS, the talented and dynamic people engaged in telling and sharing our state's stories - librarians
and museum docents, poets and dancers, graphic artists and writers, designers and craftspeople, illustrators and
actors, painters and potters - enrich our life daily and make North Carolina an attractive place to visit, raise a family,
or establish a business;
NOW'. THEREFORE. I. MICHAEL F. EASLEY. Governor of the State of North Carolina, do hereby
proclaim 2008, as the year of "TELLING OCR STORIES" in North Carolina and urge our citizens to seek out the
IN
and of the
MICHAEL F. EASLEY
. I have hereunto set my hand and affixed the Great Seal of the State of North
this twenty-fifth day of January in the year of our Lord two thousand and eight.
United States of America the two hundred and thirty-second.
special stories that
families and in their communities.
