State Library of North Carolina
UPDATE
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September 2001
North Carolina ECHO
North Carolina ECHO, Exploring Cultural Heritage
Online, can now claim 742 cultural institutions in its
online database. These institutions represent archives,
museums, libraries, and
historical/genealogical societies
from Murphy to Manteo. This
Web directory informs re¬
searchers about the location,
collection strengths, and
availability of manuscripts,
artifacts, rare books, and other
special materials. Whether
working on an elementary
school project or a dissertation,
researchers are able to turn to
the ECHO Web site
<www.ncecho.org> to help
them find a wide range of
research materials held by
North Carolina institutions.
In addition to its directory
function, the North Carolina
ECHO Web site has the ability
to simultaneously search the
now more than 1 60 digitized
collections that have been
mounted on the Web by the
state’s various cultural collect¬
ing agencies. For example, a search on the subject
“African Americans” leads researchers to Duke’s “Afri¬
can-American Women” online collection, as well as the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s “North
American Slave Narratives.” The same search also
retrieves the Greensboro Historical Museum’s collection
of oral histories gathered by the students of Jonesboro
School in 1932 titled, “Slavery as We’ve Heard It,” and
the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg
County’s two-volume “African American Album,”
containing historic photographs of Mecklenburg County.
North Carolina ECHO provides access to more than just
manuscripts and rare books. The Catawba County
Museum of History and the North Carolina Museum of
Aid, among others, have mounted digital images of art
and artifacts on the Web. East
Carolina University’s Wellington
B. Gray Gallery has created an
online database of its Lankton &
Western African Art Collection,
allowing researchers to search its
holdings by African nation, ethnic
group, and artifact type. It even
makes its artifacts available
through a map interface, which is
especially helpful for school
children.
North Carolina ECHO continues
to expand these online resources
by offering continuing education
and digitization grant opportuni¬
ties to the state’s cultural institu¬
tions. North Carolina ECHO will
be offering two week-long
digitization institutes in the early
spring of 2002.
Digitization Grants
Applications for North Carolina
ECHO'S EZ-LSTA Digitization
Demonstration Grants are now
available. Applications must be received by 5:00 p.m. on
October 5, 2001.
This grant program is designed to provide quality online
content, which will reflect the rich diversity of cultural
resources held by the State's institutions and the people
who created them, while eneouraging collaborative
ventures between libraries and other types of cultural
repositories.Through this grant program and using digital
technologies, eligible libraries and partner agencies will
be able to foster greater access to the special collections
A publication of the State Library of North Carolina, Department of Cultural Resources
Mail: 4640 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699-4640 * Phone:
919/733-2570*
Location: 109 East Jones Street, Raleigh, NC 27601
