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Bringing preservation professionals together to share ideas is one of the hallmarks of the North Carolina Preservation Consortium’s annual conference. Each year we look forward to welcoming many voices to the table to celebrate preservation efforts across the state and to learn from one another. This year’s conference marks NCPC’s 30th Anniversary, a milestone traditionally celebrated with a gift of pearls. Our 2023 sessions focus on sharing pearls of wisdom from the preservation field and explore the question, “What is the best preservation advice you have ever received, and how did you implement it?”

Thank you to our sponsor, Hollinger Metal Edge!

Conference Schedule

8:00 – 8:30 AM	Set-up
8:30 – 9:00 AM	Breakfast and Registration
9:00 – 9:15 AM	Welcome
9:15 – 10:15 AM	Session 1: Documentary Filmmaking at Historic Sites
10:15 – 10:30 AM	Break
10:30 – 11:45 AM	Session 2: Preservation of Audiovisual Materials
11:45 AM – Noon	NCPC Remarks
12:00 – 1:00 PM	Lunch
1:00 – 2:15 PM	Session 3: Preservation Leadership
2:15 – 2:30 PM	Break
2:30 – 3:45 PM	Session 4: Digital Preservation
3:45 – 4:00 PM	Wrap-up

Session Details

Session 1: Documentary Filmmaking at Historic Sites
Presenters: Kelly Spring, Joyner Library, East Carolina University; Jennifer Daugherty, Head of the North Carolina Collection, Special Collections, Academic Library Services, East Carolina University
Title: Please Don’t Wet the Parchment

Thankfully, Nicholas Cage didn’t have an authentic copy of the Declaration of Independence in the film National Treasure, but sometimes using original artifacts for projects is necessary. Kelly Spring will talk about the documentary film project, “We Can Do Better,” and what steps were taken to protect the original materials used. Jennifer Daugherty will share preservation challenges faced when lending items to the film industry in Wilmington, NC, and how to advocate for the protection of the collection to your institution’s leadership.  

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Session 2: Preservation of Audio Visual Materials
Presenters: Jenny McPherson and Kellen Carpenter, Western Carolina Univ.
Title:45,000 negatives piled in a van: shareable lessons for big and small photography collections

When faced with a seemingly impossible task it might seem like there’s no place to start. That’s how WCU Special Collections felt when they received over 45,000 negatives from Sherrill’s Studio, a photography studio in Waynesville, North Carolina that was in operation between 1902 and 1975. The task of processing and preserving this collection seemed monumental and beyond their areas of expertise. Without past experience or proper materials for preserving and organizing a daunting number of prints, glass plates, and negatives (both nitrate and safety), they nonetheless proceeded. With a deliberate pace, we tackled the myriad challenges and problems of the project, asking, studying, and learning valuable and shareable lessons that can be applied to both big and small photography collections. Jenny McPherson and Kellen Carpenter will demonstrate that even large, complicated projects can be attempted by smaller organizations with limited staff.

Presenter: Alston Colbourn, East Carolina University
Title: Inventorying audiovisual materials for intellectual control and preservation

East Carolina University recently undertook a project to inventory all of the audiovisual materials in the University Archives collection. Their goals were two-fold. First, they wanted to improve intellectual control over those materials, so a first step was physically finding them. Second, they wanted to assess the items for preservation concerns to help them set digitization priorities. Alston Colbourn will give an overview of the project, talk about how they did the preservation assessment piece, and how they are undertaking setting digitization priorities from that.

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Session 3: Preservation Leadership
Presenters: Sarah Thomas, Mitford Museum; Lanie Hubbard, Joel Lane Museum House; Beth Doyle, Duke University Libraries

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Session 4: Digital Preservation
Moderator: Kathelene McCarty Smith, Head of the Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives, UNC-Greensboro
Presenters: Panel from the Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives at UNC-Greensboro, including Gray Benson, Project Manager for E.W. Lowenstein Collection; David Gwynn, Digital Projects Coordinator; Beth Ann Koelsch, Curator, Betty H. Carter Women Veterans Historical; and Stacey Krim, Curator of Manuscripts and Cello Music
Title: “You don’t have to be perfect; you can be good”: Flexible Strategies for Digitization as Preservation

In this presentation, the panelists will discuss how digitization, as a method of historical preservation, can provide the flexibility needed to work with projects involving materials with specific challenges, such as format, location, ownership, poor condition, and size. Specific examples will include the Women Veterans Historical Project scrapbooks, community-based collections, and the Loewenstein-Atkinson Architectural Firm Records.

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Presenter Bios

Gray Benson is currently a Project Archivist, and manager of the Loewenstein Atkinson Architectural Firm Records digitization project for the Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives at UNC Greensboro. Benson is a recent graduate of UNC Greensboro where he earned a bachelor’s degree in art history and a master’s degree in library and information science. He has a background in Access Services and Visual Resources and would like to continue to grow his career as an archivist.

Kellen Carpenter is the Digital Scholarship Librarian at Western Carolina University, and prior to that worked in WCU’s Special and Digital Collections. He received his MLIS from the University of Washington in 2015.

Alston Cobourn is the University Archivist and Head of University History and Records at East Carolina University. She holds a BA with a major in English and minors in Creative Writing and Journalism as well as a Master of Library Science with a concentration in Archives and Records Management from UNC-Chapel Hill. She has been a Certified Archivist since 2016.

Jennifer Daugherty is the Head of the North Carolina Collection at Academic Library Services at ECU. She’s worked in libraries and archives for over 15 years, including serving as the Local History Manager at New Hanover County Public Library for five years. She holds an MLS from Indiana University Bloomington with a concentration in Archives and Records Management.

Beth Doyle is the Leona B. Carpenter Senior Conservator, Head of Conservation Services Department, and the Preservation Officer for Duke University Libraries. She is a Fellow in the American Institute for Conservation. Beth has served on committees and chaired discussion groups in the American Library Association since 2002, most recently helping to create the newly established American Library Association Core Preservation Section where she is a member of the Leadership Committee. She served on the NCPC Board for 12 years, her last three as Executive Director.

David Gwynn has been associate professor and digitization coordinator for the UNC Greensboro University Libraries since 2009. He oversees Gateway, a collaborative community digital history platform hosted at UNCG, and has been involved in numerous community-based digitization and oral history projects including PRIDE! Of the Community, documenting LGBTQ+ history, The Triad Black Lives Matter project, and Conversations in Black, a project documenting African American history and architecture in Southeast Greensboro.

Lanie Hubbard is the director of the Joel Lane Museum House in Raleigh. She holds an MA in English Literature from the University of Tulsa. She began at JLMH as a staff docent before becoming director in 2017, and continues to center her passion for storytelling as a way to connect people to history in her leadership of the museum. Lanie takes special pride in JLMH’s docent-led tours, interpretation of enslavement, and recent research into and restoration of the site’s paint.

Beth Ann Koelsch has been the curator of the Betty H. Carter Women Veterans Historical Project (WVHP) at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro since 2008. The WVHP collects oral histories and other materials that document the contributions of women in the U.S. military and the American Red Cross. Koelsch previously worked as a project archivist at the Sallie Bingham Center for Women’s History and Culture at Duke University, Durham, NC.  She received her Masters in Library Science (MSLS) degree from the School of Information and Library Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2007.

Stacey Krim is Assistant Professor and Curator of Manuscripts and Cello Music in the Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections & University Archives at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She holds curatorship over archival collections devoted to local and regional history, visual and performing arts, creative writing, and women’s history, including the UNC Greensboro Cello Music Collection, which provides access to researchers of the musical collections of cellists noted for their distinguished contributions in the areas of composition, performance, and pedagogy.

Kathelene McCarty Smith holds the position of Department Head of the Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG), where she also serves as an Associate Professor. She earned a bachelor’s degree in history and a master’s degree in art history from Louisiana State University (LSU) and a master’s degree in library and information studies from UNCG. Her responsibilities include instructional outreach and the curation of archival collections. Additionally, Smith has taught courses in Preservation Management and Special Collections for the Department of Library and Information Science at UNCG.

Jenny McPherson received her MLS from North Carolina Central University in 2013. She began working full-time at Western Carolina University’s Hunter Library, Special and Digital Collections in 2015 and loves working to preserve the local history of Western North Carolina.

Kelly Spring is the Head of Manuscripts & Digital Curation at East Carolina University. Prior positions include Archivist for Special Collections at the University of California, Irvine (2015-2018) and Manuscripts Archivist for the Johns Hopkins University (2005-2015). She holds a Master’s Degree from John Hopkins University.

Sarah Thomas is the director of author Jan Karon’s Mitford Museum in Hudson, NC. Sarah has more than 25 years of marketing, non-profit management, and fundraising experience, including six years in public relations at Biltmore Estate. More recently, she spent fifteen years in management and fundraising roles at Black Mountain Home for Children in Black Mountain, NC. Sarah also writes Appalachian historical fiction. Her latest novel, These Tangled Threads, features Biltmore Industries in Asheville, NC.

Location

McKimmon Conference and Training Center
North Carolina State University
1101 Gorman Street
Raleigh, NC 27606
Directions to the McKimmon Center

Registration

Register online today!
Online registration is open through November 1, 2023.
Members $70; Non-Members $95; Students/Presenters $35

Cancellation and Refund Policy

All questions regarding registration should be directed to Ellie East, NCPC Executive Director, ncpcboard@gmail.com or 984-329-2093. All fees listed on the registration form are in US dollars. There is a cancellation fee of 10% of the registration fee up to 10 days before the conference. No refunds are available for cancellations made within the 10 days prior to the conference. No refunds will be issued for no-shows. NCPC member institutions may substitute a staff member in the event the registrant cannot attend. Please inform NCPC within 24 hours of the conference if you will be sending a substitute. In the event that the conference is canceled due to low attendance, adverse weather, or other causes beyond NCPC’s control, registrants will be notified and may opt to either have their registration fee applied to another class or conference, or have their fees refunded. NCPC accepts no responsibility in such cases beyond the refund of conference registration fees.

About the North Carolina Preservation Consortium

NCPC is a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting the preservation of collections in libraries, museums, archives, and historic sites; monuments, memorials, and outdoor art; archaeological sites and collections; historic and cultural architecture; and private collections of family treasures. Learn more about NCPC at www.ncpreservation.org

Connect with NCPC: There are several ways to stay in touch. You can follow NCPC on Facebook and Twitter, subscribe to our email list, or read our quarterly newsletter.

NCPC Membership: The success of our statewide preservation program depends on the talents, diversity, and generosity of our colleagues. Become a member by submitting your application today.

Friends of NCPC: Join the Friends of NCPC today or contact the NCPC Executive Director to discuss giving and fundraising opportunities.

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Previous Conferences

2021 Annual Conference
Printable Program
Conference Presentation: Duke University Libraries Digital Production Center (PPT)
Conference Presentation: Silver Linings, Reference and Instruction in Academic Archives during COVID-19, Tams (PPT)
Conference Presentation: Documenting COVID-19 in Eastern North Carolina, Daugherty and Overstreet (PPT)
Conference Presentation: Preserving COVID-19-Related Institutional Records, Lawler (PPT)
Conference Session Videos: Silver Linings; Preserving COVID-19 Institutional Records; Documenting COVID-19 in Eastern North Carolina

2020 Annual Conference
“Hindsight is 20/20: Lessons learned from successes and failures in preservation”
Conference Agenda
Conference Presentation: Burwell School Powerpoint
Conference Presentation: Burwell School Script
Conference Presentation: Lake Phelps Canoes PowerPoint | Slide Descriptions
Conference Presentation: Time Capsule Preservation PowerPoint | Narrative

2019 Annual conference
“When the Unthinkable Happens! Disaster Preparedness for Cultural Heritage Organizations”
Conference Agenda
Conference Presentation: Amspacher and Gilbert
Conference Handout: Amspacher
Conference Presentation: Battle Jackson
Conference presentation: Fansler
Conference presentation: Henderson Bell
Conference Presentation: OSARC
Conference Presentation: Peterson
Conference Presentation: CREST
Conference Presentation: Unger_Goist_10 Points of Protocol
Conference Presentation: Unger_Goist_Recovery Company Tip Sheet
Conference Presentation: Goist_Salvaging Paintings
Conference Presentation: Unger_Goist_IMLS
Conference Presentation: Waldrop_Williams
NCPC Sponsors

2018 Annual Conference
“Preserving Community Heritage”
Conference presentation: Catawba County
Conference presentation: Community Histories Workshop
Conference presentation: UNC-Charlotte
Conference presentation: UNC-Greensboro

2017 Annual Conference
“Battling the Bloom: Mold Protections for Collections”
Conference handout_Duhl_keynote
Conference handout_Duhl_bibliography
Conference handout_Thomas
Conference handout_Goist
Conference handout_Riley
Conference handout_Stavroudis (Goist) 
Conference handout_Thomann
Conference photos on Flickr

2016 NCPC Annual Conference
“Unbroken Threads: Preserving our Textile Heritage”
Conference handout (Myers)
Conference handout (Callahan)
Conference handout_storage (Richardson)
Conference handout_stitching (Richardson)
Conference handout_vacuuming and hydrating (Richardson)
Conference handout_supplies (Richardson)
Conference handout_dry cleaning (Richardson)
Conference handout_care after opening (Richardson)
Conference handout_wet cleaning (Richardson)
Conference handout_exhibit overview (Richardson)

2015 NCPC Annual Conference
“Monuments and Memorials: Preserving, Protecting and Documenting our Collective History”

2014 NCPC Annual Conference
“Significant Preservation: Inventories and Assessments for Strategic Planning”

2013 NCPC Annual Conference
“First Voice: Collaborative Heritage Preservation with Descendant Communities”

2012 NCPC Annual Conference
“Preserving Digital Heritage Collections”

2011 NCPC Annual Conference
“Advocating for Collections Preservation”

2010 NCPC Annual Conference
“Preserving Objects and Artifacts: Conservation Science, Collection Care, and Outreach”

2009 NCPC Annual Conference
“Fundraising for Collections Preservation and Conservation”

2008 NCPC Annual Conference
“Cultural Respect in Preservation and Conservation”

2007 NCPC Annual Conference
“The Great Migration: Audio Preservation in the Digital Age”

2006 NCPC Annual Conference
“Preserving the Artifact: Book, Manuscript and Paper Document Conservation”

2005 NCPC Annual Conference
“The Promise and Perils of Digital Preservation”

2004 NCPC Annual Conference
“Battling the Bloom: Mold in Archives, Libraries and Museums”

2003 NCPC Annual Conference
“Photographic Memory: Preserving Photograph Collections”

2002 NCPC Annual Conference
“Audio Heritage Preservation: The Survival of Recorded Sound in Folklore, Music and Oral History Collections”

2001 NCPC Annual Conference
“Security Issues in Libraries, Museums and Archives”

2000 NCPC Annual Conference
“The Wrath of Floods: Preparedness and Recovery for Archives and Library Collections”

1999: The Future of NCPC (8th Annual Meeting; Feb 26, 1999)

1998: The Changing Face of Preservation: A Dialogue (7th Annual Meeting; Feb 10, 1998)

1997: NCPC Annual Meeting and “Healthy Archives, Libraries, and Lives: A workshop on Creating Safe environments for records and their keepers” (6th Annual Meeting; Jan 27, 1997)

1996: NCPC Annual Meeting and “Access and Its Risks: Making our libraries, archives and records centers secure” (5th Annual Meeting; Jan 30, 1996)

1995: January 10, 1995 (4th Annual Meeting)*

1994: NCPC Annual Meeting and Photo Workshop (3rd Annual Meeting; Jan 25, 1994)

Editor’s note: Early meetings were combined with a workshop or presentation around a theme. For purposes of the archives, we have grouped these early meetings-with-workshops under “Conferences.” 

*In 1994 it was noted that the Annual Meeting would take place in January 1995, but we haven’t found the record of that meeting.