INC NEWS - Historic Photographs and Postcards Added to Library Web Site

[Alexander, Jana]

Media friends:

 

Please find attached (and following) this important news release:

 

 

Historic Photographs and Postcards Available on Durham County Library
Web Site

 

 

Thank you for helping us to publicize the great resources available at
Durham County Library-where great research happens!

 

Best-

 

Jana

 

Jana A. Alexander

Manager, Marketing Services Division

Durham County Library

P  (919) 560-0151

F  (919) 560-0137

300 N. Roxboro St.

P.O. Box 3809

Durham, NC  27702

jalexander at durhamcountync.gov

 

The best of my education has come from the public library... my tuition
fee is a bus fare and once in a while, five cents a day for an overdue
book.  You don't need to know very much to start with, if you know the
way to the public library.        --Lesley Conger

 


News Release


 


Date:  Dec. 7, 2006  

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:  Lynn Richardson

560-0171 or lrichard at durhamcountync.gov 

 

 

 

 

Historic Photographs and Postcards Available on Durham County Library
Web Site

 

 

DURHAM-Lynn Richardson, North Carolina Collection librarian at the
Durham County Library, announces the addition of two rich and exciting
electronic collections:  "Historic Postcards of Durham" and "Durham
Buildings 1950-2000:  Changes in the Landscape of Downtown."  The
collections can be viewed at www.durhamcountylibrary.org/ncc/index.html.
The 151 postcards, many from the first half of the 1900s, belong to John
Schelp.  Ralph Rogers shot the slides of Durham buildings.

 

The postcard collection includes images of the front and back of each
card.  The cards portray some of Durham's most important destinations
and historic sites, such as Duke University, North Carolina Central
University and Bennett Place, in a bygone era.  The personal notes on
the reverse of some of the postcards tell their own stories.

 

Rogers' slide collection covers more than 300 images of buildings, which
are grouped geographically, including many structures that were
renovated or removed between 1950 and 2000.  In addition to making
slides of individual buildings, Rogers also documented how the
streetscape changed and what replaced the buildings that were
demolished.  Many of the frames include in-depth audio descriptions,
recorded by Rogers; viewers should select the MP3 audio option to
listen. 

 

Downtown Durham saw tremendous change between 1950 and 2000, including
the effects of urban renewal; the construction of the downtown loop; the
razing of historic buildings, including the Washington Duke Hotel and
Union Station; and the movement of a number of businesses away from
downtown.  Rogers captured these changes with his camera.  

 

According to Richardson, "His commitment, over time, to capturing these
images brings us, today, a detailed picture of what the city used to be,
what it has become, and, through the audio component of the site, some
of the politics, thought processes and decision making involved.  As
Durham looks toward returning the streetscape to something like its
preloop configuration, these images can help those involved in that
process make informed decisions about our 'new' streetscape."  

 

The North Carolina Collection is continually expanding its resources and
making them available to the community through the generosity of local
history buffs, collectors and photographers like Schelp and Rogers and
through volunteer efforts.  North Carolina Collection volunteer Alex
Kostelnik, who now lives in Washington state, scanned the slides and
interviewed Rogers for the audio that accompanies his historic images.
Allen Dew, a longtime Durham County Library volunteer, used his
considerable expertise to develop the Web site.  Schelp wrote the
captions for the postcards, and Richardson edited the captions, along
with the rest of the site.  Both collections are searchable by keyword,
or visitors can simply browse. 

 

Schelp, who has been collecting historic postcards of Durham for seven
years, got interested in the history of his Old West Durham neighborhood
when he purchased an old Sears house near Ninth Street.  He played a
major role in developing the content for the neighborhood's
award-winning online history Web site (www.owdna.org
<http://www.owdna.org/> ).  Schelp's interest in history eventually grew
to encompass all of Durham.  He is a neighborhood activist, president
the Old West Durham Neighborhood Association and works in Research
Triangle Park.  

 

Schelp said, "The Library's collection of old Durham photographs is a
powerful, rich resource that people will treasure for generations to
come.  These old postcards will complement the wonderful online
collection.  Lynn Richardson and Allen Dew deserve bouquets of red roses
for all their work getting the postcards online."

 

Rogers is a Durham native who, along with his father, operated Rogers
Drug Company at the corner of Parrish and Mangum streets for 50 years.
He sold the store in 1962, when he was named CEO of North Carolina
Mutual Wholesale Drug Company.  Although he retired in 1988, Rogers
continues to be active in civic affairs and at Trinity United Methodist
Church.  

 

If you are interested in obtaining a photographic reprint, a scan or
permission to use any of the images, please contact Richardson, (919)
560-0171 or lrichard at durhamcountync.gov, for more information.

 

The primary mission of the North Carolina Collection (Main Library,
third floor) is to preserve and make available materials relating to the
history and culture of Durham County.  The collection contains a wealth
of information, including books, journals, newspapers, microfilmed
records, the Durham Historic Photographic Archives, small manuscripts
collections and much more.

 

Durham County Library provides the entire community with books, services
and other resources that inform, inspire learning, cultivate
understanding and excite the imagination.

 

# # #

 

 

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