Community-contributed Collections

Through our Community Collections program, we work with many community groups (schools, churches, neighborhood associations) and individuals to make their history available online. The items in this digital collection are not held by UNCG; they are housed in the homes and offices of individuals, businesses, and local community groups, as noted in each item's description. These community partners, through their willingness to share their historical materials, allow us to provide access to the public while letting the physical materials remain in the possession of the groups and individuals who contribute them.

Pages

: Moreland Smith Collection; Moreland Smith is Assistant Vice Chancellor-ITS-MIS at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

: Ronald Owens Smith, Jr. Collection; Dr. Ronald Owens Smith, Jr, was a faculty member and administrator at North Carolina A&T State University. The collections consists of photos documenting his family and career, several memorial programs, an animated video by his students, and an oral history interview with his cousin.

: South End Brewing Company Collection; Photographs and other documents relating to the establishment of South End Brewing Company, donated by the company as part of the Well Crafted NC project. Most are born-digital items.

: Sylvia Dean Stanback Collection; Sylvia Dean Stanback is a lifelong resident of Greensboro. She is the great-granddaughter of James Monroe Dean, Sr. (1834-1902) and Lucinda Mitchell Dean (1834-1911). The Mitchell and Dean families played significant roles in the development of Greensboro, and particularly of Providence Baptist Church. James Dean was a Guilford County magistrate, philanthropist, and businessman--the owner of Dean's Brickyard, which supplied bricks for the construction of many early Greensboro landmarks.

: T.O. Stokes, Jr,. Collection; The T.O. Stokes, Jr., Collection documents Stokes's community service with such organizations as the Hayes-Taylor YMCA, the Greensboro Men's Club, and Providence Baptist Church. Stokes has been active in the business, spiritual, and cultural life of Greensboro's African American community since arriving in the city in the 1940s.

: Sunset Hills Neighborhood Project; This collection contains material contributed by the Sunset Hills Neighborhood Association and by neighborhood residents as part of an ongoing community documentation project tracing the history and development of this historic Greensboro neighborhood.

: Tom Taylor Collection; The Tom Taylor Collection consists of a 1934 letter to Taylor's mother documenting the history of Greensboro schools.

: Lily Gabrielle Wilkinson Thompson Family Papers; Lily Gabrielle Wilkinson Thompson (1867-1942) was born in Crystal Springs, Mississippi. She was active in the suffrage movement and served many official roles in the Mississippi Woman Suffrage Association. This collection was contributed by her granddaughter Gabrielle Beard and includes scrapbooks Thompson created for her daughter, memorabilia from other family members, genealogical material about family members in Mississippi and North Carolina, photographs, and other items.

: Totten Family Collection; The Totten Family collection documents family members descended from Riley and Zula Clapp Totten (one of the first three graduates of the Palmer Memorial Institute in 1905). One of their sons, Arthur Sylvester Totten (1913-1999), was a native of Guilford County, a retired professor of poultry science at N.C. A&T State University and an Army veteran. He held a B.S. degree from West Virginia State University and a M.S. degree from Michigan State University. He was a former board member of American Federal Savings and Loan Association, a member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, the United Methodist Men, Chancel choir and the Men's choir at St. Matthews United Methodist Church in Greensboro. Totten's wife Geraldine (d. 1990) was a faculty member at Bennett College from 1966 to 1985. His son, Arthur Avery Totten (b. 1948), was employed by the Environmental Protection Agency and now resides in Greensboro. The collection includes photographs of family and friends and of trips to Nigeria, funeral service programs, and printed items related to St. Matthews, N.C. A&T State University, and other civic groups.

: Triad Black Lives Matter Collection; The purpose of the Triad Black Lives Matters Collection is to document the BLM movement, police brutality protests, and race relations in the Triad area of North Carolina. The collection contains digital photographs and video footage relating to the Black Lives Matter movement and the George Floyd protests.

: Triad Brewers Alliance Archives; Photographs and other documents relating to the establishment of Triad Brewers Alliance, donated by the company as part of the Well Crafted NC project. Most are born-digital items.

: Triad NC Women's March Photographs; Photos documenting the Triad Women's March, one of many such marches held nationwide on 21 January 2017. Photos were contributed by march participants.

: Unsung Heroes Oral History Collection; The Unsung Heroes of the Civil Rights Movement Project is collecting visual histories of the many people who stood beside Civil Rights leaders such as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, Medgar Evers, John Lewis, Fannie Lou Hamer and others from the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. While the names of these "unsung heroes" are less familiar, their stories and recollections represent the pervasive courage and strength of the thousands of people who struggled for equality. Their stories will add to the rich history of the struggle for social justice and this struggle's impact on the nation and the world.

: Lolita C. Watkins Collection; Lolita Cheryl Watkins, daughter of Clarence C. Watkins, Sr. (1907-1990) and Evelyn J. Watkins of Reidsville, N.C., is an alumna of UNC Greensboro, was a curriculum specialist for the Guilford County Schools. She is an active member of Saint James Presbyterian Church in Greensboro and has been involved with numerous community ministries. Her father was a graduate of Johnson C. Smith University and Columbia University, and was employed as a teacher at Elm Grove Elementary School and later as the first Black supervisor of the Rockingham County School System, as well as a number of civil and educational organizations.

: Marvin H. Watkins Collection; Marvin H. Watkins has served as director of research administration and later as associate vice chancellor for research at North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro. He was also employed as assistant to the president for development at Bennett College, and was dean of boys at Dudley High School.

: West Market Street United Methodist Church Archives; Items documenting the history of West Market Street United Methodist Church in Greensboro, N.C. (established 1830) digitized as part of the Community-Based Research project of the UNCG University Libraries.

: Eric Woodard Collection; Eric Woodard is a Greensboro resident, North Carolina State University graduate, designer, and author who works with Preservation Greensboro, Inc. This collection includes material related to William Alfred Streat and his wife, Florence Louise Guenveur Streat.

: Andrea Wright Collection; Andrea Wright was affiliated with St Stephens United Methodist Church and the Hayes-Taylor YMCA.

In collections

Partners and Collections

More About Community-Contributed Collections

Top items on Gateway

All community-contributed items

Do you have things to contribute?

We are interested in hearing from local individuals and community groups who are interested in sharing their history online.

You don't need to donate objects permanently. We can scan items and return them to you!

We can work with you to digitize material, add it to Gateway, and then return it to you. We can also consult on grants or other options for getting you items online, and we can put you in touch with groups that may be interested in your items if you wish to donate them permanently.

We may also be able to come to your location to do community scanning events or to talk about digitization and digital collections.

Please contact us for more information!