Films, videos, audio recordings, photographs, and other images are found in many record groups held in the State Archives of North Carolina in addition to the obvious – the Audiovisual Materials Unit collections in the Special Collections Section. The State Archives has rich and diverse holdings of all sorts of audiovisuals and, wherever they are found, these specialty items can prove to be invaluable sources of information and enjoyment for genealogists and general researchers. Everyone is encouraged and welcomed to explore these collections in the State Archives; however, using audiovisual materials is somewhat more involved than using documents and manuscripts and requires an appointment to be arranged ahead of a researcher’s visit. These collections are comprised of a variety of formats, some of which require specialized equipment to use, and the finding media can be challenging to navigate and frustrating to those not accustomed to the idiosyncrasies.
Portions of the Audiovisual Materials collections and finding aids are available online.
- flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/north-carolina-state-archives/
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL99EEB922B52941F1
- NC Digital Collections: http://digital.ncdcr.gov/
- Online Catalog: http://mars.archives.ncdcr.gov/AdvancedSearch.aspx
- Online Finding Aids: http://archives.ncdcr.gov/Public/Finding-Aids/Audiovisual-Materials-Finding-Aids
- Audiovisual Materials Unit website: http://archives.ncdcr.gov/Public/Collections/Non-Government/Audiovisual-Materials
Please browse through these online resources and contact me well in advance of your visit. We can discuss your research needs and expectations, and I will search our holdings, many of which are not online and are not even catalogued in an electronically retrievable system. I will pull together all the relevant collection material I locate and the finding aids and other research tools you may need to use when you are here. Typically, within a week to ten days of receiving your request we can schedule an appointment. At that time, I will contact you and together we will determine how much time should be allotted for your work in the audiovisual collections.
I plan to conduct searches and schedule appointments for NGS conference participants on a first come first served basis and will schedule as many as I and my colleague can accommodate Monday through Thursday, 8-11 May, 8:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m., and Thursday evening from 6:00 until 9:00 p.m. Please email kim.andersen@ncdcr.gov or call 919-807-7311 to make an appointment.
Almost everything in our collections can be copied digitally for you upon request. Copies of photographs, prints, and some video are made in-house for reasonable fees and with a turn-around of not more than three weeks. We also work with local vendors to provide copies of analog audio and motion picture film as necessary.
I welcome the opportunity to talk with all of you about the audiovisual materials collections here at the State Archives of North Carolina. We are thrilled the NGS Conference will in Raleigh and look forward to helping you make the most of your experience.