Hunter Library is committed to building regionally oriented, historically significant collections of broad cultural and research interest. A number of these collections are online. These digital collections provide a foundation for research, education, and humanities programming through their documentation of significant aspects of the American story.
Cherokee Phoenix
The Cherokee Nation of Indians published the Cherokee Phoenix from 1828 to 1834. The newspaper was based at the Cherokee Nation's capital of New Echota (now part of Georgia). A bilingual newspaper, the Phoenix published articles in English and Cherokee. Hunter Library's Cherokee Phoenix Project includes those English language articles that concern Cherokee and regional history. Approximately 260 issues were published under the titles Cherokee Phoenix and Cherokee Phoenix and Indians' Advocate.
Read the Cherokee Phoenix at: http://www.wcu.edu/library/DigitalCollections/CherokeePhoenix/
Cherokee Traditions: From the Hands of our Elders
The Cherokee are known for their basket weaving, pottery, woodcarving, mask making, finger weaving, and beading. With support from Cherokee Preservation Foundation, Hunter Library is collaborating with two key Cherokee cultural organizations, Qualla Arts and Crafts Mutual, Inc. and the Museum of the Cherokee Indian. Staff at all three institutions research collections to create a series of guides to Cherokee traditions.
http://www.wcu.edu/library/DigitalCollections/CherokeeTraditions/
Civil War Letters
Civil War soldiers from western North Carolina kept in touch with family members by exchanging frequent letters to and from the war front. Hunter Library’s collection of Civil War letters ranges from 1862 to 1863, reflecting a variety of concerns, personal situations, and circumstances. The Civil War collection is organized by family name.
http://www.wcu.edu/library/DigitalCollections/CivilWar/
Craft Revival: Shaping Western North Carolina Past and Present
During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, mountain craftsmen formed the cornerstone of a revived interest in things handmade to create a movement known as the Craft Revival. Although craftsmen left few written records of their own, their story survives in samples of their work, accounts of their sales, and newspaper clippings celebrating their talent in collections throughout the Appalachian region. A research-based website interprets the Craft Revival and includes an archival repository of over 4,500 documents, photographs, and craft objects.
http://www.wcu.edu/library/DigitalCollections/CraftRevival/
Education in Western North Carolina
This collection includes scanned images of school buildings, students, and news clippings that describe the educational opportunities and institutions in western North Carolina from 1899 to the present. This project is 100% supported by federal funds from the Library Services and Technology Act, made possible through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, and administered by the State Library of North Carolina, a division of the Department of Cultural Resources.
http://www.wcu.edu/library/DigitalCollections/EducationWNC/
Horace Kephart: Revealing an Enigma
Throughout 2004, Hunter Library celebrated the 100-year anniversary of Horace Kephart's arrival in western North Carolina. As an extension of these events, Special Collections and the Mountain Heritage Center joined together in creating an online exhibit of Kephart's life and works. Funding for this project came through a Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) grant managed by North Carolina State Library.
http://www.wcu.edu/library/DigitalCollections/Kephart/
Travel Western North Carolina
These travelogues allow viewers to visit towns and communities throughout western North Carolina over three generations. Follow a route along footpaths and wagon trails as it was in the 1890s, take a train ride in the 1910s, and drive by car along mountain roads in the 1930s to see what the region looked like a century ago.
http://www.wcu.edu/library/DigitalCollections/TravelWNC/