Grant funds will help purchase this full-depth standard museum cabinet (#STD532) from Gaylord Archival.
The Watauga County Historical Society (WCHS), the sponsoring organization for the Digital Watauga Project, is pleased to announce receipt of $2,500 in grant support from the Armfield and Rachel Rivers Coffey Memorial Fund, a component fund of the North Carolina Community Foundation (NCCF). Funds will be used specifically for the purchase of a full-depth museum cabinet for the storage of collections held by or on loan to the Digital Watauga Project. The Watauga County Community Foundation, an affiliate of the NCCF, recommended approval of the grant.
The principal aim of the Digital Watauga Project (DWP) is the digital preservation of Watauga County, North Carolina’s historical images, documents, and other materials. By serving as a digital clearinghouse of Watauga County’s history, the DWP encourages its members and the citizens of Watauga County to make our history more accessible to the general public while also allowing the owner of historical materials digitized through the DWP to retain ownership and control over their original images, documents, and artifacts. In addition, the DWP sponsors regular public events designed to highlight components of its digital collection and educate the Watauga County community about its rich, multifaceted, and important history. Access to the online content of the Digital Watauga Project is always free.
Started in 2014, the Digital Watauga Project currently features approximately 5,000 digitized items from 25 digital collections, nearly all of which are available for viewing by the public online. In addition, another 20 collections are presently being processed, digitized, and described. Collections range in size from a single item to more than 100,000 items per collection. Unlike many digital projects, Digital Watauga makes items available to the public as they are completed, typically working on larger collections in stages and adding new content from those larger collections as it is finished. If you are interested in sharing a collection with the Digital Watauga Project, email us at DigitalWatauga@gmail.com.
The Digital Watauga Project, working in partnership with the Watauga County Public Library, is a project of the WCHS, a non-profit, 501 (c) 3 organization. To learn more about the Digital Watauga Project, visit http://digitalwatauga.org/ or visit our Facebook page, “Digital Watauga.” To learn more about the WCHS, visit http://www.wataugacountyhistoricalsociety.org/.
--Eric Plaag, Chairperson, Digital Watauga Project