Before the Clean Air Act (1970), the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (1970), and the Clean Water Act (1972), there were few regulations for industrial pollution and very limited enforcement. As a result, it was not uncommon for polluted rivers to catch fire. 

For example, the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland, Ohio, was continually polluted from the 1880s through the early 1970s. It suffered a major fire in 1952. Finally, an oil spill in Santa Barbara, California pushed Senator Gaylord Nelson from Wisconsin to create the first Earth Day in 1970. 

Earth Day 1971 at UNCW was a full day of special events, including programs on the impact of pollution on Southeast North Carolina. Over the years, Seahawks have raised Earth Day awareness with films, guest speakers from industry and science, environmental education, and a “filthy” photo contest.  

Fifty-two years after the EPA opened, industrial pollution remains a problem for the country, compounded by our growing climate crisis. Earth Day empowers everyone to contribute to a cleaner environment. What small steps can we take to benefit our communities? For example, as consumers, we could stop throwing trash outside car windows. Our apartment complexes could provide proper outdoor trash and recycling containers for residents. Local business can discourage waste, help the bottom line, and promote our shared environment. 

What action steps should we take for our planet and our people? Let us know how to end the contamination of America! 

Bibliography 

https://www.epa.gov/clean-air-act-overview/evolution-clean-air-act#caa70

https://www.epa.gov/laws-regulations/history-clean-water-act 

https://www.history.com/news/epa-earth-day-cleveland-cuyahoga-river-fire-clean-water-act 

https://www.earthday.org/history/ 

https://digitalcollections.uncw.edu/digital/collection/p17190coll1/id/1519/rec/20 

https://digitalcollections.uncw.edu/digital/collection/p17190coll1/id/1824/rec/5

COVID-19 is not the first virus to affect American college students. We are just beginning to learn about the long-term health effects of COVID. Another life-threatening virus was polio.

First some background information from the Mayo Clinic: Polio is a contagious viral illness that in its most severe form causes nerve injury leading to paralysis, difficulty breathing and sometimes death. Poliovirus can be transmitted through direct contact with someone infected with the virus or, less commonly, through contaminated food and water. People who have polio but don't have symptoms can pass the virus to others.

Polio came to United States in 1894. The first successful vaccines—developed by Dr. Jonas Salk and Dr. Albert Sabin—were not available until the 1950s.

_{^{Dr. Albert Sabin, inventor of the oral polio vaccine / Photograph from Hauck Center, University of Cincinnati Libraries}}

Caring for the health of all the students at Wilmington College, Dr. Samuel Ravenel sent a letter to college president, Dr. William M. Randall, recommending that the college require polio vaccines for all students before admission (Board of Trustees minutes, 14 Jan. 1959 p. 2). After review by the executive committee, the board decided not to make the vaccine mandatory for students (Board of Trustees minutes, 11 Feb. 1959 p.3).

Later, at the Board of Trustees meeting on 26 January, 1965 (p. 3), Dr. Randall recommended that enrolled students meet “... certain physical examination entrance requirements .... This would require smallpox vaccination, tetanus toxoid, polio immunization, serology, and a chest x-ray.” 

Bibliography

The History of Polio Vaccines. Available at https://www.historyofvaccines.org/timeline/polio.

Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of Trustees of Wilmington College. (14 January, 1959). Available at https://digitalcollections.uncw.edu/digital/collection/bot/id/207/rec/1.

Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of Trustees of Wilmington College. (11 February, 1959). Available at https://digitalcollections.uncw.edu/digital/collection/bot/id/208/rec/3.

Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of Trustees of Wilmington College. (26 January, 1965). Available at https://digitalcollections.uncw.edu/digital/collection/bot/id/285/rec/4.

Photograph of Albert Sabin. Courtesy of Hauck Center for the Albert B. Sabin Archives, University of Cincinnati Libraries. 

Polio. The Mayo Clinic. Available at https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/polio/symptoms-causes/syc-20376512.

The updated records schedule for the University of North Carolina System is now on the website of the State Archives of NC, and linked from the University Archives. Contact University Archives for help managing state records, including retention, disposition, or archiving.

About the 2021 Update

About State Records Created During the COVID-19 Crisis

Reviewed and amended annually, the University of North Carolina (UNC) General Records Retention and Disposition Schedule is a tool for the staff and faculty of the institutions in the UNC System to use when managing office records. Due to a web update at the State Archives of North Carolina, the UNC General Records Retention and Disposition Schedule has a new online location:

https://archives.ncdcr.gov/government/retention-schedules/university-schedules/university-north-carolina-general-records

You can still access the schedule through the UNCW University Archives website here.

An updated general schedule with 2021 amendments will be released this year.  

Records management questions? Contact Adina Riggins, University Archivist.

Archives  Collections: A to Z

Disclaimer: This is not a Records Schedule, which is a much more detailed listing of materials in a University Archives, categorized by function or department. Rather, the purpose of this A-Z list is to identify some of the basic must-haves in Archives.

A

• Accreditation/self-study reports
• Admissions guides, bulletins, brochures
• Alumni magazines and directories
• Anniversary celebrations - planning materials, publicity, brochures, event information, scrapbooks.
• Annual reports by offices, units, departments, divisions, college/school, and Chancellor
• Apparel - see Textiles
• Architectural plans/designs/blueprints/drawings
• Area studies/campus studies/traffic studies
• Art exhibition guides
• Athletics - programs, news releases, guides, schedules, reports, correspondence, photographs, videos
• Audit reports
• Awardee information - biographical information, news releases, and announcements pertaining to faculty, staff, students, and alumni awards
• Awards and certificates for the university and its departments

B

• Benchmark Studies
• BIG (Brand Identity Guide)
• Board of Trustees – minutes, correspondence, oaths of office, biographical data, official photos, rosters, Executive Committee minutes, commitee minutes and reports
• Board of Visitors - minutes, rosters, executive committee minutes, committee reports
• Books, serials, journals, newspapers, and magazines not published by UNCW, but exclusively for or about UNCW
• Books, serials, journals, newspapers, and magazines published by UNCW, its departments, student organizations or classes
• Budget reports (official, annual)
• Business Week programs

C

• Calendars of Events
• Camps and youth programs - brochures, guides, policies, reports
• Campus Crime Awareness and Security Act Reports (annual)
• Capital Improvements – architect’s proposals, change orders, budget reports.
• Codes of Student Life/Student Handbooks (annual)
• Common Data Set
• Commencement programs, videos, photographs, and speeches
• Committees and task forces of faculty, staff, and students - minutes, reports, charge, accomplishments
• Conference programs for university-initiated or sponsored conferences or workshops
• Contracts (selected)
• Convocation programs, videos, photoraphs, and speeches
• Core values
• Course catalogs
• Course schedules
• Cultural activities – brochures, reports, videos
• Curriculum – committee reports, University Studies reports, updates, news

D

• Donors – Report of
• Directory information (student public records formerly published in telephone directories)
• Directories, miscellaneous (department and school)
• Directories of Club Sports teams
• Directories of Student Organization
• Deans Council - minutes, committee reports, charges

E

• Equal Employment Opportunity /Affirmative Action Plan (HR)
• "External Programs" - programs, course descriptions, workshop descriptions for continuing studies

F

• Faculty Senate minutes, announcements, motions, correspondence, and committee minutes, reports, etc.
• Factsheets/IPEDS data
• Financial reports (annual)
• Foundational documents such as charters, certificates of establishment, acts of legislation central to university development, etc.
• Friends of UNCW – Annual Reports, minutes, committee reports

G

• Governance - see Staff Senate, Faculty Senate, Student Government Association, Graduate Student Association
• Graduate Council - minutes, announcements, motions, correspondence, executive committee minutes, etc.
• Graduate theses
• Grants, Awarded. Final reports, statistics of grants activity, proposals.
• Graduate Student Association - minutes, correspondence, motions, reports, committee charges and accomplishments
• Groundbreakings and Openings of Buildings  - programs, photographs, announcements, news releases, videos, news articles
• Guidelines for Publications
• Guides to Financial Aid

H

• Handbooks - Faculty
• Handbooks - Student Organizations
• Histories of campus and departments
• Honor Codes
• Honorary societies - minutes, correspondence, reports, newsletters
• Honors Papers
• Housing – Guide to

I

• Installation, Chancellor. Programs, speeches, event listings, articles, photographs, videos
• Inventory of Fixed Assets

J

• Judicial procedures for student conduct

K

• Knowledge production - Copyright registration by UNCW and applications after expiration of copyright; Patent awards, applications, and notice of awards after expiration

L

• Legal - selected agreements, consent decrees, memoranda of understanding, deeds of sale of university property, etc.
• Legislation - Acts passed by NC General Assembly
• Literary and art magazines
• Long-Range Plans

M

• Maps
• Master Plans
• Memorabilia, historical
• Mission Statement

N

• New Faculty and Staff - directories and profiles
• News articles, editorials, and columns about UNCW from local, statewide, national, and international media organizations
• News releases
• Newsletters

O

• On Campus Living – Guide to
• Off Campus Living – Guide to
• Oral Histories - Faculty, Students, Staff, Trustees (including retired)
• Orientation Guides

P

• Parents, Guide for
• Performances - videos, photographs
• Personnel records (faculty and staff) (selected, after a waiting period)
• Photographs (University Relations)
• Planning, Univearsity - correspondence, reports, statistics
• Policies and Procedures – UNCW
• Progress Measures Reports
• Programs - Kenan Auditorium, Department of Music, Department of Theatre, Department of Art
• Proposals to Establish New Degree Programs
• Publications, Campus

Q

• Quality Enhancement Plan
• Questionnaires - Summary reports and conclusions from student, staff, and faculty surveys

R

• Razor Walker Awards programs - Watson College of Education
• Reports prepared for Board of Governors or UNC System President (i.e. UNC Tomorrow)
• Research / faculty scholarship / student scholarship / creative works by faculty and students (collecting in these areas is coordinated by library with participation of Archives)

S

• Salary increases and compensation for faculty faculty-reports
• Scholarships - announcements, names of recipients, acknowledgments of gifts, photographs
• Scrapbooks
• Senior Sankofa programs and vidoes - Upperman Center
• Service Awards luncheons programs and videos
• Service Learning - eTEAL courses, programs, mission, reports, studies
• Speeches by chancellor, provost, and senior staff
• Staff Senate-minutes, announcements, motions, correspondence, reports and committee minutes, reports, etc.
• Strategic Plans
• Student Government Association-minutes, announcements, motions, correspondence, reports and committees minutes, announcements, motions, correspondence, reports, charge, accomplishments
• Student Organization Directories for registered student organizations
• Student Services - programs, photographs, reports, policies
• Study Abroad - programs, reports, brochures, posters, photographs
• Summer School - catalogs, course listings, publications, publicity, special events
• Synergy – first-year student common read book is collected annually

T

• Teaching - Blackboard courses, etc.
• Textiles significant to UNCW-quilts, robes, hoods
• Telephone directories
• Timelines
• Transfer Guides

U

• UNCW Foundation - Annual Reports, minutes, committee reports
• University Advancment - Records and statistics for major gifts and inactive endowments
• University code

V

• Videos (promotional/Utube/Sports/UNCW Presents/ UNCW Media programming
• Vision Statement
• Visual Oral Histories - videotaped oral history recordings. See Oral Histories.

W

• Works of art reflecting UNCW

X

• Xeroxed copies (or photocopies) may be acceptable for certain materials, such as final reports and approved minutes. We will want to note where signed originals are permanently kept if Archives maintains photocoopies.

Y

• Yearbooks

Z

• Zip discs, floppy disks, cdroms, and other obsolete media. We will work with you on retrieving data from these obsolete media if the information contained on it fit our collecting criteria.

This month marks 40 years since the dedication of the Herbert Bluethenthal Memorial Wildflower Preserve at UNCW on November 8, 1974. The preserve honors the memory of Herbert Bluethenthal, a successful business-owner in Wilmington.

The university set aside about 10 acres of land behind Hoggard Hall and near the university’s existing nature trail. New trails were created in order to grant easy access to areas that included excellent examples of the native flora of Southeastern North Carolina.  The preserve has been further developed over the years to offer the best examples of unique plants of the region.

The dedication ceremony featured the unveiling of the memorial to Herbert Bluethenthal by his widow, Mrs. Janet Bleuthenthal, as well as the presentation of a monument honoring contributions to botany by Dr. Bertram Wells, a noted botanist who worked in North Carolina for much of his career. Both Dr. Wells and Mrs. Bleuthenthal were honored guests at the dedication.

The preserve is intended for use both by the public as well as students in fields such as biology. The University Archives has a range of materials about Bluethenthal Wildflower Preserve and the dedication including photos, brochures, Seahawk newspaper articles, and newspaper clippings in the university’s annual scrapbooks.

Herbert's brother, Arthur, served with the French as a bomber pilot along with other Americans during World War I. He was the first North Carolinian killed in action in World War I.

Resources from Archives: 

Bluethenthal Preserve Brochure

The Seahawk, November 20, 1974

Photo from Dedication Ceremony

Exhibit Opening, Panel Presentation and Reception

Randall Library Auditorium, RL2047

This exhibit from University Archives invites visitors to witness UNCW’s evolution, stunning accomplishments, and shining role in higher education since 1947.

Wilmington College students enrolled in technical courses such as masonry, drafting, and air conditioning and refrigeration. When the college achieved university status and joined the UNC system in 1969, the chancellor declared

The University of North Carolina is a magnificent system of higher education institutions located throughout the state, but the University of North Carolina at Wilmington is the jewel in this education crown.

--William H. Wagoner
President, Wilmington College, 1968-1969
Chancellor, the University of North Carolina Wilmington, 1969-1990

Guest Speakers:

Dorothy Powell Marshall, faculty member and registrar at Wilmington College and UNCW, 1949-1992

Bertha Todd, Williston College Librarian

Ty Rowell, Former UNCW Vice Chancellor for University Advancement

Adina Riggins (Moderator) University Archivist

The Jewel in the Crown will be in Special Collections at Randall Library through December 3, 2014.

The Jewel in the Crown: The University of North Carolina Wilmington

A Journey and Legacy

_{University Archives student assistant cleans item from collection. Photo by University Archives / UNCW.}

April 27-May 3, 2014 was American Library Association Preservation Week and May is Preservation Month with loads of great information from the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Preservation--also known as “preventive conservation”--emphasizes noninterventive actions to prevent damage to and minimize deterioration of a museum object or archival collection.

For example:

• Monitoring and recording environmental conditions where collections are housed (e.g., light, relative humidity, temperature, and air pollution)

• Inspecting and recording the condition of objects

• Practicing proper handling, storage, exhibit, housekeeping, and packing and shipping techniques

_{Taj Mahal model in University Archives. These models are made in various sizes.  This one in Archives has a base of 9 in. by 9 in.}

In University Archives, we rely on our excellent student assistants to take on essential preservation and collection care responsibilities.

Allison Thompson, Archives student assistant, wore cotton gloves while carefully cleaning the soapstone model. First she dry-brushed the item with a fine brush from a collection care kit and then cleaned it with plain water using a similar brush.

For storage, she fabricated custom archival boxes and lids from ArtCare_TM 100 percent cotton mat board. Boxes made of this material help create a safe “microchamber” for archival and museum objects.

This Taj Mahal mini-replica was a gift to former James Leutze upon his retirement in 2003. He donated it to University Archives at that time. Chancellor Leutze, a historian, was host of the UNC Television series Globewatch and an often-sought speaker on international issues.


_{Chancellor James R. Leutze (2007). Photo by UNCW University Relations.}

Reference

Knapp, A. M. (1993, July). Preservation of museum collections. Conserv O Gram, 1(1), 1-2. Retrieved from http://www.cr.nps.gov/museum/publications/conserveogram/01-01.pdf.