Remote Library Resources
We hope you and your loved ones are well and safe during this challenging time.
At Carolina, our campus remains closed to protect the health and safety of our students, faculty and staff. Even in this unprecedented environment, the University Libraries is a cornerstone for teaching, research and learning at the University. Now more than ever, Carolina’s students and faculty depend on the Library’s online resources, services and expertise to support their work—wherever they may be.
Did you know that the University Libraries is also an online resource for you? While you are staying safe and staying at home, we invite you to explore our extensive collections. You can escape to faraway lands, stroll down memory lane or discover something entirely new.
The University Libraries is here for everyone. Even though our doors are currently closed, the Library is open. Enjoy browsing!
Tar Heel Focus
North Carolina Focus
Two minutes of poetry with Jaki Shelton Green
Green tells the story of the artifact that connects her directly with her great-great-great grandmother and reads her poem, “i know the grandmother one had hands.”
A View to Hugh
Morton, that is. Take in beautiful North Carolina scenery, tour the Carolina campus in every season and cheer on the Tar Heels in a variety of sports through the lens of Hugh Morton.
These exhibits never close
Through the North Carolina Digital Heritage Center, explore original material from 273 libraries, museums and archives across North Carolina, including yearbooks, newspapers, historic photos, memorabilia and audiovisual materials.
Read century-old North Carolina newspapers
Page through digitized papers from the Library of Congress Chronicling America site.
We have cool stuff for you to see
Including political memorabilia, University keepsakes and historic currency. These digital collections showcase materials from the Wilson Library, including its gallery and photographic archives.
Do you know the way to Calvander?
North Carolina Maps contains more than 3,000 maps, from the late 1500s to 2000, and includes detailed maps from every county. Maps are from the North Carolina Collection at the Wilson Special Collections Library, as well the North Carolina State Archives and the Outer Banks History Center.
12,000 – count ’em – 12,000 NC Postcards
With at least one from every county! New images are added regularly.
Shake a leg
Southern music, art and culture come to you through the Southern Folklife Collection. The library is closed but @SFolklife is available online with more than 30,000 streaming audio and video files and staff available to take questions.
All this and more
Here’s an amazingly diverse, yet partial, list of digitized materials from the Wilson Special Collections Library. These are posted for research, teaching and discovery, and they are here for your enjoyment. Some collections are the result of collaborations with UNC-Chapel Hill faculty members, partner libraries, museums and cultural heritage institutions.
A nickel ain’t worth a dime anymore
Notwithstanding Yogi Berra’s comment on numismatic values, the North Carolina Collection at the Wilson Special Collections Library holds a treasury of more than 10,000 pieces, including Greek and Roman coins, Colonial-era and Revolutionary-era bills, Bechtler coins from North Carolina’s gold rush, Civil War treasury notes and bonds, railroad stocks, commercial and military scrip, modern city parking tokens, novelty notes, and currencies from South America, Europe, Asia and Africa. You can look, but not touch, through the Historic Moneys in the North Carolina Collection online exhibit.
More money
The André Savine Collection represents various periods of Russian history and includes rare paper currency issued by the Russian White Army while it was in control of southern Russia 1918 to 1920. The numismatics sub-collection also includes currency from Ukraine, Poland and Switzerland.
Peruse Powell’s eclectic collection
Veteran North Carolina journalist and author Lew Powell crisscrossed the state for 34 years and collected stuff along the way, including political campaign materials, regional travel souvenirs, concert posters and tickets, promotional items for college and pro teams, and more. Take a peek at the Lew Powell Memorabilia digital collection.
Global Focus
Around the world
Let Wilson Library’s special collections be your guide to exciting and enriching global resources and experiences:
- Ancient and Living Maya in the 19th and 20th Centuries: Archaeological Discovery, Literary Voice, and Political Struggle
- Hecho a Mano: Book Arts of Latin America
- José María Vargas Vila Digital Library
- Russia Beyond Russia: The André Savine Digital Library
- World War I Postcards from the Bowman Gray Collection
And Closer to Home
Our Health Sciences Library’s up-to-the-minute roundup of news, data and credible health information for patients and health care providers on COVID-19.
Additional Resources
Going Viral
The University Libraries developed this exhibit to highlight the impact of the 1918 influenza pandemic at UNC and throughout North Carolina. The “Going Viral” exhibit coincided with an interdisciplinary symposium held in April 2018.
The Mini Page Archive
The Mini Page, created by Betty Debnam and syndicated in 500 newspapers, came into children’s lives every week from 1969 to 2007. Each issue involved its young readers in a new topic and integrated puzzles, recipes, drawings and pictures to round out its lessons. Debnam gave her Mini Page archive to the University Libraries, along with financial support to make each issue available online.
