ECU’s Joyner Library Assists Lost Colony Preserve History

--North Carolina’s oldest outdoor drama receives valuable help in restoring and preserving a piece of history –

(Manteo, N.C., November 20, 2008) - As a natural response to losing so much history to a tragic fire in September 2007, The Lost Colony has escalated their preservation and protection efforts to collect and safeguard items that still remain from their history. These irreplaceable items include everything from photographs, to costumes, paperwork, and other memorabilia of the drama's 72-year history. Invaluable to these efforts, East Carolina University's J.Y. Joyner Library has assisted the drama in the preservation of several vintage scrapbooks that had been damaged.

"Even before the fire we have been busy collecting, sorting, archiving and preserving our history," remarks Carl V. Curnutte, Executive Director and Producer of The Lost Colony. "Since we lost so much history to the fire, we are determined more than ever to preserve and protect our history. East Carolina's Joyner Library's restoration of our scrapbooks has helped us preserve a moment of our past that could have been erased."

In October 2007, lebame houston, board member and historian of the Roanoke Island Historical Association (RIHA), brought the scrapbooks to the attention of Shelby Strother. Strother serves as secretary of RlHA and President of the Friends of Joyner Library. The Friends of Joyner Library is a nonprofit organization that provides financial support to the library to promote its service to both university and region. Strother graciously brought the four Lost Colony scrapbooks to the Joyner Library to request conservation assistance for the damaged items.

The Joyner Library was pleased to be able to offer their valuable preservation service to The Lost Colony, an important North Carolina heritage site. Although the conservation lab does not generally embark on outside projects due to obligations with Joyner's own collections, The Lost Colony scrapbook restorative work provided excellent hands-on experience for staff and students to work with this type of conservation and the items were thought to be a valuable record of eastern North Carolina history.

Upon examination of the water-damaged scrapbooks, Joyner Library's Gloria Bradshaw (Senior Conservation Technician) and Lisa Barricella (Head of Acquisitions) kept three of the scrapbooks for conservation treatments and returned the fourth scrapbook. Due to the extreme brittleness of the leaves of the fourth scrapbook, ECU conservationists recommended to Strother that a new scrapbook be purchased and the news articles be removed and remounted.
Preservation of this nature involves skillful and methodical work by careful hands. From June-October 2008, Gloria Bradshaw and graduate students Tim Shortley and Taylor Montgomery meticulously cleaned each leaf of paper with sponges. Tears and loose articles were repaired with wheat paste and Kizukishi (Japanese paper). Tape was removed with distilled water. New scrapbook cases were constructed using Davey board, paper-lined black cloth and black endpapers.

The scrapbooks highlighted items of interest to both The Lost Colony and the Dare County Tourist Bureau and were most likely assembled by Aycock Brown and his staff. Brown served as director of tourism as well as the news director for The Lost Colony. The scrapbooks were previously stored in The Lost Colony office building but were moved about three years ago to the secure and climate-protected archives building at Fort Raleigh on the north end of Roanoke Island. The scrapbooks will return there when the work has been completed.
 

   The J.Y. Joyner Library, which includes the A.J. Fletcher Music Library, is the largest library east of Raleigh, NC. Their facilities and holdings offer state-of-the-art research services as well as significant collections of government documents, microforms, multimedia and various North Carolina materials. The library is known for its extensive special collections and rare materials.

In addition to providing materials and services to ECU, the mission of Joyner Library includes reaching out to actively support the university's broader commitment to serve the region.

When the scrapbooks are returned to The Lost Colony, they will be welcomed back into the archives to be housed with other artifacts in The Lost Colony's collection that include: items worn in the 1921 silent film, flags flown over the Chapel after WWll and following the 1947 fire, a roster of alumni that attended the 1,000th performance of the drama, photographs, costumes, playbills, programs, office records, and other items associated with the drama's 72 years. Persons interested in donating items or funds towards the preservation of this vital part of North Carolina history, should call The Lost Colony at 252-473-2127 for more information.