Digital Project Scores Library Grant

An ambitious effort to document the history of the transformation of the state’s agricultural economy during the 20th century got a boost this month thanks to a $99,000 grant from the State Library of North Carolina.

The funds will help underwrite “Better Living in North Carolina: Bringing Science and Technology to the People,” a collaborative project of the NCSU Libraries and the F. D. Bluford Library at N.C. A&T State University.

During the first year of the project, the NCSU Libraries will digitize up to 252,000 pages of Cooperative Extension annual reports from 1909 to 1983. The F. D. Bluford Library will scan up to 5,000 pages of correspondence, pamphlets, scrapbooks and photographs from the collections of two prominent African-American extension agents.

The grant was made possible through the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act.