Pitt County 250th Anniversary Collection

This collection is an attempt to preserve electronically an exhibit curated by Prof. Jonathan Dembo of Joyner Library’s Special Collections Department to celebrate Pitt County, North Carolina’s 250th birthday. Entitled Pitt County’s 250th Anniversary Exhibit: From the Vaults of the Special Collections Department, 1760-2010, the original exhibit opened on 2 February 2010 and ran through 31 October 2010. It was one of several such exhibits and programs mounted by Joyner Library in conjunction with the Pitt County Historical Society to mark the occasion.

Prof. Dembo and his student interns Naomi Gerakios, Krystal Cook, Cynthia Sharp, assisted by Conservator Lynette Lundin, selected and arranged a wide variety of beautiful, significant, rare and revealing items from the Department’s holdings for that original exhibit. In all the original exhibit contained 85 items from Joyner Library’s extensive collections including manuscripts, photographs, architectural drawings, maps, printed materials, and other items. In the original exhibit, the items appeared in roughly chronological order with each exhibit case holding materials from a distinct period in the county’s history. Each exhibit case attempted to recapture the essential images, peoples, scenes and events from a specific portion of Pitt County’s past. Joyner Library hopes that this digital recreation of that exhibit will inspire viewers with a desire to explore more deeply the holdings of its Special Collections Department.