Robinson-Spangler Carolina Room

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The Robinson-Spangler Carolina Room is a department of the Main branch of the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library in Charlotte, North Carolina. It houses historical materials on the history of Charlotte, of Mecklenburg County, and of North and South Carolina. It also contains a wealth of genealogical materials with all fifty states represented. Special collections include maps, photographs, manuscripts, family and business papers, and a music archive. [1]

Charlotte Mecklenburg Library Library system in Mecklenburg County, NC

The Charlotte Mecklenburg Library is the public library system of the city of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County in North Carolina.

Charlotte, North Carolina Largest city in North Carolina

Charlotte is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. In 2017, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated the population was 859,035, making it the 17th-most populous city in the United States. The Charlotte metropolitan area's population ranks 22nd in the U.S., and had a 2016 population of 2,474,314. The Charlotte metropolitan area is part of a sixteen-county market region or combined statistical area with a 2016 census-estimated population of 2,632,249.

Contents

Early history

The Carolina Room was first included as a separate part of public library service in Charlotte in 1956, when a new Main Library building opened. The previous Carnegie Free Library did not have an appropriate space to store rare documents and books. The Carolina Room made it possible to create an archive within the Main Library. [2] It also offered a small research space: “three file cabinets, two sections of shelving with a table between them and an informal reading area . . . no microfilm room, just a couple of viewers,” recalled Carolina Room Manager Mary Louise Phillips in 1980. [3]

In 1989 Main Library Building

In 1989, the Main Library began operations in yet another building, about which the Charlotte Observer noted,

"When the uptown library doubled in space after a two-year renovation, the [Carolina] room was a big winner. It tripled in space, exchanging a cramped room for an airy, high-ceilinged suite in which arched doorways lead to rooms for rare books, newspaper files, music archives and a vault." [4]

A view of the Robinson-Spangler Carolina Room in the Main Library of the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library system. R-S Carolina Room.jpg
A view of the Robinson-Spangler Carolina Room in the Main Library of the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library system.

The name of the “Robinson-Spangler Carolina Room” dates from this period and acknowledges the leadership and generosity of two donors: Sally and Russell Robinson and Mr. and Mrs. C.D. Spangler, Jr. [5]

The Carolina Room expanded its services in the 1990s by adding computers, offering classes on their use for genealogy, and by creating a music archive. In 1992 the Carolina Room solicited community participation for a special project to scan photographs of African American families. These images became the basis for a book: An African American Album: the Black Experience in Charlotte and Mecklenburg County.

Genealogy study of families and the tracing of their lineages and history

Genealogy, also known as family history, is the study of families and the tracing of their lineages and history. Genealogists use oral interviews, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kinship and pedigrees of its members. The results are often displayed in charts or written as narratives.

Growth and Present State

Since 1998, the Carolina Room has maintained its own website, “The Charlotte Mecklenburg Story,” to tell the story of the city and county’s history with materials from its collection. From the beginning the website has had a large and growing collection of historic images scanned from photographs and postcards. In the 2000s the Carolina Room created databases from records in its collection and made them available through its website. In this manner the names of soldiers who had trained here during World War I and records of local men who had died in World War II were shared with the public, and records of cemeteries as well as of early divorces in Mecklenburg County were made accessible to genealogists. The collection of cataloged items has grown to meet the demands of researchers, and donations of papers, photographs, and objects continue to be received and processed for addition to the archives.

World War I 1914–1918 global war originating in Europe

World War I, also known as the First World War or the Great War, was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. Contemporaneously described as "the war to end all wars", it led to the mobilisation of more than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, making it one of the largest wars in history. It is also one of the deadliest conflicts in history, with an estimated nine million combatants and seven million civilian deaths as a direct result of the war, while resulting genocides and the 1918 influenza pandemic caused another 50 to 100 million deaths worldwide.

World War II 1939–1945 global war

World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. The vast majority of the world's countries—including all the great powers—eventually formed two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. A state of total war emerged, directly involving more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. The major participants threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. World War II was the deadliest conflict in human history, marked by 50 to 85 million fatalities, most of whom were civilians in the Soviet Union and China. It included massacres, the genocide of the Holocaust, strategic bombing, premeditated death from starvation and disease, and the only use of nuclear weapons in war.

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References

  1. ↑ The Robinson-Spangler Carolina Room Robinson-Spangler Carolina Room
  2. ↑ "Plan A Historical Room in New Library". Mecklenburg Times. May 27, 1954.
  3. ↑ "Library's Carolina Room Protects Local Heritage". Charlotte Weekly South. January 3, 1980.
  4. ↑ "Library Room Anchors Family Ties Search". Charlotte Observer. Jan 21, 1990.
  5. ↑ "Giving in the Carnegie Spirit". Charlotte Observer. June 21, 1989.
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