North Carolina Resources: a General Guide: Guides

This research guide contains information directing users to primary and secondary source materials about Blackbeard. All materials can be found in Joyner Library's North Carolina Collection or electronically.

This research guide directs users to primary and secondary source materials about the North Carolina cotton industry. All materials can be found in Joyner Library’s North Carolina Collection or electronically.

Students in several disciplines, including business, geography, and leisure studies undertake assignments that require them to develop a profile of a city, county, or region. This guide lists specific sources and a variety of electronic tools for obtaining place-specific statistics and description information.

This series of twelve microfilm reels contains a variety of publications and non-print material reflecting the history of East Carolina University, from the institution's beginning as East Carolina Teachers' Training School until 1972. Although it is not intended as a substitute for the considerable holdings of the University Archives, the series contains valuable resources that reflect varied aspects of academics, athletics, and cultural life at East Carolina. The film is located in the North Carolina Collection's Microfilm Room and is available during regular hours.

The North Carolina Collection collects historical and genealogical research resources for all North Carolina counties. The collection focus has been primarily, though not exclusively, on counties located in the Coastal Plain Region. This guide provides a foundation to finding and utilizing accurate genealogy research materials.

Located in Eastern North Carolina, Pitt County was created in 1760 from Beaufort County. The county seat, Greenville, was founded in 1771 as Martinsborough and is located in the central part of Pitt County. Greenville is the home of East Carolina University, chartered in 1907 as East Carolina Teachers Training School. This research guide covers online resources available through Greenville and Pitt County websites and print resources found in the North Carolina Collection at ECU's Joyner Library.

This is a guide to the microforms that are located in Room 3302 in the North Carolina Collection. The microforms include microfilm and microfiche. The microforms do not circulate, but may be copied using the microform reader/printer. As always, please ask the library staff if you have any questions about using the microforms. To locate the microforms easily, you will notice a bold number in parentheses after each description or item throughout this guide. This number is the corresponding drawer number in Room 3302.

The Hispanic population of North Carolina has increased dramatically in the past twenty years. Officials now estimate the number of Hispanics in the state to total more than 450,000. This community contributes billions of dollars to the local economy and is an increasingly important part of North Carolina. However, finding information specific to the Hispanic Americans in North Carolina can be difficult. Here are a few places to begin your research.

This is a guide to the map series in the closed stacks of the Verona Joyner Langford North Carolina Collection. The maps do not circulate, but may be copied at the discretion of the North Carolina Librarian. Staff members are available to assist patrons interested in using the North Carolina maps.

Although much information about business in North Carolina can be found by using a variety of tools made available through Joyner Library’s Electronic Resources page, this guide focuses on resources specifically pertaining to North Carolina businesses.

Law takes many forms. The North Carolina Constitution provides a broad framework for the operation of state government. Session laws enacted by the North Carolina General Assembly are codified in the General Statutes. Court decisions offer interpretations of the law. Rules established by state agencies as authorized by the legislature have the force of law. On the local level, county or city ordinances also regulate citizens’ actions. This guide lists the major sources one can use to conduct basic legal research on the state, county, and local level.

Most of the East Carolina University library’s North Carolina literature (including original fiction, poetry, and drama; literary criticism and history; biography and bibliography; book reviews) is not located in the North Carolina Collection but in the general Joyner Library stacks on third floor; the Reference Department on first floor; the Teaching Resources Center on second floor; or other locations. You can restrict your searches to the North Carolina Collection using the advanced search options in the catalog. To find works by or about a particular author or organization, search under the name of the author (last name first) or organization as an author or as a subject in the basic online catalog search. If you are searching for a general topic, try the keyword search first.

The state of North Carolina is constantly harvesting and publishing statistics that focus on a number of facets of educational efforts in the state. These statistics assist in providing answers to these questions and enable decision makers to make informed decisions about curriculum, building needs, and other educational areas.

Wetlands, a vital part of North Carolina’s natural landscape, are gradually being destroyed for use as farmland, housing developments, and commercial and industrial properties. Wetlands provide water balance in the estuaries, and provide organic matter to support coastal water food chains; buffer shorelines from erosion; and have a mediating effect on pollution coming downstream from various sources. The accurate, detailed wetland maps can be used to determine much important information about a city or town at a particular time and to understand how the community developed. Wetlands research value spans many disciplines including geography, history, planning, and preservation.

The North Carolina Collection’s Microfilm Room contains microfilm of all available census records for North Carolina’s 100 counties for the period 1790-1930. Indexes are available for many of these records. This guide lists the department’s census record holdings along with printed indexes and available abstracts for county level records and special schedules.

The North Carolina Collection provides access to a variety of types of information pertaining to current events or issues in North Carolina. Staff members can assist students in locating information. Additionally, if you need ideas for selecting a topic for a presentation or paper, or need help in using any of the resources listed below, then please ask for assistance at our service desk, call us at (252) 328-6601, or send an e-mail to: nccollection@ecu.edu.

Since the late nineteenth century, the Sanborn Map Company (later Sanborn-Perris Map Company) has produced maps of cities and towns throughout the United States. Maps for many North Carolina cities and towns are available from 1884 through the 1980s. While they were originally intended to help insurance companies determine the risk of fire, the maps can provide detailed historical information about a city or town and its development. This research guide explains how to access Joyner Library's digital and material holdings of Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps. It also offers resources to help users interpret the maps and provides examples of their use in different disciplines.