Acquisition & Crowdfunding

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The Friends of the Archives contributes to the collecting efforts of the State Archives by funding the select acquisition of collections. For example, the Friends used funds to acquire for the State Archives’ Military Collection the correspondence of David M. Kithcart, which documents the U.S. Army service of Maj. David M. Kithcart of Gastonia, N.C., an African American officer, along the Korean DMZ from 1965 to 1966 during the Cold War.


Money raised by previous crowdfunding efforts funded the work of local historian Karl Larson, who was instrumental in researching and identifying the unidentified photographs in the State Archives holdings. Next up is a crowdfunding campaign to fund projects in the State Archives Military Collection. Currently,the Military Collection has a trove of unprocessed historical materials: artwork, letters, photographs, and posters — all created by or documenting North Carolinians from all over the state — including children’s WWII home front posters, photographs of Red Cross activities, letters from a US Navy sailor in the Pacific Theater, and letters from an African American army officer in Korea.


The funds raised will go toward hiring a part-time contract archivist to arrange and describe the records so the State Archives can provide researchers and the general public better access and introduce these gems to a broader audience.