WWI Panoramas Collection, WWI PANO

The original WWI Panoramas Collection was reprocessed in July and August 2017 to improve the description of the collection, and better organize the materials for improved long-term preservation storage. In 1964, Maurice S. Toler and John R. Woodard of the North Carolina Department of Archives and History prepared a finding aid for the "World War I Papers, 1903-1933," which consisted of thirteen series of records. This was the first known formal organization of the World War I materials, and a basic finding aid for these papers completed to the box and item level was finalized on June 30, 1964. Two additional series were added after this point for miscellaneous types of archival materials. The state's WWI panoramas that were in the collection to that time, had been organized originally under the "series" labeled "Panoramic Photographs," and as series fifteen (written in Roman numerals). A number of the panoramas were folded, cut, or rolled, and stored in unidentified sizes of boxes until the 1990s.

The collection was previously stored in a scattered manner in over-filled, oversize Mylar archival plastic L-sleeves, with ten panoramas stored in each folder. This caused significant bulk in the folder, and offered no buffer for the surfaces of the photographs from rubbing against over panoramic photographs. All of the panoramic photographs acquired prior to 2014 had the image numbers on self-adhesive mailing labels, which were attach on the lower right-hand corner of the backs of the photographs. As this did not match archival practice and the printed ink on the labels was fading, the labels were carefully removed from all of the photographs. The original L-sleeves were discarded, as they were not adequate preservation storage for the photographs.

To reduce bulk within the archival folders, the collection was divided according to the size of the individual panoramas within custom-sized panoramic photograph archival folders. No more than 8 photographs were stored per folder. The original numbers of the panoramas were retained. All of the photographs have been numbered with a soft HB No. 2 pencil on the back top right corner (where possible) of the panoramas, according to the individual image number. For example, the number "MilColl.WWI.Panoramas.42" should be interpreted as "WWI Panoramas Collection photograph number 42." The identification of these images has been created in the finding aid, but not written on the photographs themselves. Historical research was conducted to provide dates and descriptions of the images where none was written on or attached to the photographs.

Between 1994 and 2014, prior archivists had written in pencil on the back of many of the photographs with descriptive information and collection storage information. This information was either inaccurate, had changed with new storage options, or was already described in the finding aid for the collection. These pencil notations were carefully erased, while leaving period WWI-era handwritten notes untouched on the photographs. Some notations were made by prior archivists in pen, and the notes cannot be removed.

Two panoramic photographs that were determined not to fit within the Military Collection's WWI Papers time period coverage were removed, and placed in the Miscellaneous Military Panoramas Collection. Both photographs were from the late 1920s. The photographs are MilColl.WWI.Panoramas.73 and MilColl.WWI.Panoramas.90. Their numbers were kept in the collection inventory, and will be used for future WWI panoramas that are acquired and need an image number. Other preservation steps taken during processing this collection include: interleaving large acid-free archival bond paper sheets between each panorama in their folders, and placing single panoramas in oversize folders if significant preservation issues were present.