The Carter Women Veterans Historical Project at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro: The Oral History Segment

A class reunion was the inspiration for the Carter Women Veterans Project at the Woman?s College of the University of North Carolina, now the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG). The Class of 1950 Reunion Committee met with University Archivist Betty Carter in the 1990s to plan their upcoming 50th reunion. The meetings included discussions about their classmates who had attended Woman?s College from 1946 to 1950 on the GI Bill

Women Step Up to Serve

Discusses the role of women in World War II. During World War II, over 350,000 women from across the United Stated served in the military. More than 7,000 of these women came from North Carolina. As far back as the Revolutionary War, women had served with the military as nurses, cooks, and laundresses. However, these women were considered civilians and not military. It was not until World War I, when some women served in the U.S. Navy as “Yeomanettes,” who performed mostly clerical duties, that women were considered part of the military. In 1942 officials established the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC), giving women auxiliary status. Females did get military status when the army disbanded the WAAC and established the Women’s Army Corps (WAC) in July 1943. Other military branches quickly followed the army’s lead, producing the WAVES, SPARS, and WASPs. Many North Carolina women who served during World War II have shared their experiences through oral history interviews conducted for the Betty H. Carter Women Veterans Historical Project based in the University Archives & Manuscripts department at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro

Greensboro VOICES: Documenting the Civil Rights Movement in Greensboro, North Carolina

On February 1, 1960, Greensboro, North Carolina became the epicenter for the civil rights movement in the United States when four African American students from North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State College (NC A&T) entered the segregated F.W. Woolworth store in downtown Greensboro and requested to be served at the whites-only lunch counter. In the following days and months, demonstrations spread across not only North Carolina but across the South where other sit-ins were held to obtain racial equality through peaceful protests. This history is documented on the “Greensboro VOICES” Web site, http://library.uncg.edu/depts/archives/civrights/, which was created by the University Archives and the Digital Projects Office at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG) to trace the struggle for civil rights in Greensboro and the surrounding area. “Greensboro VOICES” (an acronym for “Voicing Observation in Civil Rights and Equality Struggles”) gives voice to those in the civil rights struggle by making 142 oral history interviews as well as biographical sketches of each interviewee available to students and scholars

Documenting Appalachia

“Documenting Appalachia” is a digital project produced by Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina. The purpose of the project is “to provide off-site access to valuable research materials related to the Appalachian region and Appalachian State University.” This project documents the history of the Appalachian region through four collections: the W. Amos Abrams Folksong Collection, the I.G. Greer Folksong Collection, the Appalachian State University Historical Photographs, and the Appalachian Ethnicity Resources. It was developed in collaboration with Appalachian State University’s Center for Appalachian Studies, Appalachian Cultural Museum and the Appalachian Journal

The Building of Jackson Library 1948-1950.

On June 5, 2010, Jackson Library celebrated sixty years of service to The University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Founding President Charles Duncan McIver once said, “A great library is the very heart of the literary life of a great institution,” — a statement even more true today than it was in the 1890s when the student population numbered several hundred. Today Jackson Library, as part of the University Libraries, serves a student population of approximately 18,000 with a collection of over a million books, more than 47,000 electronic and print journal subscriptions, over 500 electronic databases, and 640,000 federal government documents

Preserving Our History: The Rotary Club of Greensboro, North Carolina, Oral History Project

In the fall of 2006, Bob Cone, President of the Rotary Club of Greensboro, spoke to fellow Rotarian Patricia Sullivan, Chancellor of The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, about his growing interest in preserving the city’s history by interviewing club members. Cone asked Sullivan about the possibility of the University conducting an oral history project in collaboration with the Rotary Club. The University Archives and Manuscripts department, under the guidance of University Archivist Betty Carter, had been successful in developing similar projects, including the Women Veterans Historical Collection, which includes numerous oral histories. Soon the partnership was underway

Global surveillance of cancer survival 1995-2009: analysis of individual data for 25,676,887 patients from 279 population-based registries in 67 countries (CONCORD-2)

BACKGROUND: Worldwide data for cancer survival are scarce. We aimed to initiate worldwide surveillance of cancer survival by central analysis of population-based registry data, as a metric of the effectiveness of health systems, and to inform global policy on cancer control. METHODS: Individual tumour records were submitted by 279 population-based cancer registries in 67 countries for 25·7 million adults (age 15-99 years) and 75,000 children (age 0-14 years) diagnosed with cancer during 1995-2009 and followed up to Dec 31, 2009, or later. We looked at cancers of the stomach, colon, rectum, liver, lung, breast (women), cervix, ovary, and prostate in adults, and adult and childhood leukaemia. Standardised quality control procedures were applied; errors were corrected by the registry concerned. We estimated 5-year net survival, adjusted for background mortality in every country or region by age (single year), sex, and calendar year, and by race or ethnic origin in some countries. Estimates were age-standardised with the International Cancer Survival Standard weights. FINDINGS: 5-year survival from colon, rectal, and breast cancers has increased steadily in most developed countries. For patients diagnosed during 2005-09, survival for colon and rectal cancer reached 60% or more in 22 countries around the world; for breast cancer, 5-year survival rose to 85% or higher in 17 countries worldwide. Liver and lung cancer remain lethal in all nations: for both cancers, 5-year survival is below 20% everywhere in Europe, in the range 15-19% in North America, and as low as 7-9% in Mongolia and Thailand. Striking rises in 5-year survival from prostate cancer have occurred in many countries: survival rose by 10-20% between 1995-99 and 2005-09 in 22 countries in South America, Asia, and Europe, but survival still varies widely around the world, from less than 60% in Bulgaria and Thailand to 95% or more in Brazil, Puerto Rico, and the USA. For cervical cancer, national estimates of 5-year survival range from less than 50% to more than 70%; regional variations are much wider, and improvements between 1995-99 and 2005-09 have generally been slight. For women diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2005-09, 5-year survival was 40% or higher only in Ecuador, the USA, and 17 countries in Asia and Europe. 5-year survival for stomach cancer in 2005-09 was high (54-58%) in Japan and South Korea, compared with less than 40% in other countries. By contrast, 5-year survival from adult leukaemia in Japan and South Korea (18-23%) is lower than in most other countries. 5-year survival from childhood acute lymphoblastic leukaemia is less than 60% in several countries, but as high as 90% in Canada and four European countries, which suggests major deficiencies in the management of a largely curable disease. INTERPRETATION: International comparison of survival trends reveals very wide differences that are likely to be attributable to differences in access to early diagnosis and optimum treatment. Continuous worldwide surveillance of cancer survival should become an indispensable source of information for cancer patients and researchers and a stimulus for politicians to improve health policy and health-care systems

Global surveillance of cancer survival 1995–2009: analysis of individual data for 25 676 887 patients from 279 population-based registries in 67 countries (CONCORD-2)

Background: Worldwide data for cancer survival are scarce. We aimed to initiate worldwide surveillance of cancer survival by central analysis of population-based registry data, as a metric of the effectiveness of health systems, and to inform global policy on cancer control. Methods: Individual tumour records were submitted by 279 population-based cancer registries in 67 countries for 25·7 million adults (age 15–99 years) and 75 000 children (age 0–14 years) diagnosed with cancer during 1995–2009 and followed up to Dec 31, 2009, or later. We looked at cancers of the stomach, colon, rectum, liver, lung, breast (women), cervix, ovary, and prostate in adults, and adult and childhood leukaemia. Standardised quality control procedures were applied; errors were corrected by the registry concerned. We estimated 5-year net survival, adjusted for background mortality in every country or region by age (single year), sex, and calendar year, and by race or ethnic origin in some countries. Estimates were age-standardised with the International Cancer Survival Standard weights. Findings: 5-year survival from colon, rectal, and breast cancers has increased steadily in most developed countries. For patients diagnosed during 2005–09, survival for colon and rectal cancer reached 60% or more in 22 countries around the world; for breast cancer, 5-year survival rose to 85% or higher in 17 countries worldwide. Liver and lung cancer remain lethal in all nations: for both cancers, 5-year survival is below 20% everywhere in Europe, in the range 15–19% in North America, and as low as 7–9% in Mongolia and Thailand. Striking rises in 5-year survival from prostate cancer have occurred in many countries: survival rose by 10–20% between 1995–99 and 2005–09 in 22 countries in South America, Asia, and Europe, but survival still varies widely around the world, from less than 60% in Bulgaria and Thailand to 95% or more in Brazil, Puerto Rico, and the USA. For cervical cancer, national estimates of 5-year survival range from less than 50% to more than 70%; regional variations are much wider, and improvements between 1995–99 and 2005–09 have generally been slight. For women diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2005–09, 5-year survival was 40% or higher only in Ecuador, the USA, and 17 countries in Asia and Europe. 5-year survival for stomach cancer in 2005–09 was high (54–58%) in Japan and South Korea, compared with less than 40% in other countries. By contrast, 5-year survival from adult leukaemia in Japan and South Korea (18–23%) is lower than in most other countries. 5-year survival from childhood acute lymphoblastic leukaemia is less than 60% in several countries, but as high as 90% in Canada and four European countries, which suggests major deficiencies in the management of a largely curable disease. Interpretation: International comparison of survival trends reveals very wide differences that are likely to be attributable to differences in access to early diagnosis and optimum treatment. Continuous worldwide surveillance of cancer survival should become an indispensable source of information for cancer patients and researchers and a stimulus for politicians to improve health policy and health-care systems