Daily Advance Digitalization Project

ECHNA LAUNCHES DAILY ADVANCE DIGITIZATION DRIVE

The Elizabeth City Historic Neighborhood Association (ECHNA) recently launched its Daily Advance Digitization Drive by contributing $12,000.00 towards the expected total cost of approximately $75,000.00 necessary to digitize past editions of the Daily Advance, beginning with 1934 and continuing through 2023. The Digital Heritage Center at UNC Chapel Hill is assisting ECHNA by facilitating conversion of the microfilm reels, and using its website (digitalnc.org) to host the digitized files.

ECHNA is a 501(c)(3) organization, focusing on preserving the community’s heritage, and assisting with the revitalization of its historic structures and neighborhoods. Past projects include initiating the campaign to save the former Chessons Department Store, now home to Arts of the Albemarle; publication of walking guides for various Elizabeth City Historic Districts; awarding residential façade grants; and sponsoring the annual Historic Ghost Walk.

ECHNA is spearheading the digitization effort after being approached by Jeb Stuart and Skip Sanders, who are at work on a book about various local businesses spawned by Joseph Sanders’ family. The list includes Elizabeth City Shipyard, the Sanders Company foundry, and Elizabeth City Iron Works. As Stuart and Sanders point out, searching microfilms under the best of circumstances is tedious, and the local library’s equipment is outdated and frequently out of service.

Recognizing the problem, as well as the potential for providing local readers with online access to over a century of past editions of the Daily Advance, the Pasquotank County Library Foundation pledged $3,000.00 to support the digitization effort. Another ardent supporter is Marjorie Berry, ECHNA’s longtime Ghost Walk script writer, who echoes the problems with trying to use existing resources, and points out that past news articles, obituaries, and advertisements, etc. are invaluable source materials as she pieces together monologues for a half-dozen or more characters each year.

Much of ECHNA’s financial resources come from Ghost Walk. Accordingly, it will be coupling its fundraising drive with this year’s event, scheduled for Friday and Saturday, October 9 and 10. For a campaign of this magnitude, all gifts, regardless of size, are important.

Contributions can be made by checks, payable to Elizabeth City Historic Neighborhood Association (or ECHNA) and mailed to

ECHNA at PO Box 247, Elizabeth City, NC 27907. Please put "Digitization Drive" in the memo field so we know how to apply your contribution. The Elizabeth City Historic Neighborhood Association is a recognized 501(c)(3) non-profit organization (EIN: 56-1568089). Your charitable contribution is tax-deductible to the full extent permitted by law. Individual tax circumstances vary, so please consult your tax advisor or accountant to determine the tax deductibility of your gift.

For additional information about the digitization project, contact George Jackson, at 252-333-4702.