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This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held in the Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in our reading room, and not digitally available through the World Wide Web. See the Duplication Policy section for more information.
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Collection Overview
| Size | 13.0 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 21600 items) |
| Abstract | In 1999 the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill established its Summer Reading Program for incoming freshmen and transfer students. Each year students are asked to read an assigned book over the summer and, on the day before the fall semester begins, participate in a two-hour discussion of the book with select faculty and staff members. Records include administrative records, media coverage, photographs, and public responses to the reading material. Records currently relate mainly to the 2002 and 2003 programs, which featured Approaching the Qu'ran by Michael Sells and Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich. There is considerably more material pertaining to Sells's book than to Ehrenreich's. Records consist largely of materials documenting the media coverage of and public response to the selection of the books. Included are postcards, letters, and emails sent to the Chancellor's Office as well as newspapers, newspaper clippings, copies of online articles, videocassette recordings of news broadcasts, and news broadcast transcripts. Also included are program brochures, information packets for discussion leaders, photographs, and fact sheets and media statements issued by the Chancellor's Office. |
| Creator | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Summer Reading Program. |
| Curatorial Unit | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. University Archives. |
| Language | English |
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Information For Users
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Processing Information
Processed by: University Archives Staff, July 2004
Encoded by: Katie Knight, July 2004
Finding aid updated for born digital processing by Anne Harding, February 2015
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Subject Headings
The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.
Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.
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Related Collections
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Historical Information
The Summer Reading Program of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill was developed from recommendations made by the 1997 Chancellor's Task Force on Intellectual Climate to improve the first-year student orientation experience. Implemented in 1999, the program was designed to introduce students to the intellectual life of the university; all new undergraduate students (first year and transfer) are expected to participate. The program aims at enhancing students' critical thinking around a current topic, developing a sense of community among students, faculty, and staff, and providing a common experience for incoming students. Some of the books selected for the program have sparked controversy and resulted in extensive public and media attention. Michael Sells's Approaching the Qu'ran: the Early Revelations (summer 2002) and Barbara Ehrenreich's Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America (summer 2003) have drawn the most attention. The selection of Sells's book resulted in a lawsuit against the university, brought by the Family Policy Network. The following year, a group of UNC-Chapel Hill students calling themselves the Committee for a Better Carolina challenged the selection of Ehrenreich's book. The John William Pope Foundation supported the students by paying for a full-page ad in the Raleigh News and Observer calling the book a "classic Marxist rant" and a work of "intellectual pornography with no redeeming characteristics."
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Scope and Content
Summer Reading Program records currently in the University Archives relate mainly to the 2002 and 2003 programs, which featured Approaching the Qu'ran by Michael Sells and Nikel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich. There is considerably more material pertaining to Sells's book than to Ehrenreich's. Records consist largely of materials documenting the media coverage of and public response to the selection of the books. Included are postcards, letters, and emails sent to the Chancellor's Office as well as newspapers, newspaper clippings, copies of online articles, videocassette recordings of news broadcasts, and news broadcast transcripts. Also included are program brochures, information packets for discussion leaders, photographs, and fact sheets and media statements issued by the Chancellor's Office.
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Series Quick Links
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Series 1. Summer 1999, There Are No Children Here: The Story of Two Boys Growing Up in the
Other America by Alex Kotlowitz.
| Box 1 |
Administrative Records: General, 1999(discussion packet, etc.) |
Book Selection Committee Records [VACANT] |
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Media Coverage [VACANT] |
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Public Response [VACANT] |
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Photographs [VACANT] |
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Series 2. Summer 2000, Confederates in the Attic: Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War
by Tony Horwitz.
| Box 1 |
Administrative Records: General, 2000(discussion packet, etc.) |
Book Selection Committee Records [VACANT] |
|
Media Coverage [VACANT] |
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Public Response [VACANT] |
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| Digital Item DI-40273/1 |
Photograph: Susan Moeser and students in discussion group, 2000Migrated from DCD-40273/1. |
| Digital Item DI-40273/2 |
Photograph: Chancellor Moeser and students in discussion group, 2000Migrated from DCD-40273/1. |
| Image P-40273/1-2 |
Photographs, 2000Prints of DI-40273/1-2. |
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Series 3. Summer 2001, The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American
Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures by Anne Fadiman.
| Box 1 |
Administrative Records: General, 2001(discussion packet, etc.) |
Book Selection Committee Records [VACANT] |
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Media Coverage [VACANT] |
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Public Response [VACANT] |
|
Photographs [VACANT] |
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Series 4. Summer 2002, Approaching the Qu'ran: The Early Revelations by Michael Sells
This series includes editorial letters, columns, and articles published in North Carolina, nationally, and internationally; broadcast transcripts and video recordings; emails, letters, and faxes from the public (both positive and negative responses); postcards sent by members of the Family Policy Network; enclosures sent with the postcards.
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Series 5. Summer 2003, Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America by Barbara Ehrenreich
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Items Separated