| The Atkins Library at UNC Charlotte announces the establishment
of its Motor Sports Collection to document the history of automobile
racing in the Southeast.
In keeping with its location in Charlotte, a city within 50
miles of 90% of the racing teams in the country, and in support
of the university's programs in motor sports engineering and
sports management, the Atkins Library has begun to develop a
collection of books, magazines, oral history interviews, photographs,
and other material to preserve the history and legacy of automobile
racing.
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The collection originated
with a generous gift by
T.
Taylor Warren, whose career as a photographer
has spanned more than fifty years. Thus far, Mr. Warren
has donated over 100 boxes of material, comprising 8-10,000
programs, press kits, media guides, magazines, and yearbooks.
Mr. Warren was also instrumental in securing the library
of Don O'Reilly, a writer, broadcaster, and public
relations specialist. Recently, Mark Ortiz, the
publisher of The Mark Ortiz Automotive Chassis Newsletter,
has donated his back file of several racing magazines.
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Why Collect Motor Sports History?
The emergence of the motor sports engineering program in the
Lee College of Engineering and the sports management program
in the Belk College of Business makes it necessary for the library
to support UNC Charlotte students and faculty in their learning,
teaching, and research. While museums do a wonderful job of
displaying the artifacts and highlights of racing, libraries
are better situated to acquire, organize, and make available
to users the material that make exhibits and books possible.
Few libraries collect original source material about the sport.
Certainly, many libraries buy books and magazines as they are
published, but only a handful are dedicated to gathering unpublished
material, collecting unrecorded stories, and preserving them
all for the long-term.
What Are We Collecting?
Generally, we are interested in all kinds of material that
document the history of racing, particularly in North and South
Carolina, the people who have been involved in it, and the communities
in which races have been or are held. The formats of material
include, but are not limited to:
| Books & Magazines |
Programs press kits and other publicity material |
| Yearbooks |
Rule books & statistical
compilations |
| Photographs |
Films, videos, home movies, etc. |
| Scrapbooks |
Business records of tracks, teams, sponsors, and owners |
We also intend to make oral history a major component of our
program.
If you have stories to tell or materials to share, please contact
Bob McInnes
or Katie McCormick.
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