NC Architects & Builders: A Biographical Dictionary  can tell you about the brick contractor on the 1840s renovation at Old East dormitory in Chapel Hill or which of architect Harry Barton's buildings are outside Greensboro. This amazing online resource comes thanks to the efforts of architectural historian Catherine Bishir and NC State University Libraries.

NC Architects & Builders
http://ncarchitects.lib.ncsu.edu

Architects & Builders highlights original, innovative scholarship and — thanks to the digital expertise of today's professional librarians — provides powerful means to sort, search and browse content in new ways.

The site features a diverse collection of architects and builders who worked in North Carolina. Included are leading national architects — from Alexander Jackson Davis in the 19th century to trend-setting 20th-century modernists like Matthew Nowicki — and local artisans and builders such as the enslaved bricklayer-plasterer Joe Welcome of Edenton, Salisbury carpenter Samuel Lemly, and contractor-builder William J. Hicks (and warden of Central Prison) in Raleigh. 

From the beginning, the project authors have insisted on the importance of artisans and builders, as well as architects, in creating the built heritage of the state. Individually their stories trace the development and authorship of our state's architecture from place to place; cumulatively they form a saga of determination, mobility, and resilience.

Bishir and the other authors of Architects and Builders in North Carolina: A History of the Practice of Building (UNC Press, 1990) originally had intended to include a biographical dictionary as a second volume. When she renewed attention to the project around 2000, "the project underwent a serendipitous paradigm shift" to take advantage of the growing potential for scholarly, collaborative publishing on the Internet.

"When Catherine came to us with her idea," says Susan Nutter, Vice Provost and Director of Libraries at NC State University, "I knew we had the staff onboard with the expertise and enthusiasm to embrace the work.  And I was delighted to have a signature project that could highlight the great work of our faculty and capitalize on the strengths of the NCSU Libraries' Special Collections in architecture and design.  We have built something that will be invaluable to those — both scholars and the general public — who love the architecture and the culture of North Carolina."

Combining the expertise of more than 40 authors with the NCSU Libraries' leadership in digital publishing and collections from numerous cultural institutions around the state, the website provides extensive biographical accounts, building lists, and bibliographical information about architects, builders, and other artisans who planned and built North Carolina's architecture. Some were residents of the state, but others were urban architects whose practices in New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Richmond, or Atlanta included work in North Carolina.

NC Architects & Builders will continue to grow as scholars extend and expand their work. Currently, it covers more than170 practitioners and 1500 buildings. But as an online resource, it will be continuously updated as the array of scholars working on it continue to contribute new entries.

Preservation North Carolina played a vital role in reinvigorating the biographical dictionary project. During the first years of the 2000s, with the support of a grant from the Michel Family Foundation, PNC supported Catherine Bishir's work in re-establishing the project and editing and completing several entries with the assistance of student intern Dave Delcambre and others. "Without that help," says Bishir, "I'm not sure we would have seen a way to go forward. As usual, PNC's support was crucial at a crucial time. That made all the difference in getting up a head of steam that led to the digital project at NCSU."

Preservation NC also shared the photographs from its archive, including the brilliant images Tim Buchman took for the volume North Carolina Architecture (UNC Press, 1989), with NC State Libraries. As part of NCSU's Built Heritage of North Carolina, another amazing web resource for NC architecture, they have become the central image base for NC Architects & Builders.

"The website is wonderful,"says Howard Davis, Professor of Architecture at the University of Oregon and author of The Culture of Building (Oxford University Press, 2006).  "What an appealing, easy-to-use, clear product. A model for the other 49 states  . . . that I hope we will pursue here in Oregon. " We couldn't agree more. Take a look for yourself at http://ncarchitects.lib.ncsu.edu.