MosaicNC is a digital publishing venture of the North Carolina Office of Archives and History.

It is the primary charge of MosaicNC to digitally publish exhibits on various special topics and future installments of two long-running projects of the Historical Publications Office: the Colonial Records of North Carolina and the Governors’ Papers Project. Through this digital medium, we aim to provide free and open access to our work for the educational benefit of present and future generations of North Carolinians.

This publishing platform extends the reach of the core projects by allowing new methods of sharing the meaning and value of our historical resources. With the ability to create interactive exhibits that incorporate images, video, and linked resources, MosaicNC enhances the impact of traditional print editions while preserving scholarly rigor. The editors have strived to maintain the spirit and substance of best practice in the field of scholarly editing as described by the Association for Documentary Editing, the Modern Language Association Committee on Scholarly Editions, and the MLA “Statement on Scholarly Edition in the Digital Age.”

The editors foresee MosaicNC as a future home for scholarly interpretation of North Carolina history. Just as technology has allowed MosaicNC to bring our scholarly editions into the digital age, it also allows us to publish other thematic exhibits about the state’s past. The exhibit on North Carolina’s role in the Space Race is the first such example.

MosaicNC is the newest initiative of the oldest continuously-operating, state-supported historical publishing program in the United States. MosaicNC is primarily staffed by the editor of the Governors Papers and the editor of Colonial Records. These two positions carry forward the work of interpreting and publishing North Carolina’s historical record.

The Governors Papers project started with the editing and publication of Thomas Bickett’s papers in 1923 and has continued since then by publishing the records of modern and historical governors. The Colonial Records Project began in 1963 during the commemoration of the state’s tercentenary, expanding on work that began in the late nineteenth century. Both projects have traditionally been published in print volumes. Future editions will be published electronically on MosaicNC.

The editors wish to recognize they help they have gotten in bringing the MosaicNC platform from idea to implementation. Site development was done by the Center for Digital Editing at the University of Virginia. CDE’s masterminds, Jennifer Stertzer and Erica Cavanaugh, understood our vision, translated flipcharts into wireframes, took impeccable notes, and tolerated our pace of learning. They also provided us sage advice along the way. We learned much from the generous guidance of other digital documentary projects and editors. Among these, we got input and inspiration from: the Civil War Governors of Kentucky, the Jane Addams Digital Edition, Rethinking Guernica, and all the folks in the NEH planning grant group.