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About the collection
Mr. Herman Blizzard, a resident of Wrightsville Beach and member of the Wilmington Rotary Club since 1956, has meticulously acquired and preserved the club’s archives, which date back to 1915 when the club was chartered. The Wilmington Rotary Club was the second club to be chartered in North Carolina and the 150th club to be chartered in the United States. This makes the Wilmington Rotary Club the mother club to the more than 2,100 Rotarians and 45 clubs across District 7730, including Fairmont and Fayetteville on the west, Kinston on the north, Morehead City on the east, and as far south as South Brunswick Islands.
The archives have now been turned over to UNCW for display, conservation, and use by Rotarians, the public and scholars in the Special Collections Room of Randall Library. Under sponsorship of the Wilmington Rotary Club, the library will also develop a “virtual museum” Web site, cataloguing the contents of the collection and featuring significant items to make the contents available to Rotarians and other interested parties worldwide.
Some of the most significant items in the collection include the original minutes of the first meeting signed by the charter members and an extensive collection of yearbooks of members, many with photos. The second club president was Roger Moore (1916-1918), the great Wilmington promoter and photographer, and we have his gavel! Other items of interest include the following:
- Club banners collected from member visits to Rotary Clubs all over the world
- Rotary International convention proceedings from 1919
- Loving cups, trophies, plaques, awards given to the club over many years
- Club membership rosters of Wilmington's "movers and shakers"
- Unique Rotary mementos gathered at RI and district conventions
- Club annual reports of service during World War II years
- Hundreds of items from other American clubs, including files, reports, rosters, mementos from clubs all over Southeastern N.C.
- Tributes to Herman Blizzard, and his personal Rotary artifacts
