North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources
Logo of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources
Agency overview
Formed1971
JurisdictionState of North Carolina
Headquarters109 East Jones Street
MSC 4601
Raleigh, NC 27699-4601
Agency executive
  • D. Reid Wilson, Secretary
Websitewww.ncdcr.gov

The North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources is a cabinet-level department within the state government of North Carolina dedicated to overseeing projects in the arts, culture, and history within the borders of the state. The current Secretary of Natural and Cultural Resources, the cabinet-level officer who oversees the department, is D. Reid Wilson. Wilson has been in office since January 2021 and was immediately preceded by Susi Hamilton, who served as secretary from 2017 to 2020[1][2]

History

The department was founded as the North Carolina Department of Art, Culture, and History. Its first secretary was Sam Ragan, poet and arts advocate who later became North Carolina Poet Laureate.[3] It was renamed to Department of Cultural Resources in 1973.[4] In 1973, Grace Rohrer succeeded Ragan, becoming the first woman to hold a cabinet-level office in North Carolina.[5]

Many of the offices and divisions of the department were founded as separate institutions, such as the State Library of North Carolina, founded in 1812, the North Carolina Museum of History, founded in 1902, and the North Carolina Symphony, founded in 1943. These organizations either remained independent or were gradually combined under the Office of Archives and History until 1971, when the Department of Cultural Resources became the first cabinet-level office of any state in the United States to deal solely with history, the arts, and cultural knowledge.[6][7]

On September 18, 2015, the Department of Cultural Resources was renamed the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources. The name change came with a transfer of several divisions to the department, including North Carolina's state parks, aquariums, zoological park, museum of natural sciences, the Clean Water Trust Fund and the North Carolina Natural Heritage Program.[8]

Property and holdings

The Department of Natural and Cultural Resources supervises and cares for a large number of historic sites, documents, pieces of art, and other items and places of cultural value for the state. The State Archives, for instance, contain over 100 million historic documents, including North Carolina's copy of the United States Bill of Rights and the original 1663 charter for the colony as granted by Charles II of England. Perhaps the most prominent building supervised by the department is the North Carolina State Capitol, an 1840 Greek Revival building that contains a substantial number of historic artifacts, furniture, and monuments related to the history of North Carolina. The North Carolina General Assembly's appropriation in 1947 of $1 million for the purchase of artworks and sculpture to be housed in the Museum of Art made it the first state in the nation to use public funds for the purpose of building a state art collection[4]

Department structure

The department is organized in the following manner (all divisions located in Raleigh unless otherwise noted):[9][10]

Other responsibilities

The Department of Natural and Cultural Resources also oversees the North Carolina Award.[11][12]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Cooper names Leaders for Natural and Cultural Resources
  2. ↑ Morrill, Jim (January 5, 2013). "McCrory's first task: building a new team". The News and Observer. Archived from the original on January 7, 2013. Retrieved January 6, 2013.
  3. ↑ "Past North Carolina Poets Laureate". North Carolina Arts Council. Archived from the original on April 13, 2014. Retrieved April 10, 2014.
  4. 1 2 North Carolina Manual 2009–2010. Raleigh, North Carolina: North Carolina Secretary of State. 2011. pp. 227–231.
  5. ↑ "First Woman to Hold State Cabinet Post to Run Office Non-Politically". The Lexington Dispatch. January 26, 1973. Retrieved December 13, 2012.
  6. ↑ North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources, Office of the Secretary (2011). "2011-2013 Strategic Plan" (PDF). Retrieved 6 December 2012.
  7. ↑ Beckwith, Ryan Teague (December 5, 2008). "What does the Cultural Resources Secretary do?". Raleigh News & Observer. Retrieved December 13, 2012.
  8. ↑ "DENR has a new name - N.C. Dept. of Environmental Quality". N.C. Dept. of Environmental Quality. September 21, 2015. Archived from the original on 2015-09-25. Retrieved October 3, 2015.
  9. ↑ "Divisions". North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources. Retrieved December 9, 2012.
  10. ↑ "About". North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources. Retrieved December 9, 2012.
  11. ↑ "Six to Receive the North Carolina Award–State's Highest Honor". North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources. September 19, 2012. Retrieved December 13, 2012.
  12. ↑ Smith, Erin. "Dr. Charles Hamner To Receive North Carolina Award For Public Service". The Hamner Institutes for Health Sciences. Retrieved December 13, 2012.
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