Images from Digital Watauga’s “Lost Watauga” exhibition can be seen here on the walls of the Jones House main gallery in March 2019.
How to Donate to the WCHS and Digital Watauga
The Digital Watauga Project is the primary initiative of the Watauga County Historical Society, a non-profit, 501(c)3 organization. We rely entirely on charitable support for our operations. If you like what you see at Digital Watauga and WCHS, and you wish to help us continue this work, you may donate via PayPal by clicking the button below.
Please note that PayPal retains approximately 2.2% of your donation plus a small transaction fee. To have the full amount of your donation go to the WCHS/Digital Watauga, please send a check payable to the Watauga County Historical Society, along with this form to:
Watauga County Historical Society
PO Box 3453
Boone, NC 28607
How to Join the Watauga County Historical Society
Memberships run from July to June and require completion of a basic application form and payment of annual dues.
The Watauga County Historical Society offers five levels of membership:
* Individual Membership -- $30
* Senior Membership (for those age 60 years or older) -- $20
* Student Membership (with photocopy of valid student ID) -- $15
* Institutional Membership (available to corporations, organizations, and institutions) -- $150
* Sponsor Level Membership -- $150
Sponsor membership includes a one-year WCHS membership, a copy of The Architectural History of Watauga County, North Carolina (a $30 value), a copy of Remembering Boone (a $23.99 value), and acknowledgment as a Sponsor on our website.
To become a member, please visit our ONLINE SHOP or complete an application and send it, along with a check payable to the Watauga County Historical Society for your selected membership level dues, to:
Watauga County Historical Society
PO Box 3453
Boone, NC 28607
Cover image of the forthcoming book Remembering Boone (Arcadia Publishing, available October 25, 2021)
Looking to buy a copy of Remembering Boone? You can order a copy directly at the address above or via our ONLINE SHOP for $23.99 (plus $6 shipping and handling). NC recipients MUST add 6.75% NC sales tax. Copies pre-ordered through WCHS before its release on October 25, 2021 will be autographed by the author.
Cover image of The Architectural History of Watauga County, North Carolina
Looking to buy a copy of The Architectural History of Watauga County, North Carolina? You can order a copy directly at the address above or our ONLINE SHOP for $30 (plus $7 shipping and handling). NC recipients MUST add 6.75% NC sales tax.
You can also buy a copy at the following establishments:
Jones House Cultural & Community Center (Boone)
North Carolina Museum of History Museum Shop
Antiques on Howard
Shopping for the WCHS
Did you know that your Amazon purchases can actually help benefit the WCHS and Digital Watauga? To participate, visit Amazon Smile. When you shop via this link, Amazon Smile donates 0.5% of the pre-tax price of your eligible purchases to charity of your choice. There is no additional cost to you beyond what you would normally pay for the products you are already purchasing.
The WCHS Donor Board
#Indicates a restricted donation to the Digital Watauga Project
##Indicates a donation in memory of Sarah Lynn Spencer
###Indicates a donation in honor of Bettie Bond
* Indicates a donation in memory of Mary George Blair Youngblood
WCHS Heroic Figures, 2023-24 ($2,500 or more)
-Linda & Rufus Edmisten Charitable Fund (#)
-Town of Boone (#)
WCHS Benefactors, 2023-24 ($1,000 or more)
-John & Bettie Bond (#)
WCHS Sustainers , 2023-24 ($500 or more)
-Robert & Sally English (#)
-Janelle Williams Gaughan (#)
-Mast General Store (#)
-Eric & Teresa Plaag (#)
WCHS Patrons, 2023-24 ($250 or more)
-J. P. Greene
WCHS Sponsors, 2023-24 ($150 or more)
-George P. Antone
-Bill Barbour
-Frank & Kay Borkowski
-Carolina Historical Consulting, LLC
-John & Faye Cooper
-Scott & Teresa Eggers
-Peter & Joni Petschauer (#)
-Nancy Reigel (###)
-Norma S. Suddreth
-Charles & Margaret Watkins
-Wes & Pat Weaver
WCHS Heroic Figures, 2022-23 ($2,500 or more)
-Bettie and John Bond (#)
-Linda & Rufus Edmisten Charitable Foundation (#)
-Jackson W. & Jane C. Henson (#)
-Town of Boone (#)
WCHS Sustainers, 2022-23 ($500 or more)
-Anne and Alex Bernhardt Foundation
-Eric & Teresa Plaag (#)
-Mast General Store (#)
WCHS Patrons, 2022-23 ($250 or more)
-George A. Bernhardt, Sr.
-Linda B. Byrd (#, ##, *)
-Carolina Historical Consulting, LLC (#)
-Kenneth Sheldon & Barbara Perry-Sheldon (#)
WCHS Sponsors, 2022-23 ($150 or more)
-George P. Antone
-Francis & Kay Borkowski
-Rennie & Lana Brantz
-John & Faye Cooper
-James and Connie Goff
-J. P. Greene
-Lifestore Bank
-Peter & Joni Petschauer
-Anna Boyce Phillips
-Nancy F. Reigel
-John & Kay Stacy
-Andrew & Emily Stallings (#)
-Norma S. Suddreth
-Stuart Tugman
-Suzanne & Craig Wilson (#, *)
Downtown Boone, 1938, from the Bobby Brendell Postcard Collection, Digital Watauga Project
Three Ways to Help the Digital Watauga Project (DWP)
The first type of help is the most obvious kind--giving cash--and we are grateful for ANY size donation you can make. Every dollar helps us do our work, but a larger donation of $250 buys storage media and digitization supplies for an average collection in the DWP. A donation of $500 will help us purchase sorely needed scanning equipment for our Digital Watauga technicians who are now working remotely as a result of COVID-19. A donation of $1,000 pays for our annual Jones House exhibition. A donation of $3,000 pays for a Digital Watauga internship for about four months. You can send us a check at the address above or make a donation through PayPal. All donations over $150 are acknowledged by name on our website unless you request to be listed anonymously.
We also welcome volunteers who are interested in being trained to digitize materials for the project. Often, this takes the form of formal but temporary employment through the Watauga County Public Library (with funding contributed by the WCHS), but we also have many folks who work on Digital Watauga on a volunteer basis as well. Having a basic understanding of computers helps, as well as a keen interest in and curiosity about our local history, but you do not have to be a computer whiz to be a DWP volunteer.
And yes, there's yet another, especially important way you can help. The DWP is always seeking new collections of images and documents related to the history of Watauga County. Do you have pre-1990 images or documents that you'd like to see added to our collections? If so, contact us with details at DigitalWatauga@gmail.com. Donors sign a digital use rights deed of gift so that we can post the digitized materials online, but all original materials are returned to their owner(s) once scanning is complete.