Wilmington Sister City Program Collection
Scope and Contents
The Wilmington Sister City Program Collection contains materials pertaining to the operations of the Wilmington Sister City Commission. Included are the Commission's meeting minutes, correspondence, and other documents, which record their efforts to establish successful sister city relationships with Dandong, China and Doncaster, England. Also included are materials pertaining to the Commission's research regarding additional potential relationships with cities in countries in the Caribbean Islands and West Africa, as well as with a city in Spain. Much of the material in this collection documents the invovlement of officials associated with the City of Wilmington, the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, and other notable local institutions such as the Port. Dates span from 1983 to 1995.
Dates
- 1983-1995
Conditions Governing Access
This collection is open for research use.
Copyright Statement
Copyright 2022 University of North Carolina at Wilmington, all rights reserved (subject to exceptions). Certain items in this collection were conveyed to UNCW without the accompanying copyright. Where the donor did not convey copyright to UNCW, copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.
Biographical / Historical
The creation of Wilmington's Sister City Commission stems from the non-profit organization, Sister Cities International, which works to build relationships between cities in the United States and abroad. The organization's goal is to promote learning and cultural exchange between communities. The program began in 1956 under President Eisenhower as a part of the National League of Cities, however in 1967 Sister Cities International became a separate corporation due to its popularity.
In September of 1986, the Wilmington City Council formed Wilmington’s Sister City Commission as a local extension of Sister Cities International. The commission worked to formed the city's first relationships with Dandong, China in 1897 and Doncaster, England in 1989. Wilmington briefly ended its relationship with Dandong in 1989 due to the Tiananmen Square protests and massacre. The relationship was restored a few years later and continues to exist today. In 2004 and 2007 respectively, Bridgetown, Barbados and San Pedro, Belize were added to Wilmington’s list of sister city partnerships. Additionally, the Sister Cities Association was formed in Wilmington in 2004 as non-profit organization to facilitate these relationships with sister cities. Today, the Wilmington Sister City Commission, Sister Cities Association, and Sister Cities International maintain a three way partnership to carryout the mission of the program.
Extent
0.42 Linear Feet
2 Containers (Contains 1 box and 1 oversize folder.)
Language
English
Chinese
Arrangement
This collection is arranged at the file level by topic.
Acquisition Information
This collection was transferred from University Archives in April 2022.
Processing Information
This collection was processed by Anlie Williams in Fall 2022.
- Title
- Wilmington Sister City Program Collection
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Anlie Williams
- Date
- 2022 October 25
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Repository Details
Part of the Randall Library Special Collections Repository