Want to get involved? Now is the time!
We’ve been hearing from many of you over the last few months looking for ways to get involved with Buncombe County Special Collections. Since the pandemic changed our lives, including the way we work and volunteer, BCSC staff have been thinking about ways to re-invigorate our volunteer program. We’ll be sharing more information about specific opportunities in the future. For now, community members who are interested in hands-on archives work can collaborate with BCSC staff to transcribe oral histories from home. If you’re interested in transcription, please contact BCSC team member Carissa Pfeiffer (carissa.pfeiffer@buncombecounty.org).
Perhaps he is transcribing an interview?!
If you’d like to support BCSC in other ways, the Friends of Buncombe County Special Collections are now seeking to fill several vacancies on their executive board. The Friends help BCSC go “above and beyond” in our work to bring the history and culture of WNC to our community. The fundraising and advocacy of the Friends allows BCSC to host programs, provide paid internship opportunities, and support public history work at other institutions including the YMI Cultural Center.
The Friends are entering the planning stages for their annual gathering scheduled for the fall, so now is a great time to get plugged in!
For more information about joining the Friends of Buncombe County Special Collections please contact Catherine Amos (Secretary-Treasurer) at friendsbcsc@gmail.com.
“There is an eagle in me that wants to soar, and there is a hippopotamus in me that wants to wallow in the mud.”
Carl Sandburg
Upcoming Events
Preservation Society of Asheville and Buncombe County, Buncombe County Special Collections, and Pack Memorial Library present We Built This: Profiles of Black Architects and Builders in North Carolina Aug. 1-Oct. 10
The history and legacy of Black builders and craftspeople in North Carolina comes to life in a new traveling exhibit at Pack Memorial Library. Produced by Preservation North Carolina (PNC), the traveling exhibit, We Built This: Profiles of Black Architects and Builders in North Carolina, is on display until Oct. 10.
The exhibit is open to the public during normal library hours Tuesday and Thursday, 10 a.m.-8 p.m., Wednesday and Friday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m., and Saturday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. For questions about the current display, contact Erica LeClaire Director of Preservation – PSABC at erica@psabc.org or (828) 254-2343.
From Preservation North Carolina: We Built This is part of a multi-faceted educational program about the history and legacy of Black builders and craftspeople in North Carolina. This traveling exhibit highlights the stories of those who constructed and designed many of North Carolina’s most treasured historic sites. Spanning more than three centuries, We Built This provides more than two dozen personal profiles and historic context on key topics including slavery and Reconstruction; founding of HBCUs and Black churches; Jim Crow and segregation; and the rise of Black civic leaders and professionals. We Built This acknowledges and celebrates the Black builders and architects who constructed or designed many of North Carolina’s most treasured historic places.
For more information about We Built This, including future locations and information about rental, please contact Julianne Patterson at jpatterson@presnc.org or (919) 832-3652 ext. 238.
Featured Resource
The Internet Archive (Archive.org) is a digital library that began in 1996 by archiving the Internet itself, saving past versions of website in its Wayback Machine. Today, the Internet Archive also provides free access to books and texts, audio, video, software programs, and more, in part through partnerships with libraries like us that contribute materials.
Buncombe County Special Collections began contributing resources to the Internet Archive this year, in part as a means of making oral history audio and video recordings more easily accessible, joining hundreds of other libraries and archives around the world. View our Internet Archive collections here.
Coming Soon!
If you have ever thought about recording an oral history interview with a family member or friend, but haven’t been sure where to start, BCSC is excited to launch a new resource for you: oral history backpacks that you can check out!
Oral history backpacks will include all the equipment you will need; training resources for how to plan and conduct an oral history interview; and forms for donating your recording to BCSC, if you wish. Backpacks will be available to request and check out for four-week periods soon.
For more information and a preview of training resources, check out our Oral History Resources page.
From the Friends
The Friends of BCSC help us go above and beyond when providing programs and services to our patrons. We’re always looking forward to hosting more programs and expanding our circle of friends!
In 2022, your membership as a Friend of the Buncombe County Special Collections will help support special new initiatives including a partnership with the YMI Cultural Center and the development of a new exhibit featuring the history of the land we now call Pack Square.
Our goal is to raise $15,000 to support this work in the coming year. We hope you will join us in meeting and exceeding that goal.
The next regularly scheduled meeting of the Board of the Friends of Special Collections will be held Wednesday September 21, 2022 at 4:00 pm in the BCSC reading room. All dues-paying members of the Friends are always welcome to attend. We kindly ask that you RSVP.
To RSVP to the meeting or for questions about The Friends of Buncombe County Special Collections, please reach out to friendsbcsc@gmail.com.
