Archives Stewardship Doesn't Come Cheap

Archives require that certain environmental and storage conditions are met and maintained 24/7/365. The renovation of the Paul Siegmund Room to receive and house the Beaufort District Collection happened because of a collaboration of Beaufort County Council, the Friends of the Beaufort County Library, and private donations to the Public Library Foundation of Beaufort County earmarked specifically for the BDC relocation to ensure that we could meet and maintain the accepted standards for archival collections.

David Coleman, Beaufort County Engineering Department, who oversaw our renovation project gave me these figures regarding the cost of this act of stewardship for archives and historical records to share with you:

• Replaced the leaking roof system, work was done by CEI Group, LLC from Hilton Head for $125,500.00
• Installed temperature and humidity control HVAC system, installed lighting system with reduced ultra violet emissions, and installed some partition walls. This work was done by Construction Associates from Bluffton for $169,500.00
• Analyzed the building frame for loading capacity and installed the compact storage shelving system with motorized carriages. This work was done by Patterson Pope who is on State Contract for $83,341.31

Please come do a little research in our wonderful collection or sign up to attend one of our upcoming public tours. Although we're still working some of the kinks out of our processes and procedures now that we're in a new facility, the improvement in conditions is noticeable and very welcomed. Thanks again, to everyone who did anything to help make the relocation happen.