Over 400 years of unique Shore history, Virginia history, and United States history will be in the new Eastern Shore of Virginia Regional Library and Heritage Center opening this year. The Frances Bibbins Latimer Collection documenting the African American experience on the Shore and the extensive Kirk Mariner Collection of materials relating to the history and culture of the Eastern Shore, to name two of the generously donated archives to the Center, will now be protected in a climate controlled, modern, technologically up-to-date facility.
The Heritage Center will hold archived unique primary source materials that require special preservation attention and digitization. The scope of the Center’s Collections includes the Shore’s history from precolonial times to the present. The Center will continue the Library’s legacy to serve as a premier resource for genealogists, historians, humanities students and scholars on local, regional and national levels.
The Heritage Center will also include a large Community Room and the Dennis Custis Lecture Hall. Conferencing technology will be available. Patrons can use the library to create their own content. Audio-visual equipment in the sound-controlled studio will provide recording and production capabilities for use in making podcasts, educational programs, oral histories, and for teaching these technologies. Families will be able to convert electronic records, like DVD’s, to newer digital formats in the Digitization Lab.
“We look forward to having you join us in celebrating the opening of the Eastern Shore of Virginia Regional Library and Heritage Center in 2021. We will inform you of the date” – Vicky Belfit, Heritage Center Committee
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