Haddonfield Library Building Committee

Local History Center
March 2005

One of the recommendations the Building Committee feels most strongly about is the Local History Center. Although endorsing a redesign for a new library building, which will result in a smaller facility than first proposed, there is agreement that it was not acceptable to eliminate the Local History Center as part of any redesign.

The idea of a Local History Center was first proposed by the Long Range Planning Committee. Their report concluded:

Local history is an important foundation underlying much of what defines Haddonfield as a community. The Library serves an important role in maintaining this tradition…Storage is inadequate for present and future needs of this collection. Because of its uniqueness and permanent nature, preservation is an important aspect of this role…Also, the community’s local history resources are now split between [Haddonfield Public Library] and the Historical Society Library. This separation reflects the space problems of both organizations rather than a rational division of the collections. The Society’s collection, one of the richest and most significant municipal historical collections in the State, is also housed without proper environmental controls and with insufficient space. Access to the Society’s collection is constrained by limited hours of operation. Hence, there is a need to improve access to this collection through more formal cooperation between the two libraries (and if possible, with other historical collections as well.)

What will the Local History Center Contain?

• the Public Library local history collection
• the Historical Society of Haddonfield collections
• some historical records from the Borough, now housed in Borough Hall
• space to offer local organizations archival housing for their records, which are often scattered throughout members’ homes. This often results in valuable and irreplaceable organizational records being lost.

What will the Local History Center Assure?

· the long term survival of the historical resources of Haddonfield

· increased access to the public

· the historical resources of Haddonfield will remain in Haddonfield rather than be given to the Gloucester and Camden County Historical Society Libraries or other appropriate repositories. Given current storage capacities of the Society and the Public Library, this is a real possibility somewhere in the not too distant future unless additional, appropriate space becomes available

· confidence. The donation of important materials, most especially family papers handed down through the generations, is directly related to the confidence individuals and organizations have that their “one of a kind” materials will be preserved, cared for, appreciated and will always be there for future generations.

The Local History Center will be under the direction of the Public Library, working closely with the Historical Society, through a written agreement. The written agreement will spell out the organization and administration of the Center.