Foundation work is under way on the new home for
Western Michigan University's archives as well as historical records for all of Southwest Michigan.
The 16,000-square-foot, $8.3 million Legacy Collections Center is under construction on WMU's Oakland Drive Campus.
The Legacy Collections Center is being built with private funding that includes several significant gifts. When finished, it will house more than 28,000 cubic feet of what is now known as the WMU Archives and Regional History Collections as well as overflow books and serials from the University Libraries.
Historical University, regional and local governmental records; manuscript collections; oral histories; census records; a research collection of books, magazines and newspapers; and several large photographic collections all are part of the collections.
The new building will include a large reading room with 1,250 linear feet of shelving, tables and seating for 24. The reading room also will be able to be turned into a 72-seat event center for public lectures. The building exterior will be completed and closed in by winter. The facility is scheduled for completion in summer 2013.
Each year, more than 1,800 people visit the collections to do historical and genealogical research. The collections are also used by WMU students and faculty members as well as by visiting scholars.
For more than 20 years, research and historical materials have been housed in East Hall, WMU's first building. The collections are shelved in what was a gymnasium. Additional portions of the collections are in two off-site areas.
The planned building will bring together the collections from East Hall as well as the off-site storage areas.
"This has been our goal for many years, and now it is finally being realized," says WMU President John M. Dunn. "I've always considered the historical collections entrusted to us a public treasure and one for which we've needed a facility that could guarantee their safety and accessibility for years to come. With the support of this community, that goal will become a reality."
Writer: Kathy Jennings, Second Wave
Source: Cheryl Roland, Western Michigan University
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