Bassett Historical Center Announces Symposium

 

 

The Bassett Historical Center is pleased to announce a symposium on regional history to be held March 1, 2008, from 9:30 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. at the Old Bassett High School Auditorium now owned by EMI Imaging, who  is providing the facility free of charge in Bassett, Virginia. Proceeds from this event will go to the Bassett Historical Center Building Fund. All speakers are coming free of charge to support the project to expand the library.  Advance tickets are $25 and $30 at the door. Students and Senior Citizens are $20 in advance and $25 at the door.

Visit the webpage of the Bassett Historical Center http://www.bassetthistoricalcenter.com

 or call 276-629-9191 or email baslib@hotmail.com  for more information.

Advance payment can be sent to Bassett Historical Center at 3964 Fairystone Park Highway, Bassett, VA 24055.

 

Collections at the Bassett Historical Center http://172.22.0.52/Bassettcollections.htm

 

The Bassett Historical Center has been called 'the best little library in Virginia'. The Center has grown considerably since we merged with Blue Ridge Regional Library in 1992. From that time through 2004, our patron count increased 1359% over a period of 13 years. Since 1998 we have had an increase of 125% per year.  People from all 50 states and 9 foreign countries have visited the Center. Our family files now number 9496, local history files number 2518, and our books number 11,074. It is time for expansion of our facility. We need to double our present size so that we will be able to accept new collections that otherwise may be sent to another facility outside of our immediate area. An estimate of $800,000 has been given to add 4195 square feet to our existing building. Tax-deductible donations for memorials or honorariums will  be considered for shelving, furniture, display units and the large rooms proposed

Speakers

	Dr. Roland Parker Stephen Davis, Jr. is the Research Archaeologist and Associate Director of the Research Laboratories of Archaeology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel 
Hill, North Carolina, where is also an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Anthropology. His Education includes a Ph.D. University of Tennessee in Anthropology from 1986, M.A. 
University of Calgary in Archaeology from 1976 and B.A. University of North Carolina in Anthropology from 1974. Davis has served on the North Carolina Archaeological Council, 
Archaeological Society of North Carolina and the Society for American Archaeology. Among his published works include Excavating Occaneechi Town: Archaeology of an 
Eighteenth-Century Indian Village in North Carolina, The Catawba Project: Research Problems and Initial Results, The Town Creek Photomosaic: Old Pictures in a New Light, 
John Lawson and the Native Peoples of Carolina and The Eagle and the Poor House: Archaeological Investigations on the University of North Carolina Campus. He will be speaking on 
Regional Native American History at the symposium.
 

Larry Hopkins is a Human Resource Manager for Hanesbrands, Inc. at its Woolwine location in Patrick County, VA.  Born in Patrick County, he and his wife, Eva, have resided in the town of Stuart for more than 30 years where they raised their two sons, Josh and Ryan.  After receiving his BA from Mars Hill College, Larry returned to Patrick County and developed a strong interest in local history.  In 1976, he made his first visit to the Bassett Historical Center, where many hours were spent in the basement doing family research and talking with Mrs. Shirley Bassett.  Pursuing other local interests and research eventually led to railroading, particularly the Danville & Western Railway Company, better known locally as the “Dick n’ Willie”.  Fascinated with its history, Larry has spent more than a decade collecting facts, photos and memorabilia pertaining to this local legend.  He has shared this information on several occasions at local and state sponsored events.  In 2001, Larry was featured as the guest speaker for the annual meeting of the Southern Railway Historical Society, and the following year did a presentation at the 22nd Annual National Narrow Gauge Railroad Convention held in Providence, Rhode Island.  In recent years during his spare time, he has been working on a book about the Danville & Western.  Larry currently serves as the Vice President of the Board of Directors of the Patrick County Historical Society and Museum, and previously served on the Board of Directors of the Mt. Airy Museum of Regional History in Mt. Airy, NC. He will speak on the Danville and Western Railroad “The Dick and Willie” at the symposium.

        J. E. B. Stuart’s biographer Emory Thomas describes Tom Perry as "a fine and generous gentleman who grew up near Laurel Hill, where Stuart grew up, has founded J. E. B. Stuart Birthplace and attracted considerable interest in the preservation of Laurel Hill. Thomas David Perry grew up in Ararat, Virginia, as did "Jeb" Stuart. Tom graduated Patrick County High School in 1979 and Virginia Tech in 1983, with a Bachelor’s Degree in history. Tom started the J. E. B. Stuart Birthplace Preservation Trust in 1990 and the Free State Of Patrick Internet History Group in 2005.The non-profit organization has preserved 75 acres of the Stuart property including the house site where James Ewell Brown Stuart was born on February 6, 1833. Perry wrote the eight interpretive signs about Laurel Hill’s history along with the Virginia Civil War Trails sign and the new Virginia Historical Highway Marker in 2002. He spent many years researching traveling all over the nation to find Stuart. Tom can be seen on Virginia Public Television’s Forgotten Battlefields: The Civil War in Southwest Virginia with his mentor noted Civil War Historian Dr. James I. Robertson, Jr. Perry has begun a collection of papers relating to Stuart and Patrick County history in the Special Collections Department of the Carol M. Newman Library at Virginia Tech under the auspices of the Virginia Center For Civil War Studies. He is the author of Ascent to Glory, The Genealogy of J. E. B. Stuart,  The Free State of Patrick: Patrick County Virginia in the Civil War, J. E. B. Stuart’s Birthplace: The Stuart Family in America and the Laurel Hill Farm, and Images of America: Patrick County Virginia. Tom credits Henry Wiencek’s book on the Hairston family as leading him to the Bassett Historical Center. He will be presenting his popular slide program on Civil War General J. E. B. Stuart.

        Henry Wiencek is a prominent American historian and editor whose work has encompassed the founding fathers, various topics relating to slavery, and the Lego Company. In 1999, The Hairstons: An American Family in Black and White, which chronicles the history of the racially intertwined Hairston clan, won the National Book Critics Circle Award for biography and autobiography. Wiencek has come to be particularly associated with his work on Washington and slavery as a result of his most recent book, An Imperfect God: George Washington, His Slaves, and the Creation of America, which earned him the Los Angeles Times Book Award for history. Henry wrote the series National Geographic Guide to Americas Great Houses, Virginia & the Capital Region Smithsonian Guides, Smithsonian Guides to Historic America: Southern New England - Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Old Houses, Plantations of the Old South (Great American Homes), The Smithsonian Guide to Historic America Southern New England, The Smithsonian Guide to Historic America Southern New England, World of Lego Toys, The Lords of Japan (Treasures of The World). Born in Boston and educated at Yale, Henry lives with his wife, writer Donna Lucey and their son, Henry in Virginia. He has contributed articles to American Heritage, American Legacy, Smithsonian Magazine, and Connoisseur. In 2003, Wiencek was appointed to the board of the Library of Virginia. He will speak on The Hairstons: An American Family in Black and White.

Patrick County and The Bassett Historical Center Building Fund

      I am a Life Member of the Patrick County Historical Society, a member on the Patrick County Genealogical Society and a multiple contributor and purchaser of both recent books by the Patrick County Heritage Book Committee. At this moment, all three groups have large financial resources. I call on all three groups to support the building fund of the Bassett Historical Center.

      I call on them to look beyond the provincial attitude of Patrick County only and see the Bassett Historical Center as “OUR” regional research library. Patrick County’s history does not end at the boundary line with Henry County or the state line with North Carolina. There are people all over the nation interested in Patrick County’s history and they come to the Bassett Historical Center. It contains the collections of Eunice Kirkman and O. E. Pilson. I view both the museum in Stuart and the Bassett Historical Center as not competing, but as partners in preserving our history. Why not work together so that people can visit and be a part of all the groups and facilities that preserve this common history.

      In the last year, I have promoted the efforts of all three groups and offered web pages to two of the three. I purchased the books of all three groups and contributed material to all three recent publications of each group. I give copies of my writings to both facilities because I do not believe that one person or group owns this history. We all own this history and we have a responsibility to preserve and educate. I think of Mr. O. E. Pilson and where he would stand on this effort. He would support the Building Fund of the Bassett Historical Center and you all should as well.

http://www.freestateofpatrick.com/bhcbf.htm

Patrick County Material in the Bassett Historical Center Collection

Eunice Kirkman Collection contains 10 notebooks and her personal computer.

http://www.brrl.lib.va.us/KirkmanColl.htm

http://www.brrl.lib.va.us/KirkmanBrosKeep.htm

O. E. Pilson Collection contains 1206 family files and 107 notebooks relating to Patrick County history.

http://www.brrl.lib.va.us/pilson.htm

http://www.brrl.lib.va.us/pilson2.htm

http://www.brrl.lib.va.us/pilson3.htm

Ruth Fair Morris Collection contains Patrick County family materials on Via, Koger, Burnett, Spencer, Corn, Shelton, Turner and others. http://www.brrl.lib.va.us/RuthFairMorris.htm

http://www.brrl.lib.va.us/RuthFairMorris2.htm

http://www.brrl.lib.va.us/RuthFairMorris3.htm

Thomas D. Perry Collection contains

http://www.brrl.lib.va.us/PerryBio.htm

The Bassett Historical Center’s online catalog lists 146 books on Patrick County including census records from 1800 through 1930. Also included are records on Patrick County marriages, wills, deeds, tax lists, births, death, obituaries, cemetery records, order books along with military records on the American Revolution, War of 1812, Indian Wars, Civil War and the Spanish-American War.

         The Bassett Historical Center is a repository for genealogy and regional history. Beginning in one small room in the basement of the present building, then the Bassett Public Library, with one filing cabinet and two shelves of books, the BHC has grown considerably since it merged with the Blue Ridge Regional Library in 1992. Through 2004, the number of patrons visiting increased 1359% (420 to 6129 patrons). Since 1998, an increase of 125% (2720 to 6129 patrons) a year occurred. Researchers from all fifty states and nine foreign countries (Canada, England, Italy, Luxembourg, South Africa, Switzerland, Sweden, Thailand and Taiwan) have come to the library that serves the counties of Henry and Patrick along with the City of Martinsville. Of the 6, 223 patrons using the BHC in 2005 914 where from out of state, 800 where from other parts of Virginia and 831 patrons from Patrick County used the resources of the BHC.

         The Bassett Historical Center contains over 9,496 family files, 2, 518 regional history files and 11,074 books. The library houses over 400 rolls of microfilm, 113 genealogical files are on computer and 139 CDs. The BHC answered nearly 300 letters and almost 2,000 emails in 2005.

The Bassett Historical Center Building Fund Committee includes

Ronnie Stone, Chairman (276-632-2007)

Truman Adkins, Vice Chairman

Dr. Mark Crabtree

Phil Dalton

Mary McGee

Beverly Millner

Mary Elizabeth Morten

General Robert O. Petty, ret.

Pat Ross, Director of the Bassett Historical Center

David E. Rotenizer, Henry County Director of Tourism

Betty Scott,

Michelle Stone-Agee

Daphne Stone

Patrick County People on the committee

Ronald D. Haley, President of Smith River Bank

Historian Thomas D. Perry

David Wright, Owner of EMI Imaging

The goal of this committee is to raise $800,000 to expand the Bassett Historical Center by 4, 195 square feet. This will double the size of the center allowing for new collections and a work room for the staff to better take care of the existing material.

         For those giving $1000, the committee will place a plaque with a maximum of 35 characters in a prominent place. Other levels of support and corresponding recognition are as follows:

$       300                     Oak Chairs

$    1,000                     Small Display case

$    1,500                     Oak Round Table

$    2,500                     Large Display Case

$    5,000                     Shelving Units

$  50,000                     Microfilm Area

$  75,000                    Collection Development Area

$100,000                     Collections Room

$250,000                     History Room and Meeting Area

$500,000                     Historical Center Annex

$       500                     Undesignated gifts will be placed on a plaque

For more information or to make a tax deductible donation contact the

 

Bassett Historical Center Building Fund

3964 Fairystone Park Highway, Bassett, Virginia 24055-5547

Phone:(276) 629-9191 Fax:(276) 629-9840 E-mail: baslib@hotmail.com

Bassett Historical Center Blog http://www.bassetthistoricalcenter.com/

Other Links

http://www.bassetthistoricalcenter.com

http://www.brrl.lib.va.us/location_historicalcenter.html

http://www.freestateofpatrick.com/bhcbf.htm

The Bassett Historical Center "The Best Little Library in Virginia"

     From the Doomsday Book of William the Conqueror written in 1085 in England to the latest research on the Goblintown Grist Mill in Patrick County there is only one local resource that holds both and that is the Bassett Historical Center of the Blue Ridge Regional Library, in my opinion, the best local history library in Virginia.

     Many years ago while reading Henry Wiencek’s The Hairstons, An American Family in Black and White on page 175, I came across a section on finding obscure material at the library in Bassett. Intrigued I began to visit the library. Over the years in researching J. E. B. Stuart, I have traveled from West Point to Kansas to many libraries, but I never cease to return to the banks of the Smith River. If you are stuck on a genealogical question, finding an ancestor from the Civil War or just want to kill some time reading about Thomas Jefferson, this is the place for you.

     The historical center contains nearly 7000 family files and books on all the local families, bound material and books from all the counties in Virginia and many counties in West Virginia, North and South Carolina, Kentucky and Tennessee. Copies of the Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, William and Mary Quarterly, Virginia Genealogist, Magazine of Virginia Genealogy, Appalachian Quarterly, Family History Magazine, AAHGS News, Ancestry and Piedmont Lineages are among the periodicals you will find at the Center.

     A visit to the banks of the Smith River might include an opportunity to talk railroads with Kenny Kirkman. Patrick County’s own Pamela Hollandsworth volunteers cataloging the papers of my mentor O. E. Pilson. Other collections include those of Lela C. Adams, John B. Harris, Grady Garrett, Eunice Kirkman, Ruth F. Morris and the Henry County Bicentennial Collection (29 volumes) made up of transcribed records from minute and/or order books, plus loose papers found in the Henry County Courthouse. Internet connections to Ancestry.Com, AncestryPlus, and HeritageQuest provide the patrons with census records and can be a used as a guide when one is searching for someone not in the immediate area. They also provide social security records of a deceased person, plus vital statistics, military records, and books in which a family surname is referenced.

    For years, the historical center was located in the back room of the present building, but in 1998, the regular library moved across Highway 57 to a new facility leaving the entire building on the banks of the Smith River to the Historical Center. Today, the back room over looking the river contains military and Native American materials. If you want to find your ancestor in the Civil War, there is no better room to begin that search. All of the Howard Virginia Regimental Series along with the entire index of Confederate Soldiers published by Tom Broadfoot, the Time-Life series on the war and most of the Official Records of the war are present with many supplementary publications. You can work with large screen computers as George Stoneman and Jubal Early peer down on you from pictures above the door and if you sit in the right place you can look upon Sauratown Woman or a glance to the shelves will bring you in contact with my favorite item, a brick from Stuart’s birthplace.

     The staff of the Blue Ridge Regional Library’s Bassett Historical Center are Library Director Patricia Ross with Fieldale’s Anne Copeland, Mr. Sam Eanes and Cindy Headen )will come through for you too. Copeland summed up what any historical library should do, "the amount of material we are able to share with the public only came about because so many people were willing to share with us."
 

                                                                                

Copyright 2007 Tom Perry. No material to be used without permission.

Contact Information: Tom Perry P. O. Box 50 Ararat VA 24053 freestateofpatrick@yahoo.com