NCSU Libraries Focus Online

Volume 28 number 3 - Spring 2008

Xtreme Collecting

By Lisa Carter, Special Collections Research Center

On November 5, 2007, many in the NCSU Libraries noted a story in that day's News and Observer reporting renowned landscape architect and NCSU alumni Richard Bell had sold and was leaving his office and home, the Water Garden, within the next two weeks. In the article Brian Starkey, a landscape architect who had worked with Bell, observed "there's a legacy there that's not going to be preserved" [see Sarah Lindenfeld Hall, "Water Garden's Steward Closes Up Shop," Raleigh News and Observer, November 5, 2007]. While the Libraries could not save the eleven-acre Water Garden, the Special Collections Research Center could preserve the legacy of the work, creativity, and collaboration that went on there.

The next day Greg Raschke (associate director for collections and scholarly communication), Lisa Carter (head, Special Collections Research Center) and Catherine Bishir (curator of architecture special collections) paid a visit to the Water Garden to ask Bell about the future of his drawings and papers. At that point, the Bells were pretty much packed up and ready to leave the Water Garden permanently. Unaware that his records might have research value for future architecture scholars, Bell was at a loss about what to do with the large quantity of bulky drawings that represented his accumulated life's work, innovation, and applied professional philosophy. His remaining drawings had been set aside and awaited disposal. On the urging of the representatives from the NCSU Libraries, Bell agreed to give this documentation of his career to the Special Collections Research Center so it could be preserved for long-term use.

A week later, a crew from the Libraries' Special Collections Research Center and the Preservation Department arrived at the Water Garden to pick up the Richard Bell Collection. The group of five staff from the Libraries needed to re-roll and pack the drawings to transfer them to the archives. During the process, the crew faced several difficulties presented by the large, unevenly rolled materials.

The drawings were not in protective enclosures, so effort was made to place as many as possible in empty tubes found in storage areas. Many groups of drawings would not fit in the tubes and had to be boxed as carefully as possible to avoid further damage during the move. Some materials were no longer in prime condition and some were folded and could not be unrolled. As is the case with architectural materials, the drawings could not be identified without unrolling them, yet unrolling them outside of the preservation lab risked damage to the materials. However, by the end of the day, approximately 10,000 oversized, architectural drawings and blueprints, representing possibly 500 of Bell's projects, were packed into the Libraries' van and transported to its Satellite Storage facility.

This challenging opportunity attests to the importance of collaboration, ingenuity, and a clear sense of purpose in building an extraordinary research collection of primary source materials. Individuals throughout the Libraries, familiar with the Special Collections Research Center's collecting strategies, alerted staff to the opportunity to acquire this important collection. Special Collections and Preservation staff stepped forward to roll up their sleeves and tackle the problems involved in rescuing this collection and planning for its long-term preservation. Extensive team problem solving was required to pack and move the collection in one short day with one cargo van that appeared much smaller when it was full of the Bell Collection. Throughout, the shared understanding of how important these materials would be to the students and faculty of NC State, as well as scholars around the world, propelled the team to find a solution that would result in long-term access to these materials.

This hands-on commitment to collecting unique, rare, and historical information in support of the teaching, learning, and research mission of the university and Libraries advances the Special Collections Research Center as a distinctive signifier of the Libraries' pursuit of excellence. Special Collections purposely builds its research collections in targeted areas of strength. Particular attention is paid to areas in which NC State has made and is making a marked contribution to the development of a field.

In support of the impact and reputation of the university's College of Design, the NCSU Libraries serves as the repository for important architectural and environmental design materials and collections in the state of North Carolina [see Focus, volume 27.3 (2007): 12-15]. This includes papers, drawings, and records of prominent architectural firms in the state and region; papers and records of prominent architects, with an emphasis on major modernist architects; the papers and drawings of prominent landscape architects; and golf course designers. In this context, the Richard Bell Collection will further distinguish the NCSU Libraries as a major research destination for scholars of the built environment.

The Libraries welcomes support for such important collecting initiatives and encourages other donors to expand the research center's collections. Those who would like to support the processing, growth, preservation, and digitization of these resources should contact Suzanne Weiner, associate vice provost for library advancement atsuzanne_weiner@ncsu.eduor Lisa Carter, head, Special Collections Research Center, at lisa_carter@ncsu.eduor by calling (919) 515-7188.