A PLACE IA AISTOAY: 







By Kathy Hart 



It's an unlikely location 

 for one of the largest collec- 

 tions of North Caroliniana 

 in the Old North State. 



Everything from valu- 

 able first-edition books to 

 glass negatives to bumper 

 stickers is stored in this 

 wood-frame library that sits 

 atop pilings across the harbor 

 from the Manteo waterfront. 



Known as the Outer 

 Banks History Center, the 

 library is "superglued," says 

 curator Wynne Dough, to the 

 Elizabeth II Visitor Center 

 on Ice Plant Island. 



And there's just a hint of 

 irony in his voice when he 

 mentions that the depository 

 sits over a marsh — not 

 exactly an ideal location for 

 a collection of old books, 

 papers, photographs and 

 paintings that could fall 

 victim to fungal outbreaks 

 caused by dampness. 



But the modern conveniences of 

 air-conditioners, heat pumps and 

 humidity controllers usually hold the 

 building's temperature and relative 

 humidity within a range that keeps the 

 center's valuable collections safe and 

 fungus-free. 



And, like me, you may be wonder- 

 ing about the building's vulnerability to 

 hurricanes. Dough says the the center is 

 elevated above the 100-year flood level. 



All of these precautions, plus the 

 center's elaborate fire-extinguishing 

 system, should make Dough sleep a 

 little easier at night. But the dedicated 



Photos from the Aycock Brown Collection 



curator always worries about the 

 collection entrusted to his care be- 

 cause he knows how much history is 

 housed within the center's walls. Most 

 notable are several first editions of 

 North Carolina histories, the oldest 

 being John Lawson's History of . 

 Carolina, originally published in 

 1714. 



Only seven years old, the Outer 

 Banks History Center first opened its 

 doors in 1988. The center was built to 

 receive the personal library and papers 

 of historian and author David Stick, an 

 Outer Banks native. Stick has written 

 or edited 1 1 books on North Carolina 



history; two of these, Grave- 

 yard of the Atlantic and The 

 Outer Banks of North Caro- 

 lina, have remained in print 

 more than 30 years. 



In writing his books, 

 Stick amassed the state's 

 third largest collection of 

 North Caroliniana, and his 

 personal papers span six 

 decades of journalism and 

 historical research. 



In addition to his own 

 work, Stick also donated 324 

 paintings by his father, the 

 late conservationist and 

 renowned artist Frank Stick. 



On the basis of these 

 collections, the N.C. Divi- 

 sion of Archives built the 

 Outer Banks History Center. 

 But that was just the begin- 

 ning. Since then, Dough, the 

 center's first and only cura- 

 tor, has been adding to the 

 collection as fast as he can 

 beg or buy new holdings. 

 In September 1988, the Dare 

 County Tourist Bureau donated more 

 than 17,000 black-and-white photo- 

 graphs taken by Aycock Brown, a 

 tireless promoter of the Outer Banks 

 and a prolific photographer. Also 

 deposited within the stacks are collec- 

 tions from the Elizabeth II Historic 

 Site, the Cape Hatteras National 

 Seashore and the Cape Lookout 

 National Seashore. 



"We have books and periodicals 

 like the state library and manuscripts 

 like state archives," Dough says. "But 

 our collection is unique; there's noth- 

 ing quite like it in North Carolina." 



1 6 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 1995 



