Historical societies often don’t last past a few decades. That’s at least what the leadership of the Chapel Hill Historical Society says – but that organization has been able to defy those odds. Founded in 1966, the group researches and documents many aspects of our local history.

Now, however, the society is searching for a key element of its own history: a new home.


Chapel Hill Historical Society Treasurer Thomas Jepsen unlocks a storage door on the bottom floor of the Chapel Hill Public Library. Inside, the shelves are lined with boxes and bound stacks of old newspapers, as well as materials yet to be sorted into the Chapel Hill Historical Society’s archives.

The space is right off a room that community members are more likely to visit if looking for research materials, as the society has an organized collection of books, maps, and files that help provide context to local, regional, and state history.

Richard Ellington, who is the president of the historical society, describes the space as a “one-stop shop” for anyone needing archival materials or answers about town history long before its current residents were around. He said the volunteer group who make up the society enjoy helping preserve and share information long forgotten by some.

“There was basketball before Dean Smith, there was football before Charlie Justice,” Ellington cited as an example. “It didn’t just blow up and become a big deal. So, we’d like to let people know about these things.”

Richard Ellington, the president of the Chapel Hill Historical Society, shows off some of the materials in the group’s collection. The society, which has been staying in the Chapel Hill Public Library, is searching for a new permanent location.

Some of the “Chapel Hill Weekly” kept by the Chapel Hill Historical Society. The group’s archives of the paper date back to the 1920s.

In addition to offering their services to researchers and community members, the Chapel Hill Historical Society has a bevy of partnerships with other groups. The nonprofit has display space in the Orange County History Museum, often checks in on Preservation Chapel Hill projects and works with students and faculty of the UNC School of Information and Library Sciences.

While that Chapel Hill Public Library room is where you can currently find those archives, the group is set to likely move before long. After the Chapel Hill Museum closed and the historical society could no longer operate in the building’s basement, the town library allowed the nonprofit to use an empty area rent-free.

But Ellington says the historical society was made aware the library would eventually look to utilize that area for its own staff.

“We knew upfront it was not permanent,” he says. “[Library leadership] said whenever they got to the point where they needed that space, they’d let us know. And so, they’ve now let us know.”

The room in which the Chapel Hill Historical Society stays is now shared with the library’s Community History Office, leading to a downsizing of the group’s administrative presence in the building.

Director of the Chapel Hill Public Library Susan Brown says the Community History Office’s projects are focused on the storytelling around local history, like recent podcasts, video content, photo exhibits and online programming. She says the staff requires space for interviews, meetings, recording and equipment storage – leading to the request of the historical society to search for new long-term options.

“The historical society is doing important and valuable work, and the Community History Team is doing important and valuable work,” says Brown. “The history team’s space needs continue to grow and the historical society’s arrangement with us was meant to be temporary from the get-go.”

The current layout of the space shared between the Chapel Hill Historical Society and the Chapel Hill Public Library’s Community History Office.

Brown acknowledges that the historical society’s digitization of many of its materials, including old copies of Chapel Hill newspapers, make it so most people can access what they’re searching for online. She also says since the library’s building off Estes Drive was constructed in 2013, it has regularly changed what is housed in the bottom floor spaces to better reflect patrons’ needs.

“Change is the only constant, right?” Brown says. “This is yet one more piece of iterating the Chapel Hill Public Library in response to community interest and evolving approaches to serving that interest, [like] staff needs and space needs.”

The library says in August, it discussed a 12 to 18-month target for the Chapel Hill Historical Society to relocate its collection. Since then, the nonprofit has searched for options elsewhere in town.

But, as Jepsen says, few feasible options have arisen. The society’s operating budget primarily comes from membership fees and modest sales of history books the group publishes, making affordability of space a challenge. With Chapel Hill already at a premium for space, it means the historical society has turned to checking in with businesses and historical sites to gauge interest.

Jepsen notes that moving into a historical building or area creates its own new set of hurdles. He says maintenance and upkeep funds are additional costs he’s not sure the nonprofit can take on.

“That’s an issue,” he says. “So, I’m thinking our future lies as much as possible [in space to feature] our history. If we can find a space to locate our archives and have access to conference room space for people to come in and do research as needed, [it will work.]”

Ellington says the historical society is working to bring its case to the Chapel Hill Town Council, as well as any other groups interested in partnering with his organization. While the task of preserving and providing local history may seem difficult to some, he says it’s something everyone benefits from – residents, visitors and beyond.

“There’s obviously a demand for this in the community, to provide this service,” says Ellington. “There’s a lot of history in this area to be proud of – there’s a lot that we shouldn’t be proud of too, but you take it with the warts. You [must] make sure people understand where they’re living and how it got to be the way it is.”


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