Smithsonian “Save Our Treasures” at Penn May 31

Received from Rosalyn Browne, Penn Center: 

We are proud to announce a special visit to the Penn Center on St. Helena Island from the Smithsonian’s “Save Our Treasures” Project on Sunday, May 31, 2009.  We are inviting all residents of Beaufort to attend this historic event, which is free and open to the public.  The rich history of this region that has been shared with all of us lies in the personal family photographs, collections and artifacts that we all have in our homes and businesses.  Professional experts from the Smithsonian will present free sessions and provide one-on-one consultations on properly caring for these personal prized objects.

We would appreciate your assistance in sharing this invitation with your membership and colleagues.

Observe MayDay Today

“May Day” celebrations have been around a very long time. Beltane bonfires, English maypoles and a host of other activities have marked the day throughout the centuries. Is it Law Day? Labor Day? Protest Day? Military-Might Day? It is all those – and more. On no other day in the calendar do so many different types of worldwide celebrations take place.

For us, the main focus of MayDay is being good stewards of the cultural heritage materials we hold in trust for our community. We plan, we train, we re-think our plan, we train — all in hopes of being able to recover as many of the historically valuable materials we take care of from the past, for today, for tomorrow, and for the future.  

Take at look at images from the SHRAB “Disaster Preparedness and Recovery Workshop” hosted by the BDC at Bluffton Branch this past Wednesday.  Staff and volunteers representing Beaufort County Library, Beaufort County Planning, Bluffton Historical Preservation Society, Inc., University of South Carolina Beaufort, and Heritage Library and folks from sister cultural heritage institutions in Charleston learned about how to prepare and cope when disaster strikes.

Please see the April 28 – May 1 entries on Connections, the BDC blog for more information.  For those who want to click their way, http://beaufortdistrictcollectionconnections.blogspot.com/ will get you to the IMNSHO amazingly informative, Beaufort District Collection Connections web journal. You can also get to Connections via the BCL homepage, the Library Blogs link, and the BDC homepage.