Budgets, Fire Codes, and the Future of Wilson Library

For generations, historians of the South and of North Carolina have enjoyed close familiarity with the Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Home to the Southern Historical Collection, the Southern Folklife Collection, and the North Carolina Collection, Wilson holds some of the riches and most significant collections in southern history. Many a day have I sat in the North Carolina Collection's paneled reading room, an atmosphere so conducive to historical inquiry. Today's Raleigh News & Observer reports that fire codes and budget trouble have put much of Wilson off limits and have made its future uncertain. The University needs $12 million to bring Wilson up to fire code and the money is not forthcoming in these bleak budget times. It would be a tragedy not to save this iconic building.