Fall happenings at the Mercy Heritage Center, Belmont (Americas)

Collections continue to arrive in Belmont, North Carolina at the newly renovated Mercy Heritage Center. As a stunning example of adaptive reuse of a previous college library, the Mercy Heritage Center is a state of the art archival repository. The Center will serve as the central repository for records of former regional communities throughout the United States.

'Visit' the Mercy Heritage Center.

 
Completed in January, 2011, the Center received its first collection from the Institute office of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas in February.

The Pittsburgh Collection was transferred in April, and included the small writing desk of Mother Frances Warde. The desk was given to her in Ireland 1843 before she left for Pittsburgh.

After a relatively quiet summer the Mercy Heritage Center has become a hub of activity this fall as collections began to arrive in earnest. On October 4, Cincinnati Province and community archives arrived along with Fremont, Ohio. Nashville arrived on the 12th, Knoxville on the 13th and Louisville on the 14th.

The following week the Institute Archivists Committee met at the Heritage Center for its fall meeting. In addition to the usual business items of policy and procedures, the IAC hosted an appreciation celebration for everyone who was involved in the process of creating the Mercy Heritage Center. Architects, engineers, vendors and many members of our own Mercy Family were recognized in this festive evening of fun and food.

After a few days to recover from a busy week, the Mercy Heritage Center staff geared up for the arrival of the Rochester collection on October 27th.

After the successful transfer and shelving of that collection, the staff is waiting with much anticipation for the arrival of the Northeast Community’s collection on November 10. This includes six former regional communities; Providence, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Portland Maine, Albany New York, Connecticut and Vermont. We have been assured by the moving company that this collection will occupy a full 53 foot trailer! This will keep everyone here busy through the holiday season and beyond…… until St. Louis arrives in the spring. These are exciting times indeed. 

Messages to: Grant Gerlich - Archivist, Mercy Heritage Center Belmont, North Carolina