Before we launch into our list of events for January, February, March, and April, an important announcement:
The Friends of Buncombe County Special Collections are proud to announce the official launch of Come Hell or High Water, a community-driven project to document and share Helene’s historic impact on Western North Carolina from the perspectives of those affected.
Members of the public are invited to upload photos, videos, written testimonies, and audio files to the digital memory bank at helenehistory.omeka.net. We encourage you to add any material that is meaningful to you in remembering Helene. This online portal, alongside other project components, is intended to serve as a space for community reflection and healing, an opportunity to shape how our collective history is remembered, and a resource for future researchers to gain a deeper understanding of Tropical Storm Helene’s impact. Visit helenehistory.omeka.net to view items already available in the digital memory bank as well as contribute items of your own.
This is a community-led project, and it is only possible thanks to the efforts of volunteers and patrons like you. Get in touch or attend a community volunteer meeting to learn how you can get involved further as part of the Friends of BCSC.
In addition to Special Collections events, you can visit the Buncombe County Public Libraries Event Calendar to find programs relating to recovering and building resilience as a community after Helene throughout the 12 BCPL branches, such as group conversations, writing workshops, art exhibitions, grant assistance, and ways to support vulnerable community members. Resources to support Helene survivors continue to be listed at BuncombeCounty.org/Helene.
Schedule changes: Please note that due to staffing shortages as a result of temporary disaster relief assignments, BCSC continues to be closed daily from noon to 1pm for lunch. From Saturday, April 5 through Saturday, April 12, BCSC will be open by appointment only. All Buncombe County Public Libraries will have holiday closures on Friday, April 18 and Saturday, April 19. Thank you for planning your visit accordingly!
Exhibition: ReClaim the RAD
Exhibition opening Tuesday, January 21, 6:00pm
On view from Tuesday, January 21 – Wednesday, March 12
Special Collections Reading Room, Pack Memorial Library, 67 Haywood Street
ReClaim the RAD: Flood Debris Resurrected into Art features local artists who have each created unique works using materials salvaged from the flood’s wreckage including battered street signs, broken antiques, old rail car sidings, aluminum, and wood debris.
Through creativity and resilience, they’ve transformed debris into impactful artworks that tell stories of destruction, fortitude and hope.
ReClaim the RAD was created by and originally hosted at the Czart Gallery from November 2023 – January 2024. Selected works now on view include artwork by All Caps Murals Team, Gus Cutty, Rob Czar & Ashevillish, Sennyo Senn, Rachel Stark, and Amar Stewart. The exhibition will be on view at the library from Tuesday, January 21 – Wednesday, March 12.
Asheville Museum of History: Opening of The Photography of Andrea Clark, PART II
Saturday, February 22, 11am – 5pm
Asheville Museum of History, Smith-McDowell House, 283 Victoria Road, Asheville
We’d also like to highlight this event coming soon from our friends at the Asheville Museum of History!
In February, AMoH will celebrate the official start of Part II of the exhibition The Photography of Andrea Clark: Remembering Asheville’s East End Community. Part II will display a new series of featured photographs from the Andrea Clark Collection, on loan from Buncombe County Special Collections.
Community Day is a free event and will include special activities and programming. Please contact the Asheville Museum of History for more information.
YMI Cultural Center: Black History Brunch & Grand Re-Opening
Thursday, February 27, 11am – noon (brunch) and 4 – 6pm (re-opening)
YMI Cultural Center Auditorium, 39 South Market Street
Another event from our friends and partners—we look forward to the YMI’s long-awaited grand reopening and ribbon-cutting ceremony! This special event will mark the beginning of a new chapter for the YMI Cultural Center, oe of the oldest Black cultural centers in the United States.
Plus, the same morning, the YMI and RSAA will gather for a brunch conversation to discuss the Labor Movements in the African American experience. This is the national theme for the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, formed under the father of Black History Month, Carter G. Woodson.
As part of the Black Asheville History Project, BCSC has been working with YMI staff and volunteers to maintain and share their archives. For the past two years, the records of the YMI were housed at the Western Regional Archives and Pack Memorial Library, and were recently returned to the YMI.
Land of the Sky 101 Book Club
Saturday, March 1, 10:30am – noon
Special Collections Reading Room, Pack Memorial Library, 67 Haywood Street
Land of the Sky 101 is a community learning circle for those who are interested in the history of Asheville, Buncombe County, and Western North Carolina.
This four-part series of readings and discussions is modeled after the themes of the exhibit An Incomplete History of Buncombe County in the BCSC reading room. Readers can choose from two selections; one light read like a novel, essay collection, or poetry; and one rigorous non-fiction read written by an expert on the subject. Pick one or both! The choice is yours!
Each session is facilitated by a Buncombe County Special Collections librarian or special guest who shares expert knowledge, additional resources, and sets the context for the conversation.
For our first session of the 2025 cohort, we will be reading and discussing The French Broad by Wilma Dykeman and I Am One of You Forever by Fred Chappell.
Book Launch: Stronger than the Storm: Hurricane Helene in Western North Carolina
Tuesday, March 4, 6:00pm
Special Collections Reading Room, Pack Memorial Library, 67 Haywood Street
Celebrate the launch of Stronger Than The Storm: Hurricane Helene in Western North Carolina!
A book discussion will include editor Shelley McKechnie, writers, and artists. This free event will be held in Pack Memorial Library’s Special Collections Reading Room in partnership with Malaprop’s Bookstore / Cafe.
Copies of the book can be purchased from Malaprop’s Bookstore. All book profits benefit local recovery efforts.
Author Panel: Black Mountain College and Mexico (BMC/MX)
Thursday, March 6, 4:30pm
Lord Auditorium, Pack Memorial Library, 67 Haywood Street
Authors Diana Stoll and Eric Baden will present on the collaborative work informing their book, Black Mountain and Mexico.
Over the course of its short life, Black Mountain College (1933–1957) was a hotbed of creativity, welcoming and inspiring artists and intellectuals from around the world. In the same period, Mexico’s innovations and age-old traditions—in visual arts, poetry, music, performance, design, and more—dovetailed with global impulses toward modernism. Learn about the crucial ties Black Mountain College formed with Mexico during this inspired era.
Women of WWI in Fact and Fiction
Tuesday, March 18, 6:00pm
Pack Memorial Library, 67 Haywood Street
Did you know that Asheville was home to two brave women who served on the frontlines of WWI?
Join us to learn the true stories of Anne Penland and Madelon “Glory” Hancock, plus hear from a local author about her novel in progress inspired by their stories.
Southern Appalachian Storytelling with Michael Reno Harrell
Saturday, April 5, 3:00pm – 4:00pm
RESCHEDULED for May 24
Lord Auditorium, Pack Memorial Library, 67 Haywood Street
Michael Reno Harrell will be telling stories in his signature Southern Appalachian style at Pack Memorial Library. “Easy” is as good an adjective to describe Michael’s style as any. His personal experience based stories certainly are easy to listen to. And easy depicts his style of telling as well. He gives his audience space to absorb and to savor… and to laugh! Michael is a master of taking his listeners back to when we all remember life as easy…back to childhood. Back to the days of bicycles, fireworks, piano lessons, good dogs and bad school lunches. Join us for an afternoon of stories and music, listeners of all ages are welcome. Register in advance to reserve a seat!
Will the Real Foster Sondley Please Stand Up?
Tuesday, April 15, 6:00pm
Lord Auditorium, Pack Memorial Library, 67 Haywood Street
In 1931, lawyer, collector, and historian F.A. Sondley died, leaving his massive collection of books, papers, and “brick-a-brac” in the public trust.
But who was Sondley—and why should we still care?
In this National Library Month presentation, two local historians will share their research on the man, his library, and the influence he still holds today.
Swannatopia Presents: A Discussion on Helene Tree Failures
Saturday, April 26, 2:00pm – 4:00pm
Special Collections Reading Room, Pack Memorial Library, 67 Haywood Street
ISA Certified Master Arborist April Wilson and colleagues will share tree failure data collected post Helene, following a “crankie” performance by artist Primrose Coke and a report back from Experimental Forest Club/friends of the woods.
This event is presented in conjunction with Swannatopia’s exhibition “And the green grass grows all around and around and the green grass grows all around” and the Come Hell or High Water community memory project, documenting the historic impact of Helene on Western North Carolina.
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