The Jacksonville (Florida) Historical Society announced Monday it will purchase the Old St. Luke’s Hospital complex and convert it into “a premier research and exhibition center.”
The $5 million project, which includes about $600,000 for the purchase of two buildings and 1.2 acres of land, will enable the society to consolidate its scattered archives, provide lots of exhibit space and create a place where the society can teach people how to preserve historic artifacts, said Jerry Spinks, the society’s president. It will house the offices and library of the Southern Genealogical Exchange Society.
While the archives will be kept on the hospital’s second floor, the first floor will have exhibit space and a book store. That store will also sell supplies needed to preserve old family photos, papers and other artifacts. The first floor will also include a studio equipped to record oral history. The third floor is unfinished but could eventually be turned into exhibit space.
You can read more in the Jacksonville.com web site at http://www.jacksonville.com/news/metro/2009-08-10/story/jacksonville_historical_society_buys_old_st_lukes_to_expand.
