Heritage/History Lifestyle

History Feature: The Robert W. Gray Library Preserves Traditional Crafts

Folk Art Center. Photo by Chelsea Lane

If you want to learn how to carve Mallard decoys, weave corn dollies and dye wool all in the same afternoon, you could browse the internet. Or, you could take a trip to the Robert W. Gray Library.

Located inside the Folk Art Center on the Blue Ridge Parkway, this reading room houses more than 20,000 books, exhibition catalogs, magazines and other materials focused on traditional and contemporary crafts, specifically those with Southern Appalachian roots. “Currently, our library offers an alternative to asking Google questions,” says Janet Wiseman, education director of the Southern Highland Craft Guild.

Robert W. Gray Library. Photo courtesy of the Southern Highland Craft Guild

Although the library opened more than 40 years ago, the collection dates back to the early 20th century, when Guild founders Frances Goodrich and Allen Eaton shared their personal stockpiles of pamphlets and periodicals. Since then, craftspeople from the hills of West Virginia to the hollers of Tennessee have continued donating boxes of obscurely informative texts like Soft People: The Art of Dollcrafting by Loretta Pompilio, Petal Fresh Flowers Made with Wood Fibre by James E. Glick and Leona Shanks, and Nature Crafts with a Microwave by Dawn Cusick.

“So many of the books we have are unusual and not found just anywhere,” says Wiseman. “For example, if you want to learn to knit, we have an interesting collection of books that cover several decades and many trends. You can take 10 of these books, place them side by side on the table and see the evolution of modern knitting.”

The library is also stocked with books on local culture, such as Our Southern Highlanders by travel writer Horace Kephart. The Foxfire books are available, too.

Of course, it’s important to note that these materials are for in-library use only, meaning you can’t check out The Audubon Society Master Guide to Birding and take it with you on a hike. However, visitors are encouraged to sit a spell and read, so long as they limit their screen time.

“In my opinion, people were much more original and interesting before the internet,” says Wiseman. “Limiting the influence of artificial intelligence and creating our own path speaks of the independence of the mountaineer to me.”

The Robert W. Gray Library is located on the second floor of the Folk Art Center (Milepost 382, Blue Ridge Parkway). The library is open seven days a week, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Librarians are present Monday through Friday to assist users. For more information, visit SouthernHighlandGuild.org.

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