Wilson's Creek National Battlefield Breaks Ground For Library

REPUBLIC, Mo. - The recent 140th battle anniversary program at Wilson's Creek National Battlefield was highlighted with the groundbreaking of the long-awaited library and education facility to be built adjacent and connected to the visitor center.

The 8,000-square-foot building will house the 4,400- volume Mr. and Mr. John K. Hulston Civil War Library, a rare book storage facility, workspaces for on-site researchers, a multi-purpose education room, restrooms, staff offices and a small kitchen.

John Hulston is a local attorney who was instrumental in acquiring land and preserving the battlefield. Superintendent Richard A. Lusardi said the bulk of the Hulston collection, which will be supplemented with another 1500 titles donated by the Hulstons, is Trans-Mississippi.

"We will have the largest Civil War collection within the National Park Service," said Lusardi.

The new library will be more than 2000 square feet and have shelves for 10,000 volumes, computer ports for researchers, and a public computer. Rare books will be stored in a climate-controlled area. The current library in the 1980s visitor center is less than 300 square feet and very cramped.

The battlefield receives an average of 200,000 visitors a year, including more than 8,000 students. The library is used daily by walk-in visitors and by e-mail inquiries. "We anticipate the library will serve as a regional resource for students, historians, writers, genealogists and others," Lusardi said.

He said the new meeting room will accommodate more than 100 people, allowing it to be used for school groups and programs. The visitor center auditorium will continue to show the park orientation video.

The construction project is a partnership between the National Park Service and the Wilson's Creek National Battlefield Foundation. The Foundation actively campaigned in raising money for the building.

The Foundation is in its 51st year and is one of the oldest friends groups associated with the National Park Service. The 40-year-old park has grown to 1750 acres of critical battlefield area since its founding.

The Foundation saw the need to expand the visit center and led the fundraising effort. Lusardi said the federal gov-ernment put in $500,000 and the foundation matched it with $700,000.

Lusardi is enthused about these "exciting times" and lists some of the factors that will make Wilson's Creek National Battlefield special: a battlefield where the action took place, new displays of artifacts from the battlefield, and volumes of written records. "What a terrific combination," he said.

After a contract is awarded, construction should take a little over a year. Lusardi expects it will take two to three months to get bids and construction will begin during the winter.

"If it were not for the work of the Foundation and fundraising this would not be possible," he said. "This is a wonderful legacy."

Wilson's Creek National Battlefield preserves and commemorates the site of the first major battle of the Civil War in the West, Aug. 10, 1861. The bloody Confederate victory focused national attention on the crisis in Missouri, leading to greater federal military action.

To make a donation or learn more about the Foundation write P.O. Box 8163, Springfield, MO 65801, (417) 864-3041.
For more information about the battlefield park, call (417) 732-2662 or visit the NPS site www.nps.gov