AHCA Helping Enable AHC Master Plan

The effort to raise money for, and inform, a master plan to guide expansion of the Austin History Center into the neighboring John Henry Faulk Central Library building is exceeding expectations.

The master plan would guide redeveloping and repurposing the 1978 Faulk Central Library building, the adjacent 1933 Library building (currently the AHC), and the flex-space in between. The plan would also support the process for envisioning programming and civic use of an expanded AHC that would be compelling, engaging, attractive, accessible, and pertinent to the diverse history of Austin and its visitors.

The AHCA’s Faulk Expansion Committee has already raised more than $63,000 to help pay for the plan, surpassing the original goal of $50,000. Currently, the AHCA is in conversations with the city of Austin regarding a formal agreement identifying AHCA as a financial partner, which would put AHCA in a better position to mount a community-wide capital campaign to support implementation of the master plan.

In addition to the fundraising efforts, three graduate student interns from Texas State University’s Public History Program, paid for by a grant from the Fowler Law Firm, have been researching master plans and programming at large history and archival centers in the United States; emerging technologies being used by history centers; and other issues that might inform the master plan for AHC expansion. Based on the research thus far, which notes similarities between the AHC and the Atlanta History Center, incoming AHCA President Kent Collins toured the Atlanta History Center in April and a similar fact-finding visit is being planned by AHCA Executive Director Jeff Cohen in July.

To learn more about AHC campus expansion efforts, and to read the first research report from the Texas State University interns on digital engagement, visit the Campus Expansion page of the AHCA website.