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Report for Heritage Center Work Group <br />Final Report <br />March 26, 2010 <br />Barbara E. Taylor, Consultant <br />On June 16, 2009 The Board of County Commissioners of Orange County approved the <br />composition and charge of a Heritage Center Work Group to respond to recommendations <br />from past task forces. Based on the work of three library task forces in 2000, 2004, and 2007 <br />and a subgroup of the 2000 effort (an archival task force) the 2009 Work Group members were <br />charged with providing the Board of County Commissioners with a clear snapshot of the <br />financial and operational requirements needed to support the needs and expectations of such a <br />facility. <br />In October, 2009, this group recommended that a consultant be hired to prepare a detailed <br />plan and do research including: <br />1. Surveying and making a recommendation on available facilities; <br />2. Analyzing collections in the County to determine what items would be appropriate to be <br />housed in the Heritage collection; <br />3. Analyzing and listing needed equipment; <br />4. Analyzing staffing needs; <br />S. Developing a proposed budget; and <br />6. Identifying potential private and public funding sources. <br />I was also charged to assess the interest, intentions and requirements of the Board of Directors <br />and administrative staff of the Historical Foundation of Hillsborough and Orange County <br />(Orange County Historical Museum} about adding Heritage Center functions to its current <br />offerings. <br />Finally I was to ascertain if this Heritage Center would drive tourism into the county. <br />In addition to my charges, there were several other issues that I perceived needed answers. <br />The first was to determine what documents (archival, research materials, secondary sources} <br />were in the hands of the historical agencies. By knowing the size of collections and the kinds of <br />documents I could determine the size of a building and kind of storage that these collections <br />needed. <br />The "business group" of the Heritage Center Work Group had asked that very important <br />question of the historical agencies. Based on the answers they created a Scope Document <br />which they turned over to me. However, the data wasn't complete for several institutions. <br />Upon review of the document very few agencies had what I would consider to be "archives" or <br />unique original documents. It appeared that only Burwell School and the Orange County <br />Historical Museum had original or archival materials, and it wasn't clear the quantity of those <br />