Livingstone College

By Kimberly Harrington Livingstone News Service The National Park Service announced Monday that Livingstone College received a $500,000 grant to help rehabilitate its Andrew Carnegie Library. The grant award, funded through the Historic Preservation Fund and administered by the National Park Service (NPS), was announced Aug. 27 as part of $8.6 million in total grant funding to support projects that preserve significant historic structures on the campuses of 18 Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). “This award will enable Livingstone College to repair the roof, update the HVAC and electrical systems, and install more connections for high speed internet,” said Dr. Carolyn Duncan, vice president of Academic Affairs and author of the grant. “We will bring in 21st Century conveniences for our public while retaining the historical grandness that makes this building so special.” Laura Johnson, library director, had been looking for funding grants to preserve the 110-year-old library for several years. In 2017, Livingstone College President Dr. Jimmy R. Jenkins, Sr., formed the Federal Grants and Contracts Committee, which began seeking a funding project. The committee and Johnson started working together in the fall of 2017, collecting historical information, quotes from contractors and input from people such as Karen Hobson of the Historic Salisbury Foundation. “Hobson loves historical buildings and wants to preserve them for the heritage they add to the community,” Duncan said. Duncan, who is also a Livingstone College graduate, led the committee in crafting the winning proposal. “It was a labor of love,” she said. “It …