The Ramsey Center, named after four-time speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives, Liston B. Ramsey, is located on the main floor of Renfro Library on the Mars Hill College campus. It houses archival resources for teaching and scholarship in its Southern Appalachian Archives and Appalachian Reading Room. Our extensive holdings—photographs, manuscripts, sound recordings, and artifacts—document aspects of mountain life and culture of interest to scholars here and abroad, holdings that have been called some of the finest in the southeastern region of the United States. These impressive materials have been and continue to be collected by mountain people dedicated to the preservation of local culture.

The Ramsey Center is central to the college’s regional studies emphasis, and it offers a venue in which the surrounding community and the faculty and students of the college come together for a range of regionally-oriented programs. At the Ramsey Center, the Southern Appalachian region’s rich history and culture come alive through events, festivals, and exhibits, as well as the ongoing work of dedicated scholars, teachers, students, and community members.