Historical Commission welcomes new assistant director
Max Everhart has joined the Darlington County Historical Commission as assistant director Photo by Samantha Lyles
By Samantha Lyles, Staff Writer, slyles@newsandpress.net
Visitors to the Darlington County Historical Commission are being greeted by a new face as newly hired Max Everhart joins the team as assistant director.
A native of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Everhart holds degrees in English and Creative Writing from UNC Greensboro and University of Alabama at Birmingham. He taught English for ten years at Northeastern Technical College, Coker College, and Jefferson State Community College prior to joining the Commission. During graduate school in Alabama, Everhart also worked at the renowned Hoover Public Library.
In addition to helping patrons and balancing accounts, Everhart will employ his writing skills to inform the public about new discoveries, acquisitions, events, and exhibits through the Historical Commission’s website, social media, and newsletter. Everhart says he grew up with a love of history, mostly imparted by his father, an avid student and reader of history.
“I’ve always loved history. If I was to go back to school, I’d probably be a history major,” says Everhart. “After my dad got out of Vietnam, he used the G.I. Bill to get two degrees in history, and then got a PhD at the University of Wisconsin…so I grew up with thousands of history books in my house.”
During his first month at the Historical Commission, Everhart says director Brian Gandy has kept him busy learning the archives, meeting patrons and helping them find family histories and land records. He says he’s already finding it easy to get lost in the endless stores of engrossing information housed in the Commission.
“If you can’t find something interesting here by just opening up a random drawer, there’s probably something wrong with you,” says Everhart. “I have a writing background, so I’m always interested in personal stories…I always look for the personal side of history, so that’s fascinating to me.”
Gandy says Everhart’s presence at the Commission will free him up to spend more energy on one of his primary goals: getting out in the community and gathering more donations of historical records, artifacts, and images to preserve in the archives.
“Last month, we had a ninety-five percent increase in patron traffic. As our patron traffic increases, so does our need for quality help – somebody who’s able to make decisions about donations right off the bat as far as what we take or don’t take, and who can help patrons find the records they need,” says Gandy.
The Darlington County Historical Commission is located at 204 Hewitt Street in Darlington. They are open weekdays from 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. For more information, call (843) 398-4710.
