About the Foundation

From its earliest days, the Village of Pinehurst has had a lending library. For nearly seventy years, the library was provided through the benevolence and goodwill of the Tufts family. The location and number of volumes varied season by season, and in 1963-1964, the library had dwindled to a few shelves, and was located in the Casino building. Then, at the urging of Eric Nelson, Sarah Given Larson was moved to create a lasting treasure in honor and memory of her parents, John L. and Irene Heinz Given. With her endowment, and a gift of land on the Village Green by Richard S. Tufts, the Given Memorial Library was born.

Ten years later, the Tufts Archives was created through an endowment from the Tufts Family Foundation and another gift of land, both engineered by Richard S. Tufts. The archives, located in a wing of the Given Memorial Library on the Village Green in Pinehurst was built in 1975. It’s creation was spurred by Richard S. Tufts, grandson of the founder of the Village, James Walker Tufts. Richard Tufts and other family members created the Tufts Family Foundation, which provided the funding for the archives, and a small endowment. The Tufts Archives preserves and displays the unique history of Pinehurst, North Carolina, from its founding in 1895, to the present, and is open to the public, researchers, media, and scholars at no charge.

The Village of Pinehurst took ownership of the management of the Given Memorial Library and Tufts Archives in April 2022. What was formerly the library’s Board of Directors has become the Given Tufts Foundation, which continues to operate as a non-profit to allow tax-deductible donations to be received. We work closely with the library and archives to understand their needs and to maintain relationships with its dedicated patrons.