Welcome to the Tufts Archives, the Pinehurst History Museum

Open to the Public at no charge,
Monday through Friday, 9:30 – 5:00,
and Saturday, 9:30 – 12:30

The Tufts Archives is a non-profit organization that preserves and displays the unique history of Pinehurst, North Carolina, from its founding in 1895 to the present.  The archives, located in a wing of the Given Memorial Library on the Village Green  in Pinehurst, was built in 1975.  Its 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 Foundation, which provided the funding for the archives, and a small endowment.  The archives operates through the generous donations of our patrons, the sale of images and graphics, and specific fundraisers; and is open to the public, researchers, media and scholars free of charge.

The Tufts Archives exhibits photographs, documents, maps and artifacts from the Tufts family and the people who visited, worked and lived in Pinehurst.  Included are James W. Tufts’ marble and silver 19th century Artic Soda Fountain machine and items from the Tufts Silverplate business.  Sales from the designs and patents for the soda machines and the company James Tufts founded, the American Soda Fountain Company, provided the fortune that made Pinehurst possible.

No history of Pinehurst is complete without the story of Donald Ross.  Tufts Archives has many of the original golf course plans of Ross, the famed Scottish-born golf course designer.  Donald Ross was credited with designing or revising approximately 400 courses, including internationally acclaimed Pinehurst No.2.  He lived and worked in the village every season, and later in life year-round, from 1900 until his death in 1948.  The Tufts Archives is the repository for the original plans, field notes and drawings, and course layouts for many Ross-designed courses.

The Tufts Archives has more than 80,000 negatives from the John Hemmer collection.  Hemmer was the official resort photographer for more than four decades from the late 1920s.  His photos promoted Pinehurst on the front, sports and society pages of newspapers across the country.  The maps at the archives include the original drawing for the layout of Pinehurst, created by Frederick Law Olmsted of the firm of Olmsted, Olmsted & Elliot, who designed Central Park in New York, and the Emerald Necklace in Boston among others.  Photographs and plans for some of the original village cottages and buildings are also available.