The Elling Eide Center

The Elling O. Eide Center is a research library and nature preserve overlooking Little Sarasota Bay in Sarasota, Florida. As a private non-profit facility operated and funded independently from the state government, the Center fills a unique role in the cultural and scholarly landscape of its coastal Florida location. The Eide Library sits on seventy-two acres of natural habitat with a rich assortment of native and exotic species. It is dedicated to the study of classical Chinese humanities and social sciences. The comprehensive holdings, amassed by Eide over six decades, contain rare books, manuscripts, and artwork. This significant resource is actively augmented by new acquisitions. The library is housed in a building for which architect Guy Peterson won an American Institute of Architects Honor Award of Excellence. 

Since opening its doors in the fall of 2016, the Elling O. Eide Center has hosted conferences and visiting fellowships that provide scholars with opportunities to research Chinese and East Asian culture and history on a pristine nature preserve. It also holds interpretative tours of the grounds for the public, and programs through which members of conservationist societies can pursue research. The Center’s public lecture series extends beyond premodern Asia to feature topics such as US-China relations, the indigenous-American and later history of the Sarasota region, and the local ecosystems.