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The Elling Eide Center, a private research archive and preserve, sits on 70 acres facing Little Sarasota Bay that has been owned by the Eide family since the 1930s.
Located near U.S. 41, Palmer Ranch and several shopping centers between Sarasota and Venice, it was long sought by developers. Elling Eide resisted those efforts; he also had a big battle with Sarasota County over zoning, and even ran unsuccessfully for a County Commission seat.
A noted Sinologist who died in 2012, Eide amassed what is believed to be the largest archive of ancient Chinese literature in the country, as well as an impressive collection of Chinese art and sculpture. But it was scattered in eight old buildings on the 70 acres until archivist Cindy Peterson started to catalog and curate it in 2008.