From scrapbooks to the cloud: Shelia Bruce’s legacy of preservation: Vestavia Hills’ longest-serving archivist passes the baton — but not the passion.

Inside a small room tucked into the lowest floor of the Library in the Forest, Shelia Bruce is telling stories. She’s surrounded by the scrapbooks, maps and relics that tell the story of how a steep ridge once called “unlivable” became Vestavia Hills — one of the most admired cities in Alabama.

There’s a faded original city map rolled across a table, shelves full of old photo albums, and newspaper clippings from every major civic milestone organized in filing cabinets. Directly behind her sits a damaged, life-sized plaster statue — a relic that looks like it was hauled out of an ancient Roman ruin. And in a way, it was.

Bruce has spent the past 14 years as president of the Vestavia Hills Historical Society, and nearly four decades before that as an officer or volunteer. In June, she step