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(Southern Partisan) The main reason for the special two-part exhibit “America’s First Museum: 250 Years of Collecting, Preserving and Educating” is to celebrate The Charleston Museum’s anniversary and show off objects from all five of its collections: archaeology, archives, history, natural history and textiles.
The other reason is to bring to light some objects that have been hidden from view.
Only 6,000 pieces are exhibited at any given moment, said Executive Director Carl Borick. That leaves about 2,394,000 objects left in storage, making the museum’s collection noteworthy for its size, variety and historical importance.
To be clear, many of those items are fragments of pottery or glassware or dinnerware recovered at archaeological digs. But that makes the museum’s collection even more remarkable: It is partly the result of nearly a century’s worth of investment in urban archaeology.
It’s also the result of 2½ centuries of donations. Very little is purchased at auction or elsewhere, Borick said.
Perhaps around 30 objects are added to the collection each…
