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Why Collect?
Museums collect for various stated purposes,
but in the end all the objects and documents serve the same purpose – to
tell a story. Whether the items are on exhibit in a museum, serve as part of
a historic home or farm environment, or sit on shelves and in databases
ready to provide information to researchers, they are all collected and
preserved because of what they can tell us. For that reason, the collectors
try to preserve, along with the objects, as much information about them and
about the people and purposes associated with them as possible. Where this
has not been done in the past, or where information is not available from
the donor, museum curators and visiting researchers work to find out as much
as they can. This research may go into exhibit text, educational programs,
or publications, and is available through catalogs and databases to share
with others.
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What do we collect?
The Charlotte Museum of History’s
mission and vision statements both emphasize the regional focus of
our educational and preservation efforts. This guides us in
determining what to collect and what not to collect. The always
growing permanent collection is currently composed of about 7,000
artifacts and more than 6,000 archival items. The artifact
collection is quite varied, covering furnishings, textiles, tools,
clothing, toys and numerous household items from as early as the
Carolinas' colonial era to the late 20th Century. In addition there is a small,
un-catalogued collection of archaeological artifacts that were found
on our historic site. The museum's archives houses collections of
historic documents and publications, photographs, postcards and
genealogical papers, all of which bear evidence of the region's past
and its people. More than 3,000 collections items are displayed in
our permanent galleries and in the Hezekiah Alexander House, or used
in changing exhibits. The remainder are kept in secure
climate-controlled storage areas, carefully housed according to
current museum standards.
A computerized collections database is used to keep track of where
things are and what condition they are in; it also contains a record
of any research that has been done about the items. |
This 18th Century
green silk calash would have been worn by a woman to protect her
elaborate hairstyle from harm during travel.
Its construction over hoops
allowed it to be collapsed flat when not in use. It has been
placed on a custom made padded mount that may be used for either
storage or exhibition.
The calash was donated by a
local resident who also serves as a Museum volunteer and
consultant expert on Colonial artifacts.
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What about hands-on items?
The museum keeps an education collection,
separate from the permanent collection, of items that may be handled during
educational programs and presentations. These may be real historic artifacts
or high-quality reproductions. The real artifacts might be duplicates, or be
from the wrong area, or might not be in good enough condition to warrant
keeping them permanently. Rather than being thrown away, they are put to
good use as long as they last, enabling the Museum to fulfill our mission of
using objects for education while still preserving our permanent collection.
| El Dominante, the cannon mounted in front of the museum, has a name denoting power; yet it is a symbol of vanquishment. A much tinier artifact in the museum's collection, a small silver and gold charm engraved on one side with “Remember the Maine,” and on the other with “Cuba must be free,” expresses the sentiments responsible for sending a young man named Lieutenant William Ewen Shipp to travel from Charlotte to Cuba, where he died in |
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the assault on San Juan Hill during the Spanish-American War. A monument to honor him stands on the grounds of the old United States Post Office in Charlotte, where it was once accompanied by el Dominante.
Spanish cannons such as ours adorn parks, monuments, buildings and campuses across the victors' land. The Presidio in San Francisco. The University of Kentucky. The Charlotte Museum of History. Our database entry for the cannon reads, “This rare Spanish cannon was cast in Barcelona, Spain on the 20th of May in 1769. After 129 years of service for Spain, it was captured in 1898 by American Forces in the West Indies during the Spanish-American War. Two years later it was presented to the City of Charlotte by the President of the United States. At first the cannon was mounted on the grounds of the old Post Office, then for many years it was on the lawn of the D.H. Hill School; later it was installed uptown and in 1999 was moved to its present location.”
We drive by the cannon every day without hearing the flat hard boom, seeing and smelling the sulfurous stinking smoke, as the mighty bronze barrel jerks back on its carriage and sends hard round death out amongst the enemies of Spain. The enemies that once included ourselves, as well as Lieutenant Shipp. |
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