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Contact: Logan McSwain For Immediate Release
News
Release
The
Charlotte Museum of History Presents: CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Personal Legacies: Surviving the Great Depression, on display through August 25, 2007, at The Charlotte Museum of History, shares personal accounts and universal lessons about how Charlotteans not only survived but thrived during the Depression. This exhibit uses interviews by local author and reminiscence-writing facilitator Robin Edgar. These montages and heartwarming accounts are also included in a book by the same title published by CPCC Press, a division of Central Piedmont Community College. Serving as an exhibition catalog, the book was made possible, in part, through a Regional Artist Project grant Edgar received in January 2006. Part of the grant will also be used to place copies of the book in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools’ media centers and branches of the Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County. WTVI is producing a documentary about the Great Depression in Charlotte that will include several of the participants featured in the exhibit. The stories in the exhibit and the book follow four themes: “Standing Together,” “Working Through,” “Having Faith,” and “Making Do.” Local photographer Jennifer Crickenberger created photographic montages of the storytellers to accompany their stories in the book and exhibit. Through January 2007, Shadows Cast, works by local artist Marilyn Charlat Dix, are featured at the entrance of the exhibit. Each of Dix’s painting s is a combination of paint, mono-prints, manipulated photographs and fiber. The Personal Legacies Project Interviewing about 90 people for the project, Edgar used the interactive process of sense memory from her book, In My Mother’s Kitchen: An Introduction to the Healing Power of Reminiscence, to develop the prosaic element of the project. Rather than simply transcribing their comments in oral history form, Edgar introduces the “characters” and shares narrative accounts based on original interviews. She also includes the participants’ keys to survival and advice for future generations. “Personal Legacies: Surviving the Great Depression is by no means a comprehensive history,” said Edgar. “It is more like eavesdropping on older adults’ conversations, as many of us have done as children. Their stories not only focus on how life was, but on how different individuals from several walks of life survived, and how that survival shaped their lives.” The project will preserve and document cultural history, as it also exemplifies the value and wisdom of our elders. It is meant to celebrate, disseminate and preserve the personal stories of ordinary heroes in an interactive and creative format. Edgar and Crickenberger hope the Personal Legacies: Surviving the Great Depression project will inspire others to capture the stories of everyday, ordinary heroes in their own communities. “The experience of interviewing the survivors of the Great Depression has been enlightening,” said Crickenberger. “As individuals shared an appreciation of the smaller things in life, it gave me a new outlook on human survival.” “Our goal is to add living color to the black and white facts about the Depression,” said Edgar. “Within these stories, there are many lessons to be learned and connections to be made for generations to follow.” Edgar will hold a book signing, Saturday, January 13, 2007, from 1 to 3 p.m. at Park Road Books located in the Park Road Shopping Center at 4139 Park Road Charlotte, NC 28209. For more information contact The Charlotte Museum of History at 704-568-1774, info@charlottemuseum.org or visit www.charlottemusuem.org. The Museum is located at 3500 Shamrock Drive (between Eastway and Sharon Amity). ### General Information The Charlotte Museum of History is Where History Has A Home. The museum, with its core and visiting exhibitions, explores Charlotte-Mecklenburg’s rich history during the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. The museum is home to the oldest surviving structure in Charlotte-Mecklenburg, the Hezekiah Alexander House (circa 1774). Set on eight acres of park like grounds, the museum is also home to the American Freedom Bell, the Backcountry Patriot Statue and historic gardens. In addition, the museum offers: rental space for events and weddings, education programs for adults, schools and families, and membership benefits and opportunities The Charlotte Museum of History is supported, in part, with a Basic Operating Grant form the Arts & Science Council. The Charlotte Museum of History is located at 3500 Shamrock Drive (between Eastway and Sharon Amity). Open Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Free every Sunday, 1 to 5 p.m. Open Mondays from Memorial Day to Labor Day. Guided tours of the Hezekiah Alexander Homesite given daily at 1:15 and 3:15 p.m. For more information call 704 568-1774, email info@charlottemuseum.org or visit www.charlottemusuem.org.CPCC Press The CPCC Press, a division of Central Piedmont Community College, is thrilled to add Robin Edgar’s Personal Legacies: Surviving the Great Depression, Charlotte/Mecklenburg 1929-1939 to its list of publications. The CPCC Press has published twelve books since its inception in late 2003; and before the end of 2006 it will add five more to its credit. The CPCC Press accepts submissions from CPCC faculty and staff as well as select community authors. For more information visit our website: www.cpccservicescorp.com or email cpccpress@cpcc.edu. This project was made possible, in part, through the support of the North Carolina Arts Council, a state agency, the Blumenthal Endowment, and the arts councils in Cabarrus, Cleveland, Gaston, Iredell, Lincoln, Mecklenburg, Rowan, Rutherford, and York (SC) counties. |
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The Charlotte
Museum of History & Hezekiah Alexander Homesite |