Tucked into the back corner of the fourth floor in the South Carolina State Museum, the 35-year-old museum has created an exhibit about itself.
In celebration of its anniversary — 35 years in a former textile mill off Huger Street and 50 years since being commissioned by the state — the museum put together The Story of Us, an exhibition of 50 pieces from the museum's permanent collection.
Among the items on display? A pin- and signature-laden lab coat worn by director of audience engagement, Tom "Mr. Tom" Falvey, a first-edition Black Barbie, which was designed by Spartanburg native Elizabeth "Kitty" Perkins and the Turpin Bible, a piece of little-known Lowcountry history that lists the names of more than 30 enslaved people freed by William Turpin, a South Carolinian enslaver turned abolitionist.
Paired with items — like the pair of scissors used to cut the ribbon during the museum's 1988 opening — that represent where the museum has come from, its latest project is indicative of where it's going.
The S.C. State Museum's The Story of Us exhibit features about 50 pieces from the permanent collection and is aimed at chronicling the museum's 35-year history, as well as previewing its future. (Photo by Zoe Nicholson/Staff)
The exhibition's four themes, according to Collections Outreach Manager Timia Thompson, are building the facility, building the collection, building a community and building the future.
"We thought about building a future together, moving forward, getting more community input in our galleries and having listening sessions that dealt with that Reimagine Experience process and thinking, 'What does the next phase look like for the South Carolina State Museum?'" Thompson explained.
The Reimagine Experience project, in its early stages, will be a complete overhaul of the museum's permanent exhibits, which occupy the four-floor building, where only about 5 percent of items in the museum's collection are displayed.
Memorabilia from the S.C. State Museum's opening on Oct. 29, 1988 is displayed in The Story of Us, an exhibit showcasing the museum's 35-year history, with a nod towards its future. (Photos by Zoe Nicholson/Staff)
The purpose is to expand the stories that get told at the museum — who, what and where in South Carolina, yes, but with a purposeful eye towards people and communities who have long-been ignored.
"Since 1988, we've never done a major overhaul of our permanent gallery spaces," said Paul E. Matheny III, director of collections and curatorial affairs. "So this project is really looking at the the entire permanent gallery area, how to tie those stories together, how to tell new stories that we haven't been filling in?"
Part of that effort includes telling more expanded and empathetic stories of Black South Carolinians and other non-White demographics, according to Ramon Jackson, the museum's first curator of African American culture and history in a decade.
The early work in doing that includes purchasing items like the Turpin Bible and Black Barbie — which the museum acquired in a bidding war on eBay — but will also include community outreach and new research so the museum can adequately tell the stories of South Carolina's Black community and its history.
The Turpin Bible is a recently acquired artifact from South Carolina's Lowcountry that includes a list of people freed by enslaver-turned-abolitionist Charles Turpin during the 1800s. (Photo by Zoe Nicholson/Staff)
Jackson's predecessor, Elaine Nichols, expanded much of the museum's African American Collection, but those items have rarely made it out to the exhibit floors. But Jackson and the team at the museum want to change that with the Reimagine Project.
"We have had a series of listening sessions with communities all over the state to get a sense of strengths and places where we fell a little short, opportunities for expanding our collections, telling more inclusive and diverse stories and really connecting with communities in ways that we haven't," Jackson said.
The overhaul comes as museums across the world are re-interpreting how they tell and choose the histories they share with visitors. Locally, Historic Columbia has led the way when it comes to progressive reinterpretation, beginning with the Museum of the Reconstruction Era, formerly the Woodrow Wilson Family Home Museum.
Ramon Jackson, S.C. State Museum's Curator of African American Culture and History, discusses the Turpin Bible, a recently acquired artifact from South Carolina's Lowcountry. (Photo by Zoe Nicholson/Staff)
Though still in its first phase, Jackson has already begun work to reimagine the museum experience when it comes to Black history.
"We got rid of the mannequins. We had these mannequins — they had been around since 1988 — and they were intended to depict an enslaved family," Jackson explained. "Well, I felt like that doesn't do justice to the people that have always been here."
Jackson said the museum replaced the mannequins with historical photos and artwork from the permanent collection. "We're thinking of ways to reinterpret the story of the African American experience here at the museum," he concluded.
The Reimagine Experience will be a herculean effort and likely take several months or years, but The Story of Us is open now at the S.C. State Museum at 301 Gervais St.
