The Charlotte Museum of History

Past Exhibits

The Carolina Mountains: Photography of Margaret Morley - An Invitation to the White House - ToyTime

Personal Legacies: Surviving the Great Depression - American Visions of Liberty & Freedom - A Focus on SPORTS

Faces & Stories: Southern Writers - Kites to Kitty Hawk Vecinos/Neighbors

Stitched from the Soul: The Farmer-James Collecion of African-American Quilts - Main Streets of Our State

Powerful Persuaders: World War II Posters - Soaring Symbols: Eagles in World Culture - The Faces of Our State

Highways & Byways of Our State - Soldiers’ Stories: War in the First Person

Exhibits 1976-1997

Return to Main Exhibits Page

The Carolina Mountains: Photography of Margaret Morley

June 27, 2009 to December 30, 2009

Margaret Morley spent twelve years in the early 1900s exploring western North Carolina and recording scenes of everyday life in captivating photographs and delightful prose. Her resulting book, The Carolina Mountains, is still considered one of the best books about the region. Transformed into a traveling exhibit, Morley’s words and images provided an intimate look at a way of life that has vanished in the high country. The exhibit featured more than fifty prints made from photographs in this collection, and also included additions from the museum’s own collection.

Exhibit Images - Rack Card

An Invitation to the White House

October 25, 2008 to March 4, 2009

Displayed in conjunction with the 2008 Presidential Election, this exhibit looked at state dining at the White House with reproduction presidential china and actual dinner invitations and menus. Also included were a collection of inaugural invitations and memorabilia spanning eight decades. A traveling exhibit from the White House Historical Association explored the construction of the West Wing and working in the West Wing.

Exhibit Images - Related Event - Related Programming - Rack Card

White House Historical Association Website

ToyTime

September 7, 2007 to July 27, 2008

ToyTime was an interactive exhibit of giant-size folk toys in which visitors could “play” with large-scale handcrafted wood versions of the most popular kinetic folk toys throughout history. Sixteen interactive toy stations explored the history, mechanics, and fun of the Whimmy Diddle, Jacob’s Ladder, Twirling Acrobat, Tightrope Walker, Pecking Chickens, Lunging Lumberjacks, and other tumbling, flipping and climbing toys. ToyTime came from SciWorks Science Center and was the brainchild of Tom Wilson, director of exhibits there. A special display of historic toys from the museum’s collection were also presented in conjunction with the exhibit.

Exhibit Images - Press Release - Rack Card - SciWorks Website

Personal Legacies: Surviving the Great Depression

September 30, 2006 to August 12, 2007

Personal Legacies: Surviving the Great Depression shared personal accounts and universal lessons about how Charlotteans not only survived but also thrived during the Depression. This exhibit used interviews by local author and reminiscence-writing facilitator Robin Edgar. Local photographer Jennifer Crickenberger created photographic montages of the storytellers to accompany their stories. The exhibit panel montages were included in a book by the same title published by CPCC Press. Serving as an exhibition catalog, the book was made possible, in part, through a Regional Artist Project grant Edgar received. In conjunction with the exhibit, WTVI produced a documentary about the Great Depression in Charlotte that included several of the participants featured in the exhibit. Through January 2007, Shadows Cast, works by local artist Marilyn Charlat Dix, were featured at the entrance of the exhibit.

Exhibit Image - Press Release - Rack Card - Flyer - In the News

American Visions of Liberty & Freedom

February 4, 2006 to May 28, 2006

The exhibition was organized by the Virginia Historical Society, funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, and based on the book Liberty and Freedom by David Hackett Fischer. It showed how generations of Americans, from Revolutionary times to the present, have drawn, carved, and quilted symbols to represent their sometimes-conflicting definitions of liberty and freedom. American Visions of Liberty & Freedom depicted the stories behind the symbols. By looking at these symbols and icons, such as the Statue of Liberty, Uncle Sam, and the American Flag, we are able to see that these have been both unifying themes and sources of tension in American History. The exhibit included about 200 historic artifacts from lenders across the U.S.

Exhibit Images - Press Release - Related Programming - Flyer - Exhibit Website

A Focus on SPORTS

January 14, 2006 to August 15, 2006

This exhibition of 38 photos, from the photo library of the Charlotte Observer, revealed the Charlotte region’s love of both amateur and professional sports, as participants and fans. The museum partnered with The Charlotte Observer, and award winning and N.C. Sports Hall of Fame member Charlotte Observer Sports columnist Ron Green, Sr. was the guest curator.

Exhibit Images - N.C. Sports Hall of Fame Website

Faces & Stories: Southern Writers

October 1, 2005 to January 5, 2006

Faces & Stories: A Portrait of Southern Writers was a photography exhibit featuring portraits by internationally acclaimed photographer Curt Richter, who was initially commissioned by Louis D. Rubin, Jr. to photograph the founding members of the Fellowship of Southern Writers. Over a seven-year period, he photographed over two hundred writers associated with the South. Sixty of these portraits were presented in this traveling exhibit, from the Southern Arts Federation.

Exhibit Images - Exhibit Website

Kites to Kitty Hawk

April 30, 2005 to September 2005

This traveling exhibit from the Drachen Foundation chronicled kite innovations and their inventors as they pursued the goal of piloted flight. From early pioneers in Europe and the United States, the exhibit celebrated the final achievement of the Wright Brothers first flight at Kitty Hawk. The exhibit included seven historical kite reproductions. The museum augmented the exhibit with video, interactives, and contemporary kites.

Exhibit Images - Drachen Foundation Website

Vecinos/Neighbors

January 15, 2005 to August 21, 2005

This bilingual photographic exhibition showcased 20 members of Charlotte’s Latino community with images by local Latina photographer, Catalina Kulczar.

Exhibit Images

Stitched from the Soul: The Farmer-James Collection of African-American Quilts

October 1, 2004 to March 26, 2005

Most of the sixty quilts in this collection were made in North Carolina dating from the time of the Civil War until just after World War II, and collected by Dr. Everette A. James, Jr. and his wife, Dr. Nancy Jane Farmer. The quilts demonstrated how traditional African art has influenced quilting styles, and offered historical evidence and clues to African-American life during Reconstruction and New South Periods. The collection included quilts that record stories and examples of modern art. The traveling exhibit was developed by NC Wesleyan College’s Mims Gallery, with funding from the NC Humanities Council and the Mary Duke Biddle Foundation. At the museum, the exhibit was enhanced with interpretive content and artifacts from the collection.

Exhibit Image

Main Streets of Our State

June 26, 2004 to January 2, 2005

Organized by the museum in collaboration with Our State: North Carolina Magazine, the exhibition’s

photographs showed the diverse streetscapes reflecting the nature of North Carolina’s varying city

and town centers. The exhibit introduced visitors to Main Street programs from the National Trust

for Historic Preservation. Towns featured in the exhibit included Asheville, Madison, Kernersville, Oxford, Landis, Charlotte, Matthews, Greensboro, Chimney Rock, Glencoe Mills, Stokesdale, Walnut Cove, Wilmington, New Bern, Winston-Salem, Warrenton, Vandemere, and Valle Crusis.

Exhibit Images - Main Street Program Website - Our State Magazine Website

Powerful Persuaders: World War II Posters

January 10, 2004 to September 1, 2004

Powerful Persuaders, an exhibit of World War II posters from the museum’s collection, was presented in conjunction with the Soldiers’ Stories: War in the First Person exhibit. Propaganda posters waged an on-going campaign for the hearts and minds of the American people just as surely as military weapons engaged the enemy. Wartime posters were created as a visual call to arms. According to the designers, posters should be to the eye, what a shouted command is to the ear.

Exhibit Image

Soaring Symbols: Eagles in World Culture

October 4, 2003 to April 4, 2004

The Charlotte Museum of History and Carolina Raptor Center, Inc. collaborated to create this traveling exhibit. The purpose of the project was to “support environmental science through the use of visual arts and history.” Models and sketches showing the creation of a bronze eagle sculpture, by local artist Lori Norwood, to be mounted at the entrance to the Carolina Raptor Center was part of the display. The exhibit also included text panels detailing the spiritual and cultural relationships between humankind and the raptors, of which the eagle is a most impressive representative.

Exhibit Images - Carolina Raptor Center Website

The Faces of Our State

June 21, 2003 to June 2004

Forty portraits of North Carolinians who have helped define the character of North Carolina were

featured in this photographic exhibit. Developed in conjunction with Our State: North Carolina magazine, this exhibit drew on the regularly contributing photographers to the magazine.

Exhibit Images - Our State Magazine Website

Highways & Byways of Our State

August 15, 2002 to June 2003

Twenty scenic photographs of North Carolina sites and scenes were featured in this exhibit. All were archival images from Our State: North Carolina magazine and were viewed from the state’s highways and byways.

Exhibit Images - Our State Magazine Website

Solders’ Stories: War in the First Person

September 28, 2002 to September 1, 2004

The exhibit examined, from a regional perspective, U.S. military conflict from the 18th -21st centuries through personal correspondence. These wartime stories revealed much about human nature, both on the warfront and on the home front. Extensive scholarly research yielded an extraordinary collection of war letters from this region, and individuals, museums and military organizations supplemented the museum’s own artifact collection by loaning objects and materials relating to war experiences. In addition to correspondence, grouped by theme into eight distinct vignettes, the exhibit included photographs, personal artifacts and memorabilia, uniforms, military regalia, music, newspaper and magazine accounts, political cartoons, wartime literature, newsreel footage, and film from America’s major wars.

Exhibit Images

Exhibits 1976-1997

Return to Main Exhibits Page


	Past Exhibits The Carolina Mountains: Photography of Margaret Morley - An Invitation to the White House - ToyTime Personal Legacies: Surviving the Great Depression - American Visions of Liberty & Freedom - A Focus on SPORTS Faces & Stories: Southern Writers - Kites to Kitty Hawk Vecinos/Neighbors Stitched from the Soul: The Farmer-James Collecion of African-American Quilts - Main Streets of Our State Powerful Persuaders: World War II Posters - Soaring Symbols: Eagles in World Culture - The Faces of Our State Highways & Byways of Our State - Soldiers’ Stories: War in the First Person Exhibits 1976-1997 Return to Main Exhibits Page The Carolina Mountains: Photography of Margaret Morley June 27, 2009 to December 30, 2009 Margaret Morley spent twelve years in the early 1900s exploring western North Carolina and recording scenes of everyday life in captivating photographs and delightful prose. Her resulting book, The Carolina Mountains, is still considered one of the best books about the region. Transformed into a traveling exhibit, Morley’s words and images provided an intimate look at a way of life that has vanished in the high country. The exhibit featured more than fifty prints made from photographs in this collection, and also included additions from the museum’s own collection. Exhibit Images - Rack Card *An Invitation to the White House* October 25, 2008 to March 4, 2009 Displayed in conjunction with the 2008 Presidential Election, this exhibit looked at state dining at the White House with reproduction presidential china and actual dinner invitations and menus. Also included were a collection of inaugural invitations and memorabilia spanning eight decades. A traveling exhibit from the White House Historical Association explored the construction of the West Wing and working in the West Wing. Exhibit Images - Related Event - Related Programming - Rack Card White House Historical Association Website ToyTime September 7, 2007 to July 27, 2008 ToyTime was an interactive exhibit of giant-size folk toys in which visitors could “play” with large-scale handcrafted wood versions of the most popular kinetic folk toys throughout history. Sixteen interactive toy stations explored the history, mechanics, and fun of the Whimmy Diddle, Jacob’s Ladder, Twirling Acrobat, Tightrope Walker, Pecking Chickens, Lunging Lumberjacks, and other tumbling, flipping and climbing toys. ToyTime came from SciWorks Science Center and was the brainchild of Tom Wilson, director of exhibits there. A special display of historic toys from the museum’s collection were also presented in conjunction with the exhibit. Exhibit Images - Press Release - Rack Card - SciWorks Website Personal Legacies: Surviving the Great Depression September 30, 2006 to August 12, 2007 Personal Legacies: Surviving the Great Depression shared personal accounts and universal lessons about how Charlotteans not only survived but also thrived during the Depression. This exhibit used interviews by local author and reminiscence-writing facilitator Robin Edgar. Local photographer Jennifer Crickenberger created photographic montages of the storytellers to accompany their stories. The exhibit panel montages were included in a book by the same title published by CPCC Press. Serving as an exhibition catalog, the book was made possible, in part, through a Regional Artist Project grant Edgar received. In conjunction with the exhibit, WTVI produced a documentary about the Great Depression in Charlotte that included several of the participants featured in the exhibit. Through January 2007, Shadows Cast, works by local artist Marilyn Charlat Dix, were featured at the entrance of the exhibit. Exhibit Image - Press Release - Rack Card - Flyer - In the News American Visions of Liberty & Freedom February 4, 2006 to May 28, 2006 The exhibition was organized by the Virginia Historical Society, funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, and based on the book Liberty and Freedom by David Hackett Fischer. It showed how generations of Americans, from Revolutionary times to the present, have drawn, carved, and quilted symbols to represent their sometimes-conflicting definitions of liberty and freedom. American Visions of Liberty & Freedom depicted the stories behind the symbols. By looking at these symbols and icons, such as the Statue of Liberty, Uncle Sam, and the American Flag, we are able to see that these have been both unifying themes and sources of tension in American History. The exhibit included about 200 historic artifacts from lenders across the U.S. Exhibit Images - Press Release - Related Programming - Flyer - Exhibit Website A Focus on SPORTS January 14, 2006 to August 15, 2006 This exhibition of 38 photos, from the photo library of the Charlotte Observer, revealed the Charlotte region’s love of both amateur and professional sports, as participants and fans. The museum partnered with The Charlotte Observer, and award winning and N.C. Sports Hall of Fame member Charlotte Observer Sports columnist Ron Green, Sr. was the guest curator. Exhibit Images - N.C. Sports Hall of Fame Website Faces & Stories: Southern Writers October 1, 2005 to January 5, 2006 Faces & Stories: A Portrait of Southern Writers was a photography exhibit featuring portraits by internationally acclaimed photographer Curt Richter, who was initially commissioned by Louis D. Rubin, Jr. to photograph the founding members of the Fellowship of Southern Writers. Over a seven-year period, he photographed over two hundred writers associated with the South. Sixty of these portraits were presented in this traveling exhibit, from the Southern Arts Federation. Exhibit Images - Exhibit Website *Kites to Kitty Hawk* April 30, 2005 to September 2005 This traveling exhibit from the Drachen Foundation chronicled kite innovations and their inventors as they pursued the goal of piloted flight. From early pioneers in Europe and the United States, the exhibit celebrated the final achievement of the Wright Brothers first flight at Kitty Hawk. The exhibit included seven historical kite reproductions. The museum augmented the exhibit with video, interactives, and contemporary kites. Exhibit Images - Drachen Foundation Website Vecinos/Neighbors January 15, 2005 to August 21, 2005 This bilingual photographic exhibition showcased 20 members of Charlotte’s Latino community with images by local Latina photographer, Catalina Kulczar. Exhibit Images Stitched from the Soul: The Farmer-James Collection of African-American Quilts October 1, 2004 to March 26, 2005 Most of the sixty quilts in this collection were made in North Carolina dating from the time of the Civil War until just after World War II, and collected by Dr. Everette A. James, Jr. and his wife, Dr. Nancy Jane Farmer. The quilts demonstrated how traditional African art has influenced quilting styles, and offered historical evidence and clues to African-American life during Reconstruction and New South Periods. The collection included quilts that record stories and examples of modern art. The traveling exhibit was developed by NC Wesleyan College’s Mims Gallery, with funding from the NC Humanities Council and the Mary Duke Biddle Foundation. At the museum, the exhibit was enhanced with interpretive content and artifacts from the collection. Exhibit Image *Main Streets of Our State* June 26, 2004 to January 2, 2005 Organized by the museum in collaboration with Our State: North Carolina Magazine, the exhibition’s photographs showed the diverse streetscapes reflecting the nature of North Carolina’s varying city and town centers. The exhibit introduced visitors to Main Street programs from the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Towns featured in the exhibit included Asheville, Madison, Kernersville, Oxford, Landis, Charlotte, Matthews, Greensboro, Chimney Rock, Glencoe Mills, Stokesdale, Walnut Cove, Wilmington, New Bern, Winston-Salem, Warrenton, Vandemere, and Valle Crusis. Exhibit Images - Main Street Program Website - Our State Magazine Website Powerful Persuaders: World War II Posters January 10, 2004 to September 1, 2004 Powerful Persuaders, an exhibit of World War II posters from the museum’s collection, was presented in conjunction with the Soldiers’ Stories: War in the First Person exhibit. Propaganda posters waged an on-going campaign for the hearts and minds of the American people just as surely as military weapons engaged the enemy. Wartime posters were created as a visual call to arms. According to the designers, posters should be to the eye, what a shouted command is to the ear. Exhibit Image Soaring Symbols: Eagles in World Culture October 4, 2003 to April 4, 2004 The Charlotte Museum of History and Carolina Raptor Center, Inc. collaborated to create this traveling exhibit. The purpose of the project was to “support environmental science through the use of visual arts and history.” Models and sketches showing the creation of a bronze eagle sculpture, by local artist Lori Norwood, to be mounted at the entrance to the Carolina Raptor Center was part of the display. The exhibit also included text panels detailing the spiritual and cultural relationships between humankind and the raptors, of which the eagle is a most impressive representative. Exhibit Images - Carolina Raptor Center Website *The Faces of Our State* June 21, 2003 to June 2004 Forty portraits of North Carolinians who have helped define the character of North Carolina were featured in this photographic exhibit. Developed in conjunction with Our State: North Carolina magazine, this exhibit drew on the regularly contributing photographers to the magazine. Exhibit Images - Our State Magazine Website *Highways & Byways of Our State* August 15, 2002 to June 2003 Twenty scenic photographs of North Carolina sites and scenes were featured in this exhibit. All were archival images from Our State: North Carolina magazine and were viewed from the state’s highways and byways. Exhibit Images - Our State Magazine Website *Solders’ Stories: War in the First Person* September 28, 2002 to September 1, 2004 The exhibit examined, from a regional perspective, U.S. military conflict from the 18th -21st centuries through personal correspondence. These wartime stories revealed much about human nature, both on the warfront and on the home front. Extensive scholarly research yielded an extraordinary collection of war letters from this region, and individuals, museums and military organizations supplemented the museum’s own artifact collection by loaning objects and materials relating to war experiences. In addition to correspondence, grouped by theme into eight distinct vignettes, the exhibit included photographs, personal artifacts and memorabilia, uniforms, military regalia, music, newspaper and magazine accounts, political cartoons, wartime literature, newsreel footage, and film from America’s major wars. Exhibit Images Exhibits 1976-1997 Return to Main Exhibits Page