General News

L is for Lépine: How The XYZ Affair Interfered with the Gift of a Watch

Gold pocket watch, 1797, with pearl and green enamel embellishments attached to a gold chain fob with seals and a watch key. Created by Lépine in Paris, France, and gifted to Eliza Izard (1784-1862) of Charleston. From the collections of The Charleston Museum, HQ 184.   When Mary Stead Pinckney…

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General News

The Mummified Egyptian Woman

The centerpiece of our Early Days exhibit is the mummified remains of a woman from Egypt, dating to the Late Period or Ptolemaic Period (ca. 700-300 BCE). Gabriel Manigault, the museum’s curator from 1873 to 1899 who wanted to acquaint Charlestonians with “any and everything illustrating the extinct civilizations of…

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General News

A False-Toothed Giant

Pelagornis sandersi, a giant bird that was discovered from an excavation at the Charleston Airport. Pelagornis belongs to a group of birds known as pseudodontorns, or false-toothed birds. This relates to the toothy structures on Pelagornis’ beak. Although they appear to be teeth, and serve the same function, they are…

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General News

A Legacy in Silk: Eliza Lucas Pinckney’s Robe à la Française

Robe à la française gown, c. 1753, worn by Eliza Lucas Pinckney. Gift of Katherine Felder Stewart 1900-1984. HT 604a-b. The Charleston Museum is spending our 250th anniversary looking back to our founding in 1773, so we can better understand our role as America’s First Museum as we move forward…

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General News

Adopt-an-Audubon Plate

The name Audubon is synonymous with conservation. Honoring this legacy, the Feel Guide exhibition was created to spotlight the fragile state of John James Audubon’s Birds of America held in the Museum’s archives. The Charleston Museum is excited to announce our Adopt-an-Audubon Plate Program, in which plates from Volume I of…

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