Podcasts
Curator Lecture Series 2012
Walled City Archaeology
Lecturer: Jennifer Scheetz, Archivist, The Charleston Museum
Charleston is the only walled city in British colonial North America. Yet this defensive feature, completed in 1706, is largely invisible, in both the landscape and the imagination. Excavations done in 2008 and 2009 of the redan, or salient angle, at Tradd Street provided the first opportunity in forty years to explore a section of the wall, and the first in nearly a century to expose the foundation. Join the Museum's Curator of Historical Archaeology, Martha Zierden, to hear new details on construction, maintenance, and eventual abandonment of the city's early colonial defenses and see several items that are on permanent exhibit in our Lowcountry History Hall.
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Curator Lecture Series 2012
Charleston's Women Naturalists
Lecturer: Jennifer Scheetz, Archivist, The Charleston Museum
In commemoration of Women's History Month, Museum Archivist, Jennifer Scheetz, will discuss several of Charleston's own women naturalists. See examples of their art as they painted the world they studied. Take a closer look at Maria Martin Bachman, Ida Morris Jervey, Anna Heyward Taylor and Alice Ravenel Huger Smith and their works deposited here in the Charleston Museum. Please join us for this fascinating glimpse of sometimes overlooked gems, several of which have never been exhibited.
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Curator Lecture Series 2012
Relieve Us of this Burthen
Lecturer: Carl Borick, Assistant Director, The Charleston Museum
Assistant Director Carl Borick discusses his new book, "Relieve Us of this Burthen": American Prisoners of War in the Revolutionary South, 1780-1782. The book focuses on the prisoners that were captured by the British in South Carolina during the Revolution, many of whom were held in Charleston. The work examines the circumstances of their capture, the difficult conditions they faced during imprisonment and their extraordinary experiences afterward. This is the first book-length study to be published concerning Revolutionary War prisoners in the South. Purchase the book.
Curator Lecture Series 2011 (pt 3):
Deathly Blasts by the Thousands
Lecturer: Grahame Long, Curator of History, The Charleston Museum
Deathly Blasts by the Thousands: Advancements in Small Arms Technology, 1860-1865. Efficiency, cost, accuracy, and power were elements critical to the development of small arms in the mid-19th century. While attempts to "build a better mousetrap" often failed, others proved devastatingly effective. Advancements in armaments technology leading up to and during the Civil War instituted a new age of modern warfare and produced weapons more damaging than anyone had previously imagined. Rifled muskets with Minié balls, reliable revolvers, and the advent of metal cartridges all marked a decisive movement away from traditional armed conflict and into a far more devastating form of fighting. Join curator of history, Grahame Long, for the last presentation in our Civil War curator lecture series and learn more about mid-19th advancements in weaponry. Watch Video
Download Mp3Curator Lecture Series 2011 (pt 2):
Very Respectfully: Letters from the Ft. Sumter Copy Book
Lecturer: Russell Horres
On the eve of the Civil War, all eyes turned to Charleston and an unfinished fortification called Ft. Sumter. This second presentation in our curator lecture series on the Civil War is a snapshot of this critical time in our local and national history. Russell Horres, a volunteer researcher at the Charleston Museum and guide for the National Park Service, discusses the thoughts and actions of U.S. soldiers stationed at the fort just days before the bombardment, as well as new information on the construction of Fort Sumter.
Russell Horres spent several years studying and transcribing this U.S. Army Engineers letter book, which was kept from July 1857 to April 9, 1861. It has provided a wealth of data on the construction of Fort Sumter, including details of its design, as well as, daily life and conditions at the fort up to the start of the Civil War. By tracing the correspondence back to the National Archives, Dr. Horres uncovered even more information, including the involvement of African American slaves at the installation and sources of brick for the fort. Please join us in rediscovering Ft. Sumter’s history! Watch Video
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All Indifferently Clad: Confederate Uniforms in The Charleston Museum's Collections
Lecturer: Grahame Long, Curator of History, The Charleston Museum
Curator of history, Grahame Long, discusses the uniforms preserved within the collections of The Charleston Museum and how they reflected the needs, means, and, in some cases, priorities of the individual soldier who wore them. Early war uniforms frequently incorporated ostentatious and non-functional ceremonial elements, but, as the war dragged on, concerns for appearance quickly fell away and these aspects were discarded. With the Confederacy struggling to supply its soldiers, bare necessity determined the attire. By war's end, preferences concerning uniforms had drastically shifted so that merely having a shirt and trousers was fortunate, a coat in the colder months was a gift, and shoes an all out luxury. Watch Video
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Pushing Up Palmettos
Funerary Art in the Carolina Lowcountry
Lecturer: Graham Long, Curator of History, The Charleston Museum
Life is indeed fleeting, yet death remains ever permanent. Therefore, Charleston's historic grave markers and mourning heirlooms stand as more than just cultural remnants. Lowcountry cemeteries and graveyards can easily double as art galleries, and mementos such as mourning jewelry are best described as fine examples of early American sculpture and artisanship.
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Charleston and "The Sickly Season"
Infections, Afflictions, and Perilous Prescriptions: Charleston and "The Sickly Season"
Lecturer: Graham Long, Curator of History, The Charleston Museum
To most early Charlestonians, getting sick in the heat of late summer was not a question of if but, more appropriately, when. During the 18th and 19th centuries, diseases of epidemic proportion severely hampered the city's growth. Curator of History Grahame Long discusses the Sickly Season in Charleston.
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The Treaty of Paris Lecture Series (pt 3)
Why They Fought: American Soldiers and the War for Independence
Lecturer: Carl Borick, Assistant Director and Revolutionary War historian
To commemorate the 225th anniversary of the Treaty of Paris (1783), which ended the Revolutionary War, The Charleston Museum presented a three-part lecture series on the effects of the war on Charleston and South Carolina.
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Why They Fought: American Soldiers and the War for Independence
Lecturer: Carl Borick, Assistant Director and Revolutionary War historian
To commemorate the 225th anniversary of the Treaty of Paris (1783), which ended the Revolutionary War, The Charleston Museum presented a three-part lecture series on the effects of the war on Charleston and South Carolina.
Download Mp3The Treaty of Paris Lecture Series (pt 1)
Why They Fought: American Soldiers and the War for Independence
Lecturer: Carl Borick, Assistant Director and Revolutionary War historian
To commemorate the 225th anniversary of the Treaty of Paris (1783), which ended the Revolutionary War, The Charleston Museum presented a three-part lecture series on the effects of the war on Charleston and South Carolina.
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