Let the Records Show: Discovering the Valley's Black Community in Slavery and Freedom
January 17, 2010 - July 11, 2010
History Gallery

In 1860, nearly 90,000 slaves, almost half the entire population of the lower Chattahoochee River Valley of Georgia and Alabama, called the region home. These people tended the crops that underpinned the area’s economy, built the structures many of its citizens lived, worked and worshipped in, and affected virtually every aspect of the social structure of the era. Yet because slaves did not generate written records of their own, our understanding of their lives is extremely limited. Many crucial details about how they dealt with life as bondsmen or how they managed the tumultuous transition to freedom are difficult, if not impossible, to find.

This exhibition attempts to shed light on some of the experiences of slaves and freedmen through an examination of several types of documentary evidence. Ranging from bills of sale and estate inventories to city ordinances and personal letters, it includes a variety of historical records that give insight into their lives through the important bits of information they contain. The materials will be supplemented by several reproduction items of the type used by slaves in daily life and a limited number of other original artifacts from the era. While these items cannot tell us every detail of the lives of the people they are associated with, they can help us gain a new understanding of them as individuals.

Special Film Feature: Glory
Thursday, January 28, 2010
6 p.m.
Free!
The Museum will feature the film Glory, a civil war film about black soldiers headed by Col. Robert Gould Shaw.

Lunch and Lecture

All Lunch and Lecture programs will be held in the Museum’s Wright Room from noon to 1 p.m. The lectures are free and open to the public.

Box lunches are available by advanced request; contact Melinda Durham at 706.748.2562, ext. 651 or mdurham@columbusmuseum.com.

February 18, 2010
Let the Records Show: “African Americans and the Forging of Freedom” with Patience Essah
February 25, 2010
Let the Records Show: “Evolution of African Churches and Schools in the Chattahoochee Region after Reconstruction” with Jeanne Cyriaque

Gallery Tales: Life After Emancipation
February 2, 4, 9, 18, 22, 25 and March 2, 4, 9
9:30 a.m. and 10:45 a.m.

Students in K-5th grades will learn through storytelling and art, as guest educator Patty Chamberlain will teach students about life after emancipation in the Chattahoochee Valley.

This exhibition is made possible by grant support provided by the Columbus Consolidated Government and the Columbus Convention and Visitors Bureau.

For gifts and educational items related to this exhibition, visit our Museum Shop.

The Way We Lived: Residential Architecture and
Life in the 19th Century
On view through June 13, 2010
Third Floor Galleries

This exhibition examines Chattahoochee Valley homes. Ranging from a wilderness traders’ cabin to an urban mansion, these houses are among the best examples of popular styles of domestic architecture during the era. In addition to highlighting intriguing exterior details, we shed light on the reasons for the dramatic differences in their interior living spaces. More than a simple glance at changing fashion, this exhibition helps visitors better understand how trends, technology and tastes combined to make life in the past so much different today.

Related Programs:

Lunch and Lecture
February 4, 2010
 The Way We Lived: “Landmarks of Georgia Architecture” with William R. Mitchell
February 11, 2010
The Way We Lived: “American 19th Century Flatware” with Bill Hood

This project is supported by The Aflac Foundation, by the Georgia Humanities Council, the National Endowment for the Humanities and through appropriations from the Georgia General Assembly.

For gifts and educational items related to this exhibition, visit our Museum Shop.

Walker Peters Langdon House on Broadway in
Columbus, Georgia's Historic District

Introductions: Allyson Comstock
On view through March 14, 2010
Sidney H. Yarbrough III Gallery

This exhibition is the fifth installment in the Introductions series that is devoted to recent work by the best emerging regional artists. Allyson Comstock is an artist, administrator and studio faculty member at Auburn University. Working primarily in handmade paper to create two-dimensional artworks and in mixed media to create sculptural installations, Comstock explores ideas related to the natural world such as the healing properties of nature and ecological issues. She created all new artwork for this exhibition.

Related Programs:

Afternoon with the Artist
Sunday, February 14
Ages 10 and up
3:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Free!
Spend some time with artist Allyson Comstock. Guests will have a chance to speak with the artist as well as create masterpieces with guidance from Allyson! Space is limited and offered on a first-come, first-served basis.

Make It a Night: Allyson Comstock
Thursday, February 18
6:00 p.m. -- 8 p.m.
Allyson Comstock will talk about her most recent work involving the use of handmade paper to address issues related to ecology and the environment as part of the Columbus Museum’s Make It a Night Thursday evening programming schedule.

This exhibition is made possible by the generous support of the Fort Trustee Fund at the Community Foundation of the Chattahoochee Valley and by a gift from the Columbus Museum Guild.

For gifts and educational items related to this exhibition, visit our Museum Shop.

Symbiosis, 2009, handmade paper and turtle shell,
Allyson Comstock

Now and Then: Snapshots of the South
On view through January 31, 2010
Galleria Cases

The second edition of the Now and Then series juxtaposes historic and contemporary images addressing a variety of enduring aspects of everyday life in the South. Including images that speak to Southerners’ longstanding connections with the land and its history, religion and the celebration of the eccentric, the exhibition evokes a unique sense of place as projected through the lens of cameras both past and present.

A diverse selection of historic images originates from the collections of the Eufaula Athenaeum, an impressive private archive of materials assembled by Eufaula native A.S. Williams. One of the largest and most important such collections in the South, the Athenaeum’s holdings include thousands of items documenting a broad spectrum of people, places and events in Southern history.

Contemporary images are provided by professional photographer Jerry Siegel. An Alabama native, Siegel is currently one of the South’s leading photographers. He has also produced several series of fine art photography that reflect his interest in the rural South’s culture and landscape. While many of the images in this exhibition are especially influenced by his upbringing in central Alabama’s Black Belt region, Siegel shot images for this project during his travels throughout the South.

This exhibition is made possible by the generous support of The Ray M. and Jane R. Wright Foundation, Inc., The Hollis Foundation, Inc., and by The Edward Swift Shorter Bequest Fund.

For gifts and educational items related to this exhibition, visit our Museum Shop.

I Had a Dream, Selma, AL, 20007 archival pigment
print, Jerry Siegel, b. Selma, Ala. 1958, image courtesy
of Jerry Siegel