Gateway to the Past: Georgia’s Leake Site
March 24-September 9, 2012
History Gallery

The Leake site, a Native American archaeological site located along the Etowah River near Cartersville, Georgia, contains the remains of an American Indian occupation that lasted from approximately 300 B.C. until 650 A.D. The site featured three earthen mounds and an expansive village situated near the interface of several river valleys, including the Tennessee, Chattahoochee/Apalachicola, Coosa, and Ocmulgee/Altamaha systems. This strategic location made the Leake site a “gateway” between the Southeast and the Midwest and allowed it to serve as a pilgrimage center, a staging ground for journeys, a residential village, and a ceremonial center.

Artifacts found at the site to be featured in the exhibition include a large selection of Swift Creek complicated stamped pottery (common throughout Georgia and in portions of surrounding states), Flint Ridge chert from Ohio, pottery from the Gulf Coast, ceramic human and animal figurines, quartz crystals, graphite, graphite, copper, galena, mica, hematite, and other materials originating from a wide area across the Southeast and Midwest. In addition to these items, the exhibition will feature items from the Columbus Museum’s collection that help illustrate civilization of the Middle Woodland period in the Chattahoochee Valley.

Things Still Treasured: Traditional Decorative Forms in the Permanent Collection 
April 7-August 5, 2011

The Columbus Museum’s American art and regional history collections include thousands of historical artifacts as well as decorative arts, folk art, textiles, paintings, sculpture, and works on paper.  The fascinating objects selected for this installation include Tiffany art glass, parasols and embroidered items from the costume collection, historical silhouettes and contemporary cut paper works, portrait miniatures, a plaster relief portrait, Wedgwood cameos, a bracelet and wreath made out of hair, and a clock with a case resembling a Gothic Cathedral.  These objects showcase the traditional decorative arts and design that have inspired the artists in Past is Present, an exhibition in the Third Floor Galleries that will open in May and run concurrently with this installation.