Films of the Week - Baseball
2020-04-29 21:00 - 23:00 (America/New_York)
Each week we will recommend a new film that either highlights local Upcountry history or one of our changing exhibitions. Explore history from the comfort of your couch and then make a trip out to the Museum once we are able to reopen our doors.

WEEK THREE
While there has been a hold on America’s greatest pastime, we can still enjoy the game through film. Plus, there’s no crying in baseball! So, pick up the remote and check out these classics.

History of the Week - Battle of Tarawa
2020-04-29 23:00 (America/New_York)
World War II: The Battle Of Tarawa is a documentary film directed by Louis Hayward. It used authentic footage taken at the Battle of Tarawa to tell the story of the American servicemen from the time they get the news that they are to participate in the invasion to the final taking of the island and the raising of the Stars and Stripes.

The November 1943 invasion of the Gilbert Islands was the beginning of the U.S. “island hopping” campaign in the central Pacific during World War II. U.S. commanders determined that amphibious attacks on Japanese-occupied islands was the key to victory. The island of Tarawa was the first target in the Allied campaign.
About 80 nautical miles north of the equator, Tarawa is the largest atoll of the Gilberts, a 16-island chain roughly halfway between Hawaii and Papua New Guinea. The Japanese seized the then-British-occupied isle just days after Japan’s December 7, 1941 attack at Pearl Harbor. Tarawa’s main island Betio, was the target of the Navy and Marine Corps in November of 1943.
The Battle of Tarawa, November 20-23, 1943, was the first major American offensive in the central Pacific. Until then, Americans hadn’t faced much opposition during amphibious assaults. But Tarawa was different. The initial landings by the 2nd Marine Division met a heavily fortified Japanese force.
Japanese Rear Admiral Meichi Shibasaki, said “a million Americans” wouldn’t be able to take Tarawa in “100 years.” Americans took Tarawa in 76 hours.
Few military battles have matched the concentrated ferocity of the three-day fight between U.S. and Japanese forces in November 1943 for a sandy sliver of land halfway between Pearl Harbor and the Philippines. The U.S. delivery of coordinated land, sea and air power brought a U.S. force of over 30,000 men, a 10-1 advantage over the Japanese.
Tarawa was an essential WWII stepping-stone across the Pacific. In what one combat correspondent called “the toughest battle in Marine Corps history,” U.S. Marines wrestled it away at a cost of more than 1,009 men. All but 17 of the 3,500 dug-in Japanese defenders were killed, along with 1,100 Korean slave laborers. The search for the missing bodies of more than 100 U.S. Marines buried on the island continues today.
The Upcountry History Museum in partnership with the U.S. Navy History and Heritage Command will commemorate the service and sacrifice of the U.S. Marines at the Battle of Tarawa through a special exhibition featuring original combat art by Kerr Eby who traveled with the Marines in the South Pacific and landed with the invasion force at Tarawa, photography, rare film footage and artifacts.

Read of the Week - Peanuts
2020-05-06 21:00 - 23:30 (America/New_York)
Prepare for another fun season (football season that is) with the Peanuts gang as the Museum is set to host Pigskin Peanuts later this year! Enjoy this quick read on 5 of the most popular Peanuts comic strips.

The 5 Best Peanuts Comic Strips of All Time
Written by Elisa Marks
For 50 years, a round-headed boy in a yellow and black shirt and his lovable pet beagle brought smiles to the faces of millions of readers around the globe each day. The world was introduced to Charlie Brown and the Peanuts gang on Oct. 2, 1950, when the first comic strip debuted in nine newspapers around the U.S. Peanuts quickly became one of the most popular comic strips of all time and influenced movie, television, book and theater spin-offs. Most people can relate in some way to the charismatic Peanuts characters and simple-yet-profound situations in which they find themselves. Here are the 5 most iconic Peanuts comic strips of all time.

The First Strip—Oct. 2, 1950

Charlie Brown, Peanuts’ main character, is introduced for the first time, along with the characters of Shermy and Patty. Although he’s not yet wearing his iconic striped shirt, Charlie Brown’s round head and naive smile are instantly recognizable. This is the first time he is called “Good Ol’ Charlie Brown,” a nickname that continues to haunt him throughout the strip.

“Here Comes Snoopy”—Oct. 4, 1950

Snoopy, Charlie Brown’s pet beagle, appeared for the first time as an ownerless dog on the street. It was only later that Snoopy would be identified as Charlie Brown’s loyal sidekick, although he quickly became one of the most recognizable characters in the comic strip. In Peanuts’ early years, Snoopy behaved like an average dog, his human characteristics evolving over time.

“Football Gag”—Nov. 14, 1952

Every year without fail, Charlie Brown falls for the football gag when Lucy tells him that she’ll hold a football for him to kick. Although Charlie Brown does not trust Lucy at first, she persuades him to kick the ball, then pulls it away at the last second, just in time for him to fall to the ground. Although Lucy made this prank famous, Violet (shown above) was actually the first one to pull the ball away from Charlie Brown, not to spite him, but in fear that he would kick her hand.

“Good Grief”—June 6, 1952

The first time Charlie Brown says, “good grief,” is in reaction to more of Lucy’s mischief—this time, it’s her misunderstood attempt to show him a large bug. This becomes Charlie Brown’s catchphrase and part of the worldwide Charlie Brown lexicon.

“Snoopy Walks”—June 28, 1957

Snoopy did not walk on two legs for the first seven years of the comic strip, instead behaving like a normal dog and walking on all fours. Snoopy’s transition to two legs completes his image as a partly human characters. Snoopy appears to be a dog who often forgets he’s a dog, instead walking, talking and interacting with others as if he’s a human.
After 50 years, Schulz announced his retirement from Peanuts. This final Peanuts comic strip was published the day after Schultz’s death. Major characters and moments from the comic strips past appear in the final comic, surrounding Schultz’s letter to his readers and giving the comic strip a nostalgic and fitting farewell.

This article was written by Elisa Marks on October 13, 2013, for the American Profile online newsletter.

Film of the Week - WWI
2020-05-06 22:00 - 23:30 (America/New_York)
WEEK 4
During World War I, two British soldiers — Lance Cpl. Schofield and Lance Cpl. Blake — receive seemingly impossible orders. In a race against time, they must cross over into enemy territory to deliver a message that could potentially save 1,600 of their fellow comrades — including Blake’s own brother.

Learn more on Greenville’s impressive involvement in The Great War with the linked Greenville Journal article below, written by local historian and researcher Teresa Slack. To dig even deeper, visit the Museum (once we reopen our doors) as we have several artifacts (letters, photographs, uniforms, maps and even a massive Doughboy statue) on display in our Camp Upcountry gallery.

WEEK ONE
For the week of April 6, we encouraged you to learn about the Underground Railroad and the conductor that earned the title of “Moses” by watching the movie, Harriet. The story of heroic abolitionist, Harriet Tubman, is told in this 2019 film, following her escape from slavery through the dangerous missions she led to liberate hundreds of slaves through the Underground Railroad.

WEEK TWO
Travel back in time with Coen brothers and the instant classic, O Brother, Where Art Thou? Ulysses Everett McGill (George Clooney) is having difficulty adjusting to his hard-labor sentence in Mississippi. He scams his way off the chain gang with simple Delmar (Tim Blake Nelson) and maladjusted Pete (John Turturro), then the trio sets out to pursue freedom and the promise of a fortune in buried treasure. With nothing to lose and still in shackles, their hasty run takes them on an incredible journey of awesome experiences and colorful characters.

WEEK THREE
While there has been a hold on America’s greatest pastime, we can still enjoy the game through film. Plus, there’s no crying in baseball! So, pick up the remote and check out these classics because it’s impossible to pick just one film. Click on The Sandlot to see all of our picks!

Read of the Week - WWII
2020-05-13 22:00 - 23:30 (America/New_York)
The Battle of Tarawa
In the Battle of Tarawa (November 20-23, 1943) during World War II (1939-45), the U.S. began its Central Pacific Campaign against Japan by seizing the heavily fortified, Japanese-held island of Betio in the Tarawa Atoll in the Gilbert Islands. The 18,000 U.S. Marines sent to tiny Betio were expected to easily secure it; however, problems quickly arose. Low tides prevented some U.S. landing crafts from clearing the coral reefs that ringed the island. Japanese coastal guns pounded the snagged vessels and desperate Marines gave up on freeing the boats and instead waded toward shore–hundreds of yards away– through chest-deep water amidst enemy fire. Despite heavy resistance from the 4,500 Japanese troops dug in on Betio, the Marines finally took the island after a bloody, 76-hour battle in which both sides suffered heavy casualties.
U.S. Pacific Strategy: 1943
After entering World War II in December 1941 following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, the U.S. began to halt Japan’s aggressive expansion in the Pacific with important battle victories at Midway Island (June 1942) and Guadalcanal (August 1942-February 1943) in the South Pacific. American commanders next set their sights on an island-hopping campaign across the central Pacific. They intended to take the Marshall Islands followed by the Mariana Islands, then advance on Japan.
Did you know? In the 76-hour Battle of Tarawa, U.S. Marines suffered almost as many killed-in-action casualties as U.S. troops suffered in the six-month campaign at Guadalcanal Island.
The Gilbert Islands, a group of 16 atolls near the equator, were viewed by the U.S. as a stepping stone to the Marshalls and became the first target of the Central Pacific Campaign. In November 1943, the U.S. launched an offensive code-named Operation Galvanic, in which the prime target was the tiny island of Betio in the Tarawa Atoll in the Gilbert Islands. (As part of Operation Galvanic, the U.S. would also send a smaller force to the Gilberts’ Makin Atoll, some 100 miles north of Tarawa. Compared with the taking of Tarawa, the U.S. faced far less Japanese resistance at Makin and the Americans secured the atoll by November 23, 1943.) In late December 1941, Tarawa, a coral atoll located some 2,500 miles southwest of Hawaii, had been seized by the Japanese, who heavily fortified Betio, Tarawa’s largest island.
By November 19, 1943, American warships had arrived near Tarawa. Naval and air bombardments were planned for the next morning with the goal of weakening Japan’s defenses and clearing the way for 18,000 U.S. Marines to seize the island. However, the taking of Tarawa would prove to be more difficult than the Americans had anticipated.
Heavily Fortified Tarawa
Tarawa was the most fortified atoll America would invade during the Pacific Campaign. Japanese Admiral Keiji Shibasaki (1894-1943), confident in his command, reportedly bragged that the U.S. couldn’t take Tarawa with a million men in 100 years. Measuring around two miles long and a half-mile wide, the island of Betio was crisscrossed with defenses: 100 pillboxes (dug-in concrete bunkers), seawalls, an extensive trench system for defensive movements and an airstrip were supported by coastal guns, antiaircraft guns, heavy and light machine guns and light tanks. Betio’s beaches were naturally ringed with shallow reefs, which were covered with barbed wire and mines. The Japanese garrison at Betio was defended by at least 4,500 troops.
The U.S. fleet of warships that arrived at the Tarawa Atoll on November 19, 1943, included battleships, aircraft carriers, cruisers, destroyers and a huge supply fleet, all supporting 18,000 Marines. The attack would be a monumental effort of combined arms coordination in a new war tactic, dubbed “Atoll War,” which relied upon heavy pre-invasion bombardment by battleships and carrier planes. Marines were to approach the shore in new amphibious tractor vehicles dubbed amphtracs. These landing crafts, armed with machine guns and carrying 20 troops each, were able to crawl over shallow reefs and other barriers.
First Day of Battle: November 20, 1943
The highly coordinated U.S. battle plan at Betio relied on the precise timing of several key elements to succeed, but almost from the beginning there were problems. Heavy sea turbulence slowed transfer operations of the U.S. Marines to the ship-side landing crafts. A pre-invasion air raid was delayed, upsetting the timetable for other parts of the assault. Holding for the air raids, support ships ready to launch massive pre-invasion bombardments lingered in position longer than expected. They were forced to dodge increasingly accurate fire from the island where Japanese defenders were dug in.
Compounding these problems was a lower-than-anticipated tide level around the island that morning. Most amphtracs in the first assault wave were able to reach the beach as planned, but nearly all the larger, heavier landing crafts behind them jammed into coral reefs exposed by the shallow tide. Marines were forced to abandon their landing crafts and wade through chest-deep water amidst enemy fire. Precious gear, especially radios, became soaked and useless. Many Marines were hit in the open water, and those who made it to shore arrived exhausted or wounded, ill-equipped and unable to communicate with supporting forces.
Making matters worse, the assault path through the lagoon to the shore became congested with disabled landing crafts and bloodied bodies, which hindered the dispatching of reinforcements. Marines on the beach crawled forward, inch by inch, knowing that to stand or even rise slightly made them easy targets. By the end of the first day, 5,000 Marines had landed at Betio while at least another 1,500 had perished in the process.
The Battle Rages On: November 21-23, 1943
On the morning of November 21, the second day of fighting, unexpectedly low tides continued to plague the U.S. assault. Again, assault troops had to leave their crafts short of the shore and wade in through enemy fire. In addition to being fired upon from shore, Marines were also assaulted from their sides and rear by enemy snipers who had entered the lagoon under the cover of night to position themselves on crafts that had been wrecked and abandoned the day before.
By noon, however, the tide finally began to rise, and U.S. destroyers were able to maneuver closer to shore to lend accurate supporting fire. Reserve combat teams and support craft transporting tanks and weapons raced to shore, and the ground assault finally took orderly form. The Marines moved inland, blasting surviving enemy emplacements with grenades, demolition packs and flamethrowers.
On day three of the battle, November 22, the Marines fought on, destroying several Japanese pillboxes and fortifications. That night, the last Japanese defenders of Betio launched a furious but futile banzai charge, or all-out, suicidal attack. Most Japanese soldiers fought to their death rather than surrender. At morning light on November 23, the defenders lay in tangled heaps: All but 17 Japanese soldiers had died defending Betio. Seventy-six hours after the invasion began, Betio was finally declared secure.
Aftermath of Tarawa
More than 1,000 U.S. troops were killed in action and some 2,000 were wounded in only three days of fighting at Tarawa. Word of the heavy casualties soon reached the U.S. and the public was stunned by the number of American lives lost in taking the tiny island.
However, according to “The Pacific War” by John Costello, U.S. commanders learned important lessons from the Battle of Tarawa that would be applied to future atoll wars, including the need for better reconnaissance, more precise and sustained pre-landing bombardment, additional amphibious landing vehicles and improved equipment: Among other advancements, better-waterproofed radios would be developed.

Battle of Tarawa, History.com Editors

https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-tarawa

November 17, 200

History of the Week - The MIS
2020-05-13 22:00 - 23:30 (America/New_York)
This film breaks open the hidden history of the US Army’s Military Intelligence Service (MIS) during World War II — a story made possible because of a few aging Japanese American veterans with a little Internet savvy and a lot of determination.

When WWII started, the U.S. Army needed soldiers to who could read and speak Japanese to help fight in the Pacific. An obvious choice: The Nisei. The Nisei were U.S. citizens born in America. The problem? They were locked away in internment camps because they looked like the enemy. But the Army recruited some of them to join the Military Intelligence Service: The MIS. The MIS was kept secret long after the war ended. Now a registry lists those who served in this all but forgotten unit.

Best of the Upstate Nominations
2020-05-14 08:00 - 23:59 (America/New_York)
Nominate the Upcountry History Museum and Down the Rabbit Hole: Imagining Alice’s Wonderland NOW through May 14, 2020.
One nomination per email address.

Best Exhibit of Past Year

History of the Week - Greenville's Civil Rights Movement
2020-05-20 08:00 - 17:00 (America/New_York)
This brief, yet powerful video highlights some of the student activists who led protests here in Greenville County, as they discuss the hardships they overcame in their stand against inequality. The history of Greenville’s Civil Rights Movement certainly made an impact on our community, but also effected change across the state and even the nation.

Protests, Prayers & Progress: Greenville’s Civil Rights Movement was a 2014 temporary exhibition. It is now a permanent gallery on our second floor and houses several oral histories from local activists.

Parents and children, learn more about local activist Leola Clement Robinson-Simpson at the linked image below.

Read of the Week - Nathanael Greene
2020-05-20 08:00 - 2020-05-26 23:30 (America/New_York)
Eulogy on Nathanael Greene

New York, July 4, 1789

Eulogium on the late Major General Greene by Alexander Hamilton
There is no duty that could have been assigned to me by this Society, which I should execute with greater alacrity than the one I am now called upon to perform. All the motives capable of interesting an ingenuous and feeling mind conspire to prompt me to its execution. To commemorate the talents virtues and exploits of great and good men is at all times a pleasing task to those, who know how to esteem them. But when such men to the title of superior merit join that of having been the defenders and guardians of our country—when they have been connected with us as companions in the same dangers, sufferings, misfortunes and triumphs—when they have been allied to us in the still more endearing character of friends—we recal the ideas of their worth with sensations, that affect us yet more nearly, and feel an involuntary propensity to consider their fame as our own. We seem to appropriate to ourselves the good they have acquired, and to share in the very praise we bestow.
In entering upon a subject in which Your feelings as well as my own are so deeply concerned—however it might become me to follow examples of humility—I shall refrain from a practice perhaps not less laudable, than it is common—I cannot prevail upon myself to check the current of your sensibility by the cold formalities of an apology for the defects of the Speaker. These can neither be concealed nor extenuated by the affectation of diffidence: Nor even by the genuine concessions of conscious inability. Tis your command, and the reverence we all bear to the memory of him of whom I am to speak, that must constitute my excuse and my claim to your indulgence. Did I even possess the powers of Oratory, I should with reluctance attempt to employ them upon the present occasion. The native brilliancy of the diamond needs not the polish of art: The conspicuous features of preeminent merit need not the coloring pencil of imagination nor the florid decorations of Rhetoric.
From you who knew and loved him, I fear not the imputation of flattery or enthusiasm when I indulge an expectation that the name of Greene will at once awaken in your minds the images of whatever is noble and estimable in human nature. The fidelity of the portrait I shall draw will therefore have nothing to apprehend from your sentence. But I dare not hope that it will meet with equal justice from all others or that it will intirely escape the cavils of ignorance and the shafts of envy. For high as this great man stood in the estimation of his Country, the whole extent of his worth was little known. The situations in which he has appeared though such as would have measured the faculties and exhausted the resources of men who might justly challenge the epithet of great, were yet incompetent to the full display of those various rare and exalted endowments, with which nature only now and then decorates a favorite as if with intention to astonish mankind.
As a man the virtues of Greene are admitted; as a patriot he holds a place in the foremost rank; as a statesman he is praised; as a soldier he is admired. But in the two last characters especially in the last but one his reputation falls far below his desert. It required a longer life and still greater opportunities to have enabled him to exhibit in full day the vast, I had almost said the enormous powers of his mind. The termination of the American war not too soon for his wishes nor for the welfare of his country, but too soon for his glory, put an end to his military carreer. The sudden termination of his life cut him off from those scenes, which the progress of a new immense and unsettled empire could not fail to open to the complete exertion of that universal and pervading genius, which qualified him not less for the senate, than for the field.
In forming our estimate, nevertheless of his character, we are not left to supposition and conjecture. We are not left to vague indications or uncertain appearances which partiality might varnish or prejudice discolour. We have a succession of deeds as glorious as they are unequivocal to attest his greatness and perpetuate the honors of his name.
It is an observation as just as it is common that in those great revolutions which occasionally convulse society human nature never fails to be brought forward in its brighest as well as in its blackest colors: And it has very properly been ranked not among the least of the advantages which compensate for the evils they produce, that they serve to bring to light talents and virtues which might otherwise have languished in obscurity or only shot forth a few scattered and wandering rays. Nathaniel Greene descended from reputable parents, but not placed by birth in that elevated rank, which under a monarchy is the only sure road to those employments, that give activity and scope to abilities, must in all probability have contented himself with the humble lot of a private citizen, or at most with the contracted sphere of an elective office, in a colonial and dependent government, scarcely conscious of the resources of his own mind, had not the violated rights of his country called him to act a part on a more splendid and a more ample theatre. Happily for America he hesitated not to obey the call. The vigor of his genius corresponding with the importance of the prize to be contended for, overcame the natural moderation of his temper; and though not hurried on by enthusiasm, but animated by an enlightened sense of the value of free government, he chearfully resolved to stake his fortune his hopes his life and his honor upon an enterprise of the danger of which he knew the whole magnitude in a cause which was worthy of the toils and of the blood of heroes.
The sword having been appealed to at Lexington as the Arbiter of the controversy between Great Britain & America, Greene shortly after marched at the head of a Regiment to join the American forces at Cambrige; determined to abide the awful decision.
He was not long there before the discerning eye of the American Fabius marked him out as the object of his confidence. His abilities intitled him to a preeminent share in the Councils of his Chief. He gained it and he preserved it amidst all the chequered varieties of military vicissitude, and in defiance of all the intrigues of jealous and aspiring rivals.
As long as the measures which conducted us safely through the first most critical stages of the war shall be remembered with approbation— As long as the enterprises of Trenton and Princeton shall be regarded as the dawnings of that bright day, which afterwards broke forth with such resplendent lustre—As long as the almost magic operations of the remainder of that memorable Winter distinguished not more by these events than by the extraordinary spectacle of a powerful army straitened within narrow limits by the phantom of a military force, and never permitted to transgress those limits with impunity, in which skill supplied the plan & means and disposition was the substitute for an army—As long I say as these operations shall continue to be the objects of curiosity and wonder—So long ought the name of Greene to be revered by a Grateful Country. To attribute to him a portion of the praise which is due as well to the formation as to the execution of the plans that affected these important ends, can be no derogation from that wisdom and magnanimity which knew how to select and embrace councils worthy of being pursued. The Counsels of a Henry were never tarnished by the obligations he acknowleged to a Sully.
It would be an unpleasing task and therefore I forbear to lift the veil from off those impotent Councils, which by a formal vote had decreed an undisturbed passage to an enemy retiring from the fairest fruits of his victories to seek an asylum from impending danger, disheartened by retreat, dispirited by desertion, broken by fatigue, retiring through woods defiles and morasses in which his discipline was useless, in the face of an army superior in numbers, elated by pursuit and ardent to signalise their courage. Tis enough for the honor of Greene to say that he left nothing unessayed to avert and to frustrate so degrading a resolution. And it was happy for America that the man, whose reputation could not be wounded without wounding the cause of his Country, had the noble fortitude to rescue himself and the army he commanded from the disgrace with which they were both menaced by the characteristic imbecility of a Council of War.
Unwilling to do more than merely to glance at a scene in which the meritorious might be involved with the guilty in promiscuous censure here let me drop the Curtain and invite You to accompany me to the Heights of Monmouth. There let me recall to your indignant view the flower of the American infantry flying before an enemy that scarcely dared to pursue—vanquished without a blow—vanquished by their obedience to the command of a leader who meditated their disgrace. Let me contrast with this the conduct of your Greene—the calm intrepidity and unshaken presence of mind with which he seconded the dispositions of his General to arrest the progress of the disorder and retrieve the fortune of the day. Let me recall to your recollection that well timed and happy movement on the left of the enemy by which he so materially contributed to deciding the dubious event of the conflict and turning the hesitating scale of victory.
From the heights of Monmouth I might lead you to the plains of Springfield there to behold the Veteran Knyphaussen at the head of a veteran army baffled and almost beaten by a general without an army—aided or rather embarrassed by small fugitive bodies of volunteer militia, the mimicry of soldiership!
But it would ill become me to detain you in the contemplation of objects diminutive in comparison with those that are to succeed. Hitherto we have seen the illustrious Greene acting in a subordinate capacity the faint glimmerings of his fame absorbed and lost in the superior rays of a Washington. Happy was it for him to have been called to a more explicit station. Had this never been the case, the future historian perplexed between the panygeric of friends and the satire of enemies might have doubted in what colors to draw his true character. Accident alone saved a Greene from so equivocal a fate; a reflection which might damp the noble ardor of emulation and check the towering flight of conscious merit.
The defeat of Campden and the misfortune of Gates opened the carreer of victory and of Glory to Greene. Congress having resolved upon a successor to the former the choice was left to the Commander in Chief and fell upon the latter. In this destination, honorable in proportion as it was critical, he acquiesced with the mingled emotions of a great mind—impelled by a sense of duty—allured by the hope or fame—apprised of the danger and precariousness of the situation, yet confident of its own strength and animated by the magnitude of the object for which it was to be exerted.
Hence forth we are to view him on a more exalted eminence. He is no longer to figure in an ambiguous or secondary light—He is to shine forth the artificer of his own glory—the leader of armies and the deliverer of states!
To estimate properly the value of his services it is necessary to recur to the situation of the Southern extremity of the Union at the time he entered upon the command in that Quarter—Georgia and South Carolina subdued and overrun, the spirit of their people dejected and intimidated, the flame of resistance scarcely kept alive by the transient gleams of a few expiring embers: North Caroliana distracted by the still recent effects of internal commotion, dreading the hostility of a considerable part of its own citizens, the depending for its exertions on the tried valour and patriotism of the rest more than on the energy of a feeble and ill organised government: Virginia debilitated by the excessive efforts of its early zeal and by the dissipation of its revenues and forces in domestic projects incumbered by a numerous body of slaves bound by all the laws of injured humanity to hate their Masters—deficient in order and vigour in its administration—and relying wholly for immediate defence against threatened invasion on the resources of a Country extensive populous and fertile to be put in motion by the same ardent and magnanimous spirit which first lighted up the opposition to Great Britain and set the glorious example of resistance to America.
In such a situation what was to be hoped? What was to be hoped from a General without troops without magazines, without money? A man of less depth of penetration or force of soul than Greene would have recoiled at the prospect; but he far from desponding undertook the arduous task with firmness—with a firmness which was the result of a well informed estimate of a situation perilous but not desperate. He knew how much was to be expected from the efforts of men contending for the rights of man. He knew how much was to be performed by capacity courage and perseverance.
Not to be disconcerted by the most complicated embarrassments nor the most discouraging prospects, he began before he entered upon the duties of the field by adjusting the outlines of the plan which was to regulate his future conduct; a plan conceived with so much wisdom and so perfect a judgment of circumstances, that he never had occasion to depart from it in the progress of his subsequent operations. This alone might suffice to form the eulogium of his genius and to demonstrate that he was an accomplished master in the science of military command!
His next care was to endeavour to impress the neighbouring states with a proper sense of their situation in order to induce them with system and effect to furnish the succors of which he stood in need. To urge the collection and accelerate the arrival of these as well as to repel any invasion to which the state might be exposed, he stationed in Virginia the Baron De Steuben an officer who merited and possessed7 his confidence; and having made these preliminary arrangements he hastened to put himself at the head of the inconsiderable remains of the Southern army, which he joined at Charlotte on the borders of North Carolina destitute of every thing but courage and an unconquerable attachment to the cause they had espoused.
To enter into a particular detail of the operations by which the Southern states were rescued from conquest and desolation, and the last project of Britain for the subjugation of America frustrated would be to assume the Province of the historian. This neither the occasion, nor any reasonable claim to your indulgence would justify. A general sketch is all that can with propriety be attempted & shall lim⟨it⟩ my endeavours.
To supply a necessitous army by coertion and yet maintain the confidence and good will of the coerced, this was among the first and not the least of the difficulties to be surmounted. But delicate and difficult as was the task it was neverthess accomplished. Conducted with system moderation and Equity, even military exactions lost their rigor and Freemen venerated the hand that reluctantly stripped them of their property for their preservation.
Having concerted the arrangements requisite to this end, Greene, without further delay, entered upon that busy complicated and extraordinary scene, which may truly be said to form a phœnomenon in war—a sience which almost continually presents us on the one hand with victories ruinous to the Victors, on the other with retreats beneficial to the vanquished—which exhibits to our admiration a commander almost constantly obliged to relinquish the field to his adversary, yet as constantly making acquisitions upon him, beaten today tomorrow without a blow compelling the conqueror to renounce the very object for which he had conquered and in a manner to fly from the very foe he had subdued.
Too weak with his collected strength to dispute the field with an enemy superior both in numbers and discipline and urged by the necessity of giving activity to the natural force of the Country by rousing the inhabitants from the state of despondency into which they had sunk with the prospect of succour and protection: Greene divided his little army into two parts one of which he sent under Morgan into the Western extremities of North Carolina & with the other marched to Hicks Creek in.
This movement had the desired effect. The appearance of aid magnified by advantages opportunely gained (though unimportant in themselves) rekindled the ardor of patriotic hope in the breasts of many, who had begun to despair, and emboldened them to resume their arms and again to repair to the standard of liberty.
Sensible of the importance of counteracting this policy of the American General, The British Commander hesitated not about the part he should act. Directing his first attention towards the detachment under Morgan and meditating a decisive blow against that corps he committed the execution of the enterprise to Lieutenant Colonel Tarleton at the head of a thousand veterans. Tarleton hitherto not less the favourite of fortune, than of his chief, hastened to perform the welcome duty—anticipating an easy triumph over foes inferior both in numbers and discipline—and dreaming not of the reverse which was destined to confound his hopes and even to sully the lustre of his former fame. In the very grasp of victory, when not to combat but to slaughter, seemed all that remained to be done, the forward intrepidity of a Washington seconded by the cool determined bravery of a Howard snatched the trophy from his too eager and too exulting hand—He was discomfited and routed. The greater part of his followers were either killed or taken, and the remaining few with himself were glad to find safety in flight. Here first the bright dawn of prosperity began to dispel that gloomy cloud which had for some time lowered over the Southern Horison!
Thunderstruck at so unexpected a disaster and ill able to spare so considerable a part of his force, Cornwallis resolved at every sacrifice to attempt the recovery of his captive troops. The trial of skilful exertion between the generals and of patient fortitude between the troops to which that attempt gave occasion was such as to render it difficult to pronounce to whom the palm of merit ought to be decreed. Abandoning whatever might impede the celerity of his motions Cornwallis began and urged the pursuit of the detachment under Morgan with a rapidity seldom equalled never surpassed. While on the other hand the provident and active Greene spared no exertion to disappoint his enterprising adversary. Anxious for the security of that detachment with their prisoners and desirous of effecting a reunion of his forces, now rendered necessary by a change of circumstances, he gave instant orders for the march of the body under his immediate command to Guilford Court House and hastened in person through the country a hundred and fifty miles to join General Morgan whom he came up with on the banks of the Catawba. Thus placed in front of the enemy he was the better able to counteract their immediate design and to direct the cooperation necessary to the intended junction. So well were his measures taken that he succeeded in both objects. The prisoners were carried off in safety and Guilford Court House the destined place of rendezvous received and reunited the two divisions of the American army.
Still however too weak to keep the field in the face of his enemy; a further retreat became inevitable. A resolution was accordingly taken to retire beyond the Dan. Here a new and not less arduous trial of skill ensued. To get between the American army and Virginia—intercept their supplies and reinforcements—and oblige them to fight on disadvantageous terms: This now became the object of Cornwallis. With this view he directed his march into the upper Country, where the Rivers were fordable with facility, flattering himself that the depth of the waters below and the want of boats would oppose insuperable obstacles to the expeditious passage of the American troops. To retard the progress of the British army was of course an indispensable policy on the part of Greene. For this purpose he practiced every expedient, which a mind full of resource could devise. And so efficacious were the expedients he adopted that surmounting all the impediments in his way he completed his retreat across the Dan without loss of men baggage or stores.
Such nevertheless was the energy of the pursuit that in crossing the three principal Rivers the Catawba the Yadken and the Dan the British troops in a manner trod upon the Heels of the American. In the passage of the last of the three, the van of the enemy’s army reached one shore almost at the very moment that the rear of ours landed on the opposite. Cornwallis upon this occasion, imitating Charles the 12th of Sweden, when the celebrated Schulenburgh made good his retreat across the Oder in spite of the utmost efforts of that vigorous and enterprising monarch, might with propriety have exclaimed—This day at least Greene has conquered me! The art of retreating is perhaps the most difficult in the art of war. To have effected a retreat in the face of so ardent a pursuit, through so great an extent of country, through a country offering every obstacle, affording scarcely any resource, with troops destitute of every thing who a great part of the way left the vestiges of their march in their own blood, to have done all this (I say) without loss of any kind may without exaggeration be denominated a master piece of military skill and exertion.
Disappointed in his first aim Cornwallis now retired from the Dan to Guilford Court House. Having driven the American army out of North Carolina, he flattered himself that his efforts would at least be productive of the advantage of an accession of force by encouraging the numerous royalists of that state to repair to his standard. Greene not without apprehensions that the hopes of his Competitor in this respect might be realized lost not a moment, after receiving a small reinforcement from Virginia, in recrossing the Dan to take post in the vicinity of the British army and interrupt their communication with the Country. Three weeks passed in a constant scene of military manoevre: Cornwallis eagrally striving to bring his antagonist to a action; and Greene adroitly endeavouring to elude it, yet without renouncing such a position as would enable him to prevent both supplies and reinforcements. On this occasion he played the part of a Turenne and he played it with complete success. The relative position which he took and maintained and the tragical fate of a body of royalists intercepted in their way to the British army distroyed every prospect of that aid which they not without reason had promised themselves from their adherents in North Carolina.
Virginia in the mean time awakened by the presence of danger exerted herself to reinforce the American army. Greene speedily finding himself in a condition to outnumber his adversary resolved to offer that battle which he had hitherto declined. He considered that in the existing circumstances a defeat must be to the enemy absolute ruin; while to him from his superiority in Cavalry united with other advantages it could be nothing more than a partial misfortune and must be compensated at a price which the enemy could not afford to pay for it.
The two armies now equally willing to try the fortune of a battle met and engaged near Guilford Court house. All that could be expected from able disposition towards ensuring success promised a favourable issue to the American arms. But superior discipline carried it against superior numbers and superior skill. Victory decreed the glory of the combat to the Britains; but Heaven confirming the hopes of Greene decreed the advantage of it to the Americans. Greene retired: Cornwallis kept the field. But Greene retired only three miles and Cornwallis in three days abandonning the place where the laurels he had gained were a slender compensation for the loss he had suffered, withdrew to Wilmington on the sea Coast. This Victory cost him a large proportion of the flower of his army; and it cost him a Webster.
Here occured the problem on the right solution of which depended the fame of Greene and the fate of the Southern states. There was every probability that the next movement of Cornwallis would be toward a junction with Arnold for the invasion of Virginia. Was the American General to keep pac[e] with his adversary in his Northern Carrier in order to resist his future enterprises? Or was he to return into the field he had lately left to endeavour to regain what had been there lost? The first as the most obvious and in a personal light the least perilous course would have been thought most eligible by an ordinary mind. But the last as the wisest though to his own reputation the most hazard appeared preferable to the comprehensive eye and enterprising spirit of a Greene.
On the one hand he concluded justly that Virginia might safely be trusted to her own strength and resources, and to the aid which if necessary she might derive from the North against all the force which the enemy were then able to employ in that quarter. On the other hand he foresaw that if South Carolina & Georgia should be abandonn[e]d to the situation in which they then were they would quickly have abandonned themselves to dispair would have lost even the spirit of opposition and might have been rendered in several respects subservient to the future progress of their Conqueror. Under these impressions he determined to return into South Carolina to attempt the recovery of that and its neighbouring state.
This was one of those strokes that denote superior Genius and constitute the sublime of war. ’Twas Scipio leaving Hannibal in Italy to overcome him at Carthage!
The success was answerable to the judicious boldness of the design. The enemy were divested of their acquisitons in South Carolina and Georgia with a rapidity which if not ascertained, would scarcely be credible. In the short space of two months all their posts in the interior of the Country were reduced. The perseverance courage enterprise and resource displayed by the American General in the course of these events commanded the admiration even of his enemies. In vain was he defeated in one mode of obtaining his object; another was instantly substituted that answered the end. In vain was he repulsed from before a besieged fortress; he immediately found other means of compelling its defenders to relinquish their stronghold. Where force failed, address and stratagem still won the prize.
Having deprived the enemy of all their posts in the interior of the Country and having wasted their forces in a variety of ways, Greene now thought himself in a condition to aim a decisive blow at the mutilatd remains of the British army and at least to oblige them to take refuge within the lines of charles Town. With this view he collected his forces into one body and marched to give battle to the enemy then stationed at the Springs of Eutaw. A general action took place. Animated obstinate and bloody was the contest. The front line of the American army, consisting of Militia, after beginning a brisk attack began to give way. At this critical and inauspicious juncture Greene with that collected intrepidity which never forsook him gave orders to the second line composed of Continentals to advance to the charge with trailed arms. This order enforced by example and executed with matchless composure and constancy could not fail of success. The British Veterans shrunk from the American Bayonet. They were routed and pursued a considerable distance. Numbers of them fell into the hands of their pursuers and the remainder were threatened with a similar fate. When arriving at a Position which with peculiar advantages invited to a fresh stand; they rallied and renewed the action. In vain did the intrepid Washington at the head of the pursuing detachment redouble the efforts of his valour to dislodge them from this new station. He was himself wounded and made a prisoner and his followers in their turn compelled to retire.
But though the enemy by an exertion of bravery, which demands our esteem, saved themselves from the total ruin which was ready to overwhelm them; they had nevertheless received too severe a blow, to attempt any longer to maintain a footing in the open country. They accordingly the day following retreated towards Charles town; leaving behind them their wounded and a considerable quantity of arms. Here ended all serious offensive operations in the South! The predatory excursions which intervened between the battle of the Eutaw and the evacuation of Charles Town & Savannah deserve not a place in the catalogue of military achievements.
But before we take leave of a scene as honorable as it was advantageous to the American arms it behoves us to stop for a moment to pay the tribute of merited applause to the memory of that Gallant officer who at the head of the Virginia line fell in this memorable conflict. More anxious to the last about his Country than himself, in the very agonies of departing life he eagerly inquired which of the contending parties prevailed and having learnt that his countrymen were victorious—He like another Epaminondas yielded up his last breath in this noble exclamation. Then do I die contented. Heroic Campbell how enviable was such a death!
The evacuation of the two capitals of South Carolina and Georgia intirely restored those states to their own governments and laws. They now hailed the Illustrious Greene as their defender and deliverer. Their gratitude was proportioned to the extent of the benefits resulting from his services nor did it shew itself in words only but was manifested by acts that did honor to their generosity. Consecrated in the affections of their citizens to the remotest posterity, the fame of Greene will ever find in them a more durable as well as a more flattering Memorial than in the proudest monuments of marble or brass.
But where alas is now this consumate General, this brave soldier, this discerning statesman, this steady patriot, this virtuous citizen, this amiable man? Why could not so many talents, so many virtues, so many bright and useful qualities shield him from a premature grave? Why was he not longer spared to a country which he so dearly loved, which he was so well able to serve, which still seems so much to stand in need of his services? Why was he only allowed to assist in laying the foundation and not permitted to aid in rearing the superstructure of American greatness? Such are the inquiries, which our friendly, yet short sighted regrets would naturally suggest. But inquiries like these are to be discarded as presumptuous. Tis not for us to scan but to submit to the dispensations of heaven. Let us content ourselves with revering the memory, imitating the virtues, and as far as we dare emulating the glory of the man, whom neither our warmest admiration nor our fondest predilection could protect from the fatal shaft. And as often as we indulge our sorrow in his loss let us ⟨not⟩ fail to mingle the reflection that he has left behind him offspring who are the heirs to the friendship which we bore to the father and who have a claim from many, if not from all of us to cares not less than parental.

“Eulogy on Nathanael Greene, [4 July 1789],” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-05-02-0141. [Original source: The Papers of Alexander Hamilton, vol. 5, June 1788 – November 1789, ed. Harold C. Syrett. New York: Columbia University Press, 1962, pp. 345–359.]

UHM Virtual Tour - Dueling Pistols
2020-05-20 22:00 - 23:30 (America/New_York)
While school is out and outside interaction is limited, virtual field trips can provide a great adventure! Follow the link below to take a virtual tour through the Museum’s permanent galleries.

Each week we will focus on one particular artifact, event in history, gallery or exhibit. So, check back regularly to continue learning about Upcountry history.

WEEK THREE: DUELING PISTOLS
Pistols like this would have been used in the duel between Benjamin Perry and Turner Bynum. According to The Code of Honor, the rule book for dueling Southerners, “the arms used should be smooth-bore pistols, not exceeding nine inches in length.” Directly beside the dueling pistols (generously donated by Charles Blakely), you will find a copy of The Code of Honor. This book set the standards for southern dueling. It was published in 1858 by former South Carolina Governor, John L. Wilson. The state outlawed the practice of dueling in 1880.

To find our dueling pistols, click on the image above. Once directed to the Virtual Tour, press the play button, making sure to give the app a few seconds to load fully before it brings you back to the main lobby area, in front of the courthouse steps. Once at the courthouse steps, simply click to the left side of the screen. Travel behind the drover and his pigs. Pass through the Upcountry Frontier gallery and take a right past the elevator doors. Here you will find the display of the dueling pistols and The Code of Honor.
Want to learn more on dueling? Click HERE!

WEEK TWO: MAC ARNOLD’S GAS CAN GUITAR
Arnold’s first gas can guitar was something he and his older brother Leroy created out of necessity. Leroy wanted a guitar, but his father wouldn’t allow it, so they made their own. The two collected scrap materials around the family’s Pelzer farm, such as strips of screen from a screen door for the strings. Arnold learned how to play the gas can guitar by age 10. Eventually, he got a six string guitar and later switched to the electric bass. By the time he was 24, he was in the center of the electric blues movement in Chicago. While in LA, he worked with some of the country’s most talented and well-known recording artists.
When he returned to South Carolina, he remembered the gas can guitar he made with his brother and set out to make a new one. It took him 18 months to track down the proper materials and six to re-learn playing the homemade guitar. He has since returned to his Upcountry roots, playing with his band, “Mac Arnold and Plate Full O’ Blues.”

To find Mac Arnold’s gas can guitar, affectionately named “Maggie Mae,” click on the image above. Once directed to the Virtual Tour, press the play button, making sure to give the app a few seconds to load fully before it brings you back to the main lobby area, in front of the courthouse steps. Once at the courthouse steps, simply click in the middle of the screen 4x until you are at the Vardry McBee statue (pictured below). Then scan to the right until you are facing the white chapel. Walk in the chapel and “Maggie Mae” will be immediately to your right.

WEEK ONE: THE GREENVILLE & COLUMBIA RAILROAD
In 1832, Vardry McBee and his contemporaries supported the construction of a railroad from Charleston to Cincinnati. They hoped it would help the economy and symbolize a political union of North and South understanding. There was a lot of debate locally over the construction of the railroad, but McBee’s vision ultimately prevailed. At the time of his investment of $50,000 in the Upcountry portion of rail (the Greenville and Columbia Railroad), it was the largest investment in a U.S. railroad. The segment was completed in 1853 and increased the value of good in Greenville by 45 percent.

To find this particular display, click on the image above. Once directed to the Virtual Tour, press the play button, making sure to give the app a few seconds to load fully before it brings you back to the main lobby area, in front of the courthouse steps. Once at the courthouse steps, simply click in the middle of the screen 4x and you will find yourself in front of the Vardry McBee and Railroad display.

Thank you to South Carolina ETV for creating and sharing this virtual museum tour.

Adventures with Clifford the Big Red Dog
2020-06-09 10:00 - 2020-10-24 17:00 (America/New_York)
The Upcountry History Museum and America’s beloved big red dog with a heart to match will invite visitors to board the Birdwell Island ferry and journey to the world of Clifford The Big Red Dog.

Adventures with Clifford The Big Red Dog, an interactive, bi-lingual (English and Spanish), exhibition featuring Clifford, Emily Elizabeth and all the residents of Birdwell Island will delight Upstate fans when it makes a stop at the Upcountry History Museum in the summer of 2020.
Inspired by Scholastic Entertainment’s top-rated TV show Clifford The Big Red Dog on PBS Kids, the 2000 square foot multi-sensory experience offers numerous “paws-on” adventures that reinforce “Clifford’s 10 Big Ideas.” These simple tangible life lessons are designed to help young children navigate their world: Share, Play Fair, Have Respect, Work Together, Be Responsible, Be Truthful, Be Kind, Believe in Yourself, Be a Good Friend, and Help Others.
As visitors explore Adventures with Clifford The Big Red Dog, they encounter the people and places that make-up Clifford’s world. From boarding the Birdwell Island ferry to greeting the nine-foot tall Clifford The Big Red Dog in his own backyard, visitors playfully explore the exhibition’s themed areas and discover “Clifford’s Big Ideas”.
Designed for children ages 2 to 8 and their caregivers, the exhibition’s content and themed environments are drawn from the places found on Birdwell Island. Each of the ten exhibit areas emphasize the importance of literacy and social-emotional development. Activities are designed to offer safe and inviting experiences for the youngest visitors while offering challenges for older children. Adult caregivers are addressed specifically through text and graphics, which highlight the exhibit’s educational messages and “Clifford’s Big Ideas”.
Visitors will also meet Norman Bridwell, creator of Clifford The Big Red Dog at the Birdwell Island Library. Bridwell created the first Clifford The Big Red Dog book in 1962, based on the dog he dreamed of riding and sharing adventures with as a little boy. Today, the best-selling
book series includes more than 160 Clifford titles, 100 million books in print and an award-winning PBS Kids television show.
The exhibit’s timeless lessons, bolstered by the series’ enduring popularity and multi-generation appeal, support adult-child engagement and a child’s growth in 21st century skills laying a foundation for success in life, school and work.

Sponsored by: PRISMA, Quality Business Solutions, Publix Super Markets, C&S Wholesale Grocers, and WSPA News Channel 7

Ghost Trail: U.S. Marines and the Battle of Tarawa in the Pacific, 1943
2020-08-22 10:00 - 2021-01-03 17:00 (America/New_York)
August 22, 2020 – January 3, 2021
The November 1943 invasion of the Gilbert Islands was the beginning of the U.S. “island hopping” campaign in the central Pacific during World War II. U.S. commanders determined that amphibious attacks on Japanese-occupied islands was the key to victory. The island of Tarawa was the first target in the Allied campaign.
About 80 nautical miles north of the equator, Tarawa is the largest atoll of the Gilberts, a 16-island chain roughly halfway between Hawaii and Papua New Guinea. The Japanese seized the then-British-occupied isle just days after Japan’s December 7, 1941 attack at Pearl Harbor. Tarawa’s main island Betio, was the target of the Navy and Marine Corps in November of 1943.
The Battle of Tarawa, November 20-23, 1943, was the first major American offensive in the central Pacific. Until then, Americans hadn’t faced much opposition during amphibious assaults. But Tarawa was different. The initial landings by the 2nd Marine Division met a heavily fortified Japanese force.
Japanese Rear Admiral Meichi Shibasaki, said “a million Americans” wouldn’t be able to take Tarawa in “100 years.” Americans took Tarawa in 76 hours.
Few military battles have matched the concentrated ferocity of the three-day fight between U.S. and Japanese forces in November 1943 for a sandy sliver of land halfway between Pearl Harbor and the Philippines. The U.S. delivery of coordinated land, sea and air power brought a U.S. force of over 30,000 men, a 10-1 advantage over the Japanese.
Tarawa was an essential WWII stepping-stone across the Pacific. In what one combat correspondent called “the toughest battle in Marine Corps history,” U.S. Marines wrestled it away at a cost of more than 1,009 men. All but 17 of the 3,500 dug-in Japanese defenders were killed, along with 1,100 Korean slave laborers. The search for the missing bodies of more than 100 U.S. Marines buried on the island continues today.
The Upcountry History Museum in partnership with the U.S. Navy History and Heritage Command will commemorate the service and sacrifice of the U.S. Marines at the Battle of Tarawa through a special exhibition featuring original combat art by Kerr Eby who traveled with the Marines in the South Pacific and landed with the invasion force at Tarawa, photography, rare film footage and artifacts.

White Christmas: The Exhibition
2020-11-14 10:00 - 2021-02-13 17:00 (America/New_York)
Extended – Now Closing February 13, 2021
In December of 1941, seventeen days after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Bing Crosby made the first live radio performance of a new song called “White Christmas.” Crosby’s unforgettable voice, singing what would become one of the most iconic Christmas songs ever written, went almost unnoticed in the flurry of activity around the United States entry into World War II.
The song had been created by songwriter Irving Berlin, a Jewish Russian immigrant. Its nostalgic view of an ideal snowy northeastern Christmas had to wait until the August 1942 release of the movie Holiday Inn before its popularity would take off. Within a month of the film’s premiere, sheet music and record sales propelled “White Christmas” to the top of the Hit Parade music chart for 10 weeks beginning in November 1942. From that point on, “White Christmas” became an instant classic and one of the most patriotic songs of World War II.
The song won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1942 and was such a hit, that Berlin decided to write an entire movie around it.
Prior to the film’s release in the fall of 1954, Variety wrote that “White Christmas should be a natural at the box office…with a hot ensemble including Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney, Vera-Ellen, and an Irving Berlin score.” Variety was right; White Christmas became the highest grossing film of 1954 and the highest grossing musical film of all-time.
The Upcountry History Museum in partnership with the Rosemary Clooney House, Augusta, Kentucky and a private collector, will host White Christmas – The Exhibition in the Fall of 2020. Greenville, South Carolina will be the second U.S. city to host the 2000 square foot exhibit.
Original White Christmas film costumes created by legendary designer Edith Head, props, sheet music, cast member’s personal memorabilia, archival materials, replica backdrops and more will invite visitors to experience first-hand the musical genius of Irving Berlin and the making of this beloved holiday film about two WWII veterans who team up with a singing sister duo to save a faltering Vermont lodge owned by the veteran’s former commanding officer.

Pigskin Peanuts
2021-01-17 - 2021-04-18
January 16 – April 17, 2021
Lucy first pulled the football away from Charlie Brown on November 16, 1952. Known as “The Fall Classic” it became a rite of autumn in American pop culture. The annual “pulling away of the football” was shown nearly every year through the run of the Peanuts comic strip. Artist Charles M. Schulz created nearly 50 years of unique endings to the famous football gag.
The Upcountry History Museum in partnership with the Charles M. Schulz Museum and Research Center will host Pigskin Peanuts, a retrospective exhibition that examines Schulz’s love of the game. Greenville, South Carolina will be the final stop on the Pigskin Peanuts international tour.
The 3000 square foot exhibit showcases Peanuts football-themed comic strips, artifacts and ephemera to illustrate how sports, specifically football, evolved and played a role in the Peanuts comics.
Charlie Brown’s missed kick wasn’t the only Peanuts football story. The exhibition, divided into five sections, examines the evolution of football in the Peanuts stories including Vintage Pigskin, The Fall Classic, Snoopy’s Gridiron Tales, Woodstock Plays Football, and Girls Rule (Sally, Peppermint Patty and Marcie).

Masters of American Photography
2021-05-01 10:00 - 2021-08-08 17:00 (America/New_York)
May 1 – August 8, 2021
A picture is worth a thousand words, or so the saying goes, and the 24 images on display in Masters of American Photography, takes visitors on a pictorial journey that traces the history of photography from the mid-19th century to the 20th century.

From Ansel Adams, Dorothea Lange and Walker Evans to Alfred Stieglitz, Paul Strand and Margaret Bourke-White, the range of these notable photographers underscores the influence each had on the Pictorialism movement which sought to elevate the status of photography to a fine art. Themes such as portraiture, landscape, cityscape, still life, motion capture, and cultural history are explored in an impressive array of works by these most important artists in the chronicles of photography.
Examining the advent of photography from the 1880s through the 1980s, Masters focuses on the extraordinary fervor that surrounded the innovation of this newest medium of visual representation. Emphasizing the experimental nature and evolution of photographic techniques through this time period, this unique exhibition showcases some of the photographs made during the Great Depression to call attention to the challenges of rural poverty, as well as the impact on the people whose lives were now documented as part of the collective record of the artform and its noted accounts of those moments.
On display through August 8, 2021, Masters of American Photography is filled with opportunities for visitors to explore an extraordinary time in the early history of what has not only become a profession and hobby, but a passion and art form for so many.
This definitive collection, comprised of many vintage prints, was organized by the Reading Public Museum in Reading, Pennsylvania.

Once Upon A Time: Exploring the World of Fairy Tales
2021-06-06 - 2021-09-19
June 5 – September 19, 2021
The bilingual exhibition (English and Spanish) is a unique and educational experience that emphasizes the importance of reading and the significance of fairy tales throughout history. From an African jungle to a giant’s castle, visitors explore larger-than-life pages of six of the world’s most famous fairy tales: Anansi and the Talking Melon (Ghana), Beauty and the Beast (France), Jack and the Beanstalk (England), Cinderella (France, China), The Elves and the Shoemaker (Germany), and Lon Po Po (aka: Little Red Riding Hood, China).
Entering the exhibit via a magical portal, visitors will be surrounded by an enchanting storybook kingdom. Each tale is brought to life through its own large-scale environment, interactive components, and costumes.
With seven storybook settings designed for children ages 3-10 years old and their caregivers, Once Upon A Time will take traditional story time to a new interactive level. The result is a three-dimensional, fully developed world that resonates with young visitors, while still appealing to the grown-ups in their lives who are just as fond of the beloved stories that were a major part of their own childhood.

Manzanar: The Wartime Photographs of Ansel Adams
2021-08-21 10:00 - 2021-10-31 17:00 (America/New_York)
On February 19, 1942, following the December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, a mandate that required all Americans of Japanese ancestry to enter internment camps. The majority of Japanese detained were native-born Americans or legal U.S. citizens.
The Manzanar Relocation Center, located 220 miles northeast of Los Angeles, was the first of ten camps established to detain 120,000 individuals of Japanese descent. Located on the eastern shoulder of California’s Sierra Nevada range, the camp at Manzanar opened in March 1942 and operated through November 1945 as a confinement site for more than 11,070 Japanese Americans.

During the camp’s operation, four leading American photographers – Ansel Adams, Clem Albers, Dorothea Lange, and Toyo Miyatake – documented the physical, cultural, and psychological conditions of camp life. Crafted from different angles, their combined work reveals the complex human responses to internment and its obvious social injustices.
Manzanar: The Wartime Photographs of Ansel Adams consists of fifty photographs taken by famed Western landscape photographer Ansel Adams of the Manzanar Relocation Center between 1943 and 1944. The controversial period in American history is depicted in authentic black and white photographs by the skilled Adams and presents a moment in time when Japanese American citizens were denied their freedom and rights due to their Japanese ancestry.
Adams presents an intimate look at daily life in Manzanar through portraits and images of daily life. This series is a departure from his usual landscape photography. Concentrating on the internees and their activities, Adams photographed family life in the barracks; people at work – internees as welders, farmers, and garment makers; and recreational activities, including baseball and volleyball games.
In addition to Adams’s work, the exhibition features photographs by Dorothea Lange and Toyo Miyatake. Miyatake, a Los Angeles portrait photographer and internee at Manzanar, fashioned a camera from parts he brought with him in his luggage. Both Adams’s and Miyatake’s photographs present a positive view of those interned at Manzanar. In contrast Lange’s photographs reflect the upheaval of evacuation and the bleak conditions at the camp.

The Soldier Bishop: Ellison Capers
2021-09-18 10:00 - 2022-02-27 17:00 (America/New_York)
The Soldier Bishop: Ellison Capers, a special exhibit created by Faith Memorial Chapel, Cedar Mountain, NC, now on display at the Upcountry History Museum, presents the unshakable faith of Rt. Reverend Ellison Capers and how his fortitude created a lasting legacy.
Though he lost loved ones and survived many of his own near-death experiences in some of the most horrific engagements of the American Civil War (1861-1865), Capers’ trust in God and the path before him never faltered. In 1865, at the age of 28, he was promoted in the military to Brigadier General receiving recognition for his leadership and distinguished service. After the war Capers was elected Secretary of State for South Carolina. Even so, his calling to Christ was overpowering. The Governor told him, “You can be a Governor, Senator, or anything you like. You will be a fool to give all this to become a preacher.”
In 1866, Capers accepted a call to Christ Church Episcopal in Greenville, South Carolina, where he served for 20 years. He was consecrated as bishop of the State of South Carolina in 1893 and moved to Charleston. To escape the summer heat, he purchased a plot of land in Cedar Mountain, NC, and erected a cottage. This inspired in Mrs. Capers a dream to erect an Episcopal chapel for the local population. In 1894, this dream became a reality, and “Faith Chapel” was built.
“Faith Chapel” fell into disrepair following Capers death in 1908. In honor of his enduring influence and guidance, a disciple of Capers, the Reverend Dr. Alexander Mitchell from Greenville, began a movement to rebuild the chapel and dedicated the new church, “Faith Memorial Chapel,” in Capers’ memory in 1941.
The exhibit shares the story of Ellison Capers and the history of Faith Memorial Chapel. Historical artifacts, including Capers’ original military sword, the musket balls that nearly killed him, his war diaries and handwritten letters to his wife from the battlefield, and the preserved renderings for rebuilding the Chapel dedicated to his memory, highlight key moments of Capers life’s journey through war, faith, and salvation.

Uncovered: The Ken Burns Collection
2021-10-09 10:00 - 2022-01-30 17:00 (America/New_York)
Credit Line: www.pbs.org/craft-in-america/tv-series/quilts/

Quilts are of course not the first thing that comes to mind when you are talking about Ken Burns. The acclaimed filmmaker is known for making dozens of documentary series, including “The Civil War,” “Baseball” and, most recently his 10-part “The Vietnam War.” His style is a blend of American history and personal anecdote, threaded with iconic imagery and music, coming together in patterns you might call quiltlike.

Burns began collecting American quilts in the mid-1970s, today his collection of 75 quilts is displayed among his home, office, barn and lake house in New Hampshire. The quilts, dating from the 1850s to the 1940s, reflect Burns’ consummate taste, his thoughtfulness, and his palpable love and respect of the American quilt as both an art object and as a storyteller.

Uncovered: The Ken Burns Collection exhibition will feature 26 historic quilts, research and quotes from Mr. Burns’ private collection.

In partnership with the International Quilt Study Center & Museum at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Mr. Burns personally approved the Upcountry History Museum’s request to host this prolific exhibition. In true Ken Burns storytelling style, the exhibition uses stories to connect visitors to the history, beauty and science behind the art of quilting.

Displayed alongside eloquent, anecdotal thoughts about quilts, collecting, art and authenticity, Burns’ quilts function as his films do: they spark dialogue and remind us – he hopes – of our shared humanity.

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Homeschool Day - Manzanar
2021-10-15 13:30 - 15:00 (America/New_York)
Manzanar: The Wartime Photographs of Ansel Adams
On February 19, 1942, following the December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, a mandate that required all Americans of Japanese ancestry to enter internment camps.
Learn about daily life inside the Manzanar internment camp with special guest, Dr. Stephanie Hinnershitz, historian for The National WWII Museum | New Orleans.

WHAT: UHM Homeschool Day

WHEN: Friday, October 15 | 1:3o p.m.

WHERE: Upcountry History Museum

HOW: October 15 is open to children in 5th-12th grades.

WHY: Get hands-on with history and art while incorporating state standards

COST: $9 per student & $10 per adult

UHM MEMBERS COST: $5 per student & Adults are FREE

War Dogs: Never Above You, Never Below You, Always Beside You
2021-10-30 10:00 - 2022-02-27 17:00 (America/New_York)
October 30, 2021 – February 27, 2022
Since the American Revolutionary War, military working dogs have served with all branches of the United States Armed Forces. First used as pack animals, working dogs have expanded their military roles to include scouting, policing, detection, and combat.

U.S. military dogs officially began serving in WWII, following the formation of the Dogs for Defense, Inc. coalition. Today, hundreds of dogs serve with U.S. military forces around the globe assisting with dangerous missions on today’s modern battlefields.
The exhibition combines life-size sculptures designed by Ohio master craftsman James Mellick with combat art and objects on loan from the collections of the National Museum of the Marine Corps, the United States Coast Guard, and the United States Navy.
The project features eight Wounded Warrior and two Canine War Dog sculptures, bringing attention to the history, service and heroism of military working dogs. The collection represents Doberman Pinchers, German Shepherds, Labrador Retrievers and Belgian Malinois who served in WWII, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan military campaigns.
One of James Mellick’s sculptures represents Lucca, a Marine Corps war dog. She conducted more than 400 missions during two deployments to Iraq and one to Afghanistan. One of those missions cost Lucca her leg and severe burns but there were no human casualties under her watch. When she retired, her handler was able to adopt her.
Twenty pieces of art paint a more complete picture of dogs at work, detailing the most menacing war dogs to goggled high-flying dogs to sleeping warriors and keen detectives. Artifacts include items used by war dogs and their handlers. Dog uniforms, medical kits and Purple Hearts share poignant stories of perseverance and bravery.
Military working dogs have served and protected countless lives in war, this inspiring exhibition tells their amazing story.

Home for the Holidays
2021-11-13 - 2022-02-13
Norman Rockwell’s Home for the Holidays

For many Americans, Rockwell’s icons of living culture were first experienced in the most unassuming of places, in the comfort of home, or on the train ride at the end of a long day. Created for the covers and pages of our nation’s periodicals rather than for the walls of galleries and museums, Rockwell’s images were intimately understood by a vast and eager audience who saw the best in themselves reflected in his art and in the stories that he chose to tell.

Rockwell’s hopeful and admiring attitude toward humanity was the hallmark of his work. He loved to paint pictures that conveyed stories about people, their attitude toward each other, and his feelings about them.

During his forty-seven year affiliation with The Saturday Evening Post, Norman Rockwell was celebrated for his special holiday cover illustrations, which were commissioned to mark a full spectrum of annual events for an enthusiastic public, from Thanksgiving, Christmas, and The New Year to Valentine’s Day and April Fools’ Day. Whether it was the presentation of mouth-watering turkey at the Thanksgiving table or a rosy-cheeked Santa checking his list to see who’s naughty or nice, the illustrations simply conveyed Americana. In a rapidly changing world, Norman Rockwell’s art has been a reassuring guide for over six decades, and it continues to resonate today.

The Upcountry History Museum – Furman University in partnership with the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts will host the traveling exhibition Norman Rockwell’s Home for the Holidays. This beloved exhibition, featuring over 40 of Norman Rockwell’s most memorable and enduring holiday images, will make its South Carolina debut at the Upcountry History Museum.

In addition, we are excited to display original artifacts and four full-size original Norman Rockwell holiday themed oil paintings. We want to offer a sincere thank you to the following for their generous support of these iconic artifacts and paintings;

Christmas Homecoming is made possible through the generosity of Janis Bandelin and Bill Fitzpatrick
Christmas Trio is made possible through the generosity of Beverley K. Whitten
Merrie Christmas is made possible through the generosity of Ben and “Sunshine” Norwood
Uneasy Christmas in the Birthplace of Christ is made possible through the generosity of RFW Consulting Services/Rebekah F. West .
Presentation of original artifacts is made possible through the generosity of Kate and A. V. Huff

The Art of Warner Bros. Cartoons
2022-02-12 10:00 - 2022-05-29 17:00 (America/New_York)
For more than 90 years, Warner Bros. animation has been bringing joy to all ages. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies produced some to the most iconic animated characters – Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig, Daffy Duck, Tweety Bird, Wile E. Coyote, Road Runner, Elmer Fudd, and more.
The classic Warner Bros. short animations were different from any other in that they were made with an adult audience in mind. The funny, exuberant stories with a breath-taking pace were peppered with sharp satire and references to topical matters and real-life phenomena as well as endless verbal fireworks. Six to seven minutes long, the cartoons were originally screened in film theatres before the feature film.
THE ART OF WARNER BROS. CARTOONS, an international traveling exhibition, includes 160 objects and film clips that invite visitors of all ages to explore the history of the legendary Warner animation studio. The exhibition includes production artwork, including drawings, paintings, and transparent celluloids used to create some of Warner Studios’ classic cartoon shorts from their 1930 debut through the early 1960s.
Visitors explore the elaborate process that went into the making of the classic Warner Bros. cartoons, considered to be among the finest, funniest, and most inventive animated shorts ever made. Vivacious, colorful and highly animated, the exhibition traces the development of all of Warner’s cartoon stars and gives a step-by-step breakdown of how animated films are made.

Sponsored by:

Purchase Tickets Here

Pointes, Pirouettes and Plies: Carolina Ballet Theatre Turns 50
2022-03-12 10:00 - 2022-07-17 17:00 (America/New_York)
March 12 – July 17, 2022
Carolina Ballet Theatre – Raising the Barre in Greenville
For more than six centuries, ballet has graced royal courts and stages across the globe, and for 50 years, Greenville’s own Carolina Ballet Theatre has been bringing this timeless performance art to the Upstate.
From that first day in 1972 until now, CBT has been guided by the prospect of what could be. Its evolutionary, enlightened and engaging approach has ensured that this powerful performance art remains true to its origins while continuing to push the boundaries of this dynamic dance medium.
An artistic vision with hundreds of dancers, hundreds of hours of training and practicing, and countless performances have all culminated into a legacy of bringing world-class productions to the Greenville stage.
This exhibition celebrates an incredible 50-year journey that has encountered notable high points, as well as unimaginable setbacks, but still managing to raise the barre on entertainment excellence, engaged outreach, and unity through performance arts.

Vietnam: The Real War Photographs from the Associated Press
2022-05-28 10:00 - 2022-08-21 17:00 (America/New_York)
May 28, 2022 – August 20, 2022
The Vietnam War (1954-1975) was a long, costly and divisive conflict that pitted the communist government of North Vietnam against South Vietnam and its principal ally, the United States. The conflict was intensified by the ongoing Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. More than 3 million people (including over 58,000 Americans) were killed in the Vietnam War, and more than half of the dead were Vietnamese civilians.

U.S. Marines move through a landing zone, December 1969. (AP Photo)

The war left a deep and lasting impression in American life, from its impact on the men and women who fought in it, to the journalists and photographers who covered it, to the millions of Americans who protested against it or supported it. Due to an uncensored press, the world knew and saw more of this war than any in history before or since.

To cover the War, The Associated Press (AP) gathered an extraordinary group of superb photojournalists in its Saigon bureau, creating one of the greatest photographic legacies of the 20th century. The AP won six Pulitzer Prizes for its coverage, four of them for photography.

Now, drawn from AP’s photo history of the conflict, Vietnam: The Real War, featuring a selection of 50 large-format images curated by the Associated Press, will be presented at the Upcountry History Museum. The exhibition tells the human story of the War, from the American presence starting as a trickle of military advisers in the late 1950s, through dramatic operations involving thousands of soldiers in the 1960s, to the fall of Saigon in 1975. These are pictures that both recorded and made history, taken by courageous photojournalists.

As we begin to look back from the vantage point of half a century, Vietnam: The Real War serves as a photographic record of the drama and tragedy of the Vietnam War.

The Upcountry History Museum will include objects, archival materials and oral histories from its permanent collection to support and further illustrate the impact of the Vietnam War. The Museum will partner with Upstate veterans and military organizations to insure the preservation and presentation of our community’s history and stories.

The Associated Press (AP) is a not-for-profit global news agency headquartered in New York. Founded in 1846, the AP today is the essential global news network, delivering fast, unbiased news and information from every corner of the world to media platforms and formats.
Sponsored by:

Dinosaurs: Land of Fire and Ice
2022-06-11 10:00 - 2023-01-22 17:00 UTC
June 11, 2022 – January 22, 2023

Dinosaurs will roar into the Upstate South Carolina, when the Upcountry History Museum presents Dinosaurs: Land of Fire and Ice. Crossing the threshold of this interactive exhibition means traveling back in time to explore the Age of the Dinosaurs.

Dinosaurs: Land of Fire and Ice is the first child-centered exhibit in the country dedicated to expanding the understanding of dinosaurs and their habitats. Designed for young explorers, ages 3-10, the bilingual (Spanish and English) exhibit features three distinct sections that build on a child’s innate curiosity about dinosaurs: Land of Fire (a warm dinosaur habitat), Land of Ice (a cold dinosaur habitat), and a Field Research Station (complete with a Big Dig experience).

The steamy Land of Fire, present day Montana, introduces visitors to the Triceratops, T-Rex and the dinosaurs who called this environment home. Children can circle the land in insect costumes, buzz through a volcano with oozing lava, work through a swampy bog and identify an ecosystem of animals and plants.

No coats are needed for a trip across the Land of Ice where visitors meet the dinosaurs who made their homes in the cold climate of Alaska. Activities include: climbing rocky steps, breezing down an icy slide, and hopping across stepping stones in an icy river.

In the hands-on Field Research Station children and their caregivers don goggles and research vests, as they uncover dinosaur bones in a dig station and examine fossils to identify dinosaurs.

The exhibit builds on the popular fascination with dinosaurs and includes science, history, and literacy based activities to challenge all ages. Sculpted, touchable dinosaurs, featuring the most recent scientific findings about dinosaur colors, textures and structural form create opportunities for young
explorers to investigate clues that the dinosaurs left behind.

Book a Field Trip!

Sponsored By:

AMECO: Upstate Roots, Global Reach
2022-07-30 10:00 - 2022-09-18 17:00 UTC
July 30 – September 18, 2022

AMECO: Upstate Roots, Global Reach…75 Years Delivering Construction Site Services
Inside the Fence. Outside the Box. AMECO’s Changing the Game.
For more than seven decades, one company has been steadily going about its day-to-day operations – operations that are critical to construction projects, certainly seen and heard, but often unsung heroes.
Managing indirect products and services, including equipment, scaffolding, tools, consumable supplies and fleet management for capital construction, facility operations and maintenance projects on a global scale, this one-time equipment storage division has evolved over the years into an all-purpose site services company focused on expanding the core business to support clients.
As a leading construction and maintenance field services planning and management company, AMECO has been delivering responsiveness, reliability, innovation, safety, and expertise through integrated and collaborative approaches to project management with world-class expertise.
Whether in the fields of manufacturing, infrastructure, power, mining and metals, energy and chemicals, heavy industry, or government, AMECO brings reliable onsite solutions to construction and maintenance industry challenges.
This exhibition celebrates the remarkable history of a company grounded in the work ethic and progressive attitude associated with its founding in Upstate Greenville while steadily advancing to its position as a single trusted source to keep workers working safely, projects moving forward, and jobsites work-ready across North America.

Doing the Most Good: The Salvation Army in Greenville
2022-10-01 10:00 - 2023-02-05 17:00 UTC
Doing The Most Good: The Salvation Army in Greenville
October 1, 2022 – February 5, 2023
What started as a mission effort in 1904 under a tent at the corner of Brown and Washington Streets when The Salvation Army of Greenville began offering a religious message and good music to anyone willing to listen has evolved into 118 years of service to the community.
Since its humble beginnings, the organization continued to expand with a variety of services being offered, many of which have adapted through the years and are still meeting needs today. This exhibition offers a look at the non-profit’s storied timeline through artifacts, photos, and materials from the local archives, as well as The Salvation Army’s national archives.
In his book, Way Down Beside the Reedy River – A Centennial History, lifelong Salvation Army member Major Raymond W. Kitchen noted, “Each succeeding year and change of command brought other and more varied programs to the Citadel on Broad Street and later, to the other locations as the Army marched through time and the neighborhood. The Salvation Army is still at work today using modern methods and more sophisticated avenues of service to perform the same acts of loving service to humanity.”
Indeed, since marching into Greenville more than a century ago, The Salvation Army in Greenville has remained true to doing the most good.

Photos courtesy of The Salvation Army Southern Historical Center, Evangeline Booth College, Atlanta Georgia

Wild Things: The Art of Maurice Sendak
2022-10-22 10:00 - 2023-01-08 17:00 UTC
“Let the wild rumpus start!”
October 22, 2022 – January 8, 2023
There’s room to run, stories to explore, and Wild Things to become at the Upcountry History Museum.
He was one of the greatest creators of children’s books in the 20th century – though he didn’t like the term “children’s books” and preferred “books that children like.” Author and artist Maurice Sendak upended expectations by depicting menace, anxiety and “wild” behavior in picture books devoured by readers of all ages.
The Upcountry History Museum will serve as the only South Carolina stop on the Where the Wild Things Are national exhibition tour. Visitors of all ages will experience the fantastical imagination of Maurice Sendak as they explore over 50 pieces of original artwork and step into the pages of his beloved books.
The immersive exhibition celebrates Sendak’s life and work by showcasing his most famous pieces through preliminary sketches, finished artwork, and interactive experiences. All of this is told through the words of Sendak himself, intimately connecting the artist to his art and stories.
Sendak created a visual language that has captivated generations of children. Although he sometimes indulged in lighthearted plots, his picture books often had menacing elements: fanged
monsters, baby stealing goblins and young protagonists placed in dangerous situations. Sendak intentionally gave children the opportunity to engage with ethical dilemmas, to feel afraid as well as joyful, and to take part in imaginative play.
During his long career Sendak illustrated over one hundred books, which continue to thrill and fascinate life-long learners all over the world. The fifty works of art in the exhibition will be accompanied by quotes from fellow illustrators, friends, and celebrities, sharing their thoughts on Sendak and the ways in which he inspired them. As comedian Stephen Colbert stated, “His art gave us a fantastical but un-romanticized reminder of what childhood truly felt like.”

Jeff and Mary Lawson

Nutcracker: The Exhibition
2022-11-19 10:00 - 2023-02-19 17:00 UTC
The nutcracker sits under the holiday tree, a guardian of childhood stories. Feed him walnuts and he will crack open a tale…
In the Christmas season of merry making, the ways of celebrating are as many and as varied as possible, but familiar traditions and stories connect all of us during this time, influencing our celebrations and holding a special place in our hearts. One such story and tradition is The Nutcracker.
Whether it’s a tradition to see the ballet or if you only know the songs from hearing them played on Christmas playlists, we are all familiar with the story of The Nutcracker. Or are we truly?
The Upcountry History Museum in partnership with Walt Disney Archives, The Walt Disney Family Museum, Charles M. Schulz Museum, artists James Ransome and Maurice Sendak, private collectors, and the Carolina Ballet Theatre will invite visitors to explore the history of the surprisingly dark story behind the ballet and its evolution into a holiday classic.
From its origins as a short story written by Prussian author, E.T.A. Hoffman in 1816, to its premiere as a fairy tale ballet in two acts that opened a week before Christmas in 1892, The Nutcracker has become the most popular ballet to be performed around the world at Christmas time.
Nutcracker: The Exhibition, a 1,200 square foot exhibition, organized by the Upcountry History Museum, will explore the kaleidoscope of artistic re-imaginings of The Nutcracker, from the 1820’s to the present. The immersive experience will take visitors on a journey from The Nutcracker’s beginnings as a short story, to its artistic interpretations in literature, ballet, theater, and film. Original illustrations, drawings, film and ballet costumes, props, and ephemera will examine multiple perspectives of one of literature’s greatest paradoxes that continues to inspire imagination, creativity, and discussion.
Rich with visual interpretation, the exhibition takes visitors on a journey through the cultural, technological, and societal shifts that have compelled artists, filmmakers, and fans to return to the tale of The Nutcracker time and time again.
