City of Raleigh Museum Director Ernest Dollar

by Julie Z. Russo

 Drinking tea out of cups and saucers of all persuasions about 30 history buffs turned out for a library lecture on the new City of Raleigh (COR) museum. Historian Ernest Dollar, director of  COR, presented a vintage photo of the Briggs Hardware Store built on Fayetteville Street in downtown Raleigh in 1874, which is the renovated site of the new history museum. COR reopened a year ago under the helm of the City of Raleigh, and the department changed its division name to Parks and Recreation and Cultural Resources in recognition of the prominence of the city's cultural heritage. For 20 years, the museum functioned as a nonprofit called the Raleigh City Museum, but its purpose to educate the public about artifacts and to provide educational programming highlighting Raleigh's historic heritage, remains the same. Occupying the first floor of a four-story building with 7,000-square feet of exhibit space, the museum is blessed with natural light emanating from a skylight at the top of the building that since its original construction more than hundred years ago has illuminated its entire interior.

  Some of the most interesting details about Raleigh's history include its civil rights activism, which peaked during the 1960s and is now the subject of a current COR exhibit entitled "Let Us March On: Raleigh's Journey Towards Civil Rights." COR staff are involved in interviewing, documenting, and collecting artifacts from members of the African American community who turned the area around downtown South Wilmington Street into a thriving business community. Amongst the public treasures there are the historic Pope House formerly owned by Thomas Manassa Pope. Details of Mr. Pope's life, including being the first African American surgeon to serve in the Spanish-American war, as well as running for mayor in 1909, were shared by Mr. Dollar.

  Raleigh's turbulent past also involved Union General William Tecumseh Sherman whose advance through the Carolinas in 1865 during the Civil War led to the city's "utter destruction and utter salvation," said Mr. Dollar. With the help of remote sensing technology called lydar, COR staff are examining the remnants of ramparts surrounding the city built by slaves during the conflict that could be preserved as earthworks commemorating the struggle of laborers and soldiers.

  With more than 300,000 vintage negatives of photographs, some donated from massive online archives of the North Carolina Museum of History, COR is positioned to unravel the city's history and progress through a visual narrative. Another goal of the museum is to expand its knowledge through the study of water, transportation uses, and population studies. Featured as Raleigh's "coolest attic" on the City Show recently, Mr. Dollar also expressed hopes of presenting its own vintage radio show in the future entitled "Crazy Barn Dance and Crazy Bands." Celebrating the International Bluegrass Festival in downtown Raleigh starting this fall for three consecutive years is a big coup for the city and the museum. Ever since Bill Monroe and Earl Scruggs were featured on WPTF radio in the 1920s, Raleigh has served as a nexus for blue grass.

  COR's central location on Fayetteville Street has always made it a central gateway to the city, as evidenced by the current restoration of buildings along the route. After World War I, photos attest to the grand homecoming on the street welcoming the National Guard with banners, confetti, and throngs of citizens. In the '60s, other photographic views present a burgeoning urban skyline. By walking the path of our forebears and with the help of the new COR museum, we learn history is "meaningful, valuable, and important," Mr. Dollar said.