Upcountry History Museum

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.

Andy Warhol: Endangered Species
2023-02-04 10:00 - 2023-04-30 17:00 UTC
Andy Warhol: Endangered Species
February 4 – April 30, 2023
Andy Warhol was one of the most influential artists of the 20th century, creating some of the most recognizable images ever produced. A founding member of the Pop art movement, his work was across several media including painting, printmaking, photography, drawing, and sculpture. Challenging former concepts of modern art and veering away from abstraction, he embraced popular culture and commercial processes to produce work that appealed to the masses.
Environmental activism and Andy Warhol are rarely associated, but Endangered Species was one of Warhol’s most influential artworks. He created the entire project in 1983, ten years after the passage of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, which defined endangered species as a humanitarian matter, banned trade involving the endangered animals, and made steps to protect the animal’s original habitats.
Warhol’s Endangered Species series consists of ten oversized silkscreen prints of the nearly extinct animals identified in 1973. Each animal was given Warhol’s artistic star treatment in the same style as his iconic celebrity portraits. Warhol fondly referred to this series as his “animals in makeup,” given the bold pop colors he used to portray the animals as larger than life.
Warhol’s elevation of the series to pop culture status played a huge role in raising awareness of these endangered species and generated funds for their preservation. Likewise, Warhol propelled the efforts of conservation forward. As of 2021, six of the ten animals are still threatened with possible extinction.
The Upcountry History Museum is one of only three museums selected by Art Bridges Foundation/Crystal Bridges Museum, Bentonville, AR, to host the Andy Warhol: Endangered Species exhibition project. In addition to the ten Endangered Species prints by Andy Warhol, the exhibition examines the works through four engaging and multi-disciplinary themes: Activism, Animals, History and Art.
The bilingual exhibition (English and Spanish) also features experiential components specifically designed for individuals who are blind or have low vision.
Support provided by

Works by Warhol
2023-02-04 10:00 - 2023-05-07 17:00 UTC
One of the 20th century’s best-known artists, Andy Warhol (1928-1987) made his name in the early 1960s with paintings and prints of brands, celebrities, and foods ranging from Marilyn Monroe and Elizabeth Taylor to Coca-Cola and Campbell’s Soup. These brash, innovative works are considered icons of Pop Art, a movement that both critiqued and celebrated postwar American consumer culture. By the end of the decade, Warhol had become a celebrity in his own right, equally famous for his platinum wig and the star-studded parties he threw in his studio, the Factory, as he was for his paintings, drawings, sculpture, and films.
Before spearheading the Pop Art movement, in the 1950s Warhol achieved success on Madison Avenue as one of New York’s most popular advertising artists. A skilled and inventive illustrator, Warhol won several Art Director’s Club awards for his work on Columbia records LP cover designs, I. Miller shoe drawings, and additional advertising work for Martini & Rossi, Glamour, Harper’s Bazaar and Vogue magazines.
Once his Pop art career exploded in 1962, Warhol focused on silkscreen painting and filmmaking. He based his paintings on imagery he found in the American mass media: news photos, celebrity head shots, film stills, comics, logos, and advertisements. To convert his source images into paintings, Warhol made them into photo silkscreens and printed them on canvas. Smudges, misalignments, and inconsistencies were accepted, giving the paintings a handmade appearance. Sometimes the paintings included a single image, as in John Wayne (1986) and the Endangered Species series (1983). These became larger-than-life iconic portraits, while those printed in grids, suggested the way that repetition can simultaneously embed an image in one’s memory and deaden its effect.
Works by Warhol, at the Upcountry History Museum, on loan from The Cochran Collection, LaGrange, GA, will feature 36 iconic masterworks by Warhol, dating from 1968 through his last series done in 1986. This once-in-a- lifetime exhibition includes a broad cross-section of examples from Warhol’s storied career.
The exhibit explores Warhol’s responses to major moments in U.S. history, including the assassination of John F. Kennedy, Neil Armstrong’s moon landing, and the perception of Native Americans in the aftermath of the bicentennial of the United States. Also included is Warhol’s entire series of “Myths”. This body of work was completed in 1981 and showcases Warhol’s lifetime fascination with Hollywood imagery. “Myths” marks a return to Warhol’s formative encounters with figures such as Howdy Doody, the Wicked Witch of the West, Superman, Mickey Mouse and many more.
Support provided by
Becky and Bobby Hartness

Celebrating 75 Years…Greenville Symphony – Concerts and Community
2023-02-18 10:00 - 2023-08-13 17:00 UTC
February 18 – August 13, 2023

Like individual instruments that form an orchestra and create a beautifully blended sound, cultural arts organizations weave together an atmosphere of creativity, collective collaboration, and cohesiveness that produce a harmony of entertainment and appreciation.
Following a post-war surge of growth in this Textile Capital of the World, forward-thinking community leaders began to recognize that cultural arts organizations could not only complement, but also strengthen Greenville’s booming economic development.
So, in the summer of 1948, a few dedicated musicians added their names to a handwritten signup sheet taped to a storefront window and turned their volunteer talents into days, weeks, and months of practice in preparation for the first concert. On December 6, the sounds of Wagner and Schubert filled the Women’s College Auditorium on the old Furman University campus, and a captivated audience enthusiastically responded to the prospect of more concerts to come. The Greenville Symphony was born.
Over the next 75 years, the Greenville Symphony grew into a respected segment of the larger fabric of a community coming of age. Throughout these more than seven decades, what began as a volunteer-driven group of musicians evolved into a professional orchestra that has offered performances of classical masterworks, hosted world-class musicians such as jazz great Duke Ellington and renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma, established a strong music education component for children, developed innovative Pops programming, made national headlines for its role in helping music director and conductor Edvard Tchivzhel defect from the then USSR to the United States, introduced a Virtual Concert Hall in response to COVID-19 so music could still be shared, initiated a series of “pop-up performances” with small ensembles performing in unexpected places, and maintained a commitment to performing with passion and distinction.
This exhibition celebrates the remarkable history of one of Greenville’s cultural anchors; an organization that has embraced its love of music and created a composition of community engagement, enrichment, and enthusiasm season after season.
The Greenville Symphony Association is dedicated to providing educational and cultural opportunities for the citizens of Greenville and surrounding communities through the presentation of live orchestral music.

Symphony Insight with Caroline Ulrich
2023-03-01 17:30 - 18:30 UTC
Mark your calendars for our upcoming Symphony Insight with Caroline Ulrich on March 1 from 5:30 PM to 6:30 PM at the Upcountry History Museum. Caroline has crafted a guided tour to introduce Concerto for Flute by C.P.E BACH with demonstrations from the flute.
Join us on Friday, March 10 at 7:30 PM, Saturday, March 11 at 7:30 PM, and Sunday, March 12 at 3:00 PM at Gunter Theater to hear Caroline Ulrich play with the Greenville Symphony Orchestra. The program includes C.P.E BACH: Concerto for Flute and SHCHEDRIN: Carmen Suite.

Caroline Ulrich Biography
Principal flutist of the Greenville Symphony, Caroline Ulrich enjoys an extensive orchestral performing career in North and South Carolina. Previously, Maestro Edvard Tchivzhel selected her to perform Mozart’s Flute Concerto in G Major, Lukas Foss’s Renaissance Concerto, the Ibert Concerto, JS Bach’s Suite in b minor, and Mozart’s Concerto for Flute and Harp, with John Wickey.
Caroline also performs with the Spartanburg Philharmonic, South Carolina Philharmonic, Asheville Symphony Orchestra, and Rock Hill Philharmonic. Previous appointments include the Springfield Symphony (IL), Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony, and Augusta (GA) Opera. Dr. Ulrich is on the faculty of Furman University. Previously she was the flute instructor at SC Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities, Luther College, and Clemson University.
Along with Carla Copeland Burns, Erinn Frechette, and Amy Orsinger Whitehouse, Caroline Ulrich is a founding member of FLUTE4. The group champions new works for the flute quartet and performs throughout the Southeast and Midwest. She is also active with Lillian Buss Pearson, piano, as a collaborative recitalist.
When not performing, Caroline enjoys hiking, gardening, reading, cooking, eating(!), and visiting art museums.

Through The Years: Kenny Rogers' Photographs of America
2023-03-04 10:00 - 2023-06-18 17:00 UTC
March 4 – June 18, 2023
Through the Years: Kenny Rogers’ Photographs of America, a special exhibition organized by The Kenny Rogers Estate, highlights a little-known facet of a multi-talented man, shedding new light on the seriousness of Rogers’ pursuit of his hobby of making great images. Through the Years presents a selection of 60 of Rogers’ stunning color and black and white photographs of America, its celebrities, and working people.
Although Kenny Rogers wrote and sang “You Can’t Make Old Friends,” the worldwide music icon, multiple Grammy Award-winner, and Country Music Hall of Fame Member made many new friends in the process of creating hundreds of celebrity portraits. Eighteen of these, many inscribed to Rogers by the subject, are among the highlights in the exhibition.
Rogers began shooting pictures with a Kodak Brownie Hawkeye in the mid-1960s, and his interest grew when he was introduced to fashion, and celebrity photographer Milton H. Greene famed for his Marilyn Monroe portraits.
Rogers’ two most notable mentors were famed portrait photographer Yousuf Karsh, and John Sexton, a noted landscape photographer who served as Ansel Adams’ late-in-life assistant.
Photography gave Rogers a creative outlet apart from the fast-paced life of an entertainer. Crisscrossing America on his travels and concert tours Rogers took every opportunity to get out and shoot pictures, documenting unique views of North America and the people he met. He made friends with many of them, and they subtly informed his art along the way.
A revered photographer, Rogers received an Honorary Master of Photography degree from the Professional Photographers of America in 2014. In 2017, he was honored with the inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Photography Hall of Fame and Museum in St. Louis, MO. Rogers published three books of his photography in 1986, 1987, and 2001.
The Upcountry History Museum is the second museum to host the stunning results of Rogers’ photography. In addition to the selection of 60 photographs, the exhibition will include artifacts and archival materials from Rogers’ personal vault, providing a comprehensive look at Kenny Rogers’ diverse artistic outlets.
Support provided by

The Global Language of Headwear: Cultural Identity, Rites of Passage, and Spirituality
2023-03-25 10:00 - 2023-06-04 17:00 UTC
“Hats and headdresses are a unique and powerful lens through which one can view the human experience.”
Stacey W. Miller, Curator, The Global Language of Headwear Exhibition

The Global Language of Headwear: Cultural Identity, Rites of Passage, and Spirituality, a national traveling exhibition, organized by International Arts and Artists, Washington, DC, will make its only Southeastern United States stop in Greenville, SC, at the Upcountry History Museum.
Developed by independent ethnographic curator Stacey W. Miller, the exhibition explores the vital role of ceremonial headwear throughout diverse cultural customs, beliefs, and rituals. The exhibition features approximately 89 hats and headdresses from 43 different countries spanning Asia, Africa, Europe, the Middle East, and North and South America.
Organized in five distinct categories – Cultural Identity; Power, Prestige, and Status; Ceremonies and Celebrations; Spiritual Beliefs; and Protection – the exhibition showcases these mutual themes amid a range of traditions.
The exhibition pays tribute to the stunning diversity of the world’s cultures. The hats and headdresses are part of a private collection of 1300 extraordinary pieces of international headwear that date from the mid to late 20th century.
From headdresses and helmets to turbans and crowns, visitors will explore the vital role of ceremonial headwear throughout diverse cultural customs, beliefs and rituals. Transcending utilitarian purposes, each head covering is a work of art – not merely because of the skill required to make it, but also as a singular expression of creativity and cultural meaning. The profusion of shapes, styles, and materials, as well as the ingenious use of embellishments to decorate the hats, are limited only by imagination.
The beliefs and rituals of these many cultures, and the ceremonial objects that accompany them, ultimately unite an international community. Comparatively, both the Plains Indian feathered war bonnet and the Congolese Misango MaPende crown, both featured in the exhibition, though from vastly different regions and civilizations, represent a position of leadership and status, and only those who have earned the right to wear one may do so.
The Global Language of Headwear exhibition colorfully demonstrates that each distinct society can be viewed through a similar lens of rites of passage, heritage, and identity.
Support provided by

NOW OPEN - The Global Language of Headwear
2023-03-26 13:00 - 17:00 UTC

Very Eric Carle: A Very Hungry, Quiet, Lonely, Clumsy, Busy Exhibit
2023-05-20 10:00 - 2023-09-10 17:00 UTC
May 20 – September 10, 2023
Colorful adventures in literacy and STEAM learning await in the special exhibition, “Very Eric Carle: A Very Hungry, Quiet, Lonely, Clumsy, Busy Exhibit,” making its Southeastern United States debut at the Upcountry History Museum, Greenville, SC.
At this play-and-learn exhibit, co-organized by The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, Amherst, Massachusetts, and the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh, visitors step into the pages of author and illustrator Eric Carle’s colorful picture books and experience them as artist and reader, while discovering and playing with five special insects from his well-known children’s books.
Carle’s classic “Very” book series, is reimagined in the 2,500 square foot exhibition. Utilizing Carle’s hand-painted tissue paper collage technique, the exhibit presents the five “Very” special insects who invite visitors to join them on their journeys of discovery.
Through interactive experiences, visitors become the “tiny and very hungry Caterpillar,” following along his iconic path. They also weave a web with the “Very Busy Spider;” find their light with the “Very Lonely Firefly;” make the “Very Clumsy Click Beetle” flip and jump; and compose a night symphony with the “Very Quiet Cricket.”
In the “Reading Zone” children and their caregivers explore visual literacy and reading through words, pictures and video. Visitors are invited to listen to Eric Carle read his stories and talk about his process or read their own favorite Eric Carle story with a friend
Each of the “Very” stories are a testament to Eric Carle’s love of nature, his respect for the emotional lives of children, and his recurring themes of friendship, creativity, and the power of imagination.
The creator of more than seventy books, Eric Carle (1929-2021) combined winsome stories and lively collages that appeal to young readers and adults alike. While Carle’s stories are charming, they’re layered with information too. As children read his books about animals, families, nature, and fables, they also learn their colors, numbers, and letters. Eric Carle focused on making learning accessible and fun – and in the process, he invited children to fall in love with books and reading.

Support provided by
,

Frontiers Past and Future: Science Fiction and the American West
2023-06-17 10:00 - 2023-10-08 17:00 UTC
Frontiers Past and Future: Science Fiction and the American West
June 17 – October 8, 2023
A special exhibition, organized by the Upcountry History Museum.
Frontiers: Past and Future, featuring objects and archival materials from the private collection of William Bradshaw, former Director of Roper Mountain Science Center, Greenville, explores the impact of the legendary American West on science-fiction and futuristic space odysseys.
In 2023, Bradshaw generously donated a portion of his extensive “Wild West and Sci-Fi” collection to the Upcountry History Museum. Both the collection and the current exhibition examine the natural comparisons between the American West and space with its science-fiction adventures.
Bradshaw collected both historic and contemporary toys, board games, marketing materials, comic books, playsets, and more, to provide new insights into our probable pasts and possible futures, and to illustrate the concept of “seeking out new life and new civilizations…to boldly go where no man has gone before.”

Support provided by

Facing the Inferno: The Wildfire Photography of Kari Greer
2023-06-29 10:00 - 2023-10-22 17:00 UTC
Facing the Inferno: The Wildfire Photography of Kari Greer
July 1 – October 22, 2023

“I’m a trained firefighter; photography is my tool.”
Kari Greer, Wildfire Photographer, 2012

Fire. It’s dangerous and beautiful. It creates its own light and can turn on you in an instant.
The effects of wildfires, which are becoming more far-reaching due to global warming, are drastic. Smoke from wildfires has national impact. And the fire season now extends nearly year-round.
Armed with determination, a Nomex fire suit, an Olympus E-3 camera, and a full complement of safety equipment, Kari Greer, a wildland firefighter, and specialist in editorial photojournalism and wildland fire photography, safely moves through active fire situations to places most photographers could never access.
On an average assignment, Greer drives hundreds of miles, endures 130-degree heat, dodges falling trees and electric lines, sleeps in the back of her vehicle, and prays low-flying planes won’t crush her beneath a load of misplaced fire retardant.
Greer’s career includes two decades as a photographer with the National Interagency Fire Center, based in Boise, Idaho. Though normally used for agency reports, websites, and government presentations, Greer’s body of work reflects a deep understanding of this complex and dramatic subject.
Facing the Inferno: The Wildfire Photography of Kari Greer, will place viewers in the middle of raging wildfires, as they travel side-by-side with fire crews on attack lines, witnessing the intensity of the fires and the experiences of the firefighters who face them. The exhibition, featuring 64 images from Greer’s collection, is organized by the Moscow Contemporary Art Gallery in Moscow, Idaho, to increase public conversation and understanding of this volatile occurrence.
In its commitment to connecting Upstate, SC history with national and global history, the Upcountry History Museum will include a companion exhibition focused on wildfires and wildland fire fighting in the Carolinas. The Carolinas wildfire history, significant wildfire events, and growing number of “Red Flag Alerts” being issued in Upstate South Carolina and Western North Carolina will be examined through artifacts and archival materials.

Support provided by

“We Didn’t Wait For Freedom”: Civil War Narrative Quilts by Vera Hall
2023-08-26 10:00 - 2024-02-18 17:00 UTC
“We Didn’t Wait For Freedom”: Civil War Narrative Quilts by Vera Hall
August 26, 2023 – February 18, 2024
The Upcountry History Museum is honored to host a selection of quilts created by quilter and history maker, Vera P. Hall.
A retired educator and councilwoman from Baltimore, Maryland, Hall is described by Baltimore residents as a “trailblazer”. In her We Didn’t Wait For Freedom quilt series, Hall bridges the gap between history and her love of textiles with her quilt creations, honoring the lives of famous African Americans whose actions inspired change in America.
An activist in her own right, Hall studied Education at Coppin College. She became the first African American teacher assigned to an all-white school in Baltimore’s Little Italy and taught in Baltimore City elementary schools as a reading specialist. Her concern for improving public education led her to work with the Maryland Department of Education and then to run for public office. She served on the Baltimore City Council from 1985-1992. In 1992 she made history when she was elected Chair of the Maryland Democratic Party, becoming the first African American female chair of a state Democratic Party.
Following her retirement, Hall became an active member of the African American Quilters of Baltimore, and created “We Too Sing America,” focused on her desire to teach other quilters black perspectives on Civil War History. Since then, she has created numerous story quilts, including a series of black history quilts, focused on her interest in Blacks during the transition from slavery to freedom.
The We Didn’t Wait for Freedom exhibition features 5 quilts from Hall’s We Didn’t Wait For Freedom quilt series, plus a sixth quilt hand and machine pieced by Hall using original Civil War era quilt blocks.
In its commitment to “connecting people, history, and culture,” the Upcountry History Museum will include Black History, Civil War era materials from its permanent collection.

Support provided by

Splash & Bubbles Dive In, Lend A Fin
2023-09-23 10:00 - 2024-02-04 17:00 UTC
September 23, 2023 – February 4, 2024
Explorers of all ages will dive into the incredible world of ocean exploration when Splash and Bubbles: Dive In, Lend a Fin makes it’s only South Carolina stop at the Upcountry History Museum. Visitors will join Splash, Bubbles, and the Reeftown Rangers in exploring marine biology, ocean science, and different ocean ecosystems.
Based on the popular PBS KIDS TV show, Splash and Bubbles, a hit animated series that encourages children to explore ocean science through character-driven comedy, the series is co-produced by The Jim Henson Company and Herschend Entertainment Studios.
Both the television series and the exhibition follow the adventures of Splash, a yellow fusilier fish who has migrated all of the oceans before settling down in Reeftown, where he befriends three inquisitive fellow sea creatures. Until Splash came along, Bubbles, Dunk, Ripple, and most of the other Reeftown residents had no idea what lay beyond the cozy confines of their coral walls.
The 2,500 square foot, interactive exhibition, builds on kids’ connections to the characters and their habitats, immersing them in a larger-than-life marine environment and introducing them to the incredible world of ocean exploration.
While exploring the early childhood STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) based exhibit, children are encouraged to build both scientific inquiry and social emotional skills as they learn how to protect the ocean and its ecosystems. Ocean conservation is a key message throughout the exhibit, encouraging families to understand that they can create “a small ripple to help our big ocean.”
Featuring a variety of hands-on exhibit components, Splash and Bubbles invites children to discover a whole new world as they navigate an under-the-sea maze in a kelp forest, explore a sunken ship that has become an artificial reef, interact with puppet characters created by Jim Henson’s Creature Shop, become a Reeftown Ranger, dress up as a stingray or a sea turtle, and learn fun “Fin Facts” at Flo’s School of Fish.

Support provided by

The Bias Inside Us
2023-10-07 10:00 - 2023-11-05 17:00 UTC
The Bias Inside Us
October 7, – November 5, 2023

October 7, – November 5, 2023
The Bias Inside Us—an exhibition and community engagement project from the Smithsonian—is an exploration of the social science, psychology, and consequences of implicit bias. Bias is an innate human trait; we all have it. Being aware of our bias can help us recognize their influence and impact on our behaviors and worldview. The Bias Inside Us offers an opportunity to learn how to challenge bias in the world through awareness of one’s own bias.
The Bias Inside Us organized by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service. Major support is provided by The Otto Bremer Trust.

Support also provided by

Hard Earned: The Military Photographs of Stacy Pearsall & The Veteran’s Portrait Project
2023-10-21 10:00 - 2024-01-14 17:00 UTC
October 21, 2023 – January 14, 2024
“I carry a gun, but my real weapon is my camera.”
Stacy Pearsall
Retired Air Force Staff Sergeant and aerial combat photojournalist Stacy Pearsall has spent most of her adult life focused on two passions: photography and the military. Pearsall began her career as an Air Force still-photographer at the age of 17. At age 21 she became one of the few women to ever be accepted into the 1-Combat Camera Squadron, an elite unite of the Air Force that provides photographs of military operations to high-ranking government officials in order to inform decision making and preserve a historical record.
During her years of military service, Pearsall traveled to over 41 countries and served in three combat tours of Iraq. She is a recipient of the Bronze Star Medal and Air Force Commendation with valor for her combat actions in Iraq. She is one of only two women to have won the National Press Photographers Association (NPPA) Military Photographer of the Year competition, and the only woman to have earned it twice. In 2013 she was awarded an honorary doctoral degree from The Citadel for her many contributions to the college, to American veterans, and to the U.S. Armed Forces.
Soon after being medically retired from military service, Pearsall found a new way to continue her dual passions through the award-winning Veterans Portrait Project. The project began in 2008 while Pearsall was rehabilitating from combat injuries sustained in Iraq. She found her inspiration in the hours spent in VA waiting rooms, surrounded by fellow veterans, and was compelled to honor and thank them through photography with the Veterans Portrait Project. To date she has documented over 7,500 veterans across all 50 states.
In partnership with Syracuse University, the Upcountry History Museum will present a selection of 45 photographs from Pearsall’s career as a combat photographer, as well as works from her ongoing Veterans Portrait Project. Each series approaches the military from different angles – in her combat series viewers are confronted with scenes from the conflict in the Middle East. These landscapes with lone or few figures speak to an experience fraught with hidden dangers, and hours spent alone in unforgiving territory. This experience and understanding of combat allow Pearsall to connect to the veterans she now photographs for the national Portrait Project. In both her combat images and veterans’ portraits, Pearsall’s eye for light and emotion creates an honest photograph that provides insight into the military experience.
The Upcountry History Museum will include military objects and archival materials from its permanent collection, as well as loaned objects, within the Hard Earned exhibit experience.

Support provided by

A Very Grinchy Christmas
2023-11-04 10:00 - 2024-01-21 17:00 UTC
A Very Grinchy Christmas
November 4, 2023 – January 21, 2024
“Every Who down in Whoville liked Christmas a lot. But the Grinch who lived just North of Whoville did not.”
from How the Grinch Stole Christmas, published 1957

It began as a children’s book on the biggest theft in history. Then it transformed into a classic television special.
On December 18, 1966, 3.8 million people tuned in to CBS-TV to witness the birth of what would become one of the most watched holiday specials in the history of American television – “Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas.”
The made-for-television, 26-minute animated story by legendary animation director Chuck Jones (of Looney Tunes fame), was based on the 1957 book by Theodor Geisel (aka Dr. Seuss). Featuring a grouchy curmudgeon who tries to ruin Christmas, it went on to become an instant holiday classic, beloved by generations.
The Upcountry History Museum will celebrate the holiday season with the small-hearted creature who hates it the most, when it hosts A Very Grinchy Christmas. The special exhibition, featuring over 150 original animation cels, Dr. Seuss sketches, backgrounds, and ephemera, will make its Southeastern U.S. debut in Greenville, SC.
The exhibition items – selected from a private collection – illustrate Jones’ approach to adapting the story for the screen. In contrast to the book’s black, white, and red palette, Chuck Jones unleashed a riotous array of vivid colors to depict the story’s settings and characters. The 1966 film, narrated by Boris Karloff, showcased Jones’s unparalleled character animation and comic timing, creating an utterly believable, villainous – but ultimately redeemed – Grinch that became the standard for all subsequent adaptations.
Whereas today’s studios and production companies provide project funding, television specials of the past, like How the Grinch Stole Christmas, had to rely on company sponsorship in order to get made. With storyboards in hand, Jones pitched the Grinch to more than two dozen potential sponsors – breakfast foods and candy companies – without any luck. Down to the wire, he finally found a sponsor in an unlikely source – the Foundation for Commercial Banks. Coming in at over $300,000, or $2.2 million in today’s dollars, the special’s budget was unheard of at the time for a 26-minute cartoon adaptation.
Funny, heartwarming, and visually stunning, the exhibition will reflect both the book and the television special’s universal story about the spirit of giving and the indomitable power of optimism.

Support provided by

Narwhal: Revealing an Arctic Legend
2024-02-03 10:00 - 2024-06-16 17:00 UTC
Narwhal: Revealing an Arctic Legend
February 3, 2024 – June 16, 2024
Dive deep into the world of nature’s most mystical sea-creature.
The Upcountry History Museum will invite visitors to “Meet the Unicorn of the Sea” when it hosts Narwhal: Revealing an Arctic Legend, a Smithsonian traveling exhibition, February-June 2024.
What is a narwhal? It is, in fact a mammal, part of the whale lineage. Narwhals only live near the Arctic Circle, where climate and sea-ice changes pose a mounting challenge to their survival.
From their depiction in the 1500s as angry sea monsters to their status as icons of pop culture today, the narwhal, with its unique spiral tusk (which is a tooth), has inspired legend in Inuit and European society and fascinated people across cultures for centuries. This mysterious animal and its changing ecosystem are highlighted in this special exhibition developed by the National Museum of Natural History and its Arctic Studies Center.
Through first-hand accounts from scientists and Inuit community members, the exhibition reveals how traditional knowledge and experience, coupled with the latest scientific research, heighten our understanding of these fascinating animals and our changing global climate.
The 2,000 square-foot exhibition features an 18-foot fiberglass model of an adult male narwhal suspended from the ceiling. The model is surrounded by banners, graphic panels, object cases, and physical and digital interactives that engage audiences of all ages in the narwhal story.
Visitors will learn what the narwhal tusk is for, test their tooth knowledge, examine a cast of a skull from a prehistoric narwhal relative and compare the different ways that narwhals and their whale relatives have adapted to the changing Arctic environment. Panoramic images of landscapes and a soundscape of narwhal vocalizations, ice and water flows and other Arctic wildlife, will immerse visitors in the Arctic environment of the narwhal.
As a Smithsonian Affiliate, the Upcountry History Museum is committed to bringing “Smithsonian experiences” to South Carolina and to connecting Upstate South Carolina with Earth’s unfolding story.

Support provided by:

Vision & Spirit: Black Artists in the Bank of America Collection
2024-02-17 10:00 - 2024-06-02 17:00 UTC
Vision & Spirit: Black Artists in the Bank of America Collection
February 17, 2024 – June 2, 2024
Vision & Spirit: Black Artists in the Bank of America Collection, is an exhibition composed of more than 100 paintings, prints, drawings, photographs and mixed media works by 48 renowned African American artists born in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Highlighting key aspects of their lives, as well as the important objects they created, the exhibition focuses on these artists’ strength and resilience as creative forces whose work continues to shape our understanding of the world.

On loan from Bank of America’s Art in Our Communities program, the exhibition was curated in partnership with the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African American Arts + Culture, Charlotte, NC. In selecting works of art for the exhibition, guest curator Dexter Wimbley sought images and concepts that embody the exhibition’s central theme of resilience. Throughout this process he continually reflected on the social and political times in which the works of art were created.
The exhibit features work from artists born in the 19th and 20th centuries, but the images and concepts depicted span an even greater period in time. There are pieces that depict the middle passage – the taking of enslaved Africans by boat across the Atlantic – the Underground Railroad and the Great Migration of Black Americans from the South during the Jim Crow era.
The breadth of work in the exhibition further includes portraits of unknown and well-known individuals, including influential figures such as Muhammad Ali, Harriet Tubman, John and Alice Coltrane, and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It also includes photographs taken during the Harlem Renaissance and the civil rights movement, as well as intimate and quiet moments in early to mid- century and contemporary Black life.
Artists in the exhibition include Rev. Henry Clay Anderson, Chelle Barbour, Romare Bearden, Dawoud Bey, Willie Cole, Murry DePillars, Jacob Lawrence, Whitfield Lovell, Gordon Parks, Faith Ringgold, Jamel Shabazz, and James VanDerZee.
Seeking to balance the presentation of figuration and abstraction, Vision & Spirit also includes the work of several emerging or lesser-known contemporary African American artists to explore the idea that all art exists on a continuum, and that art being made today is both historically and psychologically influenced by art made in the past.
Vision & Spirit inspires viewers to go on a journey of revelation and discovery and opens the door for greater discussions about the past, present, and future of African Americans.

This exhibition has been loaned through the Bank of America Art in Our Communities® program.

Salley Mavor’s Bedtime Stitches
2024-03-02 10:00 - 2024-05-05 17:00 UTC
Salley Mavor’s Bedtime Stitches
March 2, 2024 – May 5, 2024
Award winning fiber artist Salley Mavor has spent four decades developing her signature style, carving out her own niche within the children’s book world and the fiber art community. Mavor’s three-dimensional embroidered tableaus have been used as children’s book illustrations, social commentary, and stop-motion animation.
For Salley Mavor, a needle is her tool, thread her medium, and stitches are her marks. From her home studio in Falmouth, Massachusetts, she has illustrated 11 children’s picture books using her distinctive blend of materials and hand-stitching techniques.
The Upcountry History Museum will partner with Salley Mavor for the third time, when it hosts original artwork from her latest book, My Bed: Enchanting Ways to Fall Asleep around the World, published in 2020. The book, illustrated by Mavor, features three-dimensional art showcasing “the universal theme of children sleeping safe in their beds”.
From Afghanistan to Ghana to Scandinavia and South America, both the story and the art connect visitors with a sense of home and familiarity. Visual clues, made with a variety of materials including fabric, beads, wire, and found objects, provide unique opportunities for visitors of all ages to experience the three-dimensional quality of Salley’s storytelling.
The exhibit, titled Salley Mavor: Bedtime Stitches, features eighteen pieces of original artwork created for the book. Each of the distinctive sculptural artworks is created like a shadow box, containing Mavor’s detailed, intricate designs and embroideries in a 3-D picture, assembled like a tiny stage set with its own scenery and characters.
The miniature children fall asleep in an endless variety of ways, on hammocks, straw mats, colorful woven rugs and futons; in curtained cupboards, cubby holes, and quilt-covered four-posters. They nod off in houseboats rocking on the water; next to a warm stove or under the stars on a rooftop; with their favorite toys nearby. The tiny animals that accompany the children in each frame provide what Mavor calls “visual clues” to each geographic region, as do the traditional designs and patterns found within each illustration.
The result is a colorful and immersive experience for a multi-generational audience, highlighting the universal act of cozying into bed.

Support provided by:

D-Day, June 6, 1944: The Memory Lives On
2024-05-18 10:00 - 2025-04-27 17:00 UTC
D-Day, June 6, 1944: The Memory Lives On
May 18, 2024 – April 27, 2025
Normandy, France will forever be marked by the June 6, 1944, D-Day Landings and the Battle of Normandy that led to the liberation of France and Europe. 2024 will mark the 80th Anniversary of this historic event. The Upcountry History Museum, in its commitment to collecting, preserving, and disseminating the Upstate’s local history and to connecting it to national and international history, will honor this momentous occasion with a special exhibition.
June 6, 1944: More than 156,000 Allied troops landed on the beaches of Normandy, France, as part of the largest seaborne invasion in history. Known as “D-Day,” the name and date loom large in the memory of WWII. D-Day put the Allies on a decisive path toward victory. Beginning with the Normandy beaches, they pushed back the Axis forces until Germany was forced to surrender less than a year later. Their achievements were not accomplished without tremendous sacrifice, as the Normandy invasion resulted in over 6,000 American casualties.
The Upcountry History Museum, in partnership with the Naval History and Heritage Command, Washington, DC, will honor the individuals without whom D-Day would not have been a success: soldiers and sailors, doctors and nurses, engineers and pilots, enlisted men and officers, seasoned fighters and those who had never been in combat. These veterans stormed the beaches, directed the landings, sailed or flew in support of the invasion, parachuted or piloted gliders into France, and arrived in the days after June 6, to continue the perilous work of pushing back and defeating the German Army.
Artifacts, uniforms, archival materials, ephemera, art and more will share this remarkable moment in history and provide answers to What is D-Day? How do you get an army across the English Channel and into France when your enemy is well armed, well trained, and expecting you? How did a single day and its aftermath ultimately liberate Western Europe, defeat Nazi Germany and end the Second World War?
The exhibition will include the contributions and sacrifices of Upstate South Carolinians, many of whom were in their teens, to commemorate their participation in the largest invasion ever assembled and to ensure that “the memory lives on.”

Support provided by
