A Comparative Case Study of the Charleston Museum during its First Formative 150 Years

Abstract

Founded in 1773 in the South Carolina colony, three years prior to American independence, the Charleston Museum was established as the first museum in what would become the United States. Originally, when first instituted by the Charleston Library Society (as a subscription library in 1748), the intent was to model the Charleston Museum on the British Museum. This paper examines the Charleston Museum's trajectory as a collecting institution from its origins in cabinets of curiosities held at library and philosophical societies and small colleges of higher education to its independence as an institution and multiple structures (both historic and modern). In addition to examining the aforementioned connection with the British Museum, this paper compares the Charleston Museum with two other early American institutions—the Library Company and the Peale Museum—in order to draw out an understanding of the evolution of collections and exhibitions.