Hidden Treasures! A peek into the museum archives.
By Fiona Shirkie, Collections Intern

If you are anything like me, and hopefully you are, you find a trip to a museum an adventure. As I move from gallery to gallery I am fascinated by the objects on display and the stories behind them. But the items that are on display are only half the story (or in some cases only 2% of the story!). All museums care for many more objects than those they are able to display. The Smithsonian Institution has an astonishing 137 million objects in its collection. It is only able to display 2% of these at any given time. The same is true here at the Gaston County Museum – although on a smaller scale.

One of my projects is to look through some of these ‘hidden’ objects stored in the archives. It is important to regularly check the condition of these items, document and research them further. Reviewing what is in the archives also helps to generate ideas for future exhibitions.

This project may seem like a daunting task – do you see the number of boxes!! However to someone like me this is a fabulous opportunity to delve into history. I have not been disappointed. I have been both excited and moved by some of the items that I have been fortunate enough to work with.

As they say the longest journey begins with a single step, so I selected my first box. Can you believe what I found – a picture of U.S. Representative for North Carolina (1957-68) Basil L. Whitener with not one, but two future Presidents! Seeing these three men gathered in 1960 I was reminded of the great hope that President Kennedy would inspire and also of his tragic death and its impact in the USA and around the world.

Having walked around Dallas Court Square many times, imagine my surprise as I discovered what appear to be the deeds relating to the Smyre-Pasour House, the oldest remaining residence in Dallas. The first of these documents was a deed from 1849 granting J.F. Smyre lot 8 on the Court Square for $187 and the second the deed passing this lot to Eli Pasour in 1851 for $650 – a nice profit! Eli would go on to purchase lots 7 and 9.

I was moved as I shared in the life of Yvonnie C. Hill documented in the diary that she kept daily from 1934-51. She shares everything from day to day things like how much the Doctor’s bill was or going on an Easter egg hunt to a very special moment shared with her beau and husband Johnnie in 1934 when Yvonnie “told him that I loved him”. I couldn’t help but feel for the young man from the mid-1800s writing to his mother and father from the ‘Wake Co Insayn Asylum’. I held in my hand the Book of Worship that Reverend M.L. Little, a Lutheran minister who served in Lincoln and Gaston County, had in his pocket when he was killed in a train crash in 1891. These objects reminded me that behind history and every object we see in a museum are very real people and unique stories. Preserving these objects to share with current and future generations is a central part of the museum’s mission.