BULLETIIV 



OF 



THE CHARLESTON MUSEUM 



Vol. 9 CHARLESTON, S. C, MAY, 1913 No. 5 Li 



NB 



eoT 

 THE ONE HUNDRED AND FORTIETH ANNIVERSARY ^^ 



RECEPTION 



The Charleston Museum celebrated its one hundred and for- 

 tieth anniversary on March the twenty-eighth by giving an 

 evening reception to its many friends. Fully eight hundred 

 people were in attendance. The reception was held in the main 

 exhibition hall which was most attractively decorated, the ex- 

 hibits themselves furnishing the keynote but so softened by fes- 

 toons of long grey moss and smilax and by banks of palms as to 

 produce an illusion of tropical jungle life in that staid hall of 

 science. The numerous charming refreshment tables, however, 

 diffused a properly civilized atmosphere. 



Three years before the Audubon-Bachman Loan Exhibit had 

 turned the previously empty hall into a huge picture gallery. 

 One large floor case of birds then gave hint of a possibly differ- 

 ent line of usefulness. Another year saw the Silk Culture Ex- 

 hibit occupying one-fourth of the floor space, the remainder 

 having assumed a definite museum aspect although the surplus 

 of room was pathetically obvious. There was still ample accom- 

 modation for the crowd the night of the reception but a decided 

 rearrangement of exhibits was necessary in order to secure it. 

 Another year and such a reception will have become an impossi- 

 bility until such time as the galleries are completed. Lack of 

 funds has made the work of installation slow but a review of the 

 special openings of the Museum is significant of progress. 



The receiving line also was indicative of the broader field of 

 usefulness upon which the Museum has entered, being repre- 

 sentative of the various Museum activities and of aflSliated in- 



41 



