Founded in 1773 and commonly regarded as “America’s First Museum,” The Charleston Museum is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, accredited by the American Alliance of Museums.
Inspired in part by the creation of the British Museum, the Museum was established by the Charleston Library Society on the eve of the American Revolution and its early history was characterized by association with distinguished South Carolinians and scientific figures including Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Reverend John Bachman and John J. Audubon.
The Museum continued to develop prominent collections of ethnological and zoological specimens, which Harvard scientist Louis Aggasiz declared in 1852 to be among the finest in America. Operations were temporarily suspended due to the Civil War, but began again shortly afterward. Progressively acquired since the late 18th century, the Museum's collections now represent the most comprehensive assemblage of South Carolina materials in the nation. Focusing on the South Carolina Lowcountry, modern collecting emphases include natural history, historical material culture and both documentary and photographic resources.
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Join Andrew as he takes viewers to look at a peculiar item in the Dr. Gabriel Manigault Collection at the Charleston Museum: a bronze cat case from the Ptolemaic period which once contained a...
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Millions of years ago, massive prehistoric creatures roamed the earth. Host Andrew travels down to the Charleston Museum to see the remains of one animal which was native to the southeast – the...
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This ancient Egyptian cat case may have at one point housed a mummified cat. It is constructed out of bronze and dates back to Egypt's Ptolemaic era - around 300 B.C.
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The full Eremotherium Giant Ground Sloth skeleton on display at the Charleston Museum.