One of the goals of the High Point Museum is to share High Point’s history with the community and that’s exactly what is accomplished with the Museum’s newest exhibit, “Around Town.” This is a series of small, portable exhibits that will be displayed in various locations in High Point.
Three “Around Town” exhibits have been completed, churches, civil rights movement and street views. These traveling exhibits utilize negatives from The High Point Enterprise (1949-1960) Collection. All three of the exhibits will be on display at the Museum for a very limited time April 10 – April 14. The churches exhibit was developed by Paul Vincent, collections assistant at the Museum of the Albemarle, and the other two were developed by Hannah Mahnken, a student from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro who is completing her Masters of Arts in History with a concentration in museum studies.
"These short exhibits tell of a shared past and we hope will cause visitors to think about how the city has changed over the years and how it can continue to grow," Mahnken said. "Some people who read the panels may have never been to the Museum, but learning something new about their city may compel them to visit."
On Wednesday, April 11 at 10 a.m., Mahnken will be discussing these exhibits for the monthly High Point Historical Society Guild meeting. This meeting is free and open to the public.
The Museum conducted surveys using written ballots and social media to discover topics that interested community members.
"I researched both topics using the town's newspaper, Museum files, and the Heritage Research Center in the Library," Mahnken said. "Finally, I compiled both the narrative and the images onto panels that will travel around to engage the public with their city's past. Aside from fun facts, I also gained valuable skills with InDesign to create the panels and their design as well as a nice refresher with Photoshop."
Beginning this summer, the exhibits will be at other city venues such as the High Point Theater and City Hall. The High Point Public Library will display each of the three exhibits during July, August and September. To schedule one of the exhibits for your company or organization contact the Museum at 336-885-1859.
“Digitizing the over 7,500 negatives in The High Point Enterprise Collection has been a priority for the past several years, simply for preservation purposes,” Marian Inabinett, Curator of Collections, said. “However, we realized how valuable these images are for showing High Point as it was 50 – 60 years ago. It also has been a priority to bring our work at the High Point Museum to a larger audience. In this exhibit series, we bring these two priorities together. Having volunteers and students develop the exhibits brings a fresh perspective. We’re excited to develop more exhibits and have them featured at many venues around the city.”
The High Point Museum, a division of the High Point Public Library, shares Greater High Point’s history, provides perspective for current issues, and strengthens the sense of community.
The City of High Point aims to serve as the catalyst for bringing together the community’s human, economic and civic resources for the purpose of creating the single most livable, safe and prosperous community in America. For more information on the City, visit www.highpointnc.gov
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