Collections

We collect objects about the history and culture of:

• Charlotte and the surrounding metro area
• North Carolina
• The South, which we define as 16 states plus Washington, D.C.: Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia

Our objects date from after the Civil War to the present. They show how people in the region lived, worked, voted, and shaped their communities.

Right now, we are especially interested in objects related to:

• Civil rights
• Housing
• Generational wealth and economic opportunity
• Education
• Religion and faith
• Migration and immigration
• Foodways (the food traditions of a place and its people)

Most objects come to us as donations, gifts, or bequests (gifts left in a will). We also accept long-term loans and sometimes purchase objects. Whenever possible, we collect in partnership with the community, so the people whose stories we tell help shape the collection.

• Photographs, papers, and objects that show Charlotte’s change from a farming economy to an industrial one, and later to a modern financial center and diverse, multicultural city.
• Objects from the textile industry, which drove the economy of Charlotte and many other New South cities from the late 1800s through much of the 1900s.
• Materials from local Civil Rights and Black Freedom movements, including scrapbooks of local, state, and national NAACP activities from the 1940s to the 1990s. A tear gas canister used against people protesting police brutality in Charlotte in 2016 connects this history to the present day.
• Objects that document the history of segregation, white supremacy, and racial discrimination in the New South. These include a wooden ballot box from early-1900s Mecklenburg County, when white supremacists used violence to stop Black men and their white supporters from voting, and Ku Klux Klan robes and hoods, which were symbols of intimidation and terror. Few local institutions collect and display objects like these, which challenge the idea that the region’s history is a simple story of progress.
• Objects from the local history of women, the LGBTQ+ community, immigrant communities, banking, sports, and politics. Examples include a campaign dress worn by Liz Hair, the first woman elected to the Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners, and an audio mixer owned by “Chatty Hatty” Leeper, the first Black woman to work as a radio DJ in North Carolina.
• The archives of YWCA Greater Carolinas, dating back to 1908, including records from the Phyllis Wheatley YWCA in Charlotte’s Brooklyn neighborhood.
• More than 1,200 photographs by photojournalist Don Sturkey documenting Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, and nearby areas in the mid-to-late 1900s.

We follow a Collections Policy and a Collections Plan. Together, they explain how we choose, document, and care for objects, and how we make decisions about adding or removing them. Both follow professional museum standards and all applicable laws. The policy is reviewed every five years.

Both documents are public. To request a copy, email collections@museumofthenewsouth.org.

Yes. Visits to see the collection are by appointment only. To make an appointment or ask a question, email collections@museumofthenewsouth.org.

Yes. Copies and images are provided for personal research only. By requesting a copy, you agree not to reproduce, publish, broadcast, or sell it beyond what fair use allows unless you have permission from the copyright owner.

In many cases, yes. To ask for permission, email collections@museumofthenewsouth.org and include:

• The specific items you want to use
• How you plan to use them (for example, in a book, exhibit, film, or broadcast)
• Your name and contact information

Please keep in mind:

• We review requests in the order we receive them.
• If we approve your request, we will send you a signed permission letter. We do not sign outside contracts or publisher permission forms.
• We can only grant rights that the museum holds. Some items have copyright or donor restrictions, and you are responsible for making sure your use does not violate anyone else’s rights.
• We do not give anyone exclusive rights to an item. The museum may also use the item or allow others to use it.
• You must credit the museum (see below).
• We may decline a request.

Please use this format:

[Name or description of item]. [Name of collection]. Courtesy of Levine Museum of the New South.

Fees may apply. See our Licensing and Reproduction Fees for details.

We welcome donation offers. Please email collections@museumofthenewsouth.org with a description and, if possible, a photo of the item. Please do not bring or mail items to the museum before speaking with our staff.

No. We do not authenticate objects or provide appraisals.

Email our collections staff at collections@museumofthenewsouth.org.