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This skeleton of a modern North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis) E. Milby Burton, Director of The Charleston Museum
on display at The Charleston Museum was collected and prepared by GE Manigault in the from 1931 to 1971, discussing the oldest acquired objects
late 19th century - an old skeletal mount. in the Museum’s collections.

1893 and a mummy case in 1897. The mummy has Burton, the Museum greatly expanded its cultural
been identified as a woman between 30 and 40 years collections, particularly those related to Charleston
old, from the Late, or Ptolemaic, Period (circa 700- and the South Carolina Lowcountry. With an
30 BC). X-rays of her body show fractures in the interest in decorative arts, he oversaw the
left sixth rib and the mid-shaft of the right acquisition of excellent examples of Charleston-
clavicle, but there is no evidence of healing, made silver and furniture. Among the
suggesting they were broken after death. The masterpieces that came into the Museum
chest cavity contains a large double roll of during his tenure was the Holmes bookcase,
material, possibly funerary text. In addition, considered one of the finest examples of
Manigault obtained casts of Ramses, Assyrian bas American colonial furniture known.
reliefs, and other statuary from the British Constructed for John Edwards on the eve of the
Museum. Possibly the most iconic object he American Revolution, likely by Martin
brought into the collections, however, is the skeleton Pfenninger, the piece is on display at the Museum’s
of an Atlantic Right Whale that currently hangs in the Heyward-Washington House.
Museum lobby. The whale, probably sick, swam into Today, the Museum’s collections contain over 2.4
Charleston’s harbor in 1880, and was killed by local million artifacts, with over 6,000 on exhibit at its
residents. Manigault purchased the carcass, de-fleshed it, modern facility on Meeting Street in Charleston and its
and reassembled the skeleton. two historic homes, the Heyward-Washington House
The Museum entered a new era in the early twentieth and the Joseph Manigault House. Exhibits cover
century when it moved to a new location, the Thomson Ceramic storage jar fashioned by Lowcountry history from Native Americans through
Auditorium on Rutledge Avenue in Charleston, and Dave Drake, an enslaved potter. the Civil War. With the installation of the Bunting
then became an independent institution in 1915, Natural History Gallery in 2017, the Museum now
officially called The Charleston Museum. These efforts provides an excellent overview of Lowcountry cultural
were accomplished under the leadership of Paul Rea, the Museum’s and natural history. The founders, who created the institution before
first formal “director,” who is credited with modernizing the they even broke away from Great Britain, would surely be amazed at
institution. He also hired the person who would succeed him, Laura what the Museum has become.
Bragg, the Museum’s first female director.
Bragg was a woman ahead of her time, assuming the leadership of
the Museum in 1920. She expanded educational outreach to schools
throughout the Charleston area and convinced the Board of Trustees
to permit Blacks to visit the Museum, which they allowed, although at
specified times, separate from Whites. Bragg was also a key player in
Charleston’s burgeoning preservation movement, and the Museum
acquired the Heyward-Washington House, the state’s first historic
house museum, under her watch. She had a great interest in Native
American and enslaved peoples, particularly in the crafts that they
produced. She was instrumental in the acquisition of several pieces of
Edgefield pottery in the Museum’s collection. Her groundbreaking
research in this area led to the Museum’s obtaining several pieces made
by Dave Drake, an enslaved potter, who signed his works and often
inscribed a short verse on them. The Museum holds ten pieces
attributed to Dave, all of which are on exhibit.
Bragg took a leave of absence from the Museum in 1931 to
rejuvenate the Pittsfield Museum, now the Berkshire Museum, and the The Charleston Museum’s Holmes Bookcase is on display
Board ultimately decided to replace her. Under her successor, E. Milby at its Heyward-Washington House.

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