The South Carolina Historical Society Museum celebrated its grand public opening Saturday, September 22, in Charleston, South Carolina. The new museum combines the state’s oldest and largest private historical archive with modern technology to create a state-of-the-art interactive museum experience. Cortina Productions designed and produced four digital interactive exhibits and an introductory film for the museum that helps tell the rich stories of South Carolina’s people, places, and cultural movements.
One of the key features of the new museum is the building itself. The Fireproof Building, a National Historic Landmark, is believed to be the nation’s oldest building of fireproof construction. Originally called the Charleston District Record Building, it was designed by Robert Mills, America’s first native-born architect and the man behind the Washington Monument.
Many of the Museum’s interactive exhibits focus on telling the personal stories of people who played major roles in South Carolina’s history and the eras and cultural movements that shaped the state. In the Animated Portraits interactive, visitors hear from four historical figures in South Carolina during the Civil War and Reconstruction era. In the interactive map table experience, Changing Landscapes, visitors are able to explore four early maps of Charleston that reflect how landscapes and migration patterns have changed over time.
Cortina Productions is proud to have partnered with exhibit designer HealyKohler and exhibit fabricator 1220 Exhibits on the new South Carolina Historical Society Museum.
Visitors explore the Changing Landscapes interactive map on opening day.