Granville County Museum
project type: fabrication , graphics , museums , prototypes
Once known as the “Athens of the South” Granville County is known for its educational and cultural history, as well as its position as one of the leading counties in the state for tobacco farming and research. For 26 years the Granville County Historical Society had been collecting artifacts and photographs and documenting the stories of Granville County; displaying them on a rotating basis in its museum housed in the historic Ice House freezer locker building adjacent to the County Courthouse in downtown Oxford. In 1986 the Historical Society took ownership of the Old Jail next to the Courthouse and made plans to build its new signature exhibit there. Design Dimension was hired to help bring this dream to reality.
Pre-Design
Beginning in the spring of 2004, Design Dimension (DDI) led a series of workshops and brainstorming sessions with the Historical Society (GCHS) to help develop ideas for the new Museum. What stories would be told? What are the major categories? What makes Granville County unique? The answers to questions like these became the first steppingstones toward creating an exhibit plan. DDI helped the GCHS develop committees and organize their volunteers to start generating content, tracking down stories, finding photos and artifacts. DDI also helped the GCHS locate new funding, creating fundraising materials to help energize the donor base and get them on board with the project. In all, the effort was not only to create a critical mass of community involvement in the execution of the project, but also generate a vested interest in the community in the success of the museum.
The Exhibits
The end result of this process shows in the finished product of the new Granville County Museum; the exhibits—while categorized by topics like industry, farming, and education—tell the stories of the people and places that make up this collection of communities. The exhibit space is brimming with detail: large murals and recreated architectural details line the walls; artifacts, both large and small, fill cases, shelves and floor space; audio-visual theater areas feature faces and voices of local people; and text and images lend fine details to each of the topic areas. The lower level features a rebuilt section of an actual Granville County tobacco curing barn, casework displaying Native American artifacts from Granville’s pre-history, push-button lightbox graphics identifying Granville County’s heroes, and a mini-theater with a film to introduce visitors to Granville County and its people. Upstairs, a large section is dedicated to Granville’s Veterans and military dead. Uniforms representing many of the conflicts in which Granville residents have fought figure prominently, while other artifacts and photographs from soldiers help to add detail. A series of large flip-books provide an extensive catalogue of the Architecture of Granville with photographs and identification, and a recreated jail cell and moonshining still shed light on the Old Jail building’s past, and Granville’s law enforcement professionals. A recreated classroom shows the evolution of education in Granville County, and a large assortment of images and artifacts focus on Granville’s Cultural history and the characters who played a role in it. All of the exhibits and displays were produced, fabricated and installed by Design Dimension’s graphics and fabrication departments and show the finest qualities of durability and detailed craftsmanship.
A Community Effort
The success of any museum can often be traced to the dedication of the staff and the emotional investment of the community, as much as the skill and talent of the designers and fabricators. A good museum brings all of these elements together. The Granville County Museum has become a prime example of this phenomenon.