Henderson County Heritage Museum opens Baker-Barber exhibit Jan. 4

From the Community Foundation of Henderson County:

Baker-Barber Exhibit Debuts at the Henderson County Heritage Museum on January 4th

Hendersonville, N.C., December 22, 2016: Key photographs and artifacts from the Baker-Barber collection will be featured in a special exhibit at the Henderson County Heritage Museum that will debut January 4, 2017. The exhibit will be displayed for approximately 6 months and is free to the public. The exhibit results from an extensive collaboration between the Community Foundation of Henderson County, the Henderson County Public Library, the Henderson County Heritage Museum and the Henderson County Genealogical & Historical Society, Inc.

Local volunteers Ron Partin and Terry Robinson are co-creators of the museum exhibit. Partin describes the significance of the Baker-Barber collection. “Few communities have such an incredible visual archive of their history. Anyone who comes to this exhibit will get to view pictures rarely seen before and they will learn more about this local treasure,” he says.

 

Gifted to Community Foundation of Henderson County by the late Joseph “Jody” Egerton Barber and maintained at the Henderson County Public Library, the Baker-Barber Photo Collection contains thousands of images documenting people, places and events in and around Henderson County from 1884 to the mid-1990s. Over the past three years, local residents have attended photo viewing sessions at the Henderson County Public Library in a community-wide attempt to identify the nameless people and places captured in a collection of over 75,000 photographs. Partin describes the motivation behind the project, “There’s a story behind every photograph. And our goal is to preserve as many stories as we can before they are lost for good.” Mr. Partin may be reached for comment at rpartin@bgsu.edu or by phone at (828) 243-4739.

The Baker-Barber museum exhibit comes on the heels of increased interest in the collection. The January 2017 edition of Our State magazine features an article by local author Jeremy B. Jones that details the significance of the Baker-Barber collection in the Henderson County community. Jones’ memoir Bearwallow: A Personal History of Mountain Homeland won the 2014 Appalachian Book of the Year award in non-fiction. Jones will also be publishing an article for Bold Life about a local woman named Geneva and her unique connection to a specific Baker-Barber photo. 

Any donations to the Baker-Barber fund at CFHC will ensure that the historical memory of Henderson County continues to be preserved for posterity. Donations can be made:

• Electronically at https://www.CFHCforever.org/BakerBarberFund

• Mailed (Check or Money Order) to:
  Community Foundation of Henderson County
  PO Box 1108
  Hendersonville, NC 28793

• Delivered in Person (Cash, Check or Money Order) to:
  Community Foundation of Henderson County
  401 N Main St, Ste 300
  Hendersonville, NC 28792

  

Previous grants from the Community Foundation of Henderson County funded positions to assist resulting in the digitization of 4,843 photographs which are now available to the public on the Henderson County Public Library website. Additional donations will ensure the care of the collection such as the continuance of the digital conservation effort and future Baker-Barber exhibits. To view the digital images currently available please view the Henderson County Public Library website at: http://www.henderson.lib.nc.us/bakerbarber_about.html.

Since 1982, Community Foundation of Henderson County has been helping people who care make lasting contributions to causes that matter. The Community Foundation accepts gifts from individuals, families, businesses and organizations to create a pool of charitable funds from which grants are awarded to address community needs. Learn more about Community Foundation of Henderson County at www.CFHCforever.org, at the Community Foundation’s Facebook and LinkedIn pages, and by calling (828) 697-6224.