The Greer Heritage Museum announced the founding of a new, membership-based program — the Greer Historical Society.
The announcement came at the conclusion of Museum Week, and just a few months shy of the town’s 150th anniversary. Members will be able to monetarily support the museum’s archival efforts in exchange for exclusive perks.
“There are people who really are interested in the stories and the history of Greer,” said Museum Director David Lovegrove. “... What we're really trying to accomplish is researching, preserving and publishing Greer's history — helping both fund that process and then distribute that information to the people in the community who really care about it.”
Lovegrove says that, while many know the Heritage Museum by its exhibits, the purpose of the Greer Historical Society is to help fund the museum’s archival work. This includes making a record of pictures and documents from the town’s past.
“The history of a place is found in documents, in records, in letters and correspondence and business records,” Lovegrove said. “And those aren't on display in a museum exhibit much, but they're really important components of preserving the history of a place.”
As Lovegrove mentions, these documents and other archival material do not often find themselves on the shelves of a museum. Members of the Greer Historical Society, however, will receive an exclusive newsletter detailing some of the museum’s findings. Many of these findings, Lovegrove says, may never make their way to the public eye.
In addition to the newsletter, all members of the Greer Historical Society will be invited to attend an annual symposium in November. Different levels of membership also come with different perks, including admission to director’s events or private tours of the museum. There is also a corporate partner option for organizations wishing to support the museum.
Members who join at a higher level become part of the “Hudson Society” — named after the founder of the Greer Heritage Museum, Carmela Hudson. Hudson passed away in 2017, preceded by her husband Earl, who also helped support the museum’s founding, in 2010.
“What Carm realized was that Greer, being an extremely young town, people who were born and raised here didn't realize how special it was or how it had a history that needed gathering,” Lovegrove said. “At the time, she asked people, ‘Why don't you have a history museum?’ And their answer was, ‘Well, Greer doesn't have a history.’”
He continued: “They didn't realize that they were they were part of history. So Carm Hudson really saw a special community that had a story worth preserving, and no one was doing that.”
The Greer Heritage Museum has seen its fair share of changes since Carmela first founded it in downtown. Now, the team at the museum is prepping for Greer’s sesquicentennial, hopeful to continue to strengthen its archiving efforts.
For more information on the Greer Historical Society, see the museum’s website. The Greer Heritage Museum can be found at 106 S Main Street.
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