Upcountry History Museum receives grant to digitize files

February 4, 2025

The Upcountry History Museum – Greenville County, a Smithsonian Affiliate, announced that it has been awarded a grant from the South Carolina State Historical Records Advisory Board’s regrant program to help facilitate digitization efforts for the Museum’s oral history program.

Selected as one of nine cultural organizations in South Carolina to receive a grant, the Museum will apply its nearly $4,300.00 grant monies toward digitizing approximately 70 early oral history interviews recorded using obsolete media methods which can no longer be read or heard. A collection of 16 “minidiscs” featuring interviews on textile mill history has been selected as the first consignment to be digitized. Other recordings to be digitized include interviews about Greenville’s Civil Rights Movement; 20th-century wars with World War II, Korea, Vietnam, and Desert Storm/Desert Shield veterans; immigrant experiences; and the COVID pandemic.

“The Upcountry History Museum is committed to gathering, preserving, and interpreting the voices and memories of Upstate South Carolina people and communities,” said Museum CEO Dana L. Thorpe. “We are honored to be a recipient of this grant and confident that our oral history program will continue to provide a ‘sound’ portrait of who we are in the present and what we remember about the past.”

As a trusted agent for preserving the history of Upstate South Carolina, the Museum is dedicated to ensuring that the significance of that history and the lessons learned have a positive impact and are recorded with accuracy and integrity. Its mission of connecting people, history, and culture in the Upstate supports a broader principle by which the Museum helps empower the public to understand the value of their own stories and to consider the world from different perspectives.

The South Carolina State Historical Records Advisory Board is an active and effective agent for the preservation of wider public access to South Carolina’s historical records. It fosters and supports communication and collaboration, as well as plays the roles of educator, advocate, promoter, planner, and coordinator.

 

The Upcountry History Museum is located at 540 Buncombe St., in Greenville, S.C. Hours of operation are Tuesday through Saturday, 10:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. and Sunday, 1:00 – 5:00 p.m. For more information, call 864-467-3100 or visit www.upcountryhistory.org.