Old Museum, Contemporary Concerns

We think our concerns are somehow "modern" -- that they reflect the professional growth of museums and the field.  But looking back to the founding of Cape Fear Museum, it's clear that some of today's concerns are age-old issues. 

Like museums today, the ladies’ “Confederate Museum” needed objects and images, a space to display them in, and money to create exhibits and preserve the collection.   

Space was easier to come by than cash.  As early as 1895, the Wilmington Light Infantry offered the women room in their building for a museum.  In  January 1897’s annual report, the local United Daughters of the Confederacy's president, Eliza Hall Nutt Parsley noted that the UDC  hadn’t taken the WLI up on their offer because the group “have never had money enough to fit it up for the safe and proper keeping of these valuable things.”

The Wilmington Light Infantry's building CFM 1994.119.001

---

Founding the Cape Fear Museum

Cape Fear Museum’s collection is more than one hundred and sixteen years old. And the idea for the Museum is even older.

In 1895, as a group of women discussed joining the newly formed Daughters of the Confederacy, they declared “The First undertaking of the ‘Cape Fear Daughters of the Confederacy’ will be the collection and preservation of Confederate relics and records in a permanent museum for North Carolina.”

The history of the first decades of the Museum is entwined with the history of the local chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy. One of the driving forces behind the local organization was Eliza Hall Nutt Parsley. Mrs. Parsley’s husband was William M. Parsley, an officer in the Confederate Army. The couplemarried during the war, and had 2 children. Colonel Parsley died in April 1865.

Mrs. Parsley helped found the Cape Fear Chapter of the UDC, which was the third chapter in the nation. And she helped found the state organization, serving as the first president of the North Carolina division.

Eliza Hall Nutt Parsley, one of the founding members of the local chapter of the UDC and of Cape Fear Museum CFM 2007.025.0012

Cape Fear Museum today

The Cape Fear Museum of History and Science was founded in 1898. 

You can check current information about our exhibits, programs, hours, and such at our website:

www.capefearmuseum.com