GASTON COUNTY, N.C. — History is on the move in Gaston County, and Markecia Koulesser has been waiting for it.
What You Need to Know
Museum officials began discussing moving its entire location in 2019
The museum currently has over 20,000 artificats
Its new space will be much larger and also hold a public research room and space for volunteers
The musuem plans to host a big reveal for the public at its new location in October
“I’m really excited,” she said. “I’m excited to pull in some of our staff on the project so they can be a part of this with us.”
Koulesser's love of history goes all the way back to college.
“In undergrad, I was an anthropology major and a history minor and that forwarded me an internship at an anthropology museum where I got to work directly with collections,” she said.
Now, she works for the Gaston County Museum of Art and History as the museum’s registrar.
“It’s something that I always valued being able to work directly with collection items … being able to research them and kind of breathe life into their existence again,” Koulesser said.
The room that holds some of Gaston County’s most precious items is starting to get a little small though.
“Some stuff is really overcrowded,” she said. “A lot of the shelving is overcrowded. A lot of the boxes are overcrowded.”
So, Koulesser and her team are gearing up to do something pretty big. Over 20,000 items housed at the museum are moving to a brand-new larger space, that will ultimately benefit the community.
“It gives them a space to really interact with us and interact with our collection,” Koulesser said. “We don’t have the space to accommodate that right now.”
The museum’s new collection space will not only house more artifacts but feature a public research room and volunteer space.
Right now the museum isn’t revealing where exactly the new collection space is, but Koulesser says soon they’ll make a big reveal, and she can’t wait to see just what unique stuff they’ll be able to house there next.
“The goal is to get to this point, and so it’s kind of like I’m here, I’m excited, and it’s only up from here,” she said.
Koulesser and her team will finish moving the museum's collection to the new space by the end of the summer.
They plan to host a big reveal for the public at their new location in October.