Hartsville Museum Commission hears about TV show, book sales

HARTSVILLE - Director of the Hartsville Museum Kathy Dunlap presented the city commission with details about the filming of Palmetto People inside the Hartsville Museum, the status of postcard book sales and an update on the Byerly Baby statue during the Museum Commission’s meeting on Feb. 3.

“We were honored to have much of the program filmed in our museum and to be able to kick off the month’s programming with the first interview about the museum and Hartsville history,” Dunlap said.

Palmetto People, a Time Warner Cable public affairs talk show, features cities through a living-room style talk show format about the people, places and things that make South Carolina special. The shows can be seen at 2, 4, 6 and 9 p.m. on Time Warner channel 6 in Hartsville and channel 4 in Darlington.

Penny Anthony, a member of the Hartsville Museum staff, Jana Longfellow of Hartsville the Art of Good Living and Howard Tripp of the YMCA of the Upper Pee Dee were on the first February segment. This week’s show features Angela Stokes of Ruth’s Drive In, Brenda Williams of Pathways to Success and Mayor Mel Pennington.

The week of Feb. 15-21 will feature Dr. Murray Brockman of S.C. Governor’s School for Science and Math, Mark Johnson of S.C. Organ and Tissue Donor Registry and Lance Jones, CEO of Carolina Pines Regional Medical Center.

The final segment featuring Hartsville will be Feb. 22-38 with interviews with Dick Puffer of Coker College, Rick Smith of Cheraw State Park and Emily Phillips of Burry Bookstore.

Dunlap said shots of the museum interior can be seen in each one.

In other news, Dunlap said sales of the postcard book are better than expected. The book was released the first week of December, and 135 books had been sold as of Feb. 3.

While the book in no way represents all of Hartsville’s history, it does represent a portion of its history, Dunlap said. The book was limited to the postcards made available to the museum. She said she hopes the book will encourage people to donate old postcards.

Commission Chair Dr. Raymond Chapman and other commission members commended Dunlap and museum staff for their efforts on the book.

The commission was also updated on the Byerly Baby statue that was vandalized in the sculpture courtyard between the museum and Center Theater in October. Only the baby’s head was salvaged, and it is on display at the museum. The staff is talking with several companies about replacing the statue.

The museum had about 4,500 walk-in visitors in 2009 compared to about 3,500 in 2008. Dunlap said Thursday continues to provide the most walk-in traffic. Visitors came from 32 states, as far away as Hawaii, California, Vermont and Utah, and six foreign countries – Japan, India, Germany, Canada, England and Scotland.

Dunlap commented that she was pleased with the traffic on Saturdays during the four hours the museum is open. In 2009, that traffic totaled 263 visitors. This represents a population that most likely would not be able to visit during weekday hours, she said.

Sealed bids have been requested by the City of Hartsville for the museum’s building project to remodel the museum annex located at 219 and 221 N. Fifth St., across the street from the current museum. Bids are being accepted until Friday. A bid is also being accepted for repairs and painting of the caboose.