Adopt-an-Artifact
Conservation in Action
Adopt-an-Artifact
Support the professional care and conservation of the artifacts that bring Columbia’s history to life.
Historic Columbia’s collection of over 4,000 objects plays an important role in telling our city’s rich history. Encompassing paintings, sculptures, textiles, metalwork, ceramics, furniture, and photography, these artifacts bring five museums to life.
Why Adopt an Artifact?
As objects age, they require careful cleaning and conservation to prevent paint loss, discoloration, erosion, and decay. Often, these efforts require the attention of professional conservators who spend months preserving the artifacts our visitors see on tour almost every day.
After over sixty years of collecting, nearly a quarter of Historic Columbia’s object collection requires conservation. As a result, Historic Columbia’s Adopt-an-Artifact program offers a tangible opportunity to support the objects in our care. By adopting a work of art listed below, your financial contribution will ensure these pieces of history are preserved for future generations.
View Available Artifacts
Learn about our Collections Fund
View Our Online Collection
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This Giving Tuesday, help us reach our goal of adopting this artifact! Your gift will launch Historic Columbia’s new Adopt-an-Artifact initiative and support the preservation of our shared history. All gifts to the Collections Fund received on or before Giving Tuesday will go toward this goal. Thank you for your support!
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William Harrison Scarborough (1812–1871), Crossing the French Broad
Oil on canvas, 1839, 36.5" x 33.5", gift from the Estate of Sarah Barnwell Gregorie Sturm, HCF2022.1.2
Artifact Significance
Now one of South Carolina’s most famous painters, William Harrison Scarborough (1812–1871) moved from Tennessee to the Palmetto State in 1836 and settled in Columbia in 1843. In the decades to follow, he produced over 350 portraits illustrating the state’s most prominent members of society, including John C. Calhoun, James Chesnut, and Wade Hampton. Contrasting Scarborough’s prolific output of portraiture, this rare painting is one of approximately ten known landscape paintings by the artist.
Passed down through the Scarborough-DuBose family, this scene depicts the early Buncombe Turnpike and the French Broad River near Asheville, North Carolina—a route Scarborough likely took to visit his son, John Gaines Scarborough (1835–1913), while he lived with his grandparents in Edens Ridge, Tennessee.Conservation Plan
- Remove superficial grime and deep clean the reverse of the canvas
- Remove old repairs, accretions, aged lining, tissue facing, and varnish, if possible
- Deacidify, relax, and flatten the canvas
- Line painting and reattach it to a new stretcher
- Consolidate the paint layer
- Apply protective varnish
- Purchase a period-appropriate reproduction frame
Estimated Cost
$4,100
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William Harrison Scarborough (1812–1871), Portrait of Margaret Ann Boyd DuBose
Oil on canvas, ca. 1840, 32" x 37", gift from the Estate of Sarah Barnwell Gregorie Strum, HCF2022.1.
Artifact Significance
One of the many portraits produced by esteemed South Carolina painter William Harrison Scarborough (1812–1871), this image depicts Margaret Ann Boyd Johnson DuBose (1804–1880). Previously widowed in 1825, Margaret Boyd married David St. Pierre DuBose III (1806–1879) in 1831 and brought considerable wealth to her second union, including a plantation in present-day Clarendon County. In 1840, around the time she sat for this portrait, Boyd DuBose and her family welcomed their fifth child, John Boyd DuBose (1840–1895); they also enslaved 129 people—forty-nine of which were children under the age of ten.
In 1863, John DuBose married the painter’s daughter, Sarah “Sissy” Elizabeth Scarborough (1842–1886), and it is through their descendants that this portrait was subsequently passed down and donated to Historic Columbia.
Conservation Plan
- Remove superficial grime and lightly clean the reverse of the canvas
- Remove accretions, tissue facing, old retouching, and varnish on the canvas, if possible
- Relax deformations in the canvas
- Line painting and reattach it to a new stretcher
- Consolidate the paint layer, fill losses, and inpaint
- Apply protective varnish to the painting
- Clean the surface of the frame
- Attach and consolidate insecure elements, remove late additions and overpainting, and reduce scratches and cracks on the frame
- Reconstruct, fill, and gild missing frame elements
- Apply protective coating to the frame
Estimated Cost
$3,050
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Snowflake Quilt
Cotton, ca. 1825–1850, 94.75" x 92.25", donated in loving memory of Elizabeth Haynsworth Simmons, HCF2025.5.1
Artifact Significance
This quilt was produced around 1830 in South Carolina’s Dutch Fork region spanning the modern counties of Lexington, Newberry, and Richland. Previously inhabited by the Catawba, Cherokee, and Congaree, the Dutch Fork was further settled in the mid-1700s by German immigrants who brought with them a reverence for nature and a love of vibrant colors.
The resulting bi-colored floral design, seen here, was completed in the “snowflake style." Cutting a piece of folded paper, a nineteenth-century quilter produced this pattern much like a paper snowflake is crafted today. Found almost exclusively in the Dutch Fork and German-settled regions of the North and South Carolina Piedmont, only a few dozen examples of this pattern are known to survive today.
Conservation Plan
- Check back in December!
Estimated Cost
TBD
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Hiram Powers (1805–1873), Bust of Sarah Buchanan Campbell Preston
Carrara marble, ca. 1858–1860, 26 3/4" x 19", gift from Caroline Mullally Ladue, HCF1972.186.1
Adopted by Joseph BruceArtifact Significance
This bust was sculpted by Hiram Powers (1805–1873), arguably the most influential and famous American sculptor of the nineteenth century. Best known for his depictions of George Washington, the so-called Greek Slave, and figures from Classical mythology, Powers permanently relocated to Italy with funds advanced by John Smith Preston (1809–1881) in 1837.
Approximately twenty years later, Powers sculpted this bust of Preston’s daughter, Sarah Buchanan "Buckie" Campbell Preston (1842–1880). Born into wealth in the Hampton-Preston Mansion in Columbia, Buckie Preston was educated in Paris and known for both her beauty and equestrian prowess. In 1868, she married Colonel Rawlins Lowndes (1838–1919) and moved to Charleston, where she and Lowndes maintained residences at Oaklands Plantation and 51 East Bay Street. After Preston Lowndes died at age thirty-eight, this bust was installed on her grave at Magnolia Cemetery. Following acts of vandalism, it was removed and donated to Historic Columbia in 1972.
Conservation Plan
- Clean to minimize accretions and stains throughout
- Consolidate surface losses around the ears and hair
- Reconstruct the missing nose
- Stabilize the cracks along the base as needed
- Reduce dents, scratches, and abrasions
- Reapply the patina
- Apply a protective coating
"I believe those of us who care about history have a responsibility to safeguard it. By adopting the Hiram Powers bust of Sarah Buchanan Campbell Preston, I’m proud to help ensure that a remarkable South Carolinian—and a significant work of American sculpture—remains accessible and alive for future generations. Supporting artifact conservation at Historic Columbia is a powerful way to nurture our community’s understanding of who we are and where we come from."
-Joseph Bruce
Support Our Collections Fund
Not ready to adopt? Consider donating to our Collections Fund, which supports the routine care and maintenance of our collection. The revenue generated from this program enables our staff to conserve objects, install updated UV window protection, and purchase the archival boxes and acid-free tissue paper needed to safely store and transport our collection. Whether you choose to adopt an artifact or donate to our Collections Fund, your support makes a lasting impact.
Make a Donation
Donation Levels and Benefits
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Artifact Ally | $50+
- Acknowledgment letter
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Collections Friend | $125+
- Acknowledgment letter
- $5 HC coupon
- Two free historic house museum tour tickets, valid for six months
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Collections Advocate | $250+
All previous perks, plus:
- Historic Columbia swag
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Collections Steward | $500+
All previous perks, plus:
- Recognition in Historic Columbia’s member newsletter, Historically Speaking
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Collections Benefactor | $1,000+
All previous perks, plus:
- Two more free historic house museum tour tickets (for a total of four tickets), valid for six months
- Recognition in Historic Columbia’s monthly member email
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Collections Patron | $2,500+
All previous perks, plus:
- Recognition on Historic Columbia’s Adopt-An-Artifact webpage and Welcome Center plaque for at least one year
- Private conservation progress update
- Private one hour behind-the-scenes tour with curatorial staff for a group of four, valid within six months of conservation completion
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Collections Sustaining Supporter | $5,000+
All previous perks for $1,000+, plus:
- Recognition on Historic Columbia’s Adopt-An-Artifact webpage and Welcome Center plaque for at least one year
- Private conservation progress update
- Two more free public tour tickets (for a total of six tickets), valid for six months
- Private one hour behind-the-scenes tour and collection storage highlights with curatorial staff for a group of eight, valid within six months of conservation completion
Mills Building, oil on canvas, ca. 1900, 32.75” x 23.75”, gift from South Carolina Department of Mental Health, HCF2006.9.1. Conserved by Veronica Davis of Felini Art Conservators, 2024–2025
Detail from Portrait of Kate Hampton, oil on canvas, ca. 1845, 31” x 27.75”, gift from the Bostick Estate, HCF1972.147.1. Conserved by Craig Crawford of Crawford Conservation, Inc., 2017–2018.
Detail from Gown with Detachable Sleeves, cotton, silk, and metal, ca. 1830–1840, 56.5” x 38.5”, gift from Katharine Williams Herbert. Conserved by Kathleen Staples & Associates, LLC., 2018, with funding from the Columbia Town Committee of The National Society of The Colonial Dames of America in the State of South Carolina.
Upcoming Artifacts
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Jacob Erat, Pedal Harp, wood, leather, & metal, ca. 1822, 67” x 17”, museum purchase, HCF1979.12.1
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Bull’s Eye Mirror, wood & glass, ca. 1810, 43½” x 26½” x 17½”, gift from Jack Patla, HCF1967.19.1
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Portrait of Colonel Thomas Taylor, oil on canvas, ca. 1830, 29¼” x 24½”, gift from the Columbia Museum of Art, HCF2008.14.1 & Portrait of Anne Wyche Taylor, oil on canvas, ca. 1830, 29¼” x 24½”, gift from the Columbia Museum of Art, HCF2008.14.2
Questions about Adopt-an-Artifact?
Contact Director of Advancement David Turner at (803) 252-7742 ext. 12 or dturner@historiccolumbia.org.