Models of Heritage Building &

Proliferation:
Christiansburg Industrial Institute, Museum
Interpretation, and Recommendations for Future
Success
Spenser D. Slough
RLCL 5584: Museum Interpretation
Final Paper
May 2016

Edward A. Long
on the campus of
Christiansburg
Institute. Photo
(February 2016).

Building (1927),
the former
Industrial
by author

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Models of Heritage Building & Proliferation

INTRODUCTION
On a partly sunny afternoon in March my classmates and I sat patiently at the lot off
Scattergood Drive. We were waiting to have one of the elders of the Christiansburg Institutea
former all-black school and campus in Christiansburg, VA to meet with us to open the
smokehousea rehabilitated, brick structure once used as an early twentieth-century
smokehouse on the campus now used as a small museum. As she slowly approached our group,
we could tell she was not having a good day. She grudgingly unlocked the smokehouse and we
began photographing the small museum. As we began, we could not help but hear her murmur:
Pictures, yall always take them pictures and yet we never seen nothing come of it.
Assigned to the Christiansburg Institute as a museum interpretation intern tests the bonds
of the public with the academic, the local with the institutional, the forgotten with narrators. As
one of the few remaining vestiges of African American post-antebellum education centers in
southwest Virginia, the Christiansburg Industrial Institute (CI) sits in the midst of national issues
of museum interpretation, preservation, and public engagement. In previous decades concerns of
preserving heritage sites such as CI seemed nonexistent. In 2016, the concern is present, yet the
action taken remains scant if nonexistent. CI has for several years received grants, interns,
artifact donations, and support from a major state university. As a result, CI has small museum
with a maximum capacity of 10 guests, an emptied two-story and a half former school building, a
foundation with inconsistent objectives and means, and an alumni base wary of assistance. In
sum, it is an oncoming public historians gold mine. Seriously.
My experience as a CI intern demonstrates the enormous value of seeing not only the
hidden histories of people but also the obscured relationships within the realm of public history.
Abundant resources, impassioned students, an established foundation, and alumni recognition
could have not produced, as of today, anywhere near a final product. Students typically witness
scenarios such as these with pessimism and contempt. I argue that doing so veils a public
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historian from the overwhelming pervasive realities faced by museums across the nation. While
the majority of my contributions centered on finding existing similar corollaries, I nevertheless
witnessed the extant logistical shortcomings and culture present within CI. This essay paints an
introspective of CI and suggests several courses of action based on mine and my internship
teams observations and proven tactics implemented by museums across the nation.

CHRISTIANSBURG INDUSTRIAL INSTITUTE-OVERVIEW

The history of the Christiansburg Industrial Institute (CI) can be traced to just the closing
of the American Civil War. At the wars end a national program for educating newly-freed
African Americans commenced under the auspices of the Freedmens Bureau. In 1866, Union
army officer and assistant superintendent of the Freedmens Bureau, Capt. Charles S. Schaeffer
chartered CI as a primary school for primary-aged African American men and women. CIs
founding is significant as it opened five years before the establishment of public schools in
Montgomery County. Shortly after CIs founding, Schaeffer opened the Christiansburg African
Baptist Church. In 1873 oversaw the building of the first building solely dedicated for school
purposes. By 1885 the structures attendees outgrew the building, and a two and one-half-story
school was built along with a Memorial Church.
In 1895 the Friends Freedmens Association, a Philadelphia-based organization of the
Society of Friends and lifelong supporter of CI, convinced Booker T. Washington to take over the
supervision of the school, resulting in expanded curriculum similar to that of Tuskegee and
Hampton. CI continued to grow over time and necessitated the purchasing of 87 acres of land on
the north bank of Crab Creek. Tuskegee Institute graduate, Edgar A. Long became principal of

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CI in 1906 and would oversee the school having the highest ranking of schools evaluated by
Julius Rosenwald, businessman and philanthropist.1
At the time of Longs death in 1924, CIs campus included the school, Baily-Morris Hall,
a hospital, and a farmers cottage. Abraham M. Walker would succeed Principal Long in 1925,
and it was under his tenure plans for a new school building commenced. In honor of Principal
Longs contributions to CI, the new schoolhouse was erected and named the Edgar A. Long
Building. The Long Building opened for classes in December 1928. In addition to typical courses
of a rounded curriculum, building also offered classroom space for instruction in sewing,
cooking, and agriculture. Throughout the years several additional buildings would house these
vocational courses, in addition to providing formal housing for students.2

21ST-CENTURY MUSEUM & HERITAGE SITE

In 1976, the Christiansburg Institute Alumni Association (CIAA) formed to gather alumni and
preserve the legacy of their alma mater, and in 1996, founded Christiansburg Institute, Inc. (CII)
to manage the property and buildings remaining from the campus, donated by Christiansburg
businessman Jack Via in support of CIAAs dream to create a museum and cultural center at the
site. CIAA and CII sponsor four annual events together for fellowship and fundraising. Today,
both CIAA and CII work together to craft a vision for the museum, use and operation of its
buildings, and gain broad public recognition of their goals and services.
Anyone visiting Christiansburg today, however, would hardly notice the monstrous,
classical revival-inspired Edward A. Long building or the smokehouse on Scattergood Drive; the
two sole structures remaining from the original campus. Physicality of these aboveground
1 National Register of Historic Places (NRHP), Edgar A. Long Building, Christiansburg, Montgomery
County, Virginia, National Register #1545008 (2001)
http://dhr.virginia.gov/registers/Counties/Montgomery/1545008_EdgarA.Long_Building_2001_Final_Nomination.pdf (Accessed on 5/1/16).
2 Ann Swain, Christiansburg Institute: From Freedmans Bureau Enterprise to Public High School,
Masters Thesis, Radford College (Radford, VA, 1975).
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structures notwithstanding, there are several other issues plaguing CII in producing a viable
heritage museum. For one, public recognition of CI is almost entirely concentrated within
Montgomery County residents, local town leaders, and the near dozen academics from Virginia
Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) that have partnered with CII for
fundraising, technological pursuits, and museum consultation. As mentioned, the sole public
exhibit displaying CIs history is confined to the former campus smokehouse: today an adaptive
reuse venue stuffed with memorabilia, didactics, photos, a large guest book, and the conventional
museum glass cases, all within a max ten- person capacity space. Similarly, the smokehouse is
not regularly staffed nor does it have announced hours of accessibility.
Similar shortcomings are present within CIs social networking, communication, and
digital outreach. A ca. 2010 website, as of today (christiansburginstitute.org), has lost its domain
rights to Word Press blog. A seemingly up-to-date Facebook website is the by the far the most
readily accessible means of internet-based information and orientation to CI and the museum.
Nevertheless, Christiansburg Institute: Revitalizing a Legacy, has not received updated
statuses, comments, or administrative changes since September 30, 2015. The sole silver lining
in digital breakthroughs for CI rest in recent developments in augmented reality-based
technologywhere the users view of the real world is enhanced with additional objects and
information on a viewing screen.3
This was the museum industry that I and my project teamJenny Nehrt, Jeffrey Attridge, and
Mikhelle Taylorinherited and worked with throughout Spring 2016. Originally, we all believed
we would be involved in the rotation of the smokehouse exhibits materials, update or even
temporarily manage the Facebook site, and possibly even present CII and/or CIAA with some
proposals for future fundraising. We soon discovered that doing such typical museum
3 See New mobile app uses augmented reality to enhance learning experiences at historic sites, VTNEWS (May 5,
2014): https://vtnews.vt.edu/articles/2014/05/050514-engineering-historyappcburg.html.

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internships tasks would neither be sufficient nor worthwhile, as deep entrenched issues and
politics proved our efforts would soon be forgotten and have an ephemeral legacy. In short, all
four of us came to the consensus that doing the typical semester-long internship work would be
a disservice and would belie our mandate and principle as public scholars. As exemplified in our
April 2016 poster at VT Engage:
As we began to work on the project and reflect on what we were learning from the course,
however, we started to better understand the demands of ethical curatorship when working with
the memories and artifacts that are precious to individuals as a part of their identity and
community history.4

CHRISTIANSBURG INSTITUTE EVALUATION & GOALS

Our teams preliminary evaluation of CIs museum initiatives revealed a history of overambitious goals and timelines, brokered communication, and conflicts of shared and unshared
authority. Since CII began formulizing a heritage museum in honor of the CIs outstanding
historical regional significance almost all energies, fundraising, and passions have aimed toward
the restoration of the Edgar A. Long Building. In 1995 CII funded and contracted an architectural
survey and study of the former school building to determine the approximate financial costs to
fully rehabilitate or restore the structure as a heritage museum space. The results of the 1995
survey indicated that at least $1.5 million would be needed to renovate the Long building. The
first major fundraising initiatives from 1995 to 1996 raised over $15,000, that subsequently
remitted the costs to conduct further architectural and environmental studies of the building and
its landscape. From 1997 to 1998 over $41,000 were raised from grants, Virginia Tech donation,
and individual giving. While well far beyond their monetary goals, funds were spent to conduct
more surveys to have the Long building listed on the National Register of Historic Places

4 Jeffery Attridge, Jenny Nehrt, Spenser Slough, and Mikhelle Taylor, PreSERVation: Community
Partnership and Curatorship in Local Museum Development, Poster Presentation (April 26, 2016).
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(NRHP) in 2001. Even on the application to NRHP CIs goal remained clear that plans were to
use it as a museum and community learning center.5
Learning the history behind the museums efforts to restore the Long building led us to a set of
concerns. The difference between timelines and outcome expectations between the different
organizational partnerships necessary for the realization of CIIs dream has overwhelmed the
alumnis role and voice in developing the museum, especially since the restoration of the Edgar
A. Long Building would require substantial outside funding. Making matters worse, good
intentions from outside partners have caused heated debates over authority and ownership. Since
becoming the superintendent of Montgomery County Public Schools, Dr. Mark Miear has sought
to publicly recognize and exhibit CIs history. Supposedly, Dr. Miear has secured several
thousand dollars for such an initiative. However, he envisions that Christiansburg High School,
located a mile away from the CI campus, would be the venue of choice to serve as the museums
home. Not only would this relegate the original campus site into a state of irrelevance, Dr.
Maiers proposal has been constructed almost entirely without the primary stakeholders: CII and
CIAA. Symbolically, this repositioning of an African American, Jim Crow-era educational
centers history would be tantamount to the historical conditions that precipitated the eventual
demise of CI after desegregation.
Based on these mentioned concerns and issues, our team began to rethink our semester
goals. Most of all, we wished to provide a tangible result from our participation, one that CI feels
is beneficial to their work and preserves their ownership and authority in the final outcomes.
Thus, each of us decided to focus on individual aspects to meet these tangible outcomes: 1) a
reformatted digital museum with an easier, user-friendly platform for future staff and volunteers,
2) short-term grant guidance to identify smaller stepping stone grants, 3) public relations
5 Christiansburg Institute, Where the Past and the Future Learn from Each Other.; NRHP, Edgar A.
Long Building, 1.
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materials aimed toward providing potential donors with broad information packets, and 4)
research, analyze, and compile information, strategies, and tactics used by extant surrounding
heritage museums that also emphasize African-American educational history. The fourth
individual project was my initiative, and is described in the remainder of this paper. In
completing each of our four initiatives, our group operated under some guiding theoretical
frameworks of museum interpretation we studied throughout the semester. We identified two
major theoretical framework themes to guide our interpretation and completion of our initiatives:
power & authority and community & memory.

MUSEUM INTEPRETATION FRAMEWORKS

The American museum is a creature of the people while staff are the transmitters of
peoples will. As such, the museum is a construct contingent upon temporal and spatial changes
in use and attitudes over time, predominately circling around questions of power and authority.
Since WWII the museum entity in America has progressed from collection to educational space,
from homogeneous to heterogeneous in narrative perspectives, and from insular to expansive in
the places that museums can reach out to through a variety of medias. Yet, these
transformations have not been smooth nor immediate. Rather, transformations in the role and
place of museums has rested on the engagement and contribution of visitors. As a result, a
delicate balance between power holders and authority figures in public service and cultural/
historic preservation.6
Museums of today, argues Steve Dubin, are hotbeds for conflicts over who controls
history and culture of the community. National conversations over revising history or preserving
cultural heritage persisted over time, yet museums and institutions continued to solidify culture,

6 Stephen Weil, From Being About Something to being for Somebody: The Ongoing Transformation of
the American Museum, in Reinventing the Museum: The Evolving Conversation on the Paradigm Shift.
Ed. Gail Anderson, (Lanham, Md: AltaMira Press, 2012):170-190
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endow it with a tangibility.7 As centers of learning rather than shrines, museums of today are
public forums for debating the ideas that emanate from the objects exhibited So, why are
museums so controversial? Ironically, says in Dubin in Displays of Power, the further museums
sought to better represent, chronicle, revise, and display the past the more controversial they
became.8
Whether in local historical societies, culture heritage centers, house museums, the proper
purpose of museums has shifted over time. In many of these institutes battles have ensued over
balancing ideas and things, while also aiming to avoid replicating the features for which
museums have been critiqued. In other words, museums aim to strike the proper balance
between memory and community involvement. How can museum staff like those at CI create
historic spaces and interpretation rooms depicting African-American heritage through
educational history as one of pride and resistance but still within the context of Jim Crow Era? Is
it possible to utilize material culture to challenge historic racial norms using the same artifacts
that reinforced racial inequality? Not all components of national history espouse uplifting,
patriotic tunes National tragedies are memorialized and eventually incorporated into museum
settings. Yet, says James Gardner and Sarah Henry, how if at all do museums collect stuff
pertinent to a national disaster? Memorializing the tragedy of September 11, 2001, for instance,
raises not only the question of whether to collect, but if authenticity is and can be preserved
when skirted against ethical concerns. Unlike artifices created in Boston to memorial Holocaust
victims, a proposed museum in New York City, itself touched in every aspect by the historical
events of 9/11, would require collecting, conserving, and teaching through quotidian items:

7 Steven C. Dubin, Display of Power, Power: Memory and Amnesia in the American Museum, (New
York: New York University Press, 1999): 2.
8
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clothes, architectural fragments, faxes, and scorched staircase signs. Additional concern is
whether memorial-based museums constitute classification as a history museum or memorial.
Where does memory end and history begin, or, if neither have an exact point of existence, how
can, if at all, history compliment memory and vice versa? The stuff museums collect, conserve,
and exhibit raise many of these inquiries, but all relate back to what and whose history is being
told and whether it is represented authentic.9
As Kim Christensen points out, the material world of past peoples is not a mere
reflection of meaning, but also the multiple ways those meanings are processed and changed
over time. So, perhaps the stuff we collect and preserve in museums are not always supposed to
align. It is why the alternate meanings imbued to material culture through practice, are
poignant. They affirm a key foundation of museums as contemplative spaces, says museum
director Nina Simon. In her work The Participatory Museum she affirms that the role of local
contributions is vital, if not a prerequisite to for a successful museum. From handwritten
placards, to self-documentation reports, small murals, or even craft corners and workshops, the
involvement of the public within contained and outdoor spaces ensures a diversity of opinions
and affirmation that peoples voices are valued. This is where true power and authority lies.
Institutional leaders only retain such clout and respect once the public accepts this transference.10

STUDY & ANALYSIS OF HERITAGE CENTERS

In order to provide CI with the most holistic evaluation of how other heritage sites operate and
function, I selected three Virginia heritage sites to analyze based on self-selected criteria. One,
9 James B. Gardner and Sarah M. Henry, September 11 and the Mourning After: Reflections on
Collecting and Interpreting the History of Tragedy, The Public Historian 24 (2002): 41, 52.
10 Dan L. Monroe, and Echo-Hawk, Walter. Deft Deliberations. in Reinventing the Museum:
Historical Conversations on the Paradigm Shift. Ed. Gail Anderson. 325-330; Nina Simon, Open Letter
to Ariana Huffington, Edward Ruthstein, and Many Other Museum Critics. (2011); Reinventing the
Museum: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives on the Paradigm Shift (Lanham, MD: AltaMira
Press, 2002): 108-110.
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the site must have been affiliated at one point as an educational center for African-Americans.
Second, a center must still be in continuous operation and have consistent operational hours,
days, and/or seasons. Last, I sought to choose the closest sites in proximity to Christiansburg, as
this would provide my analyses the most accurate geospatial context. For sources, I consulted
websites and when possible had direct communication with staff members and volunteers. In my
evaluations, I based my analyses on the two theoretical themes of power & authority and
community & memory. The remaining pages provide a detail evaluation of the two most optimal
examples of success, while Appendix A provides a convenient chart that breaks down each sites
strengths, organized by columns in accordance with which theoretical theme they relate to.

Josephine School Community Museum

Based in Clarke County, VA in the town of Berryville is the Josephine School
Community Museum and Clarke County African-American Cultural Center. The museum is
housed in an 1882 rectangular, one-story, frame-building approximately 40ft. long and 30ft.
wide. The founders of the school were former slaves and freed persons of color who sought after
a grade school for children. In its formative years, it primarily provided basic reading, writing,
and arithmetic lessons. Under the leadership of Rev. Edward Johnson, a new building addition
was completed in 1930 to expand the student population. In addition, students at that time were
also provided high school education and the center was officially renamed the Clarke County
Training School. From 1949 to 1966, the school was known as Johnson-Williams High School.
Unlike Christiansburg Institute the school did not immediately shut down once Virginia schools
desegregated. After the integration of the public schools, it became the Johnson-Williams
Intermediate School and served students of all races from 1966 until it closed in 1987. In 1992

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the county converted all remaining post-1930 structures on the school complex grounds into
senior citizen apartments. 11
In 1990, efforts by surviving alumni concentrated into creating the Josephine City School into a
museum and cultural heritage center. The newly created foundation raised enough money, near
$12,000 to conduct basic architectural and landscape surveys and historic restoration of the
school. Their efforts led to the schoolhouse being listed onto the NRHP and the Virginia
Landmarks Register in 1994. Before beginning any services or museum practices the foundation
ensured that their schoolhouse was renovated and that enough capital secured to support
educational and public outreach efforts. This ensured, according to acting museum director
Norma L. Johnson, that enough money was available to pursue smaller grants over time, while
still maintaining enough capital to begin providing a service.12 A takeaway that CII and CIAA
could extrapolate from this narrative is that museums can only operate once fully committed and
financially buttressed in all sectors. While many believed the museum could have opened in
1998, the foundation continued to pursue smaller grants to demonstrate the organizational
efficacy of their board, which contributed to their receiving much larger grants from the Virginia
General Assembly and the Clarke County Board of Supervisors. Only then, did the museum
officially open to the public on July 12, 2003. The building and center remains consistently open
to public Sundays 1 to 3 PM and open for other calendared events every year. According to their
website, the museum and centers mission statement is: is to create and manage a living
museum dedicated to restoring our original 1882 school house and sharing the people, objects,

11 "Josephine School Community Museum." History -. Accessed May 05, 2016.

http://www.millertek.net/JSCM/history.html.
12 Conversations with Norma L. Johnson, March- April 2016.
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and stories that form the continuing legacy of Clarke County's

African American history

and heritage.13
Evaluation of the Josephine School
and cultural center reveals how a
small, low-cost museum can operate
and serve their public through a
wide variety of services. In power
and authority resources the museum

maintains a board of

local citizens that do not profess to specialty experts but just impassioned people who all want
the same things: preserve and serve. While museum and center maintain a board that directs
operations costs, overhead, and planning, the schoolhouse and center is largely an embodiment
of the wishes of its volunteers, visitors and guests; an integral component of what Nina Simon
has envisioned as a participatory museum where shared authority is maintained. For instance, the
most recent history and genealogical meetings on April 25th were led entirely by volunteers. The
product was three large poster boards of newly charted genealogies of some of the schoolhouses
earliest graduates. This is the museums version of rotating exhibit, but is one inherently the
product of the guests. In fact, the only permanent exhibit is an interactive school room with
original and replacement 1930s period school furniture and supplies. Last, it should be noted that
only the director is paid a salary for. The rest of the ten-person board and twenty-some docents
are volunteers.
The Josephine Museum and centers memory and community resources similarly mirror
the power and authority dynamics. Typical community events based on their (regularly updated)
calendar of events range from a monthly book club, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day celebrations
13 "Josephine School Community Museum. Mission -. Accessed May 05, 2016.
http://www.millertek.net/JSCM/mission.html.
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through folk songs and small-scale film festivals, history research groups, high school and
community college scholarship awards, picnics, and dramatic reading contests. To the typical
museum visitor these events may not seem essential to a heritage sites operation. Nevertheless,
it is important to realize they are events that foster community spirit and remembrance of the
sites historical significance as an educational center. While CII and CIAA is deadest on
reopening the Long building as a grand venue to serve as a regional center of history and culture,
it would not hurt for considerations, at least in the short-term, be geared toward temporary
bookings of community spaces in Christiansburg to host events like the ones just mentioned.

Wytheville Training School Cultural Center

CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS FOR SUCCESS

Appendix A: Studied Heritage Centers

CENTER

Josephine School
Community Museum
(Berryville, VA)

HISTORY

AUTHORITY & POWER

RESOURCES

COMMUNITY &
MEMORY RESOURCES

-Founded 1882 as
grade school for
former slaves
-Non-Freedmans
Bureau affiliated
-Converted to
museum in 2003

-Brick structure built

Virginia Randolph
Cottage Museum
(Glen Allen, VA)

Wytheville Training
School Cultural Center
(Wytheville, VA)

1937 for Virginia

Randolph Training
Center
-Converted into a
museum in 1980s

-Founded in 1883
with Freedmans
Bureau assistance
-WTCC founded in
2001 as heritage and

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cultural center and
educational conduit

Bibliography of Consulted Literature

Anderson, Gail, ed. Reinventing the Museum: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives on the
Paradigm Shift. New York: AltaMira Press, 2004.
Black, Graham. Transforming Museums in the Twenty-First Century. New York: Routledge,
2012.
Boesen, Elizabeth. Peripheral Memories: Public and Private Forms of Experiencing and
Narrating the Past. Bielefeld: Transcript, 2012.
Cameron, Catherine M. and John B. Gatewood. Excursions into the Un-Remembered Past:
What People Want from Visits to Historical Sites. The Public Historian 22 (2000): 107127.
Dubin, Steven C. Displays of Power: Memory and Amnesia in the American Museum. New York:
New York University Press, 1999.
Falk, John H. and Lynn D. Dierking. The Museum Experience Revisited. Walnut Creek, CA: Left
Coast Press, Inc., 2013.
Gardner, James B. Contested Terrain: History, Museums, and the Public. The Public Historian
26 (2004): 11-21.
_______ and Sarah M. Henry. September 11 and the Mourning After: Reflections on Collecting
and Interpreting the History of Tragedy. The Public Historian 24 (2002): 37-52.
Simon, Nina. The Participatory Museum. Santa Cruz, CA: Museum 2.0, 2010.
Wallace, Mike. Mickey Mouse History and Other Essays on American Memory. Philadelphia:
Temple University Press.
Weil, Stephen E. Making Museums Matter. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, 2002.

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