Organizations Filed Purposes:
publications and related events; to facilitate cooperation among regional historical organizations; and to recognize leadership in Western North Carolina history and literature.
The mission of Western North Carlina Historical Association is to preserve and promote the history of Western North Carolina through the care, interpretation, and presentation of the Smith-McDowell House; to educate through lectures, exhibitions,
Exhibitions and Tours: From May 1, 2019 March 15, 2020 (when we closed due to COVID), we welcomed 1,685 visitors on tours of the restored Smith-McDowell House Museum and exhibitions. In 2019, we continued hosting our in-house exhibition entitled, "Infused in History: A Tea Exhibit," in which each of the exhibit rooms featured tea-related items and educational panels about the history, use, and practice of taking tea. In early 2020, we curated and mounted an exhibit on Western North Carolina during World War I, which was open for two months before the Museum closed due to restrictions put in place due to COVID-19. While closed to the public, we curated a virtual exhibit entitled 1918 vs 2020, which compared Western North Carolinas response to the 1918 flu epidemic with our 2020 response to COVID-19. During this time, we also made two former exhibits Hillbillyland: Myth and Reality in Appalachian Culture and Douglas Ellington available for free via our digital exhibit platform.
Adult Programming: This fiscal year, though limited by COVID, we hosted a number of special event programs for adults, including two events for appraisals of historic objects, a lecture on tea to complement our Tea Exhibit, the Thomas Wolfe Memorial Literary Awards, Twilight Tours, book release events, an exhibit opening reception, and the WNCHA Outstanding Achievement Award event.
Youth Programming: This fiscal year, we served 45 students in our Crafty Historian program with educational workshops combining a hands-on craft activity with a history lesson. Due to COVID, we had to cancel our annual Living History Day. This event covers local history topics during a tour of the Smith McDowell House for over 300 4th and 5th graders. Participatory skills and activities related to a wide range of cultural and social studies topics are demonstrated by volunteers on the grounds of the house; We served 450 students through our Traveling Trunk program, which loans history kits on topics of historic interest to local classrooms. Each trunk covers a specific topic and includes educational materials and objects for lesson planning and discussion. We served 25 students enrolled in a local chapter of Tar Heel Jr. Historian Association (THJHA), a statewide club for students interested in North Carolina history. Our chapter participates in the annual statewide THJHA convention as well as a local service project at Hart Square reaching hundreds of individuals.
Executives Listed on Filing
Total Salary includes financial earnings, benefits, and all related organization earnings listed on tax filing
| Name | Title | Hours Per Week | Total Salary |
|---|
| Anne Chesky Smith | Executive Director as of 1/1/2020 | 0 | $0 |
| Gordon Mckinney | Board Member | 1 | $0 |
| Dirk Wilmoth | Board Member | 1 | $0 |
| Beth Gentry | Board Member | 1 | $0 |
| Michael Mclaughlin | Board Member | 1 | $0 |
| Gwin Jones | Board Member | 1 | $0 |
| Caragh Kooon | Board Member | 1 | $0 |
| Geoff Cantrell | Board Member | 1 | $0 |
| Alvis Campbell | Board Member | 1 | $0 |
| Jim Buchanan | Board Member | 1 | $0 |
| Stuart Camblos | Board Member | 1 | $0 |
| Courtney Blossman | Board Member | 1 | $0 |
| Dan Huger | Treasurer | 1.25 | $0 |
| Kerri Glover | Secretary | 1.25 | $0 |
| Ralph Simpson | Vice President | 1.25 | $0 |
| Alan Tarlenton | President | 1.25 | $0 |
Data for this page was sourced from XML published by IRS (
public 990 form dataset) from:
https://s3.amazonaws.com/irs-form-990/202130139349301328_public.xml