The Charlotte Museum of History Tells Stories, Preserves Area's Past with Graphics Solutions from ACI Design
MOORESVILLE, N.C. (Feb. 19) – A perusal of the Charlotte Museum of History’s web site yields a succinct yet significant explanation of exactly why the museum collects and displays artifacts.
“Museums collect for various stated purposes,” reads the “About the Collection” opening statement (www.charlottemuseum.org/aboutcoll.asp), “but in the end all the objects and documents serve the same purpose – to tell a story.”
The Charlotte Museum of History has been telling stories of the Charlotte, N.C., region since 1976. And, for more than the past three years, Charlotte-based ACI Design has been helping the museum spin its tales while preserving precious artifacts in both permanent and rotating displays incorporating Sintra®, Dibond® and Gatorplast® graphic display boards by Alcan Composites USA.
“Initially, we responded to a museum inquiry about graphics,” said Dain Richie, president, ACI Design. “With additional visits, we’d take samples of Alcan products – some of which the museum had never seen – and let them know what we could do with them.”
The Charlotte Museum of History encompasses 36,000 square feet, including three galleries and a changing second-floor exhibit space that takes the Charlotte/Mecklenburg County story from the 18th century to the 20th century. The current building, built in 1999, is situated on eight acres in east Charlotte. These grounds also are home to the Hezekiah Alexander House – the oldest surviving house in Mecklenburg County built circa 1774 and listed on the National Register for Historic Places. The museum’s continuously growing permanent collection consists of approximately 7,000 artifacts and 6,000 archival items. The varied artifact collection includes furnishings, textiles, tools, clothing, toys and numerous household items dating from as early as the Carolinas’ colonial era to the late 20th century.
“Our goal is to be able to tell stories through these artifacts,” said Lee Goodan, exhibit coordinator, the Charlotte Museum of History. “We not only collect and preserve, we research and interpret these pieces for the public.”
Historical facts and interpretations are posted on signage describing each exhibit piece – with Sintra graphic display board often selected for mounting or direct printing of this information.
“We had used Sintra in the past, and it was our ‘go-to’ substrate,” said Goodan. “Sintra is lightweight, durable and flexible. It can be heat bent for structures and mounted to casework. Sintra gives me some flexibility to be able to switch out objects. Labels mounted on Sintra as the substrate are easy to change out with Velcro fasteners.”
(Sintra is a lightweight-yet-rigid expanded PVC material. Durable Sintra is easy to fabricate with wood or foam board techniques. It cuts cleanly, creating smooth edges; and, it can be direct printed and accept vinyl graphics. Sintra fabricates easily without special tools and can be heat formed and laminated to other materials. In addition to bright white, black and gray colors, Sintra is available in six custom colors.)
“Sintra is a natural for exhibits,” said Richie. “It’s not as heavy or brittle as acrylic, and it’s a well-known brand. Clients ask for Sintra by name.”
 Charlotte Stories Exhibit |
 Charlotte Neighborhoods Exhibit |
 Charlotte's Pole to Pole Flag Exhibit |
 The Crossroads of Commerce Exhibit |
 The Crossroads of Commerce Exhibit: World War I |
“Charlotte Neighborhoods,” a rotating featured exhibit that showcases changing neighborhoods, opened in 2006. This exhibit highlights the featured neighborhood’s earliest history, its present day and projected future, according to Goodan, who said the neighborhood’s challenges also are explored as well as its architecture.
Text panels featuring photos, maps and postcards depicting the neighborhood are mounted on 3mm bright white Sintra. The panels measure 24 inches by 48 inches “to keep the weight down,” according to Richie, who floats exhibit panels off museum walls utilizing cleats made from 12mm bright white Sintra and bonded to the panel backs.
To date, this rotating exhibit has featured four Charlotte neighborhoods.
“It’s easy to change out this exhibit in less than 30 minutes,” said Goodan. “Cleats are attached to the wall, and new panels have complimentary cleats fabricated to them. The Sintra makes these panels lightweight, so they’re easy to move and install. As the panels get larger, it becomes even more flexible. We’ve been able to bend the Sintra to fit curved walls.”
Sintra also served as the signage substrate for “Charlotte’s Pole to Pole Flag” permanent exhibit that opened in 2006. This display commemorates a Charlotte flag’s visit to the South Pole in 1964 with the late George Melvin Ivey, who served as president and treasurer of the former J.B. Ivey and Co. department stores in North Carolina, South Carolina and Florida. The flag visited the North Pole in 1985 with Ivey’s nephew, Ervin M. Jackson, Jr. ACI Design mounted seven rectangular, four routed oval signs and five routed round signs on 6mm bright white Sintra to provide explanatory information about this collection, which is preserved within an acrylic exhibit case.
In the “Mecklenberg: Crossroads of Commerce” permanent exhibit, which opened in March 2008, the museum combined artifacts depicting the area’s economy from both the 19th and 20th centuries. This exhibit focuses on the area’s early gold mines, agriculture and manufacturing facilities operated during the Civil War era, its cotton mills, and Charlotte’s expansion in the 19th century to include street lights and trolleys. Additionally, area artifacts from both World War I and World War II are presented.
ACI Design was able to update existing casework for the “Mecklenberg Crossroads of Commerce” exhibit with Dibond graphic display board. In order to maintain a consistent look, risers in nine showcases were covered with 3mm white Dibond.
“Dibond is archival and safe to use in our cases,” said Goodan. “It was shaped over the existing structure. Routed Dibond was used to cover MDF (medium-density fiberboard) columns in free-standing shapes.”
“We recommend Dibond when more structural strength is needed,” said Richie. “We can bend and shape it, while eliminating fasteners and framing systems. We also like the finishes available on Dibond.”
(Dibond is a rigid, durable aluminum composite material consisting of two pre-painted sheets of .012-inch aluminum bonded to a solid polyethylene core – a unique composition that makes it approximately one-half the weight of aluminum. Dibond, the flattest panel on the market, offers a superior surface for displaying digital and screen-printed graphics. Dibond won’t bow or oil can. And, Dibond products offer significant cost savings, ease of fabrication and rigidity when compared to other aluminum laminates. Dibond is available in 13 standard colors, including five metallic shades.)
“We routed grooves in the Dibond risers so we could update the look with new content,” according to ACI Design’s Richie, who said images were UV-direct printed onto the Dibond panels.
Gatorplast was chosen for its archival qualities to create back graphic panels in the cases. Images were directed printed on 3/16-inch white Gatorplast graphic display board.
“Gatorplast is conservation quality and, therefore, safe to use around artifacts,” said Goodan.
(Gatorplast consists of an extruded polystyrene foam core laminated between two high-impact polystyrene cap sheets. Gatorplast can be direct screen-printed or digitally printed without priming or pre-coating the surface. Gatorplast’s high-impact polystyrene cap sheets allow vinyl lettering to be applied and removed or repositioned without damaging the surface. Gatorplast is available with white foam/white facers or black foam/black facers.)
“Mecklenberg Crossroads of Commerce” showcases were finished with nine headers; and, five various-sized text panels mounted on 3mm bright white Sintra were installed throughout the gallery.
For more information about the Charlotte Museum of History, call (704) 568-1774 or visit www.charlottemuseum.org. For more information about ACI Design, call (800) 447-0057 or visit the ACI Design web site at www.acidesign.com.
For more information about Alcan Composites USA graphic display boards, call (800) 626-3365 or email info.usa@alcan.com. Visit us on the web at www.alcancompositesusa.com.
Alcan Composites USA Inc. specializes in the manufacturing of leading substrates for the architectural and graphic display markets in North America and South America. With manufacturing facilities in Benton, Ky., Statesville, N.C., and Glasgow, Ky., and sales and marketing offices in Mooresville, N.C., our industry leading brands include: Fome-Cor®, Structa-Board™, Sintra®, Gator®, Dibond® and Alucobond®. For more information, please visit: www.alcancompositesusa.com.
About Alcan Composites
Alcan Composites, a division of Rio Tinto Alcan Engineered Products employs 2,700 employees in 21 locations in Europe, the Americas and Asia. It is active in manufacturing and commercializing lightweight products for architecture, visual communication, transportation, industrial and wind energy markets. Its well-known brands ALUCOBOND®, DIBOND®, FOREX®/SINTRA®, GATOR®, KAPA®, FOME-COR®, ALUCORE®, AIREX® and BALTEK® are the category leaders in the markets served.
About Rio Tinto
Rio Tinto is a leading international mining group headquartered in the UK, combining Rio Tinto plc, a London and NYSE listed company, and Rio Tinto Limited, which is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange.
Rio Tinto's business is finding, mining, and processing mineral resources. Major products are aluminum, copper, diamonds, energy (coal and uranium), gold, industrial minerals (borax, titanium dioxide, salt, talc) and iron ore. Activities span the world but are strongly represented in Australia and North America with significant businesses in South America, Asia, Europe and southern Africa.
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