Carolina Culture

By David Hunt

Dr. Charlotte Brown leaves her office on the third floor of the Talley Student Center and leads a visitor down a long hallway past cubicles and display cases to a simple gray door. On the other side, in a large suite of storage rooms, she pauses to survey some – but not nearly all – of the treasures of NC State. She turns down an aisle and browses quietly, picking up a large ceramic vase, then stops to admire a brightly painted wooden grasshopper. She points out a framed black and white photograph that captures a suburban scene from the 1950s, a group of teenagers at a drive-in movie theater. 

It's a small sampling of the 25,000 objects that make up the holdings of the Gregg Museum of Art & Design, the focus of Brown's professional work and her passion for more than 25 years. When Dr. Banks Talley, the longtime vice chancellor of student affairs, and Henry Bowers, then director of the University Student Center, recruited Brown to take the position of curator of art in 1982, the university had two gallery spaces but just a single small storage closet. 

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