Newly opened Roswell museum tells history of city, residents

By DELANEY TARR delaney@appenmedia.com

ROSWELL, Ga. — On the second floor of the Roswell Cultural Arts Center, centuries of the city’s history from Native American artifacts to the stories of mill workers are on display.

The Roswell History Museum, operated by the Roswell Historical Society, opened in January and allows visitors Wednesdays through Saturdays from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. with free admission.

Archivist and head curator Elaine DeNiro said the destination looks at history from all aspects of the city.

“Our purpose was to make sure we were inclusive of all groups that would be involved in the history of Roswell,” DeNiro said.

The museum was a long-term goal for the Roswell Historical Society. DeNiro said when the Cultural Arts Center was designed, there was an idea for a heritage center with a museum inside. That plan didn’t come to fruition, though.

Until 2021 the second floor of the Cultural Arts Center was a shared office space between the Georgia Ensemble Theater and the Roswell Historical Society. When Georgia Ensemble Theater moved out, the Historical Society jumped at the opportunity to expand.

“We went to the city, and we petitioned to have the whole space to create a museum,” DeNiro said.

“We were granted that, and the city renovated the space.”

The city spent $150,000 to paint, add new floors, new ceiling tiles and lighting.

The Historical Society raised $120,000 through fundraisers and a capital campaign to hire design group Building Four Fabrication to design the museum.

The museum has a permanent installation that lines the perimeter of the space and a temporary exhibit in the center, which will change about twice a year.

DeNiro said the museum has plenty of artifacts to fill the space. Three rooms on the floor are packed with textiles, furniture, metal goods and paper pieces.

“We had the artifacts locked and loaded, which was one of the reasons we were trying to petition the city,” DeNiro said.

The Historical Society did have a few history gaps — DeNiro said she had to put out a call on Facebook for Indigenous artifacts, which she took to the University of Georgia Archeology Department to identify. The effort was part of the museum’s focus on inclusivity.

“Our history is complex, and we want to make sure we get the whole story out,” DeNiro said.

She made sure the museum included the stories of Native American women, Black women, wives, mothers and working-class women across Roswell’s history.

“They’ve been present from the very beginning, whether they were workers or maybe the wives of farmers,” DeNiro said. “They were maybe in the background, but they were strong.”

The curator said the Historical Society looked outside of its volunteers to ensure they told Roswell’s “complex” history well.

“The thing we’re very proud about is that a professor for Morehouse College vetted the exhibit text,” DeNiro said.

The Africana studies professor and public historian Dr. Clarissa Myrick-