A SHOWCASE FOR THE COMMUNITY

Southern Ohio Museum and Cultural Center highlights local history, and is accessible to public

Southern Ohio Museum | homes

Standing at 825 Gallia St. in the heart of downtown Portsmouth, the Southern Ohio Museum and Cultural Center is more than just its grand stone façade.

To its community, it represents so much more than just a building containing art and artifacts. It’s a simultaneously a window into other worlds, past and present.

Over 100 years old, the building was originally built as the community’s largest bank in 1919. It opened its doors as museum in 1979, after the Security Savings Bank and Trust Company had looked to move into a new location down the street and raze the structure for a parking lot.

A group of lawyers looking to secure the site for a city museum found an opportunity in the last will and testament of the then recently deceased Dr. Russell Leiter.

Leiter was chief psychologist at the Portsmouth Receiving Hospital from 1955 to 1964, but was internationally famous for the development of the intelligence test known as the Leiter International Performance Scale.

More relevant to the founding of the museum, however, the late doctor stated in his will that all of his estate be left in the care of Security Bank. His large collection of silver was to be donated to the Columbus Academy of Fine Arts, unless there were a museum in Portsmouth with the ability to display the collection. In light of this, the bank donated their old building to be the permanent home for the doctor’s collection.

The museum remained under city ownership until 2006, when the museum’s board, looking for a chance to grow, approached the city with a plan to purchase the museum.

Helping the museum to grow at this crucial time was an outstanding group of museum professionals, some of which have gone on to prominent positions in the art world, including the lead preparer at the Speed Art Museum in Louisville, professors at the Harron School of Art in Indianapolis, and head exhibition designer for the Smithsonian’s African American History Museum.

As part of the new direction as a privatelyrun museum, located in one of the poorest

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counties in the state, removing the barriers to entry for the community was something SOMACC’s board of directors were adamant about.

Admission to the galleries is completely free. In reference to this, SOMACC artistic director Charlotte Gordon insists, “We’re not an ivory tower on a hill, we try to remain accessible.”

This focus on the community manifests itself in the work contained within the museum with two permanent installations featuring the largest single collection of works by the Portsmouth native, Clarence Holbrook Carter, known for his work in the American Scene style and “Art of the Ancients,” containing 10,000 prehistoric Native American objects from the Charles and William Wertz Collection. The latter of which contain works from the Adena and Hopewell cultures native to the Ohio Valley.

Driving home this focus on the community is the biennial, juried ‘Cream of the Crop’ exhibition showcasing the work of artists living within an 85-mile radius. SOMACC sold $17,000 worth of local artists’ work in the previous year alone.

To co-director Gordon, the positive impact in the community extends to more than just the artists. “Many people in the area don’t have the means to travel,” she says, “We feel that part of our job is to bring the world to them.” a