The Mint Museum sits on colonized land traditionally home to the Catawba, Cheraw, Sugaree, Waxhaw, and all other Indigenous peoples who resided, met, and traded here. The Mint also acknowledges the unpaid and hidden labor of enslaved peoples of African ancestry who helped build the Mint Museum at Randolph Rd at various stages in the building’s history.
Established in 1936, The Mint Museum is a leading, innovative cultural institution and museum of international art and design.
With two locations — Mint Museum Randolph in the heart of Eastover and Mint Museum Uptown at Levine Center for the Arts —the Mint boasts one of the largest collections in the Southeast and is committed to engaging and inspiring members of the global community.
Mission
Welcoming all to be inspired and transformed through the power of art and creativity.
The Mint Museum is dedicated to leadership in collecting, exhibiting, conserving, researching, publishing, interpreting, and sharing art and design from around the world. These commitments are central to the museum’s core values of leadership, integrity, inclusiveness, knowledge, stewardship, and innovation, promoting understanding of and respect for diverse peoples and cultures.
Accountability
Collaboration
Diversity and Inclusivity
Education and Intellectual Rigor
Innovation and Excellence
Community and Welcoming
In the heart of Uptown Charlotte, explore our Craft + Design, American, Modern, and Contemporary collections.
500 South Tryon Street
Charlotte, NC 28202
Our original location, explore our Art of the Ancient Americas, African Art, European Art, and Native American Art collections.
2730 Randolph Road
Charlotte, NC 28207
Located in what was the original branch of the United States Mint, Mint Museum Randolph opened in 1936 in Charlotte’s Eastover neighborhood as North Carolina’s first art museum.
The U.S. Assay office closes permanently in 1913. Remodeled in 1914, the building functions variously as a federal courthouse, wartime Red Cross headquarters, U.S. Army office, recruitment office for the Army, Navy, and Marines, Employment Bureau office, Hornet’s Nest Post No. 9 American Legion headquarters, temporary U.S. Customs branch office, prohibition headquarters, and a meeting place for The Charlotte Woman’s Club, American War Mothers, Women’s Auxiliary of the American Legion, and other organizations from 1915 to 1930.
A planned expansion of the U.S. Post Office on the adjoining lot threatens the building with demolition. Community protests stall the demolition for three years.
Mary Myers Dwelle leads a small group of citizens to save the Mint building and establish an art museum. From 1933 to 1936, the group receives funding from the North Carolina Civil Works Administration, the Federal Emergency Relief Administration and the Works Progress Administration for the relocation and reconstruction of the historic U.S. Mint building.
Dorothy Masterson establishes the Mint Museum Drama Guild and the Golden Circle Theatre and serves as Artistic Director until 1977. The Drama Guild is part of what becomes the museum’s Performing Arts Department (1975-1984).
The Women’s Auxiliary is organized by Mrs. Harcourt T. Cosby. This group of dedicated community volunteers has a long and celebrated history. Known today as the Mint Museum Auxiliary, it continues to raise funds for the museum to support educational projects and acquisitions for the Mint’s permanent collection.
Jacqueline Crutchfield establishes the Queen’s Mintkins, a group that builds puppets, creates and performs puppet shows in the main gallery.
The newly constructed Delhom Wing opens, housing the Mint’s historic pottery and porcelain collection, a theater for public programs, and a puppet theater. The museum’s purchase of this 2,000-piece collection and research library from M. Mellanay Delhom draws national and international attention to the Mint.
Francis and Lily Robicsek make their first gift to the Art of Ancient Americas Collection.
The Costume Collection is founded by three members of Woman’s Auxiliary, Lillian Crosland, Hannah Withers, and Ruth Lucas. It will be the foundation for the Mint’s current Fashion Collection.
The Delhom Service League is organized by M. Mellanay Delhom to create and develop interest in ceramics by studying potters and their work.
The Performing Arts Department is founded and includes the Mint Museum Drama Guild, Queen’s Mintkins Puppet Theatre, Sunday Concerts, and Kino Film Series. In 1984, this department was discontinued to enable the museum to focus on its art collections.
The Mint Museum Library is dedicated by Mayor Stan Brookshire. Today, the main library, the J.A. Jones Reference Library, and the decorative arts library, the Delhom-Gambrell Reference Library, include more than 19,000 volumes and numerous digital resources.
Romare Bearden 1970-1980, the first major retrospective exhibition of the Charlotte-born artist’s work, is organized by The Mint Museum. After opening in Charlotte, it tours nationally to three venues.
Today, the Mint houses the largest public collection of work by Bearden.
Ramesses the Great: The Pharaoh and His Times attracts over 600,000 visitors and is the impetus for a citywide celebration and collaborative events with Discovery Place, Opera Carolina, the Afro-American Cultural Center, Johnson C. Smith University, and others.
The Mint Museum of Craft + Design opens in the renovated Montaldo’s building in uptown Charlotte. Despite chilly temperatures, eager visitors form a line that wraps around the building.
The museum established a permanent gallery dedicated to presenting works of art by Romare Bearden.
The Mint Museum of Art commissions a major sculptural installation entitled The Illustrious Kites Made in Boxing Styles by noted African American artist Sam Gilliam. It is installed in the atrium at Mint Museum Randolph.
The Delhom Service League launches the first Potters Market Invitational. Featuring the work of North Carolina’s premier potters, this annual event supports the acquisition of ceramics and library materials for the museum. The Mint Museum now runs the Potters Market.
The Romare Bearden Society is organized to support and expand the museum’s permanent collections of contemporary art and craft by African Americans through educational, outreach, and social programs, with a particular focus on the works of Romare Bearden.
Leo Twiggs: Requiem for Mother Emmanuel opens at Mint Museum Randolph. The South Carolina artist conceived of this moving nine-painting series as a response to the tragic events of June 17, 2015 in Charleston, South Carolina. The Mint Museum is the second institution to display this exhibition after The Johnson Collection in Spartanburg, S.C., where it drew national attention.
Devolar y Detonar (Reveal and Detonate) makes its U.S. debut at The Mint Museum, featuring the work of over 40 contemporary Mexican photographers, as the central exhibition in a community-wide initiative celebrating Mexican photography titled In Focus/Enfoque, which involves many arts and cultural organizations across Charlotte.
The Glamour and Romance of Oscar de la Renta opens to large crowds at Mint Museum Randolph and remains open an additional 3 weeks to accommodate the throngs of visitors eager to see the stunning gowns on display. André Leon Talley, Vogue Editor Emeritus and curator of the exhibition, attends the opening celebration and returns in September for a screening of “The Gospel According to André” at Mint Museum Randolph.
The Mint Museum partners with the Southern Tiger Collective to sponsor Charlotte’s first mural slam, Battle Walls. Mint Museum Randolph hosts the first round and the championship. The competitors are Matt Moore, Bret Toukatly, Shane Pierce, and Darion Flemming. Bret Toukatly takes the prize, and his work is later featured in the Mint’s ongoing ConstellationCLT project at Mint Museum Uptown.
Live at the Mint premieres with a conversation between S.C. artist, Dr. Leo Twiggs, and Rabbi July Schindler hosted by Rubie Britt-Height and Dr. Jonathan Stuhlman. The topic is how art can offer a safe space for uncomfortable conversations around race and social justice.
Voice and Vision: Live at the Mint with Opera Carolina is the first collaboration between the Mint Museum and Opera Carolina. Originally planned to be live with an audience, the COVID-19 pandemic forces a creative change that results in virtual presentations by participants in their homes. Curators introduce objects from the Mint’s permanent collection that have been chosen by Opera Carolina singers, providing the story of the piece. The singers then explain their choices and sing musical pieces in response to their chosen objects. The presentation features curators, Dr. Jen Sudul Edwards, Annie Carlano, Brian Gallagher, and Dr. Jonathan Stuhlman, and Opera Carolina singers Dawn Anthony, Sequina DuBose, Andrew René, and Johnathan White.
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