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Office: 843-383-3005
Email: Info@HartsvilleMuseum.org

Admission is Always Free

Hartsville Museum and the Sculpture Courtyard anchor downtown Hartsville’s Cultural Plaza

Founded in 1980, the Hartsville Museum is housed in a 1930’s U.S. Post Office building. We offer local history and art exhibits. Our neighboring Sculpture Courtyard, added in 2000, features multiple types of sculpture.

Phone

843.383.3005

Email

info@hartsvillemuseum.org

Hours

Free Admission

M-F: 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.

Sa: 10 a.m. - 2 p.m.

Su Closed

 The MAJOR- a FILM PRODUCTION

The Major is a feature film in development that draws on the life of Major James Lide Coker (1837–1918), the Hartsville industrialist, educator, and civic leader whose work helped shape the modern town.

The project is produced by Broken Hip Productions and directed by Joaquin Fernandez. It is inspired by God, Guts, and Gallantry: The Faith, Courage, and Accomplishments of Major James Lide Coker, written by Coker’s great-grandson, Dr. Will Joslin, who also serves as executive producer.

The story moves between two eras. After the Civil War, Coker returned to a devastated community and spent the following decades rebuilding his farm, businesses, and town. His later work included founding enterprises that became Sonoco Products Company, supporting education that led to Coker University, serving as mayor of Hartsville, and leading Sunday School for more than four decades at First Baptist Church of Hartsville.

The contemporary strand is set in 2020. Theater student Jacob Pinckney, a part-time research assistant at the Hartsville Museum, writes a one-man play about Coker. As rehearsals proceed, friends disagree over how to interpret Coker’s “remarkable and complicated legacy” of industry, education, faith, and service. Past and present begin to overlap on stage and off. The filmmakers describe the work as an invitation to face history fully and to ask whether grace, forgiveness, and redemption can still have the last word.

A short proof-of-concept film has already been produced. A world premiere in Hartsville is planned as the project is introduced to the community. The production is seeking producing, financing, distribution, and strategic partners.

Visitors may view the teaser trailer, request the short film, and follow premiere announcements at TheMajorFilm.com.

DISCLAIMER: This film is an independent production. It was not produced, directed, funded, or commissioned by the Hartsville Museum, the City of Hartsville, the Hartsville Museum Commission, or any other municipal board or agency. It is hosted here for public viewing. Rights remain with the creator.

The Hartsville Museum is proud to have partnered with the South Carolina Grand United Order of the Odd Fellows and the South Carolina State Library on a digitization project supported by SC Humanities. Thousands of documents, the largest collection in SC, pertaining to SCGUOOF Lodge’s and Household of Ruth have been recovered from Professor Henry H. Butler’s office. These include Membership Applications, Membership Certificates, Beneficiary Payouts, Rosters, Correspondence, Quarterly and Annual Reporting, District Letters, Accounting Ledgers, and more. This is an ongoing project as the Museum works through the thousands of documents.

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