The museum launched its 2025 exhibit season with a photography exhibit, “Southern Explorations”. This exhibition featured photos taken over a 25-year period by two friends who traveled throughout the South to take photos of people, places and things that reflected Southern Culture. At the exhibit’s opening in January, Augusta University Professor John Hayes and close friend Pete Candler shared intriguing stories from their escapades. Two books were spawned from their tours of the South: The Beauty, Mystery, and Sorrow of the Southern Road by Pete Candler and The Road to Unforgetting: Detours in the American South, 1997 – 2002 by Pete Candler. Professor Hayes’ book Hard, Hard, Religion: Interracial Faith in the Poor South was also featured in the exhibit.
Back by popular demand, the museum re-launched the Rosa T. Beard Debutante Club exhibition which made its debut in 2024. The 2025 exhibit celebrates the 60th anniversary of the club’s cotillion and includes more gowns, photos and memorabilia. The exhibit is displayed across three locations: the Lucy Craft Laney Museum and at the Georgia Room at the Augusta Library on Telfair Street. A pop-up exhibit will be on site at the Rosa T. Beard Debutante Cotillion on March 29 at the Bell Auditorium. The opening ceremony featured a panel of original and founding debutantes who shared historical details about the origins of the club. The exhibit will be on display at the museum and the Augusta Library through June.
