The Chattanooga Historical Society (Picnooga) will open a downtown storefront location at 110 E. 7th St. in late summer or early fall of 2021, founder David Moon said. The building is currently being renovated by Southern Spear Properties of Chattanooga.
Mr.
Moon said, "The space will house the Society’s collection and will serve as a community hub for local history offering frequent workshops, walking tours, educational programs, and other activities.
"The Historical Society found a grassroots following online in January 2014 with the successful Chattanooga history crowdsourcing project and Facebook page, Picnooga. In 2020 it became a nonprofit 501(c)3.
"From the beginning, our mission has been to bring a new layer of Chattanooga’s history to the surface and make it accessible to everyone through social media channels and a searchable database. This mission will continue with an expanding collection of historic photographs, ephemera, and other artifacts that will be available online to the public as a free and open resource.
"Recently the Society hired a Curator of Collections to spearhead digitization efforts and fast-track the cataloging of nearly 5,000 items. There are also plans to exponentially double to triple their collections within the next two years with several large acquisitions already in negotiations.
"In 2022, the Society will launch the Brazelton Project, a dedicated web-based historical resource for Black and African American photography from the region.
"Picnooga has been the largest ongoing publicly crowdfunded project in the region. With its offline expansion, the organization will require funding through local foundations, small businesses, corporate, and government support."
For more information on sponsoring the Society contact David Moon or Laura Strong at history@picnooga.org.