Memorabilia from local teams is being featured in museum's baseball exhibit

Elliott Levy is looking for baseball memorabilia.

The director of the Aiken County Historical Museum isn't searching for baseballs signed by Babe Ruth or a Mickey Mantle rookie card; he wants photographs and items from homegrown teams in Aiken County.

"Anything from the Clearwater Finishing Mill baseball team would be great," Mr. Levy said.

Because he is looking for memorabilia and people are loaning items to the museum, the Play Ball exhibit, which was scheduled to end today, will be extended through June.

"It keeps growing. To take it down now, while it's still coming in, would be a mistake," he said. "By June 1, we are going to have an exhibit that's gorgeous."

Recently photos and trophies of Aiken's Pony League World Series champs from 1969 came in.

Another piece he would like to see would be a photograph from 1940, when "the Baltimore Orioles did their spring training in Aiken," he said.

Mr. Levy said he could fill the Banksia ballroom with traveling exhibits, but his philosophy is found in the museum's name.

As the museum of the people of Aiken County, its exhibits should reflect the people who have lived and worked there, he said.

Aiken County residents have taken a renewed interest in the museum in the past year, he said. It's a social hub, where cultural and civic events take place.

In May, Marion Smoak, a former Aiken County resident who served as the chief of protocol under President Nixon, spoke at a meeting, and the Aiken Opera Society brought a group of artists to the museum for an evening of song.

For more about the exhibit, call (803) 642-2015.

Reach Charmain Brackett at czbrackett@hotmail.com.