Confederate Relic Room and Military Museum is about a whole lot more than the Civil War

Within the South Carolina State Museum’s massive four-story brick building is a lesser-known entity: The South Carolina Confederate Relic Room and Military Museum.

It’s a dimly lit, low-ceilinged corner in the back of the State Museum, at the end of an open hallway past the admissions counter. It is the third oldest museum in the state and houses one of the country’s most inclusive battle flag collections as well as military artifacts dating from the Revolutionary War to current times.

And as early as Thursday, a flag-removal bill could pass that would move the Confederate flag on the State House grounds to the Relic Room and Military Museum, a mile away from the State House.

Legislators could give final approval to the bill – sponsored by state Sen. Vincent Sheheen, D-Kershaw – this week, unless other factors force a delay in deliberations.

The bill calls for the Confederate flag to be moved to the Relic Room and Military Museum for “appropriate display,” however, officials at the museum had no comment as to what that display might look like.

The Confederate flag’s second move, this time from a monument to the relic room (It was moved to the monument from atop the dome), would raise the museum’s profile as history is made again.

Here are five things you should know about the Confederate Relic Room and Military Museum.

1. It’s not all Confederate flags. The museum collection houses nearly 150 flags. There are 24 flags on display, 17 of which are related to the Civil War. These include company flags, regimental flags and battle flags. There are several Confederate battle flags (like the one flying on the State House grounds) but they do not outnumber other types of flags on display.

2. The museum houses the largest early war company flag collection in the country. Most are extremely fragile as they are made of wool and silk, painted and embroidered (some are even tattered and blood-stained). All museum artifacts require constant temperature and humidity levels as well as low light to minimize damage.

3. The museum is an independent state agency. Founded in 1896 by the United Daughters of the Confederacy, the Relic Room was originally housed in the State House, then relocated to the War Memorial Building adjacent to the University of South Carolina in the mid-20th century. The women who founded it sought to preserve Confederate artifacts from the Civil War and memorialize the dead. In 1998, it became an agency of the S.C. State Budget and Control Board and in 2002, moved to the Columbia Mills Building. On July 1, it became an independent state agency, the Confederate Relic Room and Military Museum Commission.

4. There are tons of interesting non-flag items on display. Like the helmet of a WWI Navy blimp pilot, an exhibit detailing General William Tecumseh Sherman’s burning of Columbia, titled “Paths of Destruction: Sherman’s Final Campaign,” that includes former Columbia Mayor T.J. Goodwyn’s letter of surrender scrawled on a small piece of parchment, and wacky “battlefield pickups” like Confederate Gen. Pierre Gustave Toutant-Beauregard’s pulled tooth and a piece of a broken piano from the Moultrie House in Charleston after it was hit with artillery from Fort Sumter.

5. The gift shop does sell Confederate flag merchandise. The gift shop has been closed for the past few week for inventory, but reopened July 1. There you can buy postcards, mugs, car decals, license plates key chains, magnets and flasks plastered with the Confederate flag or with the state flag. It will continue to sell these items for the foreseeable future, Director Allen Roberson said.

This story was originally published July 5, 2015 at 8:37 PM with the headline "Confederate Relic Room and Military Museum is about a whole lot more than the Civil War."