J. Grahame Long

Grahame Long

Chief Curator

The Charleston Museum

As chief curator for America’s first museum (founded 1773), Grahame Long maintains the numerous cultural and material collections within its vast holdings and further oversees the History, Archaeology, Textiles, Archives and Natural Sciences departments.

Of the many exhibits Grahame has curated during his 14-year career at The Museum, many have received national recognition including From Clay to Kiln: Traditional Pottery of the American South and Sterling Faith: 300 Years of Charleston’s Sacred Silver. His 2010 jewelry exhibition, Preciousness Preserved was named a “must see” by Vogue Magazine, and his 2012 exhibit, Blasted: Assorted Projectiles and Explosives from the Civil War was featured in The Wall Street Journal and USA Today.

Grahame has published numerous articles in both local and national periodicals. In 2010, received the Southeastern Museums Conference’s Gold Award for his work in The Charleston Museum's publication on historic southern silver, and his first book, Dueling in Charleston: Violence Refined in the Holy City (History Press, 2012), was selected for the 2013 Piccolo Spoleto Literary Festival. Grahame has furthermore served as a historical analyst for various radio and news outlets including CNN and NPR, has appeared in various documentary segments for the Arts & Entertainment networks and NBC Nightly News and is even an occasional guest on Swedish Public Radio's VR Historia. He has also assisted the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) in identifying and dating shipwrecks in the Gulf of Mexico and North Atlantic Ocean.

Besides his work at The Charleston Museum, Grahame is an avid hunter and volunteers regularly with Historic Charleston Foundation and Middleton Place Foundation. He currently serves on the Charleston Art & Antiques Forum National Board of Advisors and the Nathaniel Russell House committee, and is a former member of the Presbyterian College Alumni Board of Directors and Historic Charleston Foundation’s Scholars Committee. Grahame is married to Reverend Lissa Long and has two daughters.