Fall 2020 - 1736 Magazine

A display seen at the James Brown mueseum.
[FILE/THE AUGUSTA CHRONICLE]
The original Congregation Children of Israel Synagogue building and
the adjacent Court of the Ordinary building is part of a proposal to
create an Augusta Jewish Museum. [FILE/THE AUGUSTA CHRONICLE]
Augusta businessman Jack Weinstein, who is spearheading
the Augusta Jewish Museum proposal, said the lack of
funding puts the project in a “quagmire.”
“The synagogue itself would cost a couple of million
dollars just to do it right. Our fear is now that we will lose
the building,” Weinstein said of the city-imposed July 2021
deadline, which would cause the buildings to revert to city
ownership if the museum was unfinished.
Nancy Glaser, executive director of the Augusta Museum
of History, said it will not move forward on the proposed
addition without a funding committment.
“It has to be first-class,” she said. “That’s the only way
we’ll do it.”
The museum holds the largest collection of James Brown
memorabilia, more so than the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
and the GRAMMY Museum. Glaser said it’s a shame the
museum doesn’t have the space to celebrate the singer’s
colossal influence on popular music.
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