Belle W. Baruch Institute opens first exhibit at FMU

The Belle W. Baruch Institute for South Carolina Studies at Hobcaw Barony will unveil its first exhibit this weekend at Francis Marion University’s Adele Kassab Gallery in the Hyman Fine Arts Center
Discovering Belle Baruch will showcase vintage 1920s era riding attire worn by heiress Belle W. Baruch, daughter of legendary financier and political consultant Bernard Baruch.

Baruch’s riding coat, waistcoat and breeches, will be presented alongside reproductions created by Francis Marion University professor of Theatre Arts Alley Steadman. Companion pieces, loaned to the Francis Marion University by the Belle W. Baruch Foundation, will include trophies and medallions won by Belle during sailing and equestrian competitions, small furnishings, original art from the Baruch’s collection, and flight logs and checkbooks that shed light on Belle’s aviation interest.

The exhibit will open on Saturday, June 30 and close on Aug. 18. The June 30 opening will be from 2-4 p.m. The exhibit will be open daily when the university is open.

Belle Baruch lived much of her life at Hobcaw Barony, on the South Carolina coast just north of Georgetown. She eventually purchased the property from her famous father and then put into a conservation trust. Hobcaw Barony is the site of ongoing research in a variety of academic fields. The Barch Institute will open the doors to even more. The 16,000-acre preserve is a trove of sites with historical, cultural and archaeological potential.

The new Institute was created late last year through a partnership that included FMU, Coastal Carolina University and the Belle W. Baruch Foundation. Francis Marion University Professor Dr. Lynn Hanson serves as the Institutes’s co-director.