Pat McCrory, Governor
Susan Kluttz, Secretary
Marketing and Communications Office
News Release
Contact : Julia Rogers (919) 477-5498
Fay Mitchell (919) 807-7389
Release: July 30, 2014
Volunteer at Duke Homestead Works to Complete Gold Award
DURHAM – On Friday, August 1st Duke Homestead volunteer, Anna Deen, is set to complete the
project for her Gold Award, which represents the highest achievement in Girl Scouting. Deen spent the
summer cataloguing the historic site’s teaching collection and creating a series of touch baskets
featuring items from the collection.
The Duke Homestead teaching collection includes reproduction items which can be used in historic
demonstrations and handled by visitors. Deen selected and researched the items to be displayed in the
Duke’s house and assembled each touch basket. She also created items and guides for both adults and
kids.
“This project will really expand our visitor experience,” said site manager, Jennifer Farley. “Typically in
a museum or historic house ‘please don’t touch’ is the number one rule. With Anna’s project we can
now invite visitors of all ages to get hands-on in each room of the house.”
The touch baskets will make their debut on August 9th during Duke Homestead’s Summer Children’s
Festival. The site plans to make them a fixture of all public events and incorporate them into their
educational programming and daily tours.
Deen, 18, began volunteering at Duke Homestead in 2013 and chose to do her Gold Award with the site
because of the significant impact the history has on both the local and national community. “Duke
Homestead can give an important educational experience to everyone,” Deen said. “The history here
affects everyone.”
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About Duke Homestead State Historic Site and Museum
Duke Homestead is the site of the Duke family’s nineteenth-century farm, where Washington Duke
started a tobacco business that later became the largest in the world. With the money generated by this
venture, the Dukes endowed Duke University, began what later grew into Duke Energy, and founded an
endowment that continues to contribute to charitable causes today.
About the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources
The N.C. Department of Cultural Resources (NCDCR) is the state agency with a vision to be the leader
in using the state's cultural resources to build the social, cultural and economic future of North Carolina.
Led by Secretary Susan W. Kluttz, NCDCR's mission is to enrich lives and communities by creating
opportunities to experience excellence in the arts, history and libraries in North Carolina that will spark
creativity, stimulate learning, preserve the state's history and promote the creative economy. NCDCR
was the first state organization in the nation to include all agencies for arts and culture under one
umbrella.
Through arts efforts led by the N.C. Arts Council, the N.C. Symphony and the N.C. Museum of Art,
NCDCR offers the opportunity for enriching arts education for young and old alike and spurring the
economic stimulus engine for our state's communities. NCDCR's Divisions of State Archives, Historical
Resources, State Historic Sites and State History Museums preserve, document and interpret North
Carolina's rich cultural heritage to offer experiences of learning and reflection. NCDCR's State Library
of North Carolina is the principal library of state government and builds the capacity of all libraries in
our state to develop and to offer access to educational resources through traditional and online
collections including genealogy and resources for the blind and physically handicapped.
NCDCR annually serves more than 19 million people through its 27 historic sites, seven history
museums, two art museums, the nation's first state-supported Symphony Orchestra, the State Library,
the N.C. Arts Council and the State Archives. NCDCR champions our state's creative industry that
accounts for more than 300,000 jobs and generates nearly $18.5 billion in revenues. For more
information, please call (919) 807-7300 or visit www.ncdcr.gov.