CHARLOTTE, NC.- The Mint Museum presents the exhibit 70 Years The Mint Museums: 1936-2006 Celebrating the Past, Envisioning the Future through December 31. This small exhibition will celebrate the 70th anniversary of the founding of the Mint Museum of Art. Since opening as the first art museum in North Carolina, the Mint Museum of Art has been a Charlotte landmark and major cultural resource for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg area since 1936. Included in the exhibition are artifacts, archival documents, photographs, and works from the collection, many unseen by the public, documenting the growth of the Museum, including expansion of the Art Museum in 1968 and 1985, the opening of the Mint Museum of Craft + Design in 1999, and current expansion plans in uptown Charlotte. The public 70th Birthday Celebration Day is scheduled for Sunday, October 22nd from 12-5pm.

The Mint Museum of Art initially served the region as the first branch of the United States Mint, coining $5 million in gold from 1836 to the outbreak of the Civil War. A grassroots community effort during the Depression saved the original Federal-style building designed by William Strickland from demolition and moved it to its present Randolph Road site. The museum formally opened to the public on October 22, 1936 as North Carolina's first art museum.

Today it is a rich and diverse resource with noted collections of American art, pre-Columbian art, American and European ceramics, American decorative arts, historic costumes and accessories, African art, Asian art, historic maps, contemporary art and photography.

Enhancing the permanent collections is an active schedule of changing exhibitions and education programs. The Mint originates and hosts major national and international exhibitions and features public programs including daily tours, seminars, lectures, family day festivals, and adult and children's art classes. Resources include two research libraries, a slide and videotape library, teacher training programs, in-school programs and a facility rental program.