Presented by: The South Carolina African American Heritage Commission
Your donation will help the South Carolina African American Heritage Commission curate the first exhibition documenting the life and career of one of Columbia’s most sought after models and muses of the Gilded Age. Hettie Anderson, a woman of African descent, was born and raised in Columbia, SC. She was a favorite of numerous famous artist and sculptors, including the world renowned sculptor, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, who described Hettie as “certainly the handsomest model I have ever seen of either sex.” She is Victory, the winged goddess leading General William Tecumseh Sherman in Saint-Gaudens iconic statue in New York City’s Central Park. She is also the goddess who stands atop what is now the David N. Dinkins Manhattan Municipal Building. Her likeness is on the $20 gold coin known as the Saint-Gaudens double eagle, regarded as “The Most Beautiful Coin in the World.” With your support, the Commission will be able to open this exhibit and institute various programs and activities highlighting and teaching about the life of this daughter of Columbia throughout South Carolina and beyond. The exhibition will run from March 21, 2023 through December 31, 2023.
Donation Levels
VICTORY – $5,000
Hettie’s most acclaimed statue by August Saint-Gaudens in 1903, located in New York City’s Central Park.
- Acknowledged by name as a major sponsor & logo in the exhibition space for the duration of the exhibition
- Name & logo displayed on the electronic board in the lobby of the SC Department of Archives & History for the duration of advertisements for the exhibit (one year)
- Name & logo on the SC African American Heritage Commission’s banner that will be displayed for the duration of the exhibit & name on the banner that will travel with the Commission to other events and workshops
- Acknowledged in all printed programs & catalogues (including logo) of the exhibition, as well as all press releases & on the SC African American Heritage Commission Website & Social Media pages
- Acknowledged by name as a major sponsor including logo in the SC African American Heritage Commission’s newsletter
- Publicly acknowledged as a major sponsor at the opening of the exhibition, March 21, 2023
ATHENS – a minimum of $2,500
John LaFarge rendered Hettie’s image as a willowy Athenian deity for a mural at Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Brunswick, Maine- 1898.
- Acknowledged by name as a major sponsor & logo in the exhibition space for the duration of the exhibition
- Acknowledged in all printed programs & catalogues of the exhibition, as well as all press releases & on the South Carolina African American Heritage Commission Website & Social Media pages
- Name on the South Carolina African American Heritage Commission’s banner that will be displayed for the duration of the exhibit & the banner that will travel with the Commission to other events and workshops
- Acknowledged by name & logo in the SC African American Heritage Commission’s newsletter
- Publicly acknowledged at the opening of the exhibition, March 21, 2023
CIVIC FAME – a minimum of $1,000
Adolph Alexander Weinman used Hettie’s likeness to create a copper finial atop the David N. Dinkins Manhattan Municipal Building- 1913.
- Name & logo on the South Carolina African American Heritage Commission Website & Social Media pages
- Name & logo printed on program advertisements
- Acknowledged by name in the SC African American Heritage Commission’s newsletter
- Publicly acknowledged at the opening of the exhibition, March 21, 2023
THE SPIRIT OF LIFE – a minimum of $500
Hettie spent weeks at a time at the country studios of Daniel Chester French in 1914.
- Name & logo on the South Carolina African American Heritage Commission Social Media pages.
- Name printed on program advertisements
- Acknowledged by name in the SC African American Heritage Commission’s newsletter
THE GOLD COIN – a minimum of $100
Augustus Saint-Gaudens designed the twenty-dollar gold coin in 1907 – still in production today.
- Name on the South Carolina African American Heritage Commission Social Media pages.
- Acknowledged by name in the SC African American Heritage Commission’s newsletter