Country Doctor Museum hires new director

The former curator of the Tobacco Farm Life Museum in Kenly has been named the new historic site manager of The Country Doctor Museum.

Harold J. Jacobson began his duties on Aug. 1 at the museum in Bailey.

“What excites me the most is being part of the tremendous amount of growth ECU plans for the museum as both a historic repository of cultural heritage and an educational center for all age levels,” Jacobson said. “Few museum professionals have the opportunity just given to me, and I am eager to begin my tenure as the new director.”

These leg braces are some of the items on display at the Country Doctor Museum. Photo by Cliff Hollis

As curator of the Tobacco Farm Life Museum since February 2002, Jacobson was responsible for caring for the museum collection, fabricating exhibits along with acquiring, refurbishing, cleaning and cataloging museum pieces. The entire historic site includes the buildings on the property.

Jacobson earned his undergraduate degrees in hospitality management from Arkansas Tech University in 1994 and in history from the University of North Carolina-Asheville in 1997. He completed his master’s degree in public history at North Carolina State University in 2001.

The Country Doctor Museum pays tribute to the rural practice of medicine. The museum has an extensive collection of artifacts housed in two 19th-century doctors’ offices.

“After ECU accepted responsibility for the museum in 2003, projects involving physical improvements, collections management and educational programming were begun. My immediate plans are to complete those projects and then to develop ways to fulfill the museum’s goals outlined in a strategic plan adopted just prior to my assignment,” Jacobson said.

An apothecary room is lined with cabinets crafted in the 1860s. Visitors will find an iron lung, surgical sets, bloodletting instruments, microscopes and amputation tools. There is also a carriage house with two Model T’s, a medicinal herb garden and museum shop.

The facility is managed by the W.E. Laupus Health Sciences Library under the stewardship of the Medical Foundation of East Carolina University.