Pasadena Museum of History events & more in February

FEBRUARY 2013 at PASADENA MUSEUM OF HISTORY

470 W. Walnut St., Pasadena 91103

www.pasadenahistory.org | 626.577.1660

PROGRAMS

FAMILY STORIES FROM PASADENA’S AFRICAN-AMERICAN COMMUNITY

Tuesday, February 12, 6:30 pm

Pasadena has had a vibrant African – American Community since its inception.  Hear the stories of five local families that have called Pasadena home for four and five generations.      Learn why family members first came to the area and how they dealt with challenges of coming to a new community.  Hear how family members established their place in the community in spite of the many challenges, including discrimination, economic depressions, world wars and the struggle for civil rights. A  power point presentation of historic images from family collections and a display of meaningful family heirlooms will highlight the stories.  This program is part of an on-going project of PMH to help people collect and preserve their family history.    

Tickets: Members $5.00, Non-Members $8.00

SUNNY TALES FROM AROUND THE WORLD

Wednesday, February 13, 10:30 am at San Rafael Branch of Pasadena Public Library, 1240 Nithsdale Road, Pasadena 91105

On the second Wednesday of every month, PMH presents a storytelling series in collaboration with the Pasadena Public Library, San Rafael branch. In February, the Museum’s beloved storyteller Sunny Stevenson will enthrall her listeners with stories about Black history. Please join us!

Tickets: Free

THE MOVIES BEFORE HOLLYWOOD
Thursday, February 21, 7:30 pm

Going to the movies 100 years ago bears little resemblance to what we do today.  There were no feature films, no sound, no color.  Projectors didn’t use electricity, but theaters left the lights on.  There was live music and audiences sang.  Advertising sold services and goods.  Just as many slides were shown as movies.   Live performers did acts between films.  Fires and explosions posed deadly threats to movie-goers.  Movies were under attack by the church.  What was going on?  Join Galen Wilkes as he presents the movie-going scene in its earliest years.  The program will feature a 1912 silent film by master D. W. Griffith shot on location at the Fenyes Mansion, with live musical accompaniment by Galen on the keyboards. 

Tickets:  Members $10; Non-Members $15.  Reservations suggested. 

EXHIBITS

I DO! I DO! PASADENA TIES THE KNOT

Part I -- February 8 through July 14, 12:00 to 5:00 pm Wednesdays through Sundays in the History Center Galleries

“I Do” -- two words intimately associated with romance and marriage, will be the catchphrase for Pasadena Museum of History’s 2013 exhibition.  I Do! I Do! Pasadena Ties the Knotwill focus on Pasadena weddings from our founding in the mid-nineteenth century to the present.  The two-part exhibition draws from the Museum’s costume and textile collection, fashion designers, and community members to spotlight the wedding dress as an icon of social customs through the decades.

·         Part 1, on view February 8-July 14 and covering 1850 to 1950, will exhibit more than thirty-five bridal gowns and share the wedding stories that accompany them, showing the evolution of the wedding dress from a woman’s best dress worn in weddings of the 1860s, to the lace and high waists of the 1900s, the long silk trains of the 1930s, and finally the hourglass silhouettes of the 1950s.  These will include the 1880 dress worn at the wedding of early Pasadena settlers Jennie Hollingsworth and Joshua Giddings, the 1901 gown of the niece of Governor Henry Harrison Markham, and several intricately beaded knee-length wedding dresses favored in the 1920s. Gowns considered non-traditional by today’s standards include a beautiful red-brown moiré taffeta gown and a silk taffeta dress featuring horizontal woven stripes of alternating salmon and a bluish gray. Formal portraits, engagement and wedding announcements, guest books, and other ephemera on display alongside the gowns, will provide a glimpse into the lives of local residents.

·         Part II, on view from August 2 through October 20, will take the story up to present day, focusing on national trends that influenced Pasadena brides. 

Tickets: $7 General; $6 Students & Seniors; Members & Children under 12 Free; Active Duty Military Personnel & Their Families Free. Free every Wednesday to anyone who lives, works or is a student in Pasadena and neighboring communities (“Community Wednesdays”).