Featured Object 
Image: Detail of a wedding ring quilt, circa 1937-1942. Gift of Pati Tyler (Costume & Textile Collection, 2012.007.01)
A pair of hand-quilted wedding ring quilts were donated to PMH just last year. The quilts are hand stitched; however, the edges were done by machine. The quilts were most likely made by Pasadena resident Charlotte Bailey and one of her daughters. In making the quilts, they utilized colors that were popular around WWII, including Nile Green, which was invented in 1927.
Wedding ring quilts were popular in the 1920s and became very popular in the 1930s. These type of quilts are not rare (they were made by the thousands). However, a pair of wedding ring quilts is unusual.
|
Featured Sponsor
Lagerlof, Senecal, Gosney, & Kruse LLP
|
You can also keep up with PMH on the following sites:
  
|
|
About the Museum
Founded in 1924 to preserve and share the rich history, art, and culture of Pasadena and neighboring communities, Pasadena Museum of History has developed into one of the country's premiere institutions of its size.
PMH is an independent nonprofit cultural institution funded by generous gifts from foundations, corporations, businesses, individuals, and our members.
The Mission of the Museum is to promote an appreciation of history, culture, arts, and sciences relevant to Pasadena and adjoining communities.
|
|
|
|
|
Our e-calendar, available to Members and Non-Members alike, is designed to keep our supporters informed about happenings and upcoming events at Pasadena Museum of History.
|
|
|
Featured Event
 Family Stories from Pasadena's African-American Community
Tuesday, February 19, 6:30 pm; Call for location
Pasadena has had a vibrant African-American Community since its inception. Come 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 the challenges of coming to a new place. Hear how they established their place in the community in spite of the many challenges including; discrimination, economic depressions, and the struggle for civil rights. Photos and a display of heirlooms related to the stories will be shared. This program is part of an ongoing project of to help people collect and preserve their family history.
Tickets: Members $10; Non-Members $15. Reservations are required and available online or by calling 1.800.838.3006, ext. 1. Limited tickets may be available at the door for an extra $5 charge.
Image: Picnic, 1968 (Black History Collection, BH-D-18-13)
|
|
Upcoming Exhibition
 I Do! I Do! Pasadena Ties the Knot
1850 to 1950
Opens February 14
PMH will present I Do! I Do! Pasadena Ties the Knot,a two-part exhibition showcasing the wedding dress as an icon of social customs through the decades from the mid-nineteenth century to present day. Part I of the exhibition, which will run from February 14 through July 14, will display historic wedding dresses from the Museum's Costume and Textile Collection as well as present the local narratives associated with the gowns. Exhibition donors include: Elizabeth Smalley, M.D., Donald Bergmann, Suzanne Ehrmann, Sheryl and Ed Peters, Roberta and Larry Dumas, and PMH's Textile Arts Council.
Pasadenans have been walking down the aisle following age-old traditions since the arrival of the first settlers of the Indiana Colony. Part I of I Do! I Do! will exhibit more than forty bridal gowns illustrating 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.
I Do! I Do! Part I was curated by PMH Trustees Elizabeth Smalley, M.D., and Janet Kadin, and PMH volunteer Suzanne Ehrmann. Smalley and Ehrmann have spent over two years preparing for the exhibition; reviewing, researching, and photographing over seventy gowns before selecting forty-two for display. The exhibition text and the section covering the Fenyes-Curtin-Paloheimo weddings was developed by Kadin. All three co-curators have worked closely with staff to include photographs, ephemera, and objects from the Museum's collections.
Image: Wedding dress. Ivory silk with satin cuffs and satin edging on bustle. Worn by Ida Russell Stevens Halsted in 1869 (Costume & Textile Collection, 84.1.57)
|
|
Upcoming Events
 The Movies Before Hollywood
Thursday, February 21, 7:30 pm
Going to the movies 100 years ago bore 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 Wilkes on the keyboards.
Tickets: Members $10; Non-Members $15. Reservations are required and available online or by calling 1.800.838.3006, ext. 1. Limited tickets may be available at the door for an extra $5 charge.
 Lecture & Book Signing with Naomi Hirahara: Strawberry Yellow
Tuesday, March 12, 7:30 pm
Many Pasadenans are originally from somewhere else. Gardener and unwitting detective Mas Arai, the unlikely protagonist of local author Naomi Hirahara's popular mystery series, returns to the strawberry fields of his childhood in Watsonville, CA and encounters family intrigue, danger, and murder. Join Ms. Hirahara for a discussion of the genesis of her fifth mystery,Strawberry Yellow. The talk and question time will be followed with a book signing. Books will be available for purchase.
Doors open at 6:30 pm for a complimentary reception and viewing of the exhibition galleries.
Tickets: Members $10; Non-Members $15. Reservations are required and available online or by calling 1.800.838.3006, ext. 1. Limited tickets may be available at the door for an extra $5 charge.
Other February Events:
Members Reception for I Do! I Do! (12/16) - an opening for our new exhibition exclusively for PMH Members
|
|
|
|
|
