Featured Object 
Image: Bride Alfretta McAdoo on her wedding day. Black History Collection (BH-D-24-3).
This photo of Alfretta McAdoo is one of over 7,200 images now available online through Pasadena Digital History Collaboration.
PDHC provides you with access to the greatest collection of digitized, historical archives in Pasadena - now with a revamped website and database. Current institutional partners include PMH, PCC Shatford Library, Pasadena Public Library, the City of Pasadena Planning & Community Development Dept, and the Huntington Library. Several individuals have also contributed personal and family collections to the collaboration.
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Featured Sponsor
Dolphin Event Services
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You can also keep up with PMH on the following sites:
  
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Special Offer for Members & Patrons
A Noise Within is offering a special discount to PMH Members and Patrons to see their current play,
To redeem this offer and get $10 off, use code: PMH10 at online checkout. Tickets can be purchased at www.anoisewithin.org.
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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.
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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.
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Featured Event
 Margaret Fuller: A New American Life -- Lecture and Booksigning with Megan Marshall
Tuesday, May 14, 7:30 pm
Prize-winning biographer and native Pasadenan Megan Marshall will speak on researching and writing
Margaret Fuller: A New American Life, her new biography of pioneering feminist, journalist, and radical thinker Margaret Fuller. Born in New England in 1810 and a key figure in the Transcendentalist group along with Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau, Fuller moved on to become a front page columnist for Horace Greeley's New-York Tribune, covering the seamier side of the great metropolis by reporting on its prisons, asylums, and orphan schools. Books will be available for purchase.
Tickets: Members $10; Non-Members $15 (includes reception, lecture & gallery entrance); Reservations are required and available online at margaretfuller.brownpapertickets.com or by calling 1.800.838.3006, ext. 1. Limited tickets may be available at the door for an extra $5 charge.
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Current Exhibition
 I Do! I Do! Pasadena Ties the Knot
1850 to 1950
Open Now through July 14
PMH presents 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 runs through July 14, displays historic wedding dresses from the Museum's Costume and Textile Collection and presents the local narratives associated with the gowns. Exhibition donors include: Elizabeth Smalley, M.D., 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! exhibits 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 Trustee Elizabeth Smalley, M.D.; collections volunteer Suzanne Ehrmann; Trustee Janet Kadin; and collections volunteer Sheryl Peters. Smalley and Ehrmann 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 were developed by Kadin. Peters lent her extensive knowledge of vintage textiles and costumes to the exhibition dressing the complicated and delicate early gowns as well as overseeing the shaping of the more contemporary dresses. She also introduced the text and illustrations on corsetry to the exhibition. The co-curators worked closely with staff to include photographs, ephemera, and objects from the Museum's collections.
Image: Wedding dress. Silk satin, faux pearls, lace, chiffon, and netting. Worn by Margaret Whitney Collins in 1915 and Julia Collins Haselton in 1964. Gift of Julia Collins (Costume & Textile Collection, 2009.012.01.). Photo by Aaron Gil, www.fotonuova.com.
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Upcoming Events
May M.A.D.Ness!
Friday, Saturday, & Sunday, May 3, 4, & 5 at PMH and participating venues; times vary by location
Enjoy reciprocal free admission and 20% store discounts as we celebrate Member Appreciation Days at 14 participating cultural venues in Southern California. Show your PMH membership card at any participating institution to receive this special benefit.
Not a PMH Member? Visit the membership page of our website or call 626.577.1660, ext. 11 for information.
 A History of the Wedding Toast Tuesday, May 21, 7:30 pm
Join Jim Ciccolo, lecturer and devotee of food and wine, as he explores the origins of the wedding toast and its code of etiquette: how to give an award-winning and memorable toast while observing its unwritten rules. Ciccolo will discuss suggested do's and don'ts, emphasizing some of the pitfalls to avoid when proffering best wishes. And if that's not enough, we will also learn how to safely open a bottle of champagne with a saber!
Tickets: Members $10; Non-Members $15 (includes reception, lecture & gallery entrance); Reservations are required and available online at weddingtoast.brownpapertickets.com or by calling 1.800.838.3006, ext. 1. Limited tickets may be available at the door for an extra $5 charge.
Other May Events:
I Do! I Do! Tour & Tea (Thursdays and Sundays) - guests enjoy an elegant afternoon of gorgeous wedding fashions and delectable treats
Sunny Tales from Around the World (5/8) - a children's story time event featuring Flowers in May MOTA Day (5/19) - an annual event celebrating the diverse mix of art, architecture and history of the Arroyo Seco area with free admission to five unique history-based museums Other May Events Just for Members:A Year in the Life of a Tournament of Roses President (5/28) - The first lecture in this year's At Home series features Sally Bixby, President 2012-2013 of the Pasadena Tournament of Roses, telling us what it was like to be President of the Tournament of Roses, where she provided leadership for the 124th Parade and the 99th Rose Bowl Game. The program takes place at a lovely one-acre home and garden, lush with roses and cacti.
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