Featured Object 
Image: Bride Margaret Mortenson and her attendants on her wedding day (People - Mortenson, Margaret)
Margaret Mortenson married Ernest Crawford May in the garden at 184 South Orange Grove Avenue on June 26, 1920. Her father, Jacob Mortenson, had purchased the property from a Mr. Bill, and spent winters there. A few years later, in 1924 when Jacob died, Margaret and Ernest moved into the house and lived there until 1932. The property was known as "Mayfair."
Also, don't forget to read the latest Hometown Pasadena article written by PMH Project Archivist Julie Stires - Beetling, Building, and Painting with Eva & Adalbert Fenyes
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Featured Sponsor
Mission Wines
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You can also keep up with PMH on the following sites:
  
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PMH is proud to once again join the more than 1,800 museums across the nation offering free admission this summer to active duty military personnel and their families as part of the 2013 Blue Star Museums program. The offer runs from Memorial Day (May 27) through Labor Day (September 2) as a means of showing our appreciation for those who are serving this nation. For more information and a complete listing of participating museums nationwide, please visit the National Endowment for the Arts website.
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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
Happy Birthday Pasadena - Celebrating Bridges
Saturday, June 22, 1:00 to 5:00 pm 
Please join us as we celebrate the City's 127th birthday and commemorate the 100th anniversary of Pasadena's beloved landmark, the Colorado Street Bridge. Enjoy Birthday cake with the Mayor and City dignitaries, arts & crafts workshops and storytelling for kids, live music, nonstop entertainment, and activities that explore our City's "bridges" to Community, Exploration, Health, History, Imagination, and Understanding. Pie n' Burger, which is celebrating its fiftieth anniversary, will have a food truck offering their best-loved family fare. Raffles and prizes will round out a not-to-be-missed day of celebration. Mark Your Calendars and Save the Date! For more information about this very special event, please visit our website. Tickets: Free; no reservations required. Image: Arthur Egeli, "May LIght," oil on canvas 16" x 20" (courtesy Tirage Fine Art Gallery)
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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
 Literary Pasadena: Panel Discussion and Book Signing
Thursday, June 13, 7:30 pm
Despite its relatively small size, Pasadena has served as literary inspiration for numerous writers, contemporary and past, and captures the imagination of readers all over the world.
The panel will feature Literary Pasadena contributors Ron Koertge, Dianne Emley, Jill Alison Ganon, and Petrea Burchard and will be moderated by editor Patricia O'Sullivan. They'll discuss how authors go about researching and drawing on local history, and the secrets to writing about place with originality.
Books will be available for purchase.
Tickets: Members $10; Non-Members $15 (includes reception, lecture & gallery entrance); Reservations are required and available online at literarypasadena.brownpapertickets.com or by calling 1.800.838.3006, ext. 1. Limited tickets may be available at the door for an extra $5 charge.
Researching House History - An At Home Event Just for MembersTuesday, June 25; Address provided upon reservation
Tim Gregory (AKA The Building Biographer) researches the history of houses for realtors and homeowners. He will demonstrate for us how he sifts through evidence from paper and online sources to create histories of houses and neighborhoods. He will describe how he first came up with the Building Biographer idea while employed as PMH's archivist and how this hobby became his full-time niche business. Tim will also share stories of some of the more unusual houses and colorful owners he has discovered in the process of preparing the over 2,500 histories he has completed since 1992. The program will be held in a charming 1901 farmhouse.
Visit our website for a full description of all of the lectures in this year's At Home series.
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