Funding Opportunities

Performing Arts Programs

A Walk Through Time

November 2008

The 2008 A Walk Through Time, a joint venture between the Pasadena Museum of History and the historic Mountain View Cemetery in neighboring Altadena, brings local history to life through an innovative theatrical performance in one of the area’s most unique and beautiful stage settings – a local mausoleum. 

Local history and culture is at the heart of A Walk Through Time. This year’s performance will focus on California’s Civil War experience. While the final cast of historic characters has yet to be set, there are many intriguing possibilities. Thaddeus Lowe, for example, was the founder of the Union Army’s Balloon Corps, used for aerial reconnaissance during battle. Captain Thomas Foulds Ellsworth was a Congressional Medal of Honor recipient, as well as a captain in the first regiment of African American soldiers. Other local notables, including abolitionist Owen Brown – of Harper’s Ferry fame – and former slave-turned-real estate magnet Biddy Owens might stop by.

If you are interested in supporting this program, please contact our Development Office.

 

 

 

Children's Programs

Junior Docents

7th and 8th grade students in Pasadena public and private schools — are trained to lead an interactive tour of the Fenyes Mansion for 4th grade students. The Mansion is used as a teaching tool to explore the history of Pasadena, life and culture at the turn of the century, and how it contrasts with life today. Students develop skills in leadership, time management, and public speaking while at the same time making a significant contribution to the community.  Last year Junior Docents toured over 900 young visitors through the Fenyes Mansion.

A Child's Life

A Child's Life is an innovative educational program that was piloted in four Pasadena Unified School District elementary schools in 2003. Third grade classes are invited to the Museum to explore what it was like to be a child during the early 1900s. Students are ushered into a unique classroom for their time travel experience. The youngsters view historic photos capturing the development and early growth of the community. They dress up in period clothing, listen to turn of the century music and play with toys and games from the past. Each student is given a special book, The Way Pasadena Was, written by local author Kathleen Thorne-Thomsen and published by the Pasadena Museum of History. The colorful publication is full of photographs and stories about Pasadena one hundred years ago. The book and the program are designed to support the 3rd grade curriculum standards for the public schools.

If you are interested in supporting any of our children's programs, please contact our Development Office.

Exhibitions

The Art & Craft of Textile Design, 1860-1920

August 2008 - January 2009

The Pasadena Museum of History is proud to announce that this fall it will host The Art & Craft of Textile Design, 1860-1920, a landmark exhibition that will be curated by Ann Chaves.  The exhibition will feature many significant pieces from private collections—many never before displayed for the public.  Textiles were an important element of the greater Arts & Crafts movement; and the unique craftsmanship and artistry in the pieces that will be on display will show how this new and vibrant art and fashion style was created and evolved in the later nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

This exhibition on Arts and Crafts Textiles will define the parameters of Arts and Crafts design and show the variance of stylization within this art form. Textiles from 1860 to 1920 will be exhibited, including textiles from Great Britain and continental Europe, as well as from the United States. Household items and clothing will fill the galleries, complimented by related items such as patterns, kits, sewing equipment, and textile design books.

 

If you are interested in supporting this exhibition and/or participating in its V.I.P. Opening on September 5, please contact our Development Office.

 

Family Stories: Sharing a Community's Legacy

May 2009 - January 2010

Despite Pasadena’s long tradition of diversity, much of the area’s recorded history has been heavily focused on “elite” elements of local life, with emphasis on topics such as Arroyo culture, Craftsman art and architecture, the “Indiana Colony” and their citrus groves, and the mansions of the very rich. While important, these stories leave out the stories and experiences of many of the city’s residents.

The PMH seeks to correct this historical bias. The multi-generational experiences of the representative families, each selected from six of Pasadena’s largest ethnic groups - African-American, Euro-American, Armenian-American, Chinese-American, Japanese-American, and Latino-American - will be shared and interpreted through photographs, documents, artifacts, and recordings. Family Stories staff curators, with the guidance of University of Southern California Professor William Deverell as well as a robust, ethnically-diverse Advisory Committee, will place the individual family’s story into a larger local, regional, and national context, and will seek to inspire visitors to reflect on their own family’s histories and how their own lives and experiences are contributing to the ongoing creation of history and community.

If you are interested in supporting this exhibition, please contact our Development Office.