Salem Museum & Historical Society News
Recent Press Releases
FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Salem Museum to
Host Two Great May Events
It’s a busy springtime at the Salem Museum! Two great May events are
scheduled on back-to-back weekends to make the month special!
Springtime Tea
for Mother’s Day May 11
Mom deserves the best, doesn’t she? An afternoon of refined elegance
in one of Salem most attractive locations? Good food, good company, airy
music and the beauty of a Virginia spring? Then she deserves to be treated
to the Salem Museum’s Springtime Tea on May 11th.
Last December, the Salem Museum hosted a Yuletide tea party to ring
in the season. The response was so enthusiastic that several attendees asked
for a similar event for Mother’s Day. And so a committee of volunteers
embraced the idea and the first ever Salem Museum Springtime Tea was born.
On May 11 guests will be welcomed to the Museum’s lovely community
room overlooking Longwood Park to enjoy a splendid repast and the elegant
atmosphere of one of the Valley’s most charming cultural centers. With or
without your mother (all are welcome, after all) you’ll find this a
memorable afternoon.
The menu for the Springtime Tea includes spiced tea and black tea;
ham biscuits; sandwiches of pimiento cheese, cucumber, chicken salad, and
smoked salmon spread; and mini cupcakes, truffles, and almond milk chocolate
crème to satisfy Mom’s sweet tooth.
The cost for the Tea is $10 per person. Seating is limited, so
reservations are strongly urged. Contact the Salem Museum at 540-389-6760
for more info or to make a reservation, or email
info@salemmuseum.org.
Block Party
Blues May 18
The music will be blue, the grass will be green, and the food will be
delicious at the Salem Museum’s second fundraising concert on May 18. “Block
Party Blues” will feature the impressive the talents of the Fat Daddy Band
and The Spin-Outs, with proceeds supporting the ongoing building program of
the museum.
The concert will be held on May 18 from 5 to 9 behind the museum,
adjacent to the lovely Longwood Park. The Museum’s Veteran’s Plaza will
serve as the venue, and eager blues fans can spread out blankets or bring
lawn chairs to enjoy the music.
Tickets to the concert are only $5 per person, but hungry fans can
get a ticket for $12 which will include dinner. Listening to music outdoors
and enjoying a picnic dinner-- what better way is there to conclude a hard
work week?
Tickets for “Block Party Blues” can be purchased in advance at the
Salem Museum or at the gate the night of the event.
The Salem Museum is located at 801 East Main Street in Salem, and is open
Tuesday to Friday from 10 to 4, and Saturday from noon to five. Call
389-6760 for more information.
FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
SALEM MUSEUM’S
“YOU-SEUM” LETS THE PUBLIC DESIGN THE EXHIBIT
Normally, when you visit a museum display, you see
the end result of a long process. Curators, fabricators, researchers,
caption writers--they’ve all spent long hours at work, and the visitor is
only the passive spectator, enjoying the show.
So what would you have if the museum turned all of
that process over to an impromptu public display? Answer: the Salem Museum’s
novel “You-Seum,” a spontaneous one-night exhibit designed by--you!
“A lot of museums are looking for innovative ways to
involve the public,” said Museum Director John Long. “Especially the younger
generation looks for more hands-on, interactive programs that engage the
mind. We think the You-Seum will do just that.”
On April 26th, from 7 to 9, visitors will
have the chance to bring in an artifact, chosen to illustrate a central
theme, for display and discussion. The theme for the first-ever Salem
You-Seum is “Great-Grandma could never
have imagined…”
Never have imagined what? That’s up to you to
decide!
Based on the ‘Pop-Up Museum” concept that originated
on the West Coast, the Salem You-Seum allows the public a say in what goes
on display for the one-night event. Every visitor can bring in an object, a
photo, a document, or whatever it is they think Great-Grandma could have
never imagined. In an informal setting, they’ll have the opportunity to
discuss with others why they chose that item, and what it illustrates about
how much has changed since our ancestors’ time.
“It’s sort of like show-and-tell,” noted Long.
“Participants should be as creative and thought-provoking as they can be,
and be ready to have their own thoughts provoked.”
Hoping to rely on the vision of the participants,
the Museum has set few ground rules. All exhibited items should be safe and
appropriate for younger visitors, and are displayed at the owner’s risk.
Each exhibitor will have the opportunity to explain why they chose that
particular item to fit the theme. Facilitated discussions will aid the
visitors in exploring the exhibition.
“But no one needs to bring anything,” noted Long.
“You can just come to look and learn. We hope to inspire conversations about
how much things have changed in a short period of time, and how unexpected
some of that change has been, for good or ill.”
Admission to the You-Seum is free, but participants
are asked to bring a non-perishable food item to donate to a local food
pantry. Light refreshments will be served.
If the idea catches on, the Salem Museum has other
ideas for future “crowd-sourced” activities. “The next generation of museum
visitors doesn’t expect to be passive spectators of static exhibits,”
explained Long. “They want to be part of the experience. Really, a museum
doing this sort of thing is itself something great-grandma never
envisioned!”
The Salem Museum, located in the historic Williams-Brown House of
Longwood Park, is open Tuesday through Friday from 10 am to 4 pm, and
Saturday from noon to 5 pm. No admission is charged for the Museum
galleries.
FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
SALEM MUSEUM EXHIBIT LETS KIDS EXPLORE HOW GRANDMA DID THINGS
Little Carrie in 1896 had to feed the chickens and learn to sew by
lamplight. Her son Jim in the 1920s listened to baseball games on the radio.
Reggie, growing up in the nearby African American neighborhood in the 1940s,
had to haul water from the town pump. But little Jack in 2013 surfs the
internet and already knows how to text. He’s never seen a kerosene lamp or
touched an old-style radio, and can’t imagine a house without running water.
But if he visits the
Salem Museum this spring or summer, he just might learn a thing or two about
how we did things before cell phones and microwaves.
“The idea for this
exhibit came from a rotary-dial phone that was donated to the Salem Museum,”
said Museum Director John Long. “We turned the dial like we did when we were
kids, and wondered how many of today’s children have heard that sound.”
From that encounter with
old technology came “Learn and Play Grandma’s Way,” a new featured exhibit
at the Salem Museum. From manual
typewriters to washboards to old-timey, non-digital games like marbles, the
exhibit allows kids to explore the way things were once done when words like
“tivo” and “tweeting” did not exist.
Three Roanoke College
student interns, Amanda Hursch, Michelle Graham, and Katrina King, planned
the exhibit and researched the old ways that kids have never seen.
Themselves growing up in the internet age, they found they had a good deal
to learn about their grandparents’ time.
Carrie, Jim, Reggie, and
Jack form a “day in the life of” section where each describes and ordinary
day. Old photos of other children in bygone days line the walls, and in the
center of the room are stations where kids (or adults!) can explore such
topics as Playtime, School Days, and Keeping in Touch.
King, a junior from
Draper, was in charge of a section titled “Keeping Clean” about how people
did laundry and handled personal cleanliness in the olden days (hint: they
didn’t do either as often as we do!). “I think the most interesting thing
for me was seeing the evolution of the idea of cleanliness,” said King. “It
started as a disease-prevention method and became an expected daily activity
only more recently.”
The exhibit also
complements an experimental program of the museum on April 26th:
the first ever “Salem You-Seum.” Participants will craft a unique, one-night
exhibition around a central theme of
“Great-Grandma Could Have Never Imagined…” “Anyone who comes can bring
an item to illustrate the theme,” said Long, “but it’s up to them what it is
that Great Grandma would find so suprising. It’s sort of like show-and-tell
for adults.” The You-Seum runs 7 to 9 on the 26th.
“As a history museum, we want to
remind people of the past, but we also want them to consider how much their
current lives are different,” noted Long. “Both the exhibition and the
You-Seum program will drive that point home.”
The Salem Museum is
located at 801 East Main Street in Salem, and is open Tuesday to Friday from
10 to 4, and Saturday from noon to five. No admission is charged for the
Museum galleries.
SALEM MUSEUM
TO HOLD HERBAL WORKSHOPS ON APRIL 20
The Salem Museum on April 20th will be
the place to get some “sage” advice-- just in the nick of “thyme.” The
Second Annual Salem Museum Herb Faire will offer fascinating--and aromatic--
workshop on how to grow, use, and appreciate herbs for the novice or the
expert.
“We are thrilled
to open our facility up for the Herb Faire again this year,” said Museum
Director John Long. “It’s a great community event and educational to boot.
Last year’s event was very well received and we expect this year’s to be
even better.”
The Herb Faire is sponsored by the Virginia
Cooperative Extension’s Master Food Volunteers and the Roanoke Master
Gardener’s Association. A schedule for the workshops is below:
·
10-10:30 a.m. “Rocking with Rosemary”-- Learn to process fresh or dried
herbs as we explore the rockin’ world of Rosemary and sample delicious
snacks!
·
10:45-11:15 a.m. “Let’s Make Herbs de Provence”-- Make a sample to take
home of this versatile herb mixture and taste a traditional herbed vegetable
dish from Provence.
·
11:30-12 “Adding Asian Flair with Herb Cookery”--Use common garden herbs
and inexpensive Asian ingredients to add uncommon Oriental flavors to BBQ
chicken and coleslaw!
·
12-12:45 Lunch break –Smokehouse BBQ will be on site if you wish to
purchase lunch; or brown bag it on your own.
·
12:45- 1:15 “Air Dried Herbs: Two Simple Techniques”-- You will learn
options for herb preservation with emphasis on air drying, rack drying, and
proper storage. Enjoy a dish too!
·
1:30- 2:00 “Design an Herb Garden” --Learn to use your garden space
effectively to grow the herbs you enjoy!
·
2:15- 2:45 “Edible Flower Cuisine”-- Enjoy a sampling of edible flower
cookery prepared with real flowers and learn to create appetizers and
garnishes using flowers and herbs.
·
3:00- 3:30 “Herbs and Beneficial Insects”--Investigate the value of herbs
in luring pollinators and butterflies to your garden.
In addition to the workshops, there will also be an
Herb Plant Sale and “Plant an Herb Pot” station open all day. The admission
to the workshops is only $5/per person all day, including all cooking demos
and tastings; but folks not attending the workshops may visit the Herb Sale
on their own with no admission fee!
To register for classes, email
herbfaire@gmail.com. For more
information contact your local Extension office at 540 -772-7524.
The Salem Museum, located in the historic Williams-Brown House of
Longwood Park, is open Tuesday through Friday from 10 am to 4 pm, and
Saturday from noon to 5 pm. No admission is charged for the Museum
galleries.
Famed Catawba Cave to be Illuminated by
Salem Museum Program
The Salem Museum April program will explore a deep
subject: the famous Murder Hole Cave in Catawba.
Marian McConnell and her husband Dan own the property
on which the cave is located, and have extensively researched the history of
the site. Most recently Marian has authored a new book titled “Murder Hole.”
Her presentation will take you through the cave, address issues in
preservation of such natural resources, and unveil the origins of the cave’s
name--sorry, it has nothing to do with homicide!
McConnell’s talk will be held at the Salem Museum on
April 15th at 7:00 pm.
Light refreshments will be served afterwards. The
program is free and open to the public.
SALEM MUSEUM TO HOST STUDENT ARTISTS FROM GLENVAR FOR SPECIAL EXHIBITION
Where else would one expect to find the best of local
art but in a local museum? The Salem Museum this month will bring to the
public a display of impressive works by students at Glenvar High School,
introducing some budding young artists to the community.
“We never cease to be amazed by the talents that lie
undiscovered in our local schools,” said Salem Museum director John Long.
“We are thrilled to welcome these Glenvar artists into our museum, and I
know our visitors will be impressed by what they find.”
Approximately 50 pieces, including sculpture and framed
paintings, by 30 students will be included in the exhibition. While it will
be the first public exhibit for some of the students, it certainly won’t be
the last for many of the talented young artists.
“We're excited about the opportunity to exhibit
our art work at the Salem Museum,” said senior
art student Amber Montgomery. “As a senior, it’s exciting to see our show go
to a museum setting. Glenvar has
a lot of artistic talent and we will get to display it for a larger
audience. It’s something new, professional, and I really hope it will
continue for years to come.”
The Glenvar exhibit opens on Friday, March 29 and
continues through April 25. It is the second exhibit of high school art at
the Salem Museum this year, coming on the heels of a display of the works of
Salem High students earlier.
The Salem Museum is located at 801 East Main Street in
Salem, and is open Tuesday to Friday from 10 to 4, and Saturday from noon to
five. No admission is charged for the Museum galleries.
mARTch Madness: SALEM MUSEUM TO HOST STUDENT ART EXHIBITION FOR SECOND
YEAR
For the second year,
the Salem Museum is pleased to host a special exhibit of Salem High School
student art, just in time for National Youth Art Month in March.
“mARTch Madness,” as the students
have titled their exhibition, brings the works of members of the school’s
International Baccalaureate Art program to Main Street Salem, introducing
some budding young artists to the community.
“We are thrilled to host
this exhibition again,” said Salem Museum director John Long. “We got a
great response last year, and it was a great experience for the students.
What better way to show off the talents of our local students than to open
up the local museum to them?”
Dozens of
works--paintings, sketches, and sculptures--by the students will featured,
reflecting the great talents and eclectic tastes of the teenaged artists.
“Prepare to be impressed,” said Long. “These are remarkable kids with great
vision and unique ways of viewing the world.” Some larger pieces will
attract immediate attention from visitors: a life-sized robot made from
recycled computer parts, a jellyfish composed of a charcoal grill top and
yards of electrical cable, or a fantastical dragon made entirely of plastic
water bottles. “These students are clever and creative and expressive--their
work is worth a look.”
"IB Art Senior Students
at Salem High School are excited to display to the public the artwork that
they have worked on the past two years in their college-level credit class,”
said art teacher Patty Pope. “Please come by to see their diverse artwork!"
“mARTch Madness”
continues through March 23. A second exhibition of student art from Glenvar
High School will follow the Salem show.
The Salem Museum is
located at 801 East Main Street in Salem, and is open Tuesday to Friday from
10 to 4, and Saturday from noon to five. No admission is charged for the
Museum galleries.
Roanoke College Professor to Speak at
Salem Museum on Slave Kitchens and Cooking
The Salem Museum February program will celebrate Black
History Month with a special presentation by Kelley Deetz, Roanoke College
professor of Public History. The talk will be held at the Museum on February
18th at 7:00 pm.
The program will cover “Slave Kitchens and Cooking” in
18th and 19th century Virginia. What did slaves eat
and how did they prepare it? What did dinner time mean when freedom was only
a distant dream? Deetz’ presentation will enlighten listeners about this
often misunderstood time.
Professor Deetz earned her B.A. from the College of
William and Mary and her M.A. and Ph.D. from U.C. Berkeley. She is an
archaeologist and historian who specializes in 19th-century
African American history and material culture.
Light refreshments will be served afterwards. The
program is free and open to the public.
SALEM MUSEUM EXHIBIT LOOKS
DOWN--AND BACK IN TIME
The new featured exhibit at the Salem Museum is not for folks with a fear
of heights. But it is for anyone who wants to see amazing views of the
Roanoke Valley as it was in 1924.
“A View from Above: The Underwood Photos of 1924” offers a fascinating
look at a rare set of aerial photos in the Salem Museum collection.
Reprising a popular exhibition from 2006, the display features dozens of
stunning, crystal clear photographs of the Roanoke area, all taken from the
air in 1924 by the Underwood and Underwood Company of New York. Visitors
will be impressed at how much has changed--and how little.
“This is a marvelous historical record of what our area was like nine
decades ago,” said Museum director John Long. “People who grew up here are
transfixed by these images.”
The Underwood and Underwood Company was founded in 1882 by brothers Elmer
and Bert Underwood in Ottawa, Kansas. Initially, the company specialized in
producing stereoviews, the double photographic image which, inserted into a
viewer, produced a three-dimensional image. But as that fad died out in the
late 19th Century, the company began to concentrate on syndicated news
photography and, with the dawn of aviation, aerial photography.
“There are many mysteries surrounding this collection,” notes Long. The
names of the photographers, the pilot, the type of camera used, the model of
plane flown, all are seemingly lost to history. Nor does anyone seem to know
exactly why the Underwood Company took these photos in 1924. “Our folio in
the museum’s collection is marked ‘Made For Appalachian Electric Power
Company,’ so it may be the power company was trying to determine the need
for future power lines,” guessed Long.
But no matter why the photos were taken, they are an intriguing look at
the Roanoke Valley that once was. While most of the images feature downtown
Roanoke City, photos of Salem, Vinton, Troutville, Fincastle and Cloverdale
are seen, along with shots of industrial facilities, three colleges, several
private homes and farms, and Lakeside Amusement Park.
“I love to watch visitors experience this exhibit,” said Long. “They
study the photos, tracing streets and trying to identify landmarks they
remember.” The standard rule in a museum is “Do Not Touch,” but despite this
Long notes that they still have to wipe fingerprints--and even nose
prints--off of the glass when visitors are particularly drawn into the
scenes.
Copies of the Underwood photos may be ordered through the Salem
Museum gift shop. “A View from Above” is open now, and continues until
March.
The Salem Museum, located in the
historic Williams-Brown House of Longwood Park, is open Tuesday through
Friday from 10 am to 4 pm, and Saturday from noon to 5 pm. No admission is
charged for the Museum galleries.
Salem Museum Announces Upcoming Programs
The Salem Museum is pleased to announce its upcoming
program schedule for the spring. The monthly lecture series explores topics
of regional history and is always free and open to the public. Programs are
held the third Monday evenings of each month at the Museum, beginning at
7:00.
· January 21, 7:00 at the Museum: Salem author
Peggy Shifflett on her new book about growing up in Appalachia “On
the Way to Toe Town.” Peggy’s popular series of memoirs explores her
roots growing up in the Appalachian town of Hopkins Gap, VA, with
recollections of the folklore, superstitions, material culture, and colorful
characters of her past.
· February 18, 7:00 at the Museum: New Roanoke
College Public History Professor Kelley Deetz will present her
fascinating research on “Slave Kitchens and Cooking.” What did slaves
eat and how did they prepare it? What did dinner time mean when freedom was
only a distant dream? Deetz’ presentation will enlighten listeners about
this often misunderstood time.
· March 18, 7:00 at the Museum: Mr. David
Ramey Sr. on his new book “The Times and Life on Henry Street.”
Ramey’s exquisitely illustrated memoir of growing up in segregated Roanoke
will take us back to a day when a thriving culture existed in the face of
discrimination.
· April 15, 7:00 at the Museum: Marian
McConnell on her new colorful new history of The Murder Hole, the
cave she and her husband own in Catawba. The legendary cavern evokes many
legends-- McConnell separates fact from fiction in a subterranean
wonderland.
The authors will be available to sign books after their
programs. For further information, call the Salem Museum at 389-6760.
SALEM MUSEUM TO LOOK BACK ON
CHRISTMASES PAST WITH “YULES OF YORE” ON DECEMBER 9TH
Christmas, probably more than any other holiday, is the stuff of
memories. This year the Salem Museum wants to help folks relive what the
season was like in times gone by.
“This year, instead of our homes tour we’ve offered for a while, we
wanted to showcase our museum,” said Salem Museum director John Long. “We
are here to preserve history, and Christmas is a great time to remind people
of what life was like in the past.”
Thus was born “Yule of Yore,” a celebration of Christmases past for
the whole family. On December 9th, from 3:00 to 6:00, the Salem
Museum will be alive with the spirit of Christmas and the love of history.
“Yules of Yore” will be a multifaceted event, noted Long. Displays of
Holiday traditions, festive music to cheer the soul, children’s crafts and
activities, great Christmas shopping in the Museum’s gift shop, a quilt
raffle, door prizes and more will mark the day. Lavish decorations provided
by the Salem Garden Club will heighten the experience and warm the heart.
Best of all, visitors can enjoy the Museum’s second annual Wreath Exhibition
and Silent Auction as well as a festive High Tea experience on the second
floor of the venerable old building.
“Our Wreath Exhibition is one of our important fundraisers,” said
Long, “but more than that it’s guaranteed to awaken the Christmas spirit.”
Some thirty hand-crafted wreaths, created by local organizations,
businesses, and individual supporters will be on display, and all are open
to bidding in a silent auction. Bidding will close at 6:00 that evening.
“Your favorite could go home with you!” Long said.
Meanwhile, guests may join us upstairs for an elegant Christmas tea.
Live music will create the ambience while guests enjoy a delicious High Tea
experience like none other. In addition, throughout the day the Ghosts of
Christmas Past (costumed re-enactors) will inform guests about the way Salem
marked the Yuletide in bygone winters.
Tickets to the special Christmas Tea will be $8 for adults and $4 for
children in advance; or $10 and $5 on the day of the event. Reservations
will be available for parties of 6 or more. Tickets are available at the
Museum. Other activities and displays are free and open to the public,
including the ever-popular Lakeside exhibit.
The Salem Museum, located in the
historic Williams-Brown House of Longwood Park, is open Tuesday through
Friday from 10 am to 4 pm, and Saturday from noon to 5 pm. No admission is
charged for the Museum galleries.
Nobel Prize Laureate to
Speak at
Salem Museum November
Meeting
The Salem Museum is
pleased to present for its November program Dr. James Buchanan of
Blacksburg, to speak on his “Easy War.” Buchanan was a young naval officer
in WWII who somehow found himself posted on the staff of Admiral Chester
Nimitz, allowing him to experience WWII in the Pacific while observing the
top brass from a “Bird’s Eye Perspective.” Though he was only at sea for a
few weeks, he was intimately familiar with the crucial battles of the War
from his vantage point at headquarters, and is one of the last men alive who
worked closely with the top brass of the Pacific War.
After the war, Buchanan
continued his academic career teaching economics, culminating in winning the
Nobel Prize in Economics in 1986. Don’t miss your chance to hear from this
representative of the Greatest Generation on November 19th, 7:00 at the
Museum!
A GOOD OLD-FASHIONED HAUNTING
IN SALEM
Ever stroll through a moonlit cemetery in October? Imagine autumn
leaves crunching beneath your feet as you advance warily down the path,
shadows of weathered tombstones on either side. Suddenly you become aware of
an ethereal figure in an old grey uniform…what do you do? Scream and run
away? Close your eyes and hope he fades away?
The Salem Museum suggests you stop and listen to him, because he probably
has a story to tell.
On October 20 and again on the 23rd, Salem will be alive with spirits and
stories of her past. The fifteenth annual Salem Museum Ghost Walk
through the historic East Hill Cemeteries features actual Salemites of the
past buried in the two graveyards, portrayed by costumed re-enactors and
eager to share tales of the town in days gone by.
“We have found no more effective way to teach folks about local
history than the Ghost Walk,” said Museum Director John Long. “Think
about it-- if the people in a cemetery could rise up and tell us about their
lives, how much could we learn? Our Ghost Walk gives us the chance to
talk to the dead, in a sense.”
Among the characters who will be portrayed in the 2012 Ghost Walk are
Jacob Frier, the town sergeant (policeman) in the 19th century;
Eliza Fox, an African American leader of her day; and James Bryant, one of
Salem’s first firemen. Revolutionary War general Andrew Lewis will make his
annual appearance, and back by popular demand the Deyerle brothers, who
haven’t risen from their eternal resting places for several years.
“What makes the Ghost Walk enjoyable is the quality of the acting,”
opined Long. “All of our actors are volunteers, but they really bring
the characters to life.”
“Several of the actors are teachers by profession,” added Assistant
Museum Director Helen Johnson.
“I think that testifies to the educational value of the Ghost Walk.
Folks learn history and have fun doing it.”
Ghost walkers will gather at the appointed hour inside the Salem
Museum, where they will be welcomed by Mary Jane Brown, a one-time resident
of the house that now serves as the Museum. From there the groups will
proceed into the night to meet other characters from Salem’s past. All the
tales are based on fact, and taken together, they combine into a history of
Salem itself.
The tours run approximately every fifteen minutes from 6:30 to 9:00,
and take about an hour. To keep the size of the groups to a reasonable
level, reservations are strongly suggested. A suggested donation of $6 per
person is requested for the event. In the event of rain, the Ghost
Walk will be held inside the Museum. Call the Museum at 389-6760 for more
information and reservations.
The Ghost Walk involves a trek of some distance, much of it uphill.
It may not be suitable for those who have trouble walking, and all should
wear comfortable shoes. While not a scary event, it may not be suitable for
very young children.
The Salem Museum, located in the historic Williams-Brown House of
Longwood Park, is open Tuesday through Friday from 10 am to 4 pm, and
Saturday from noon to 5 pm. No admission is charged for the Museum
galleries.
Author and Researcher to Give Presentation on Traditional Music
Stephen Wade, author of the recently released and critically
acclaimed book
The Beautiful Music All Around Us: Field Recordings
and the American Experience will give a presentation and performance at the
Salem Museum on October 20, covering his extensive research into traditional
American music, including local ballad singer Texas Gladden and her brother
Hobart Smith.
The Beautiful Music All Around Us presents the extraordinarily rich
backstories of thirteen performances captured on Library of Congress field
recordings between 1934 and 1942. Included in those ground-breaking
recordings by Allen Lomax were performances by Texas Gladden of Salem and
her brother Hobart Smith of Saltville, both of whom are still fondly
remembered today by aficionados of traditional American music.
Musician, recording artist, and writer Stephen
Wade is best known for his long-running stage performances of “Banjo
Dancing” and “On the Way Home.” He also produced and annotated the Rounder
CD collection that gave rise to this book,
A Treasury of Library of Congress
Field Recordings. Since 1996 his occasional commentaries on folksongs
and traditional tunes have appeared on National Public Radio’s “All Things
Considered.” Wade lives in Hyattsville, Maryland.
An accomplished banjoist, Wade will perform during his presentation
along with Lexington musician James Leva and his daughter Vivian Leva. The
Levas “give tangible evidence of viable family tradition in music,” says
Wade, “perhaps the deepest lesson that Hobart Smith and Texas Gladden gave
us all.”
Wade’s fascinating book, which includes a cd of
some of the music he’s preserved, will be for sale.
“Appalachian culture is one of the themes we’ve been tracking this
year in our programming,” noted Salem Museum director John Long. “So when we
found out Stephen was available we jumped at the chance.”
The lecture and performance will be held in the Ritter Community Room
of the Salem Museum at 1:00 pm at the Salem Museum on October 20th.
No admission is charged.
The Salem Museum is located at 801 East Main Street in Salem, and is open
Tuesday to Friday from 10 to 4, and Saturday from noon to five. No admission
is charged for the Museum galleries.
Local Archaeology Dig to be Subject of Salem Museum Program
October is National Archaeology Month, and the Salem Museum will use
the occasion to welcome regional archaeologist Tom Klatka of the Department
of Historic Resources for its monthly program. Klatka will speak on October
15 at 7:00 on the topic “The Conditions of Cultural Contact in the
17th-Century Hinterlands of the Virginia Colony: Evidence from the
Graham-White Archaeological Site in Salem, Virginia.” In the early 1990s
Klatka worked on a dig at the site of today’s Moyer Sports Complex in Salem
(the Graham-White site) which turned up an interesting array of artifacts,
including the trigger from an English gun.
Klatka’s talk is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will
be served afterwards. The Salem Museum, located in
the historic Williams-Brown House of Longwood Park, is open Tuesday through
Friday from 10 am to 4 pm, and Saturday from noon to 5 pm. No admission is
charged for the Museum galleries.
Area’s Appalachian Heritage to be Celebrated by Salem Museum
The Roanoke Valley is, after all, a valley. That means
it’s surrounded by mountains. And in those mountains, a unique and colorful
culture prevailed for generations, a way of life nearly forgotten today.
“We forget that Salem and Roanoke until recent times
were small towns surrounded by numerous rural communities,” said John Long,
Salem Museum director. “Our grandparents’ way of life was totally different
than what we experience. Those traditions need to be remembered.”
For the first time ever, the Salem Museum will help to
revive the old ways of life with its Appalachian Heritage Days on October 12
and 13. A full slate of exhibits, demonstrations, performances, and readings
will bring back the forgotten days when everyone knew how to milk a cow.
This event is co-sponsored by the National League of American Pen Women,
Roanoke Branch. The NLAPW dates to 1885 and is made up of women writers,
artists, and musicians. Several of the local members will be presenting
their talents on Saturday.
“While many people think that Appalachia is a
completely distinct area, the study of Appalachian Heritage opens a window
onto many traditional areas of the world today in terms of the culture of
survival,” said Peggy Shifflett, organizer for the event. “Food production
and use, folk music, storytelling, and customs prevail even after the impact
of economic change, war, and politics.”
Shifflett, a retired Radford University professor and
author of several books on growing up in Appalachia, will be one of the
regional authors featured during Saturday’s events. She will be signing her
latest book “On the Way to Toe Town.” Regional authors Becky Mushko, Ethel
Born, Charles Lytton, and Scottie Pritchard will also be featured on
Saturday. Margaret DuBois will be displaying her unique paintings.
The festivities kick off on Friday, October 12 with a
keynote address by famed Appalachian author and award winning Southern
writer Sharyn McCrumb. Best known for her Appalachian “Ballad” novels,
McCrumb will share her thoughts on the writer’s art and the inspiration she
finds in the people of Appalachia. Her talk will be at 7:00 p.m. with a
reception featuring traditional Appalachian foods following. Tickets to
McCrumb’s address are $10 in advance and $12 at the door, and can be
purchased at the Museum. Hurry-- seats are limited!
On Saturday, October 13 Heritage Days will feature
Appalachian history presentations all day long including the following:
- Local writers with their books.
- Traditional music by musicologist, author and
specialist in Appalachian music Stevan Jackson, playing guitar and harp;
and Dan & Marian McConnell, roots musicians from Catawba.
- Story Telling by Warnie Shifflett, Beth Rossi, and
Charles Lytton sharing tales of growing up in Appalachia.
- Food—homemade apple dumplings, country ham
biscuits, and fresh cider will be for sale, giving a taste of Appalachia
to the fast-food generation.
- Moonshine history—Jack Powell, a retired revenue
agent and author of several books, will be discussing the history of
moonshining and will illustrate the process with a 90-year-old copper
still from Hopkins Gap, Va. (sorry, no samples of the real stuff!).
- Traditional Appalachian toys, artifacts, quilts,
and other relics of the past will be on display.
- Plus the fascinating historical exhibits of the
Salem Museum, preserving the history of one Appalachian town from Native
American settlements to the days of Lakeside Amusement Park. “Vanished
Salem: Late Lamented Local Landmarks” will be the featured exhibit,
recalling local homes, businesses, and institutions which are no more.
All of the events and presentations on Saturday are
free. “This will be a great event for kids,” added Long. “It’ll be a great
way to show them how things were once upon a time!”
The Salem Museum is located at 801 East Main Street in
Salem, and is open Tuesday to Friday from 10 to 4, and Saturday from noon to
five. No admission is charged for the Museum galleries.
Salem Museum Features Art Exhibition by Byron Dickson
The paintings of architect and painter Byron Dickson is currently
featured in an exhibit at the Salem Museum. “To Learn To See” features some
two dozen of his most recent paintings, many of which are for sale.
Dickson is a 1957 graduate of Andrew Lewis High School
in Salem, which is where he began to paint. A teacher asked him and some
other students to collaborate on a painting of a paddle wheel steamboat on
the Mississippi. Dickson became so engrossed with depicting the smoke from
the stack that he failed to notice he had it blowing forward instead of
behind the boat. Nevertheless he was hooked.
Later, serving in the Army, Dickson supplemented his
meager lieutenant’s income by painting portraits of senior officers in their
dress uniforms. When he left the Army, he opened his architecture firm, but
continued to paint. He is best known as the designer of the National D-Day
Memorial in Bedford.
“The key ingredient in art,” says Dickson, “is to learn
to see. “When you paint something, you really start to see it.”
Dickson recently was awarded First Place honors in the
oils division in the League of Roanoke Artists annual showcase, as well as
honorable mention in the Westlake Library juried show.
“To Learn to See” will be on display at the Salem
Museum through October.
The Salem Museum is located at 801 East Main Street in
Salem, and is open Tuesday to Friday from 10 to 4, and Saturday from noon to
five. No admission is charged for the Museum galleries.
Salem Museum Documents Named one of “Virginia’s Top 10
Most Endangered Artifacts”
Nearly 11,000 voters and an independent panel of experts have
recognized a rare set of documents in the archive of the Salem Museum as one
of the state’s most endangered artifacts in a museum collection. The Midwife
Records of Georgianna Saunders received the distinction from the Virginia
Association of Museums and the Virginia Collection Initiative in the state’s
second “Most Endangered Artifacts” poll.
The Saunders documents join artifacts from across the state in the
Top Ten List, which was designed to recognize and publicize the threat to
museum collections in the Commonwealth and the District of Columbia. Other
regional museums which were so recognized included the Virginia Museum of
Transportation in Roanoke, the Crab Orchard Museum in Tazewell, and the
Alleghany Historical Society in Covington.
Online voting, open through the month of August, was one
consideration in determining the Top Ten designation. The Salem Museum
finished third statewide, after Alleghany and the Wilton House museum in
Richmond, with 11,000 votes. More than 120,000 were cast during the program.
Although the Top Ten designation is merely honorary and carries no
financial award, the Salem Museum is very pleased to receive it. “This has
been a great program for us, and we are very happy to have raised awareness
of these documents,” said John Long, Salem Museum director. “We were
pleasantly surprised by the overwhelming support we garnered.”
Georgianna Saunders served Salem and the surrounding region as a midwife
from about 1916 to about 1940, delivering hundreds of babies. A prominent
member of the African American community in Salem, her clientele included
all races, but concentrated on the lower socioeconomic levels who could not
afford a physician or hospital. Her records, dutifully kept in pocket-sized
registers, form a unique demographic look into Salem's population during her
career.
“When we nominated the Saunders records, we thought few people had ever
heard of Georgianna,” noted Long. But soon after the voting started, local
residents began to contact the museum to ask questions or share stories. “We
talked to seven or eight of ‘Aunt Georgie’s Babies’ over the past few weeks,
and heard of others. We really touched a nerve in the community.”
Among the details uncovered by the museum was the fact that Saunders
delivered more babies than even the registers reveal. “Apparently she was
trusted by physicians in town,” said Long. “They would call her in, maybe
when labor was expected to be lengthy, and she’d assist in the birth.” In
those cases, the doctor filled out the paperwork, not the midwife. “So we’ll
never know how many babies she actually brought into the world, but it had
to be a considerable number” he noted.
Long intends to continue to collect oral history of Saunders, and requests
anyone with memories of her to share them with the Museum. He would
especially enjoy hearing from others whom she delivered, and would be most
interested in obtaining a photograph of the midwife. “To our knowledge no
photos of her exist, but we’d love to find out otherwise.”
The Museum’s long-term plan for the records, which were rescued from a
woodstove’s kindling pile by a concerned supporter several years ago, is to
conserve the documents and then have the information they contain
transcribed into a public database. “The records are too fragile to handle
as they are, but we’d love for the public to have access to the info,” said
Helen Johnson, Assistant Museum Director.
Virginia’s Top 10 Endangered Artifacts is a program of the Virginia
Collections Initiative, which is a project of the Virginia Association of
Museums, made possible by a grant from the U.S. Institute of Museum and
Library Services. The IMLS is the primary source of federal support for the
nation’s 123,000 libraries and 17,500 museums. The Institute’s mission is to
create strong libraries and museums that connect people to information and
ideas. For more information, visit
www.vamuseums.org or call
804-788-5822.
The Salem Museum is located at 801 East Main Street in Salem, and is open
Tuesday to Friday from 10 to 4, and Saturday from noon to five. No admission
is charged for the Museum galleries.
Salem Museum Documents Nominated as one of “Virginia’s Top
10 Most Endangered Artifacts”
A rare set of documents in the collection of the Salem Museum has
received statewide recognition as one of Virginia’s “Most Endangered
Artifacts.” Supporters and friends of the Museum will soon be able to vote
to recognize the Georgianna Saunders Midwife Records for the special “Top
10” designation.
“For much of the first half of the 20th Century, the
Salem Community was served by local African American midwife named
Georgianna Saunders,” said Salem Museum Director John Long. Seemingly
self-taught and with no official medical training, Saunders “delivered
hundreds of children, black and white, in Salem and surrounding areas,”
added Long, and she kept meticulous records of each birth she attended.
These birth records provide an untapped demographic look into Salem's
population from the nineteen-teens through the late 1930s, recording such
details as stillbirths, incidences of illegitimacy, and the profession of
the parents. Because they could not typically afford a doctor or a hospital
birth, Saunders typically delivered babies from the lower socioeconomic
levels, Long noted.
The Saunders Midwife Records were once slated to be
used as kindling for a woodstove, said Long. Instead, a concerned donor
found them and, recognizing their importance, donated them to the Salem
Museum. While the Museum has stabilized the fragile booklets-- about 25 in
number--in acid-free envelopes and archival housing, the records are
generally too fragile to handle, rendering the valuable information they
contain inaccessible. The booklets are printed on acidic paper and are
extremely brittle. Many are missing covers, and some of the ink is fading
into obscurity.
“In a sense, the
physical objects that make up this collection are less important than the
information they contain,” noted Long. The Museum’s long term goal would be
to have these records conserved, but “the more important focus for us in the
short term would be to get them digitized so that we can increase
accessibility to the information without further damaging the original
documents.”
The “Endangered Artifact” campaign from the Virginia
Association of Museums is designed
to create awareness of the importance of preserving artifacts in care at
museums, libraries and archives throughout the Commonwealth and in the
District of Columbia. Collecting institutions from across Virginia
and DC have nominated items that they believe tell a significant story and
deserve to be recognized on this prestigious “Top 10 List.” The campaign
showcases the importance of Virginia’s diverse history, heritage and culture
and the role that artifacts play in telling those stories.
Supporters of the Salem Museum can see the nominated
items and vote on their favorite by visiting
www.vatop10artifacts.org from August 1st – August
29th. A Youtube video showing the Saunders Midwife records can be
found at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=545MybiD0K4 (or search Georgianna
Saunders).
Nominations will be reviewed by an independent panel of
collections and conservation experts, and Top 10 designees, as well as
“People’s Choice” designees, will be announced in September. The public
voting will be considered by the panel as they make their final selections.
Virginia’s Top 10 Endangered Artifacts is a program of
the Virginia Collections Initiative, which is a project of the Virginia
Association of Museums, made possible by a grant from the U.S. Institute of
Museum and Library Services. The IMLS is the primary source of federal
support for the nation’s 123,000 libraries and 17,500 museums. The
Institute’s mission is to create strong libraries and museums that connect
people to information and ideas. For more information, visit
www.vamuseums.org or call 804-788-5822.
The Salem Museum is located at 801 East Main Street in
Salem, and is open Tuesday to Friday from 10 to 4, and Saturday from noon to
five. No admission is charged for the Museum galleries.
Salem Couple Celebrates 50th Anniversary with
Art Exhibition
How do you celebrate fifty years of marriage when both parties are
avid painters? With an art exhibit, of course!
From August 4 to Sept. 8 the Salem Museum will exhibit a special
display called “The Art of the Hills,” featuring the work Bill and Mary Lou
Hill, Salem residents with more than a century of painting experience--and
half a century of marriage experience-- between them.
Bill, retired professor from Roanoke College, and Mary Lou, a retired
educator, have both been painting since childhood. Married in 1962, the
Hills celebrate their 50th Anniversary this summer. When their
children rented space at the Salem Museum for a party and suggested they
hang some of their work for the party, the idea evolved into a month-long
exhibit exploring the relationship between art, family, and love.
The varied subjects in “The Art of the Hills” include regional scenes
and far-flung landscapes, such as two depicting Anasazi ruins in Arizona.
Generations of the artists’ family can be seen, including Mary Lou’s
grandparents and the couple’s grandchildren Isabelle and twins Crockett and
Samson.
“Bill and Mary Lou are wonderful folks and fixtures of the Salem
community,” said John Long, Salem Museum director. “We are thrilled to help
them celebrate their fiftieth wedding anniversary in this way.”
“The Art of the Hills” will remain on display through Olde Salem
Days, September 8th.
The Salem Museum is located at 801 East Main Street in
Salem, and is open Tuesday to Friday from 10 to 4, and Saturday from noon to
five. No admission is charged for the Museum galleries.
SALEM MUSEUM TO PAY TRIBUTE TO VETERANS WITH NEW PLAZA
The Salem Museum will dedicate a new plaza recognizing our nation’s
veterans on June 6th at 4:00 in the afternoon. The public, and
especially veterans of the armed forces, are invited to attend.
The new Salem
Museum Veteran’s Plaza is located to the rear of the museum and adjacent to
Longwood Park. In the future, it will serve as the main entrance to a
planned art gallery on the Museum’s ground floor.
“This plaza is a wonderful addition to a history
museum,” said June Hall Long, coordinator of the event, “and a beautiful
tribute to the men and women who have served our nation.”
The dedication will feature music by the Salem High
Jazz Band and a flag-raising my local veteran Douglas Dowe. The keynote
speaker will be Dr. Harry Minarik of Salem, a WWII veteran and winner of the
Navy Cross.
The Museum is still accepting applications to place
inscribed pavers in honor of or in memory of veterans in the plaza. Military
personnel of any war, or who served in peacetime, may be so recognized.
Proceeds from the inscriptions support the Salem Museum’s programs.
The Salem Museum is located at 801 East Main Street in
Salem, and is open Tuesday to Friday from 10 to 4, and Saturday from noon to
five. Call 389-6760 for more information.
Blues with a Feeling!!
May 19, 2012
Blues With a Feeling , our first ever fundraising concert event, will be
held on the grounds of the Salem Museum on May 19th,
from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Bring your chairs and blankets to “cozy-up” around our
expanded Veterans Plaza; enjoy food and drink purchased from vendors onsite;
and experience some of the best Blues in the valley presented by THE FAT
DADDY BAND. Kerry Hurley, a local musician, leads this group and has a very
large following of fans. This is a family-friendly event!
Tickets can be purchased at the
Salem Museum, Countryside Classics, Brooks Byrd, and from the event’s
sponsor Wells Fargo. Adult tickets are $20.00 prior to the event and $25.00
at the gate that evening.
Tickets for children between the ages of 6-12 years are $7.00 prior to the
event and $10.00 at the gate.
All proceeds from Blues With a Feeling go to support the Museum. Please come
and enjoy!
Salem Museum Receives Second Taubman Grant
For the second year, the Salem Museum is a recipient of
a Taubman Grant, in the final round of the special two-year program. The
Museum was awarded $100,000, double the grant from last year.
“We are ecstatic with this grant,” said Salem Museum
director John Long. “The Taubman money definitely makes our museum more
sustainable by helping us eliminate our construction debt.”
The Taubman Sustainability Grants were initiated last
year by Ambassador and Mrs. Nicholas Taubman of Roanoke. The goal was to
increase the viability of arts and cultural organizations in the Roanoke
region, which face increasing challenges in the current economy.
“Grants to decrease debt are extremely rare,” noted
Long. “What the Taubmans have done for arts organizations in the Valley is
immeasurable.” The museum’s debt is left from the 2010 project of the museum
which tripled the size of the facility with a state-of-the-art,
environmentally friendly expansion.
“Whoopie!!!” shouted museum board president Willie
Robertson when notified of the grant. “This is a big step in meeting our
goal of eliminating our debt by the end of 2012.”
A portion of the Taubman grant for 2012 is a matching
grant, said Long. The Museum will begin working immediately to raise the
matching funds.
The Salem Museum, located in Longwood Park in the 1845
Williams-Brown House, is the local history museum and cultural center for
Salem and the surrounding area. Admission to the museum and to most of its
programs is free.
Surprising Array of Artifacts on Display at the Salem Museum
A new exhibition at the Salem Museum might surprise a visitor or two.
Who would expect to find an Indonesian garuda or a thousand-year-old
Peruvian textile on display in a small local history museum?
“The Brand Collection: Aboriginal Art from Across the Globe” is on
display now in the Wiley Lobby of the Salem Museum. The exhibition showcases
part of the collection of local businessman and community activist Cabell
Brand and his wife Shirley, and features objets d’art from Africa, South
America, China, Indonesia, and other exotic locales.
“This collection is the sort you’d expect to find in much bigger
museums in much bigger cities;” said Museum Director John Long. “You’d have
to travel a long way to see items like these, but here they are on Main
Street Salem.”
The collection is a bit of a departure from the usual curatorial
philosophy of the Salem Museum, noted Long. “Usually we try to acquire items
of local origins. But these wonderful artifacts reflect the travels and
collection of one of Salem’s most prominent families. We’re proud to have
them on display.”
Items in the Brand Collection include a hand carved Indonesian
garuda, a winged creature ridden by the Hindu god Vishnu, an exquisite
miniature painting of a 1687 battle in India rendered on ivory, a portrait
of Brand by renowned Ecuadoran artist Oswaldo Guayasamin, and a Chancay doll
from Peru, reflecting an ancient burial tradition of the indigenous peoples
there. An African mask and an assemblage of ethnic jewelry from around the
world are also included.
Cabell and Shirley Brand are beloved members of the Salem community
for many years. Mr. Band is a veteran of World War II who in 1949 took the
helm of his family business, the Ortho-Vent Shoe Company (later Stuart
McGuire), which he ran until it sold to Home Shopping Network in 1986.
Always concerned with the needy in our community, he founded Total Action
Against Poverty in the Roanoke Valley in 1965, and helped start other
innovative programs such as Head Start, the Child Health Investment Project,
Virginia CARES, and the Virginia Water Project.
The Brand Collection will be on display through the summer. It
coincides with “Vanished Salem: Late, Lamented Local Landmarks” in the main
gallery of the museum.
March Program at the Museum to Feature Cabell
Brand
The March program of the Salem Historical Society will
feature one of Salem’s most prominent citizens speaking on his family’s
legacy in the Roanoke Valley. Cabell Brand, nationally known businessman and
community activist, will speak on March 19th at 7:00 pm at the
Salem Museum.
Cabell Brand is a veteran of World War II who in 1949 took the helm
of his family business, the Ortho-Vent Shoe Company, which he ran until it
sold to Home Shopping Network in 1986. Always concerned with the needy in
our community, he founded Total Action Against Poverty in the Roanoke Valley
in 1965, and helped start other
innovative programs such as Head Start, the Child Health Investment Project,
Virginia CARES, and the Virginia Water Project. Brand’s talk will highlight
his family history and his own involvement in the community.
This program is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will
be served afterwards. Call 389-6760 for more information.
The Salem Museum is located at 801 East Main Street in
Salem, and is open Tuesday to Friday from 10 to 4, and Saturday from noon to
five. No admission is charged for the Museum galleries.
SALEM MUSEUM UNVEILS TWO EXCITING NEW EXHIBITIONS
Celebrating its 20th year open to the public, the Salem Museum
will offer visitors two new exhibits this spring. “Vanished Salem: Late
Lamented Local Landmarks” explores some of the buildings, businesses, and
institutions that once graced Salem’s landscape, but which have now
disappeared. “mARTch Madness!” is a fabulous exhibition by students of Salem
High’s International Baccalaureate Art program, open through the nation’s
Youth Art Month of March.
VANISHED SALEM:
Salem is not the town it
once was. No community is. Cities change as one generation follows another;
a building that is so familiar one year is gone the next. It is the nature
of society, and few if any wish it otherwise. At the same time, there is
regret when a beloved local landmark is lost, when fire ravishes a lovely
home, when a business succumbs to economic pressure. Something irrecoverable
is lost when a local landmark meets its demise. When memory is all that is
left, at least that must be preserved.
The springtime exhibit
of the Salem Museum titled “Vanished Salem: Late Lamented Local Landmarks”
explores the history of some local landmarks that are no more. From Leas
McVitty Tannery to the old Town Hall to the Fort Lewis Hotel, visitors will
be enthralled by the ghosts of Salem’s past.
The
exhibit, opening March 10, is sure to bring back memories for those who have
been around a while. But other sites are beyond any living memory today.
“Probably no one alive today remembers the old Tabernacle, for instance,”
noted Salem Museum Director John Long. “It was torn down in 1919. But for a
generation it served as Salem’s first Civic Center.”
Former teenagers who are now a little older and wiser will relive some
carefree days of youth. “One of the more popular aspects of Vanished Salem
will be a look back at the old Lendy’s Restaurants,” said Long. “If you went
to high school in the 50s or 60s, chances are you spent a lot of Saturday
nights there.” The restaurant chain spanned the state, but began on Apperson
Drive in Salem, where a radio station broadcast each weekend from atop the
roof to teenagers circling the parking lot.
But
bringing back memories is only part of the point. Encouraging people to look
around them is one of the Museum’s goals. “We’ve lost too many cherished
landmarks through the years,” said Long. “Not everything can be saved, but
before a great structure is demolished, we should ask some questions. That
hasn’t always been done.”
“We
hope this exhibit will raise awareness of the need for historic
preservation,” he added. “We hope it will get you thinking about what was
once here, and what is here now that may be gone tomorrow.”
If
you recall the Longwood mansion or the Salem Theatre; if you had relatives
who worked at the tannery or at Valleydale; if you’ve ever wondered how Lake
Spring Park or Camp North Rd. got their names, or stopped to consider what
was over there before that strip mall appeared, then this exhibit is for
you.
“Vanished Salem” opens
March 10. In addition to this featured exhibit in the main gallery of the
Museum, the acclaimed Civil War exhibit has moved upstairs, and the popular
exhibit “Salem’s Attic” has relocated to where it belongs--on the very top
floor. The exhibits “Lakeside: Sixty Summers of Ups and Downs,” “Pre-Salem:
What was here before 1802,” “The Courthouse Portraits of 1910” and “Seven
Lives: A Biographical History of Salem” continue in the upstairs galleries
of the Williams-Brown House.
“mARTch Madness!”
March is National Youth
Art Month, and the students of Salem High School’s International
Baccalaureate Art program are ready to celebrate in a big way. Through the
month, a special exhibit at the Salem Museum will highlight their impressive
work and introduce some budding young artists to the community.
“We are thrilled to host
this exhibition,” said Salem Museum director John Long. “What better way to
show off the talents of our local students than to open up the local museum
to them.”
More than sixty
works--paintings, sketches, and sculptures--by more than 30 students are
featured. “Prepare to be impressed,” said Long. “These are remarkable kids
and great artists.”
“mARTch Madness”
continues through March. A second exhibition of student art is slated for
May.
The Salem Museum is
located at 801 East Main Street in Salem, and is open Tuesday to Friday from
10 to 4, and Saturday from noon to five. No admission is charged for the
Museum galleries.
Salem Museum Program Will
Explore the Legacy of Martin Luther King
What: The Salem Museum February Program
When:
Feb. 20, 2012, 7:00 pm
Where: The Salem
Museum
801
East Main Street, Salem, VA 24153
~~ 540-389-6760; info@salemmuseum.org
Located in the historic Williams-Brown House of Longwood Park
Cost:
Free and open to the public. Donations are accepted.
SALEM MUSEUM BLACK HISTORY MONTH
PROGRAM TO LOOK AT KING’S LEGACY
The February program of the Salem
Historical Society will commemorate Black History Month with a look back at
the role of Dr. Martin Luther King and the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference in the Civil Rights struggle. The free talk will be Feb. 20 at
7:00 in the Ritter room of the Salem Museum.
The speaker will be Dr. Perneller Chubb Wilson, a
well-known activist in the Roanoke Valley. Dr. Wilson will address the
influence of King and the SCLC on our nation’s history and on her own
interest in Civil Rights. Wilson was a leader in getting a bridge in Roanoke
named for King and a memorial sculpture dedicated in his honor.
This program is free and open to the public. Light
refreshments will be served afterwards. Call 389-6760 for more information.
The Salem Museum is located at 801 East Main Street in
Salem, and is open Tuesday to Friday from 10 to 4, and Saturday from noon to
five. No admission is charged for the Museum galleries.
Forms / Documents:
Pledge Card