Massillon Museum Exhibits Reflect The Big Read Victorian Theme

Massillon Museum Exhibits Reflect The Big Read Victorian Theme

The Massillon Museum’s second floor permanent collections exhibition area will include a Victorian parlor during the month of March, which has been designated as western Stark County’s time to focus on The Big Read. The book selection for this year is Edith Wharton’s The Age of Innocence, which is set during the last years of the 19th-century, The Victorian era.

Visitors can expect to see Victorian furniture, an Oriental rug, and decorative arts reflecting the lifestyle of Massillon’s industrialists and bankers who lived on historic Fourth Street and East Main Street, during the town’s wealthiest era, the late 1800s. “A look at the Victorian parlor can help provide a context for readers who are trying to imagine the setting of The Age of Innocence,” said Massillon Museum Executive Director Christine Shearer, who spearheads The Big Read. The story takes place in New York City, where Massillon’s socialites often visited to keep up with the times.

The new lower level lobby display features fans, lace-up shoes, and other accessories of The Gilded Age worn by local ladies more than a century ago.

Museum visitors can also see “Celebration in Art,” an exhibition of artwork by area students; The Immel Circus; “The Greatest Generation,” teapots, a man’s haori and tea ceremony objects in collaboration with Canton’s “Kimono as Art” exhibition; the sports gallery; and a timeline of Massillon and Massillon Museum history.

The Big Read is an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) designed to restore reading to the center of American culture. The NEA presents the Big Read in partnership with the Institute of Museum and Library Services and in cooperation with Arts Midwest. For more information about western Stark County’s Big Read project, call the Massillon Museum at 330-833-4061 or visit www.massillonmuseum.org or www.NEABigRead.org.

Local organizations and individuals collaborating with the Massillon Museum include: the Massillon Public Library; the Lions Lincoln Theatre; Mayor Francis H. Cicchinelli; Dr. Leslie Heaphy, Dr. Robert Sturr, Dr. Anne Coen, Dr. Andrea Adolph, and Kent State University Stark Campus; Jason Norris; John Kiste and the Canton/Stark County Convention and Visitors’ Bureau; Rotary Club of Massillon; the Massillon Area Chamber of Commerce; The Independent; the Fairless, Jackson, Tuslaw, and Massillon school systems; State Representative Scott Oelslager; Gretchen Schrantz; Massillon Cable TV; the Chit Chat Coffee Shop; George Nicholis; Camille Leslie; Brian Centrone; Eric Myers; Richard Gercken; The Canton Symphony Orchestra; The Amherst Rose and Parlour Gift Shoppe; Kozmo’s Grille; St. Timothy’s Church; Massillon Family YMCA; Hampton Inn Massillon;and many community volunteers.

Copies of The Age of Innocence may be checked out at the Massillon Public Library. Books may be purchased at the Massillon Museum (121 Lincoln Way East in downtown Massillon), the Massillon Public Library (208 Lincoln Way East in downtown Massillon), and The Village Bookshelf (746 Amherst Road Northeast in Massillon). Free readers' guides are available at the Museum, the Library, and at offices and businesses throughout the area. Everyone who reads the book will be encouraged to sign a “Victorian calling card” to be displayed at the Museum or the Library.

The Massillon Museum is located at 121 Lincoln Way East in downtown Massillon. A visit to the Massillon Museum is always free.

Media Contact:
Christine Shearer - Massillon Museum Executive Director - 330-833-4061

Photographs:
Mandy Pond - Massillon Museum Archivist - apond@massillonmuseum.org