Massillon Museum Launches The Big Read

Massillon Museum Launches The Big Read

The Massillon Museum, with the collaboration of the Massillon Public Library, has designated March as “The Big Read” month in western Stark County. It will be a month-long celebration of The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton, funded by a competitive grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. Massillon Rotary Foundation has provided additional funding to purchase copies of the book for classroom use.

Organizers selected the classic, The Age of Innocence, because the Victorian Age depicted in the book is the era most strongly reflected by the Massillon Museum’s permanent collection.

Events will include a book give-away, a Victorian parlor exhibition, ten book discussions, The Gilded Age Ball, a film series, a stage presentation of one-act plays, a brown bag lunch, an archery demonstration, a salon, and a Victorian etiquette program with afternoon tea at Five Oaks. At Kent State Stark Campus, national Wharton expert Carol Singley will present a keynote address and art and literature educators will lead a symposium.

2009 marks the second year the National Endowment for the Arts has granted funding for the Massillon Museum’s ambitious participation in The Big Read—a national initiative to help Americans return to reading for leisure. “The Massillon Museum sought this second NEA grant to help us continue to engage the community in an activity that everyone can enjoy together. We’re thrilled with the enthusiastic collaboration of more than two dozen individuals and organizations within western Stark County,” said Massillon Museum Executive Director Christine Shearer.

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 and Kent State University Stark Campus, 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, Massillon Cable TV, the Chit Chat Coffee Shop, George Nicholis, Camille Leslie, Brian Centrone, Eric Myers, Richard Gercken, The Canton Symphony Orchestra, Amherst Rose, 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, which has bolstered its Edith Wharton collection for The Big Read. Reasonably-priced paperback 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).

The Age of Innocence is an appropriate reading level for high school students and adults. Free readers' guides will be 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 Big Read, the largest federal literature program since the W.P.A., 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. The Big Read brings together partners across the country to encourage reading for pleasure and enlightenment. Individual communities may choose from among 23 book selections from American and world literature. Since the program’s national launch in 2006, the NEA has funded more than 500 Big Read programs.

Massillon Museum Executive Director Christine Shearer leads the local project. Massillon Public Library Director Camille Leslie, Massillon Museum Public Relations Coordinator Margy Vogt, Museum Assistant Chris Craft, Dr. Leslie Heaphy of Kent State University, and Massillon Area Chamber of Commerce President Bob Sanderson serve on the committee.

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.

Media Contacts:

Christine Shearer - Massillon Museum Executive Director - 330-833-4061

Camille Leslie - Massillon Public Library Director - 330-833-9831

Margy Vogt - Massillon Museum PR Coordinator - 330-832-8469 or 330-844-1525