Museum to Offer FREE Admission on Saturday, February 7

MSV Day at the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley will be held from 10 a.m.–4 p.m.

Winchester, VA 02/02/09…The Museum of the Shenandoah Valley (MSV) will be offering free admission during MSV Day this Saturday, February 7, from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m.

Opened in 2005 and designed by the renowned architectural firm of Michael Graves & Associates, the MSV tells the story of the Shenandoah Valley and anchors a regional history museum complex that also includes the Glen Burnie Historic House and six acres of gardens. The Museum is open year-round; the house and gardens are open March through November.
The 50,000-square-foot museum includes four galleries comprised of eleven gallery rooms.

The Shenandoah Valley Gallery includes six rooms and explores a broad sweep of Valley history. This interpretive experience includes two video rooms with, respectively, an orientation to the Valley, and a presentation about the Civil War. Video touch screens and other interactive elements are also incorporated in all of the main gallery room’s exhibitions. Three adjacent rooms display the Museum’s collection of Shenandoah Valley decorative arts including ceramics, furniture, textiles, metals, baskets, folk art, and paintings. One of the Museum’s newest acquisitions—a carved and painted yellow pine carousel horse made in Shenandoah County in the late 1800s—is now on view in this gallery’s decorative arts display.

Two other galleries present two different Valley collections. The Julian Wood Glass Jr. Gallery’s three rooms display the fine and decorative arts collection assembled by the gallery’s namesake, who was the last Wood/Glass family descendant to live in the Museum’s Glen Burnie Historic House. This collection includes furniture, decorative objects, and paintings by such artists as Thomas Gainsborough (1727–1788) and Sir Thomas Lawrence (1769–1830). Nearby, the R. Lee Taylor Miniatures Gallery presents the collection of furnished miniature houses and rooms assembled in the Valley by R. Lee Taylor, the late Glen Burnie Curator of Gardens. Finally, the Changing Exhibition Gallery hosts a variety of exhibitions on a continually changing basis.

During MSV Day, this gallery will display Jed Hotchkiss: Shenandoah Valley Mapmaker. This special exhibition tells the story of the mapmaker who helped Gen. Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson and other Confederate officers achieve military successes in the American Civil War.

As a topographical engineer in the Army of Northern Virginia, Jed Hotchkiss drew maps and made sketches in the field, and he often did so on horseback. Today his maps are admired for their remarkable accuracy and detail. The exhibition includes reproductions of more than 50 maps and sketches from the Library of Congress collection and two original Hotchkiss maps on loan from Winchester’s Handley Regional Library. A number of maps that Hotchkiss prepared for Civil War battles in the Shenandoah Valley are on view, including the Second Battle of Winchester, the Battle of Belle Grove (Cedar Creek), and the First Battle of Kernstown. A digital reproduction of the great map of the Shenandoah Valley, which measures more than 8 feet in length, is also on display. While the exhibition presents particular appeal to those interested in the Civil War, it also details Hotchkiss’s life as a teacher, engineer, and mapmaker after the war had ended. Jed Hotchkiss: Shenandoah Valley Mapmaker is on display in the MSV through May 10, 2009.

MSV Day attendees are also invited to visit the Museum Store and enjoy the MSV Tea Room/Café. For MSV Day, the Museum Store will offer a 20% discount on all purchases. Open from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m., the store sells a variety of items including pottery, books, music, textiles, and jewelry. The Tea Room/Café will sell lunch, dessert, and over two dozen varieties of tea from 11 a.m. until 4 p.m.

Located at 901 Amherst Street in Winchester, Virginia, the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley is open Tuesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. On days other than Saturday’s MSV Day, gallery admission is $8 or $6 for seniors and students. The historic house and gardens will not be open for tours during MSV Day. Additional information is available on the web at www.ShenandoahMuseum.org or by calling the Museum Visitor Information Desk at 540-662-1473, ext. 235. – END –