Good Morning Kossacks and Welcome to Morning Open Thread (MOT)
We're known as the MOTley Crew and you can find us here every morning at 6:30 a.m. Eastern (and perhaps sometimes earlier!). Feel free to volunteer to take a day - permanently or just once in awhile. With the Auto Publish feature you can set it and forget it. Sometimes the diarist du jour shows up much later: that's the beauty of Open Thread...it carries on without you! Volunteer in the comment threads.
Click on the MOT - Morning Open Thread ♥ if you'd like us to show up in your stream.
As you may have noticed, I've moved from Mondays to Wednesdays until further notice.
So grab your cup and join in.
Those of you who saw my diary last week know I love small museums. I wrote about the “We Remember” exhibit at the Museum of Ventura Country. I confess I had an ulterior motive. I was hoping it would be the springboard for discussion and some great stories, and boy did it work! Thank you to all of you who shared your thoughts, feelings, stories and pictures about Viet Nam and the expansion of the war into Laos and Cambodia. I will not forget them.
But this week, I’m just going to talk about why I think small museums are worth visiting and supporting by giving you a couple of other examples from our recent anniversary getaway.
Solvang, a community founded in 1911 by Danish immigrants, is in the Santa Ynez Valley, about 130 miles north of Los Angeles. We’ve been going to Solvang every April for years, and we always visit the Elverhøj Museum, which is pronounced “Elverhoy.” Elverhøj means “elves on a hill,” and is the title of a famous Danish play.
The beautiful house which is home to the museum was designed and built by artists Viggo Brandt-Erichsen and Martha Mott Brandt-Erichsen, so the museum shows exhibits of work by area artists in his former studio, but also shows historical exhibits about Solvang, its Danish heritage, and the Santa Ynez Valley. I would go to the museum just to see the superb front door, designed and carved by Viggo Brandt-Erichsen, but there’s plenty more inside.
The Santa Ynez Valley and the nearby town of Ojai have attracted a great many artists over the years, so there is a wealth of talent to display. Viggo Brandt-Erichsen’s studio is a perfect intimate gallery for presenting shows that have ranged from the work of a single known artist to juried shows of lesser-known artists that bring them to our attention. The works are beautifully presented. The peace and quiet of the studio, which you are usually sharing with only a few other viewers, allows you to take your time and wander back and forth between works to study them.
My husband’s favorite historic display at the Elverhøj showcases the hand tools from the turn of the last century which were used to build Solvang. They are beautifully crafted and very handsome, but my favorite is the documentary of the oldest residents telling stories about what life was like in Solvang and on the neighboring farms and ranches when they were children. Many of them have since passed on, but their stories can still be heard. I also love the Danish-style kitchen, where the cupboards and woodwork were painted by Martha Mott Brandt-Erichsen.
The museum’s volunteers are long-time residents who always have time to talk with visitors about their community, whether you want to know about its history, or where to go for the best Æbleskiver.
On this trip, we decided to also see the Santa Ynez Valley Historical Museum in the neighboring town of Santa Ynez, which is very different from Solvang. Here, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a cowpoke ride his horse up the main street and tie it to a hitching post. The museum has five different collections on display in rooms surrounding a restful courtyard.
First up is a collection of saddles, bridles, whips and spurs, many of them highly decorated and painstakingly crafted. Next is a recreation of the interior rooms of a settler’s home. I liked that they took the time to add all the little comforts which a family might have brought West with them to make their new place Home.
In another room, there’s a collection of special-occasion ladies dresses from the 1890s, including a very elegant “walking” dress (although I wonder how far ladies actually walked in them) created by Paris couturier Charles Frederick Worth, which was worn by Lillie Hitchcock Coit. The funds she bequeathed to San Francisco in her will were used to build the Coit Tower, as a tribute to her support of the city’s firefighters. Her dress is on loan to the museum by a private collector. Some of the dresses were custom-made for the wearer, but others were home-made, including a simple but lovely wedding dress. The dresses really remind you how much smaller most people in America were a little over a hundred years ago.
Across the courtyard, in the Parks-Janeway Carriage House, there’s a wonderful collection of stagecoaches, carriages, other horse-drawn vehicles for transporting goods or people, and some horseless carriages. Several of the stagecoaches were used on the narrow road full of hairpin turns that was the main route from Santa Barbara to Los Olivos until an automobile was able to make it over the steep San Marcos pass in 1910.
At the rear of the courtyard is a permanent exhibit that showcases the history of the Valley beginning with its earliest inhabitants, the Chumash Indians, through the founding and development of its five distinct townships: Santa Ynez, Los Olivos, Ballard, Solvang, and Buellton. There are also many photographs and a diorama showing the changes in the valley as transportation evolved from horse-drawn to trains and motorized vehicles.
Why do I think small museums are so valuable?
Their smaller size helps me stay focused. Many big museums have so much on display that I leave overwhelmed and exhausted.
Smaller museums are usually less crowded, so I’m not being pushed along, and I can set my own pace. Also, as a shortish person, I appreciate not having to try to see around taller people.
The museums are preserving the local history and culture which would otherwise be lost. I love learning more about the places I visit.
Small museums are kept alive by volunteers, who are enthusiastic about sharing their knowledge with visitors, and make the time just to talk with you – something that usually isn’t possible for guides leading tour groups through a large museum.
So the next time you see a “Museum” sign with an arrow pointing the way, follow it and see what’s going on.
- - - - - - -