(June 30, 2016) Focusing on the Victorian lineage of both the town and the museum’s collection, the Julia Purnell museum in Snow Hill will start the popular Heritage Days events for children this Wednesday and will continue each week until early August.
“It’s our most popular program,” Executive Director Dr. Cindy Byrd said. “Grandparents bring their grandkids, or sometimes one adult rounds up all the neighborhood children and brings them down.”
Heritage days are free for children, so long as they are accompanied by at least one paying adult. Adult admission is $3.
There is no need to preregister, and the program is available between 1-3 p.m. Wednesdays until Aug. 10.
“It’s a drop-in event. People come and go,” she said.
This week’s theme is clothespin people, which will be used to explore the Victorian fascination with miniatures. Next week is origami, or paper folding art, followed by a bird program, a presentation on elves and fairies, “tassel critters” and, ending the series, croquet and other older lawn games. The final heritage day event will move from the museum to nearby Byrd Park.
“Victorians liked to make little scenes in miniature, and composed little vignettes. These events are based on that obsession,” Byrd said. “There were a lot of fads during the Victorian era, and the people liked looking back on simpler times.”
Larger, more grandiose projects were seen as futuristic, or something out of science fiction. Smaller or even miniaturized items were prized for their connections to the past.
“For example, when you see a dollhouse, they are almost always decorated in Victorian styles,” she said.
Examples from the Purnell museum’s collection such as the flea circus and a copy of “the world’s smallest Bible” are testament to that, Byrd said.
Julia Purnell, the museum’s namesake, began her collections during the Victorian era and her son, William, extended and expanded them. The Purnell museum’s collection is largely derived from William Purnell’s belongings.
This first Heritage Days event will allow children to create their own little clothespin people, and will encourage them to make up backgrounds and stories starring them.
Younger boys, Byrd explained, have made more than their fair share of pirate clothespin people, for example.
The museum provides all the supplies for the event, but for those who want to take more clothespin people projects home, the museum’s gift shop sells kits. These projects, Byrd said, typically take about 30 minutes to complete, but can easily be age adjusted for older or younger children.
“It’s our most popular program,” Executive Director Dr. Cindy Byrd said. “Grandparents bring their grandkids, or sometimes one adult rounds up all the neighborhood children and brings them down.”
Heritage days are free for children, so long as they are accompanied by at least one paying adult. Adult admission is $3.
There is no need to preregister, and the program is available between 1-3 p.m. Wednesdays until Aug. 10.
“It’s a drop-in event. People come and go,” she said.
This week’s theme is clothespin people, which will be used to explore the Victorian fascination with miniatures. Next week is origami, or paper folding art, followed by a bird program, a presentation on elves and fairies, “tassel critters” and, ending the series, croquet and other older lawn games. The final heritage day event will move from the museum to nearby Byrd Park.
“Victorians liked to make little scenes in miniature, and composed little vignettes. These events are based on that obsession,” Byrd said. “There were a lot of fads during the Victorian era, and the people liked looking back on simpler times.”
Larger, more grandiose projects were seen as futuristic, or something out of science fiction. Smaller or even miniaturized items were prized for their connections to the past.
“For example, when you see a dollhouse, they are almost always decorated in Victorian styles,” she said.
Examples from the Purnell museum’s collection such as the flea circus and a copy of “the world’s smallest Bible” are testament to that, Byrd said.
Julia Purnell, the museum’s namesake, began her collections during the Victorian era and her son, William, extended and expanded them. The Purnell museum’s collection is largely derived from William Purnell’s belongings.
This first Heritage Days event will allow children to create their own little clothespin people, and will encourage them to make up backgrounds and stories starring them.
Younger boys, Byrd explained, have made more than their fair share of pirate clothespin people, for example.
The museum provides all the supplies for the event, but for those who want to take more clothespin people projects home, the museum’s gift shop sells kits. These projects, Byrd said, typically take about 30 minutes to complete, but can easily be age adjusted for older or younger children.