by MSV Director of Gardens Perry Mathewes
The annual MSV Heritage Plant Sale is just around the corner (May 18–19) and we are busy getting ready. Here are few of my favorites that will be available for purchase at the sale—all fantastic plants well suited for northern Shenandoah Valley landscapes.
Carvings by folk artist John L. Heatwole (1948-2006).
In celebration of Women's History Month the MSV spotlights Native American artist Wendy Star whose works are featured in the exhibition Hear My Voice: Native American Art of the Past and Present. Guest blogger and Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Curator of Native American Art Johanna Minich, PhD, shares with us some insight into the artist's work:
For the past three years, the MSV has participated in the Virginia Association of Museums’ Top 10 Endangered Artifacts program. This year, the MSV is nominating a copper still pot, cap, and coils used in the late 1800s by the James C. Foltz Distillery in Edinburg, Virginia until state officials enacted Prohibition in 1916.
In cold, snowy, icy January it is fun to dream about the spring and summer garden. Plant and seed companies know this and flood your mailbox with catalogs full of mouth-watering photos featuring gorgeous flowers and vegetables to entice you to buy their products. Well, I’m not going to do that … mail you a catalog, that is. Instead, I am going to share some alluring photos of a few great plants and simply tell you about the seeds for sale in our museum store.
People in the Shenandoah Valley celebrated the holidays in ways that have long since disappeared. Discover a once popular Valley holiday tradition that involved mystery, surprise, and a whole lot of fun: “Belsnickeling.”
By Curator of Collections Nick Powers
In Part 2 of The Legacy of Storer College (1867–1955), MSV Curator of Collections Nick Powers continues to explore the 150-year-old history and rise to national status of Storer College through several objects gifted to the MSV by descendants of the College’s founders: Nathan Cook Brackett (1836-1910) and his wife Louise Wood Brackett (1842–1936).
Discover a ghostly guest in the Miniatures Gallery!
MSV Curator of Collections Nick Powers looks at Storer College's 150-year-old history through several objects gifted to the MSV by descendants of the College’s founders: Nathan Cook Brackett (1836-1910) and his wife Louise Wood Brackett (1842-1936).
Curator of Collections Nick Powers discusses how the provenance—or history—behind the MSV's John Shearer desk lead to unlocking the objects secrets.
