MSV to Host Virginia Gourd Show & Sale This Weekend
The Museum of the Shenandoah Valley (MSV) will host the Virginia Gourd Show & Sale from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. this Saturday and Sunday, November 12 and 13. Admission to the show and sale is free.
News & Blogs
MSV to Host Free-Admission Day for Healthcare Workers on November 6
The Museum of the Shenandoah Valley (MSV) is offering healthcare workers free admission from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. on Sunday, November 6, during a Healthcare Workers Appreciation Day.
Online Art Sale to Benefit the MSV
Shenandoah Valley artist Sally Veach is hosting an online art sale to benefit the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley (MSV).
New MSV Exhibition Showcases Modern and Contemporary Latin American Art
Latin American art is taking center stage at the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley (MSV) now through January 8, 2023, in the exhibition Destination: Latin America.
MSV to Host Online Spring Bulb Sale August 1–15
Bulbs will be Available for Pickup in time for Fall Planting
MSV to Host Free Car Show This Saturday
Car enthusiasts and gearheads will want to stop by the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley (MSV) for a free-admission antique and modified car show from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. this Saturday, July 16.
Autumn at the MSV
“When is the best time to visit the garden?” This is a question Director of Gardens Perry Mathewes gets frequently. The short answer is “Any time we are open.” Of course, a longer more complex answer requires you to pull up a chair for this read.
Believe It or Not: Bill Cook’s “Big Basket”
by Curator of Collections Nick Powers This year marks 250 years of Shenandoah County history. Originally founded in 1772 as Dunmore County—named for John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore and Virginia’s last colonial governor—Shenandoah County is centrally located in the Valley and is home to some of its most iconic viewsheds. Having grown up in … Continued
Growth, Understanding, and Civil Rights: A Ball of Confusion!
Guest blogger James R. Coates Jr., PhD, shares personal reflections inspired by photographs in the exhibition Danny Lyon: Memories of the Southern Civil Rights Movement, on view at the MSV from April 2–July 31, 2022, and organized by art2art Circulating Exhibitions.
Finding Fleming Jordan: A Free Black Barber in the Shenandoah Valley
One of the many stories told in the new exhibition, Contributions: African Americans in the Shenandoah Valley, is that of free Blacks living in the region. Including those who were either born free or achieved their freedom through manumission (release from enslavement), free blacks in Virginia numbered approximately 58,000 people just before the Civil War … Continued
The Moon and the MSV
This past Full Moon on November 19, we took a group out on the Trails to experience the nighttime environment for the second time since opening the Trails to the public. The moon was stunning, if tough to capture on a cell phone camera. When you think about a Full Moon, what comes to mind? … Continued
National Geographic at the MSV
Was there ever a time in your life when you saw the yellow spine of a National Geographic magazine and didn’t feel even the slightest curiosity about what was inside its pages? I still remember the anticipation I would feel as a small child waiting for my dad to unwrap a new issue so I … Continued
Animals at the MSV
By Perry Mathewes, Deputy Director, Museum Operations and Director of Gardens One of the great things about working in the MSV Gardens is that you get to spend lots of time around beautiful plants and nature. Yes, there is the drudgery of weeding, mulching and other mundane tasks, but there are also sublime moments as … Continued
Climbing Jacob’s Ladder: An Artist’s Reflection on 9/11
Many of us likely recall exactly where we were the day the attacks took place on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001.
And the Award Goes To…Education and Rewards of Merit in the Shenandoah Valley
As Covid-19 vaccines became more readily available this spring and summer, Virginia school officials began developing strategies to restore full-time, in-person learning. Local and regional schoolteachers now face the important but unenviable task of reintroducing students to classroom settings after those students spent over a year in front of computer and tablet screens. To make … Continued
The Legacy of Juneteenth: Past and Present
On June 19th, 1865, Union forces commanded by Major General Gordon Granger landed at Galveston, Texas, on the Gulf Coast. Two years following President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, word of their freedom finally reached the ears of the estimated 250,000 enslaved people in the South’s most isolated state (with an army to enforce the order). … Continued
Decoding Life and Landscape at Glen Burnie
MSV founder Julian Wood Glass Jr. (1910–1992) and his committed partner of over two decades, R. Lee Taylor (1924–2000), met in New York City in 1947 following service in World War II. For LGBTQ Americans of their generation, the second World War was a watershed moment. Over the course of the conflict, thousands of gay … Continued
Douglas School Spotlight: Dr. Madison Spencer Briscoe
Beginning in 1878, African American students in grades one through nine had attended classes at the Old Stone Presbyterian Church at 306 Piccadilly Street, which was renamed Douglas School in 1916 to honor the black abolitionist Frederick Douglass. Classes were also held in the basement of Mount Carmel Free Will Baptist Church at its location … Continued