Friday, March 5, 2010

An Early 20th Century Night on the Town

On March 13, the Laurel Historical Society is partnering up with Venus Theatre for an exciting night on the town.

We've done this before, partnering with a theatre in Laurel to have an exciting night on the town.

And this time we have the same goals--helping to support another small local non-profit, promoting cultural life on mainstreet, bringing people into the museum to see the exhibit, and providing another, creative, learning venue for Laurelites.

Last time we had a 1950s theme and worked with the Laurel Mill Playhouse. This time, we're working with Venus Theatre and have an early 20th century theme.

So we'll begin with dinner at the museum in the galleries of our current exhibit "Snapshots in Time: Our Community in 1910 and 2010". After what sounds like a very delicious dinner, we'll take a trip to Venus Theatre and see "Zelda at the Oasis", a play about the wife of F. Scott Fitzgerald.

We think it will be an exciting night. And apparently people agree with us. We only have 4 spots left out of 30.

But this type of collaboration brings to mind some questions...

What is it a Museum or a Historical Society should do? Should we be providing entertainment? Should we only be presenting history through exhibits and lectures?

We know what we think.

But what do you think?

Are you happy to see the LHS involved in this type of programming? If not, why? What do you think we should be doing instead?

And if you are happy to see us doing this, do you have any suggestions for other things we could be doing?

That's all for now folks. Let us know what you think!

Oh and if you want more information on the upcoming event and to save a last minute spot, click here: http://www.laurelhistoricalsociety.org/pages/documents/March6Flyer.pdf

1 comment:

  1. Comment Submitted by Email, but agreed to be shared on blog:

    You asked: What is it a Museum or a Historical Society should do? Should we be providing entertainment? Should we only be presenting history through exhibits and lectures?

    Ok. here is my two cents worth. Yes, we should be providing entertainment. This goes to what is the purpose of the Historical Society. If the only purpose of the the LHS is to preserve the past, well then, why bother with plays, Taste of Laurel, etc. - let's just hold lectures on the history of Laurel and have exhibits at the Museum. However, if the purpose is to help promote Laurel, then we need to do things that will highlight the various institutions. businesses, and activities of Laurel. Let's face it, if we don't help people to see all the things that Laurel has to offer, the playhouse, restaurants, and businesses will go out of business and soon Laurel will become just another bedroom community with a historic name, and, without a real town, why even have a museum or historical society. In order for people to care about a community, they need to know that we have not only a history of interesting things happening, but that right
    now, today, there are things to do and places to go.

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