Upcoming Events at the Atlanta History Center @AtlantaHistoryCenter #Atlanta #Family

FAMILY PROGRAMS

We present eight to 10 major family programs yearly. Coming up:

Sheep to Shawl. Saturday, April 8. 10:30 am – 4:30 pm. Guests experience the process of cloth-making though demonstrations and activities ranging from sheep shearing and wool dyeing to spinning and weaving. Gather the entire family for a full day of fun that also includes open hearth cooking, blacksmithing, candle making, live music, and more at Smith Family Farm. Museum admission applies. http://www.atlantahistorycenter.com/programs/sheep-to-shawl

Juneteenth. Saturday, June 17 (11:00 am – 4:00 pm) and Sunday, June 18 (Noon – 4:00 pm)  This free two-day family program focuses on the commemoration of the end of slavery in the United States. Guests explore the themes of freedom and family history through activities, immersive museum theatre performances and crafts. http://www.atlantahistorycenter.com/programs/juneteenth

EXHIBITIONS

The first of a series of four exhibitions marking the centennial of America’s entry into World War I to be presented by the Atlanta History Center in 2017-18 opens soon:

The Great War in Broad Outlines. March 6 - April 30, 2017. This touring exhibition, created by the Belgian National Institute for Veterans and Victims of War for the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, recounts the conflict from an international perspective, providing an informative context-setting overview for the three exhibitions that will follow. The History Center is complementing the Belgian exhibit’s 30 informational panels – which feature text, photos, maps and other graphics – with additions that amplify on America’s role. These include six flour sacks from American mills that, after their contents helped feed wartime Belgians, were decorated and repurposed by women in that country by the thousands and sold to raise funds for war charities; and a re-created World War I field tent in which visitors can view film footage of the war in Belgium, and hear vintage recordings including “Over There” sung by Nora Bayes. The Belgian government selected the Atlanta History Center as the only Southeastern host of The Great War in Broad Outlines. http://www.atlantahistorycenter.com/explore/exhibitions/the-great-war-in-broad-outlines

Listing of current and future exhibitions: http://www.atlantahistorycenter.com/explore/exhibitions

AUTHOR PROGRAMS
We offer more than 60 author programs yearly at the Atlanta History Center and Margaret Mitchell House. A sampling of upcoming presentations:

“First Comes Love,” appearance by novelist Emily Giffin. Tuesday, April 4. 6:30 pm. Atlanta History Center. The Atlanta author of seven New York Times bestsellers returns with the tale of two sisters who split when tragedy strikes their family. Then, 15 years later, as the anniversary of their tragedy looms and painful secrets begin to surface, Josie and Meredith must not only confront the issues that divide them, but also come to terms with their own choices. http://www.atlantahistorycenter.com/programs/emily-giffin-first-comes-love

 
“My Fellow Soldiers: General John Pershing and the Americans Who Helped Win the Great War,” appearance by author Andrew Carroll. Wednesday, April 26. 8 pm. Atlanta History Center. Based on an astonishing collection of letters and diaries harvested by the author and the Center for American War Letters over many years, My Fellow Soldiers tells the story of the American experience in World War I with General John Pershing in the foreground against a landscape of extraordinary voices. The book conveys the grassroots perspective of American doughboys, war nurses, and their families with extraordinary intimacy and power. http://www.atlantahistorycenter.com/programs/andrew-carroll-my-fellow-soldiers

“Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis,” appearance by author J.D. Vance. Tuesday, May 16. 8 pm. Atlanta History Center.  J.D. Vance’s memoir is a passionate and personal analysis of a culture in crisis – that of white working-class Americans. The decline of this group, a demographic of our country that has been slowly disintegrating over 40 years, has been reported on with growing frequency and alarm, but has never before been written about as searingly from the inside. Vance tells the true story of what a social, regional, and class decline feels like when you were born with it hung around your neck. http://www.atlantahistorycenter.com/programs/j.-d.-vance-hillbilly-elegy
Admission for all lectures is $10. Full listing of Author Programs: http://www.atlantahistorycenter.com/programs/category/author-programs

GOIZUETA GARDENS

National Public Gardens Day. Friday, May 12. 10:00 am – 4:00 pm. The Atlanta History Center’s 33 acres are home to six historic gardens that each represent a period in Georgia history, from pre-colonial settlement to the 1930s with its refined aesthetics. Visitors may tour all six as well as the Cherokee Garden Library, documenting the horticultural and botanical history in the Southeast. Guided tours offered special for National Public Gardens Day: Mary Howard Gilbert Memorial Garden, 10:00 am; Smith Family Farm, 1:00 pm; Swan House Gardens, 3:00 pm; Cherokee Garden Library, 11:00 am, 2:00 pm  Admission to the gardens and Cherokee Garden Library is free on this day. http://www.atlantahistorycenter.com/programs/national-public-gardens-day

GUIDED TOURS

Our new “Behind the Scenes: Collections Tour,” offered at 11 am Fridays, provides visitors the rare opportunity to venture through our museum and textile collections storage to get an up-close view of rare artifacts. Our knowledgeable staff will walk guests through collections not normally available to the public and share with them what we collect and how we care for and store our collection of nearly 40,000 artifacts.
And … it’s last chance to go on our long-running “Capitol Tour” at Swan House, which was transformed for three of the “Hunger Games” films. These tours, which include a visit to two rooms that include props, photos, and a scene re-creation, conclude April 29.
Both tours $10 with museum admission. http://www.atlantahistorycenter.com/visit-us#group-tours

SUMMER CAMPS
Summer seems a long way off, but now is prime time for parents to be planning the perfect summer camp experiences for their children. We offer fun, engaging, smart Summer History Camps (at the Atlanta History Center) and Summer Writing Camps (at Margaret Mitchell House), both kicking off the week of June 5. http://www.atlantahistorycenter.com/programs/category/kids-programs.

PARTNER EVENTS

Olmsted Plein Air Invitational Day. Wednesday, April 5. 10:00 am – 5:00 pm. Thirty of the country’s top outdoor painters will produce landscape paintings “in the open air” across Goizueta Gardens’ 33 acres. The public is invited to observe as the artists create finished paintings before their eyes. In its third year, the Olmstead Plein Air Invitational will take place at Atlanta sites including the History Center and the Olmstead Linear Park from April 2 to 9. Paintings produced during the Atlanta competition will be made available for purchase. Free with Atlanta History Center admission. http://www.atlantahistorycenter.com/programs/olmsted-plein-air-invitational-day

MEET THE PAST PERFORMANCES IN GATHEROUND: STORIES OF ATLANTA EXHIBITION

On Saturdays and Sundays, seven characters from the pages of Atlanta’s history come to life in intimate Meet the Past museum theatre performances amid our permanent exhibit, Gatheround: Stories of Atlanta. These monologues, each 15 minutes or shorter, take place at posted times in specially designed performance niches in the Gatheround galleries. The characters include barber-turned-insurance company magnate Alonzo Herndon; Gov. John Slaton, who commuted Leo Frank’s death sentence to life in prison; and Rosalind Walton, one of the Atlanta Nine, students who desegregated Atlanta city schools. Free with museum admission. http://www.atlantahistorycenter.com/explore/exhibitions/gatheround-stories-of-atlanta

RETURN OF LOCOMOTIVE TEXAS

Plans call for the 1856 Texas locomotive, a bookend at the Cyclorama attraction at Grant Park for nine decades to The Battle of Atlanta painting, to return to Atlanta in May from the North Carolina Transportation Museum, where it has been undergoing a comprehensive restoration since late 2015. In fall 2017, the locomotive -- an important artifact of Atlanta’s early railroading days and well-known as well for its pivotal role in 1862’s Great Locomotive Chase -- is expected be open to the public in a specially designed glass-fronted hallway-gallery connecting Atlanta History Museum’s Allen Atrium to the new Lloyd and Mary Ann Whitaker Cyclorama Building. Though it won’t go on exhibition immediately, we expect the Texas’ return to be eye-catching and coverage-worthy. We will give media a heads-up as the return date and time are confirmed!

ABOUT THE ATLANTA HISTORY CENTER:

Founded in 1926, the Atlanta History Center is an all-inclusive, 33-acre destination featuring the Atlanta History Museum, one of the nation’s largest history museums; three historic houses (the 1928 Swan House, the Civil War-era Smith Family Farm, and the frontier-era Wood Family Cabin; Kenan Research Center; the Grand Overlook event space; the Atlanta History Center bookstore (sharing space with a Souper Jenny café); and Goizueta Gardens. In addition, the History Center operates the Margaret Mitchell House located in Midtown Atlanta.

For information on Atlanta History Center offerings, hours of operation and admission, call 404.814.4000 or visit http://www.atlantahistorycenter.com.