Home          News          Staff          Support MCNH

Collections               Exhibitions               Educational Programs             Museum Studies

MID-MICHIGAN FASHION, 1850 - 1970

By giving us a peek inside their closets and pantries, the exhibition provides clues to the consumer tastes, sense of style and eating habits of previous generations of Isabella County residents. The exhibition was inspired by the Isabella County Sesquicentennial Celebration.

The exhibition will feature four distinct eras in Isabella County’s history through the clothing residents wore and objects they used in their kitchens. The eras depicted include:

“The Pioneer Era,” 1850 to 1880, illustrating the scarcity of material goods as loggers and farmers first settled in Isabella County.

“Isabella County’s Gilded Age”, from 1880 to 1910, showing how goods became more sophisticated, diverse and plentiful as the population grew and American manufacturing matured.

“Modernizing Mid-Michigan”, 1910-1945, portraying the fast-changing culture of the interwar years as industry expanded and county residents brought electricity and city goods into their homes.

Finally, “Mid-Century Modern”, illustrating the growth of mass consumerism from the end of the Second World War into the 1970s.

 

Where:  Museum of Cultural and Natural History, Rowe Hall, Central Michigan University

 Hours: M-F, 8:00 am to 5:00 pm; Saturday and Sunday, 1:00 to 5:00 pm

 When:  August 14 through December 13, 2009

Virtual tour coming soon...