Volume 3, Issue 6
June 2003
From the Director
In recognition of the re-opening of the
Athenaeum’s Edwin Smith Historical Museum on June 21 (Open House hours are
from 10:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.), the Westfield Athenaeum will offer a new Museum
Pass program starting in June. The
program will allow C/W MARS library card holders to reserve museum passes for
admission to the following nine museums or historic organizations throughout
Massachusetts: · Children’s Discovery
Museum, Westfield · Eric Carle Museum of
Picture Book Art, Amherst · Holyoke Children’s
Museum · Berkshire Museum,
Pittsfield · Historic Deerfield · Isabella Stewart Gardner
Museum, Boston · Museum of Fine Arts,
Boston · Norman Rockwell Museum,
Stockbridge · Springfield Museums at
the Quadrangle Admission rules vary depending on the museum,
but passes generally allow free admission to the museum (special exhibits
excluded). Special thanks are due to
the Friends of the Westfield Athenaeum for offering to fund
this great new service. To reserve a pass
starting on June 21, call the Adult Information Desk at 562-0716. As noted in the May newsletter, a number of
local treasures will be on display once the historical museum opens. All of the objects in the museum have
stories to tell, and some pose more questions than answers. One recent discovery by Bob Brown, President of the Friends, concerns a red
woolen “coatee” or short coat that was part of a military uniform from the
period just after the Revolutionary War, circa 1780. To the untrained eye, the coatee, with its
silver-plated buttons, resembles a “redcoat” of the kind British soldiers
wore during the Revolutionary War. |
