The Silver City Museum celebrates the opening of a new exhibit, "Open Drawers, Fashion Plates, and Late Night Dates: High Fashion from the Wheaton-Smith Collection" on Saturday, May 23rd at the Silver City Museum, 312 W Broadway in downtown Silver City. In conjunction with the exhibit opening, the museum will host a reception with tea and light refreshments from 1-3 pm. A member of the Wheaton-Smith family will also be in attendance. For children, tin can camera photos will be offered from 1 pm to 3 pm: children, come dress up in Victorian finery and take home a photo made the old-fashioned way! These activities are free and open to the public.

Through a generous donation from Elizabeth Wheaton-Smith, the museum is in possession of an extraordinary collection of fine clothing from the turn of the century. In studying the collection we can learn about the lives of the Wheaton-Smiths, a prominent family in our area. The family, originally from England, migrated here in the late 1800's. With beginnings in mining and entrepreneurship, they settled here and remained a part of our community through several generations.

On a larger scale, these garments also tell of the monumental upheavals in culture and economy taking place at that time in southwestern New Mexico. Rapid advances in technology and transportation, the mass migration of European Americans, and the unbound riches of prospecting are the definitive forces that shaped the times. The dresses contained within our collection tell of homes left behind, longing, mechanization, and a changing society. Take a peek into the past within the elegant folds of these unique items, many of which are on exhibition for the very first time.

Funding in part for all exhibits and programs at the museum is made possible by the generous support of the members and volunteers of the Silver City Museum Society.

The Silver City Museum creates opportunities for residents and visitors to explore, understand, and celebrate the rich and diverse cultural heritage of Southwestern New Mexico by collecting, preserving, researching and interpreting the region's unique history. For more information about the museum and its programs please contact Museum staff at (575) 538-5921or info@silvercitymuseum.org.

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