In the Dark at the Bruce Musuem

The dark is a place of mystery. Sometimes scary, always intriguing, the darkness inspires the imagination and encourages exploration.

Darkness is also a natural evolutionary selective pressure that has caused plants and animals to adapt to dark ecosystems like caves, the forest and desert at night, and underneath the ground.

In the Dark: Animal Survival Strategies, on view through April 13 at the Bruce Museum, in Greenwich on One Museum Drive invites visitors to explore different environments of darkness and the unique life forms that inhabit them through a combination of hands-on and whole-body interactives, specimens and walk-through dioramas.

Since prehistoric times, humans have sought to understand the function of darkness and have invented ways to change it. With this immersive, entertaining and family-friendly exhibition that explores four environments – fragile caves, deep soil, and the forest and desert at night – people of all ages will discover how animals adapt to living in the dark and learn how we can help preserve fragile worlds without light.

March Programs

Look & See: In the Dark!

Wednesday, March 12; 12:30 – 1:15 pm

A program especially designed for children ages 3-5 years and their adult caregivers, who will explore the Museum’s exhibition through hands-on experiences, stories and more. Children will explore the exhibition and then make their own animal of the dark! $5 for members and $7 for non-members per child, per class. Parents/guardians are free. Please make reservations by calling the Museum at 203 869-0376.

Animals of the Dark Family Day

Sunday, March 30; 1:00 – 4:00 pm

Explore the exhibition to find out which animals survive best at nighttime! Make your own night-creature crafts in the workshop! At 2:00 pm and again at 4:00 pm, Live Night Creatures with animal specialist Rob Mies from the Organization for Bat Conservation, who will teach us all about some animals that live in the dark such as owls, bats and sloths. All activities are suitable for students of all abilities ages 5 years and up. Free with Museum admission.

About the Bruce Museum: Explore Art and Science at the Bruce Museum, located at One Museum Drive in Greenwich, Connecticut. The Museum is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 am to 5 pm and Sunday from 1 pm to 5 pm; closed Mondays and major holidays. Admission is $7 for adults, $6 for students up to 22 years, $6 for seniors and free for members and children under 5 years. Individual admission is free on Tuesday. Free on-site parking is available and the Museum is accessible to individuals with disabilities.  For additional information, call the Bruce Museum at (203) 869-0376 or visit the website at www.brucemuseum.org.  For area information www.visitfairfieldcountyct.com

Bee Aware at Fairfield Museum and History Center

The Fairfield Museum Shop located on 370 Beach Street in Fairfield is all abuzz with a new selection of bee-related items including honey produced by their own honeybees!  

This year, for the first time, the Museum raised bees near the 1750 Ogden House in keeping with their mission to explore the past and to imagine the future.  The museum has used bees to pollinate the colonial garden and has harvested the honey in much the same way as our ancestors did.

The Ogden House located on 1520 Bronson Rd., is an authentic saltbox home with a colonial kitchen garden containing plantings dating back to the home’s origin. Visitors to the garden can see replica straw bee skeps that represent the importance of beekeeping in the colonies in terms of pollination and wax production, as well as the medicinal, culinary, and household uses of honey.  In fact, apple trees and honeybees used to pollinate trees were brought across the Atlantic in the early 1600s so settlers could make cider because water was not considered portable.  Honey was used to preserve  food, weatherproof  leather and medicinally to help prevent infection.

Today, visitors to the gift shop at the Fairfield Museum will find the museum's newly harvested honey along with bee-themed tea towels, coasters, and pure beeswax candles. In addition to these "sweet" products, the museum shop offers an interesting selection of locally made items such as art by Michael Michaud and beach inspired jewelry.  

In conjunction with the Museum's current maps exhibit, There’s a Map for That! the Museum Shop  offers map themed pieces such as passport covers, journals, and flasks. Specialty jewelry items from CHART metalworks, including pendants, earrings and key chains, exclusively designed for the Museum, feature maps of Fairfield Beach and Southport Harbor.

The Fairfield Museum Gift Shop is open daily from 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. and weekends from 12 p.m. - 4 p.m. For more information visit www.fairfieldhistory.org.

Magnificent Millinery: Three Centuries of Women's Hats in Danbury CT

Join First Lady of Danbury, Phyllis Boughton at the Danbury Museum & Historical Society Authority on Saturday, June 4, 2011 for the opening of the Society's newest exhibit, "Magnificent Millinery: Three Centuries of Women's Hats in Danbury."  The ribbon cutting will take place at 10 a.m. and will be followed by refreshments.

Twenty display cases, filled to the brim, will feature over 300 ladies hats from the museum collection – caps, bonnets, felts, furs whimsies, pillboxes and more.  The exhibit showcases hat design from the colonial period through the mid-20th century along with hat related accessories.  Visitors to the exhibit will be amazed by the artistry of the hats on view.

An entire wall in Huntington Hall will be dedicated to articles of ephemera including historic newspaper advertisements and city directory listings related to the millinery trade in Danbury. Vintage photos and antique postcards from the archives of the Society illustrate styles and trends.

The exhibit was inspired by the work of Catherine Vanaria, Western CT State University photography professor and Danbury small business owner, who spent time during the summer of 2010 photographing the hat collection. Erika Askin, guest curator and museum volunteer, spent countless hours cataloging each hat, writing the scripts and staging the exhibit.

Joretta Kilcourse, museum docent and volunteer crafted a special 'Magnificent Millinery Quilt' featuring Vanaria's photos of some of the finest hats in the collection.  The winning ticket for this fundraising raffle will be drawn at the close of the exhibit on October 15, 2011.

The Magnificent Millinery: Three Centuries of Women's Hats in Danbury' exhibit will be open on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m from June 4, 2011 through October 15, 2011.  Suggested donation for viewing the exhibit is $5.00.

Danbury was once known as the "hatting capital" of the country. An abundance of water and marshes that attracted beavers were the key elements essential to hat making and at that time Danbury had both. The industry has been traced back to Zadoc Benedict who began a shop in Danbury in 1780. By the early 19th century there were over 40 shops making hats in Danbury.

By 1909 Danbury was making 36 million hats a year from cowboy hats to fedoras to top hats and became known as Hatting Capital of the World. The decline of the "hat culture" is attributed to the automobile industry because hats became cumbersome to wear in cars. In 1987, Stetson was the last hat factory to leave Danbury marking the end of an era.

Special Note: June 4th is also National Trails Day.  The DMHSA is happy be joining in by distributing maps for our "Museum In the Streets" walk that winds through CityCenter Danbury.  Park your car, put on your hat, refill your water bottle and take a stroll downtown.  Stop along the way at each of twenty-one history panels and learn about our wonderful city!

About the DMHSA: The Danbury Museum & Historical Society was formed in 1947 to acquire, preserve, exhibit and interpret New England's past; focusing particularly on the heritage of Danbury.  Situated in downtown Danbury, the museum preserves the John and Mary Rider House (c.1785), the Dodd Hat Shop (c. 1790), the Marian Anderson Studio and the Charles Ives Birthplace.  Huntington Hall, a modern exhibit building houses the museum offices and research library.