The Morse Museum of American Art in downtown Winter Park is celebrating July 4th and America 250 with events that highlight arts accessibility, music and a special exhibition of some quintessentially American items from its collection.
The Morse may be known for housing the world’s most comprehensive collection of works by Louis Comfort Tiffany, but there’s even more to see beyond the jewelry, lamps and stained glass.
Museum Director and Chief Curator Jennifer Perry Thalheimer said one of the featured American items involves a famous figure straight from America’s Revolutionary War – a cream jug that was made by Paul Revere.
Americana at the Morse
Thalheimer pointed out that when Paul Revere wasn’t making his famous “the British are coming” midnight ride, he was just a regular guy who smithed silver for a living.
“During this time, we're celebrating the Founding Fathers and the people who were really important to all that occurred for us to be who we are now, and so it's kind of nice to be able to see that these people involved back then were [just] people,” said Thalheimer. “They had professions, they did things, and that it was not their full-time job, just being in the military…they really were working people that were like us.”
Another featured museum piece is a baseball covered in autographs from Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Lou Gehrig, and even Joe Tinker, who has Central Florida ties.
“We also like to show the ‘Americana’ of it all,” Thalheimer said. “Nothing's more all-American than baseball.”
Independence Day's importance
Celebrations at the Morse this Independence Day weekend include live music from a blues duo and an American-style band, as well as free admission and extended late hours on Friday night. The 11pm closing recalls the museum’s pivotal role in Winter Park’s July 4th firework festivities, which also happen this Friday evening.
“Independence Day for us is very, very exciting, because it was [that day] in 1995 that we first opened this building,” said Thalheimer, noting that the museum first opened on the Rollins College campus in 1942. Morse’s founder eventually “wanted to open a building that would have been central, so that people could have just strolled up on Park Avenue.”
The museum and the city worked closely together. “That was actually the impetus for Winter Park to start celebrating and having big festivities on July 4th in coordination with the opening of the museum,” said Thalheimer. “They've carried on the tradition, and so have we.”
