Carol and Rock Palmer of Westfield portray the parts of Florence Rand Lang and Henry Lang as they perform a skit Saturday evening at the Westfield Athenaeum’s 150th celebratory open house. The skit portrayed the couple’s presumed conversation as they discussed the request for a 1923 $50,000 contribution to the Athenaeum to fund renovations which included what later became the Jasper Rand Art Gallery and the Lang Auditorium. (Photo ©2014 Carl E. Hartdegen)
WESTFIELD – Friends and supporters of the Westfield Athenaeum flocked there on Saturday for an open house to celebrate the sesquicentennial of the landmark Westfield institution.
Many members of the athenaeum’s staff, and many friends, were dressed in period costumes for the event and many also served as players in several skits staged not only to amuse patrons but also to portray locally significant historical persons and explain their importance to the athenaeum.
At the celebration ten years ago of the 140th anniversary of the institution, the display in the Jasper Rand Art Gallery covered local history through the Victorian era. A new display was on exhibit at the open house and will remain at the gallery for the rest of the month. It covers the local history for the period from 1890-1939.
The open house was also punctuated by a conga line which the guests were invited to join while singing a ditty about the library.
The celebration will continue this month with a speaker series kicking off last night with an address by Lee Hamburg, who explained how to discover the “genealogy” of a local house.
The next in the series, all of which will be staged at 6 p.m. in the Lang Auditorium, will be presented by Walter Fogg, who will speak about the development of schools in the city.
His speech will be followed, on March 19, by Bob Brown, who will address the issue of myths at the athenaeum.
The last program will be presented, on March 31, by Theresa Hickson and Michael McCabe, who will discuss the life – and unsolved murder – of Prof. Lewis Allen.
The events are free and open to the public.
