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Community Corner

East Brunswick Museum: Where History Comes to Life

The East Brunswick Museum's next exhibit, "Through the Looking Glass: Vintage Clothing, Accessories and Household Heirlooms" will be transport visitors to the past.

For anyone ever curious about traveling back in time where top hats, hoop skirts, corsets and gloves were mandatory attire, the East Brunswick Museum’s newest exhibition “Through the Looking Glass: Vintage Clothing, Accessories and Household Heirlooms” will be ready to transport visitors back to the past on March 19. 

 The East Brunswick Museum exhibits a permanent display of clothing like bridal dresses and military uniforms but the upcoming exhibit on vintage clothing will be the first extensive display of clothing for the museum, said Carmen Logue, museum assistant.

“We’ve had most of the clothing for the past 20 years but this is the first time that we’ve done this extensive exhibit for clothing,” she said.

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 Instead of throwing the items away, most were donated to the museum by people who live here, she said, with most coming from the Old Bridge Historic District.

 “Our collection will feature clothing, accessories and heirlooms from the 1920s through the 1940s and we’d love to let people know how people dressed back then,” Logue said.

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Some of the items, like the women’s vintage shirts, jackets and handbags, were already displayed and categorized behind some of the numerous glass panes in the museum.

 “It’s interesting to see how fashion changed, like hats – they were a big part of everyday clothing unlike today where we only generally use them to keep our heads warm,” she said. “But back then you wouldn’t go out without a hat and it was considered a fashion statement to walk out without a hat.”

 A few of the women’s jackets and shirts had always gotten attention from visitors, Logue said, because of their small size.

 “Because people generally re-used what they had. The mothers would taper the clothing to fit the daughter or the son, so what’s on display was tailored to fit a child,” she said. “But people were also thinner back then because of the corsets and the different lifestyle.”

Logue said that it is fortunate that many residents have been donating items for the exhibit because some items, like accessories, are difficult to acquire because they are usually thrown away.

The museum will also display vintage magazines like “Harpers Bazaar” and this year marks the first time that their mass collection of sewing machines will be shown to the public.

The exhibit will also be a special tribute to one of the museum’s biggest benefactors, Alberta Yuhas, who, along with her husband John Yuhas, passed away last year.

“(Alberta Yuhas) was one of out biggest benefactors, volunteers. You name it this woman did for us,” she said. “This is why we’re going to be dedicating one of the rooms to her because she was such a great help with all the donations and the time that she put in.”

Logue said that Yuhas’ daughter, Betty Galganski, had lent the museum some of her family’s vintage clothing that the museum will be using to dress the mannequins.

“Everything is falling into place and I think this is the best exhibit we’ve ever had,” she said.

Despite the museum’s preparations for the new exhibit, the museum will remain open during its regular hours where visitors can still view the permanent collection.

“Everything in the local history room is from the Old Bridge historic section of East Brunswick,” Logue said.

Two prominent attractions from the museum’s permanent collection are the paintings by James Crawford Thom and former New Jersey Governor Harold G. Hoffman’s elephant figure collection.

“James Crawford Thom was a well known artist who lived in East Brunswick in the 1880s and we were able to acquire several of his paintings throughout the years,” said Mark Nonestied, an East Brunswick Museum trustee. “We also have the largest collection of Thom’s paintings of any public institution.”

 Thom’s painting “Winter in Old Bridge,” which is on display in the museum, was painted in Old Bridge, Logue said.

 Thom’s grandson, former Gov. Hoffman, claimed fame as the governor during the Lindbergh trials and his collection of elephant figurines, as a symbol of the Republican Party, are on display in the local history room, Logue said.

 “His daughter donated (the elephant figurines) to us after he passed away and they come from all over the world,” she said.

The East Brunswick Museum, formally the Simpson Methodist Church, opened its doors in 1980, said Nonestied, who started volunteering at the museum in 1986.

 “We’ve amassed a pretty substantial collection since the building’s opening,” he said.

 The museum also exhibits Native American artifacts, which were collected and found in East Brunswick, that have garnered scholarly attention, Nonestied said.

 A volunteer for four years, Logue said that interacting with the people is what she loves the most about working at the museum.

 “I’ve learned so much from the board members, from the people who’ve come to visit and have grown up here,” she said. “(East Brunswick) is just a rich historical place (and) it’s the best volunteer job I ever had.”

 For more information about the East Brunswick Museum, the “Through the Looking Glass” exhibit, or their hours of operation, visit www.eastbrunswickmuseum.org or call 732-257-1508.

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