Talks, tours, and programs
Don't miss these upcoming talks, tours, and programs in the John L. Wehle Gallery!
2023 Gallery Talks
Included in general admission!
Devilishly Delicious Duck Dishes of the 19th Century Canard à la Presse
Saturday, September 30 | 2 -3 p.m.
On the first day of our annual Agricultural Fair, visit the John L. Wehle Gallery to sink your teeth into a discussion about popular duck dishes and cooking implements from the 19th century. Hosted by curator Brandon Brooks.
An Orderly Eternal Rest The American Rural Cemetery Movement
Saturday, October 7 (12 & 2 p.m.)
Join curator Brandon W. Brooks (if you dare!) to learn about the rural cemetery movement of the 19th century. Why do our cemeteries look like parks, with paved paths and manicured trees? What do the symbols on tombstones actually mean? Why are modern cemeteries so uniform? This talk examines the exciting world of the 19th-century Rural Cemetery Movement, in all its panoramic grandeur. This talk features a few extant 19th-century funerary items – grave markers, coffins, coffin plates, and even a real tombstone!
Gallery Talks are included with the cost of general daily admission.
2023 Virtual Lecture Series
Introduction to 19th-Century Fashion
This curator-led series offers beginner students an introductory overview of 19th-century Western fashions for men, women, and children. Each 2-hour module covers roughly 4 decades, beginning in the 1790s and ending just before WWI. Graduates of this complete course will be able to visually identify specific 19th-century fashion eras with their associated silhouettes. This course will educate students on 19th-century garment terminology, the structures and components of clothing, social traditions of dress, and the mechanics behind how 19th-century fashion and garments were created.
Session 1: 1800 – 1839
Saturday, July 8 | 4:30 – 6:30 p.m.
(Click here to purchase the recorded lecture)
Session 2: 1840 – 1869
Saturday, September 23 | 4:30 – 6:30 p.m.
Session 3: 1870 – 1900
Friday, December 8 | 12 – 2 p.m.
Fall Lecture Series: 18th & 19th-Century American Fashions
Saturday, November 4 | 9 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Genesee Country Village & Museum is excited to announce our Fall 2023 Lecture Series: “18th & 19th-Century American Fashions.” This day of lectures features four exciting presenters, including Brandon W. Brooks, Curator of the John L. Wehle Gallery, Michael Galban, Historic Site Manager of Ganondagan State Historic Site and the curator of the Seneca Art & Culture Center, Cheyney McKnight, Manager of Living History at New-York Historical Society and owner of Not Your Momma’s History, and keynote speaker Susan W. Greene.
At the end of the day (from 3 – 4 p.m.), guests will have the opportunity to enjoy staff-led explorations behind the scenes in either the John L. Wehle Gallery vaults which house the Bruce & Susan Greene Costume Collection.