Images and interviews are available upon your request; please contact Leigh Massey. Programs and dates are subject to change. Please call 404.814.4033 or 404.814.4082 to confirm program dates.
VIEW BY MONTH: January | February | March | April | May | June
Three Kings Day
Sunday, January 6, 2013
1:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Kick off the New Year with the Three Kings Day Festival held in collaboration with the Mexican Consulate and the Instituto de Mexico. This program is free to the public, but space is limited and does not include museum admission. For more information about this program, please visit AtlantaHistoryCenter.com/Family or call 404.814.4000.
Support: Funding for this program is provided by the Fulton County Board of Commissioners under the guidance of Fulton County Arts Council, the Institutio de Mexico, and the Mexican Consulate.
Atlanta History Center After Hours: Celebrating 100 Years of Hospitality
Tuesdays; January 8, 15, 29, 2013
Open Late: 5:30 – 8:30 PM
Free Admission; Cash Bar
In celebration of the Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau 100 Years of Hospitality, residents and visitors alike are invited to tour the Atlanta History Center After Hours. See history come to life as you meet characters from Atlanta’s past who share stories about what life was like during some of Atlanta’s most pivotal moments. Enjoy an evening of culture and fun with friends and family. Admission is free, and includes access to the Atlanta History Museum. Cash bar available. For more information, visit AtlantaHistoryCenter.com.
Homeschool Day: Empires
Monday, January 7, 2013
1:00 – 4:00 PM
The Atlanta History Center offers special monthly programs for homeschool students and their families. Each month explores a different subject through exhibition tours and a variety of activities geared toward kids from toddler to teen.
Explore history’s greatest empires, including Aztecs, Egyptians, Romans, Zulus, and others. Learn how empires rise and fall, and examine the mythology and culture behind these historic powerhouses.
Admission to Homeschool Days is $8.50 nonmembers; $6.50 children of members; and free for adult members. Discounted rates are available for groups with 10 or more children. For more information, or to make group reservations, please call 404.814.4018, email Homeschool@AtlantaHistoryCenter.com, or visit www.AtlantaHistoryCenter.com/Homeschool.
Magic Monday: Tiny Dancer
Monday, January 14, 2013
10:00 AM - 1:00 PM
This monthly program for toddlers and preschoolers, ages eighteen months to five years, engages our youngest visitors in activities that introduce them to history in creative ways. Each Magic Monday has a unique theme and includes a guided exploration of one of our exhibitions, historic houses, or award-winning gardens, as well as demonstrations, arts and crafts projects, and story time. Join us for another exciting year and connect with old friends while meeting new ones.
This month, get your dancing shoes ready! Kids listen to music while learning dance moves from different cultures and time periods. From the stomp dance to the twist, your tiny dancers will be moved.
Members are admitted for free. Admission is $6.50 adults; $5.50 children. Discounted rates are available for groups with ten or more children. For more information, please call 404.814.4110 or visit AtlantaHistoryCenter.com.
Support: Funding for this program is provided by the Fulton County Board of Commissioners under the guidance of the Fulton County Arts Council.
Atlanta History Center Free Admission in celebration of MLK Day and ACVB 100 Years of Hospitality
Monday, January 21, 2013
10:00 AM – 5:30 PM
Enjoy free admission to the Atlanta History Center in honor of Martin Luther King Day, featuring all-inclusive access to award-winning exhibitions in the Atlanta History Museum; tours of the 1928 Swan House and the 1860 Smith Family Farm; the Centennial Olympic Games Museum; and 22 acres of gardens and trails.
StoryCorps at the Atlanta History Center
Monday, January 21, 2013
Starting January 21, the Franklin M. Garrett Library and Studio will be the new home of the Atlanta branch of StoryCorps. This innovative radio program allows people of all walks of life to record and share their stories. Since 2009, StoryCorps has been in partnership with WABE and the Atlanta stories have been featured weekly on Tuesday and Friday mornings during City Café and Morning Edition. WABE reaches approximately 400,000 listeners each week and the StoryCorps segments will provide the History Center with regular and sustained publicity. Over the next three years, StoryCorps at the Atlanta History Center hopes to record at least 680 interviews with 1,200 greater Atlanta residents. A reception celebrating the opening of this new location is currently being planned for March.
Livingston Lecture: Taylor Branch, The King Years: Historic Moments in the Civil Rights Movement
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
8:00 PM
Taylor Branch is the author of the magisterial America in the King Years trilogy, which includes Parting the Waters (1989 Pulitzer Prize for History), Pillar of Fire, and At Canaan’s Edge. The three-volume history endures as a masterpiece of storytelling on American race, violence, and democracy. With his new book, he has selected eighteen essential moments from the Civil Rights Movement as presented in his trilogy and has written new introductions to set each passage in historical context. The result is a comprehensive view of America in the turbulent yet transformative 1960s.
In The King Years: Historic Moments in the Civil Rights Movement, Branch looks back on his own work with fresh insights and rediscovers what lessons endure today, selecting pivotal moments to convey the sweep of an era. When Branch writes about the march on Selma, for example, he does not include the famous Bloody Sunday, instead featuring the middle part of the march when the movement was at a turning point, asking: would the federal government help solve a problem or would the movement need to rely on themselves? With Branch’s portrait of King at that time, he shows us what it means to be a leader.
Taylor Branch is the bestselling author of Parting the Waters: America in the King Years, 1954-63; Pillar of Fire: America in the King Years, 1963-65; At Canaan’s Edge: America in the King Years, 1965-1968; and The Clinton Tapes.
This lecture will be held at the Atlanta History Center. Admission for lectures is $5 members, $10 nonmembers, and free to AHC Insiders unless otherwise noted; reservations are required; call 404.814.4150 or reserve online at AtlantaHistoryCenter.com/Lectures.
Support: The Livingston Lectures are made possible with generous funding from the Livingston Foundation of Atlanta.
Members-Only: Metropolitan Frontiers Day
Saturday, January 26, 2013
10:00 AM – 1:00 PM
Join us as we explore the award-winning exhibition, Metropolitan Frontiers. You’ll enjoy curator highlights of the exhibit with our Director of Exhibitions, Don Rooney, and characters throughout the gallery to help tell Atlanta’s story. This event also features a talk by 5th generation firefighter, Joe Tolbert, century firehouse life and lore.
Reservations are recommended; to reserve your space or to learn more about this or upcoming Members-Only events, visit AtlantaHistoryCenter.com/MemberEvents.
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Slavery at Jefferson’s Monticello: How the Word is Passed Down
(Atlanta History Center, Nicholson Gallery)
On display February 1, 2013 through July 7, 2013
The Atlanta History Center presents Slavery at Jefferson’s Monticello: How the Word is Passed Down, a traveling exhibition organized by the Thomas Jefferson Foundation at Monticello in partnership with the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.
Drawing from archaeology, documentary research, and Getting Word, Monticello’s oral history project, which has helped preserve the histories of more than 170 descendants of enslaved families, this exhibition explores slavery and enslaved people in America through the lens of Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello plantation. Visitors see a glimpse into the lives of six enslaved families living at Monticello – the Hemings, the Gillettes, the Herns, the Fossetts, the Grangers, and the Hubbards – and learn how the paradox of slavery in Jefferson’s world is relevant for generations beyond their lifetime.
The exhibition contains objects that belonged to Thomas Jefferson and the enslaved people who lived and worked at Monticello. While many possessions of Jefferson and his family have passed down through the generations and remain intact, the items owned by enslaved workers and craftspeople have been recovered through archaeology. The stories told through these items provide a look at enslaved people as individuals – with names, deep family and marital connections, values, achievements, religious faith, a thirst for literacy and education, and tenacity in the pursuit of freedom.
Slavery at Monticello: How the Word is Passed Down allows visitors to hear stories and listen to the “way back” tales of Monticello and the newer stories of fighting for justice, as descendants bring to light the lives of their ancestors and the values they passed down. The stories, including the largest family, the Hemingses, reveal the strength of family bonds and importance of community activism. Participants in the Getting Word project and some of their ancestors from previous centuries were blacksmiths and farmers, educators and ministers, soldiers and suffragists. Visitors find out where their families went after Monticello, where the descendants settled in the nineteenth century, and where they live today.
The Atlanta History Center’s annual Black History Month programs and ongoing public programs and festivals are a complement to this new exhibition. Additional programs and activities during the run of this show include a selection of workshops focusing on African American genealogy led by the Atlanta History Center’s Kenan Research Center; and Juneteenth, a summer festival celebrating freedoms and family history.
The exhibition was on view at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History from January 25, 2012 to October 9, 2012 as Slavery at Jefferson’s Monticello: Paradox of Liberty.
The exhibition is included with general admission, and is free to Atlanta History Center members. For more information, please call 404.814.4000 or visit AtlantaHistoryCenter.com. Purchase advance admission tickets online and save, visit AtlantaHistoryCenter.com/Tickets.
Homeschool Day: Shaping America
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
1:00 – 4:00 PM
The Atlanta History Center offers special monthly programs for homeschool students and their families. Each month explores a different subject through exhibition tours and a variety of activities geared toward kids from toddler to teen.
Go on a road trip across the U.S. and explore the history of our nation’s geography. Learn how each of our states evolved, and how they got their shapes. Follow famous journeys like the Lewis & Clarke
expedition, and famous lines like the Oregon Trail, the transcontinental railroad, and more. You finish the program with a geography bee to see how much you have learned, from sea to shining sea.
Admission to Homeschool Days is $8.50 nonmembers; $6.50 children of members; and free for adult members. Discounted rates are available for groups with 10 or more children. For more information, or to make group reservations, please call 404.814.4018, email Homeschool@AtlantaHistoryCenter.com, or visit www.AtlantaHistoryCenter.com/Homeschool.
Members-Only Genealogy Workshop
Saturday, February 9, 2013
10:30 AM – Noon
Explore the world of genealogy at the Atlanta History Center’s Kenan Research Center during this special Members-Only Genealogy Workshop.
Reservations are recommended; to reserve your space or to learn more about this or upcoming Members-Only events, visit AtlantaHistoryCenter.com/MemberEvents.
Magic Monday: I Heart Art
February 11, 2013
10:00 AM - 1:00 PM
This monthly program for toddlers and preschoolers, ages eighteen months to five years, engages our youngest visitors in activities that introduce them to history in creative ways. Each Magic Monday has a unique theme and includes a guided exploration of one of our exhibitions, historic houses, or award-winning gardens, as well as demonstrations, arts and crafts projects, and story time. Join us for another exciting year and connect with old friends while meeting new ones.
This month, let your children’s imagination run wild as they become a little artist. In the Shaping Traditions exhibition, they see examples of different types of folk art and learn how they were made. Then they experiment with all types of art as they make a creative valentine for your loved one.
Members are admitted for free. Admission is $6.50 adults; $5.50 children. Discounted rates are available for groups with ten or more children. For information call 404.814.4110
For more information, please call 404.814.4110 or visit AtlantaHistoryCenter.com.
Support: Funding for this program is provided by the Fulton County Board of Commissioners under the guidance of the Fulton County Arts Council.
History Matters: Four Days of Fury: Atlanta 1906
February 15, 16, 17 and 22, 23, 24, 2013
Located at Atlanta History Center
In February 2013, the Atlanta History Center premieres a unique, immersive experience inspired by the events of the Race Riot of 1906. The gallery-based performance, Four Days of Fury: Atlanta 1906, by resident playwright Addae Moon involves audiences in the ideas, debates, emotions, and perspectives that led to this pivotal, yet unfamiliar event in Atlanta history.
Participants dive into the past and discover why History Matters. Audiences will see not only how history is created from memory, but also how history results from who creates – and manages – the process, and how different communities may recall the past in different ways.
Within the museum gallery, the participants move through a series of memory stations with trailblazing African American editor and journalist J. Max Barber. There, they actively participate in multiple stories and interact with historic characters who were involved in the explosion of frustration and fear near Five Points. Along with the residents caught up in the conflict, they will witness the tenuous attempts at reconciliation that established the city’s narrative as one “too busy to hate.”
This hour-long theatre experience is recommended for young adults based on language and sensitive subject matter. Visitors who take advantage of the experience should understand this is an immersive encounter with history that is challenging and provocative, yet stimulating, inspiring, and motivating as well.
There is limited capacity per performance and reservations are required. Admission is $10 for Atlanta History Center members, $15 nonmembers. Reserve your tickets by phone at 404.814.4150 or online at AtlantaHistoryCenter.com/lectures.
Schedule of Performances:
• Fridays February 15 and 22 6:30 PM, 8:00 PM
• Saturdays February 16 and 23 5:00 PM, 6:30 PM, 8:00 PM,
• Sundays February 17 and 24 2:00 PM, 3:30 PM, 5:00 PM
This History Matters production is the first in a series of gallery-based offerings using museum theatre to explore the diversity of Atlanta’s past, present, and future, which seeks to literally place visitors inside history to learn why it matters to our community today.
Lifestyle Lecture Series: An Evening with Bobby Deen, From Mama’s Table to Mine
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
7:00 PM
Bobby Deen, bestselling author, host of the number one Cooking Channel show, Not My Mama’s Meals, and son of food personality Paula Deen, grew up on the delicious Southern comfort food for which his mother is known. Full of love, flavor and, unfortunately, calories, Bobby found himself an overweight young man. Unwilling to sacrifice flavor, he began tweaking recipes to contain fewer calories. The delicious result is his new cookbook with Melissa Clark, From Mama’s Table to Mine, that features 120 recipes of Southern comfort-food classics, and all under 350 calories and jam-packed with flavor.
Bobby Deen, along with his brother, Jamie, got his start in the food business when their mother hired them to deliver sandwiches. Bobby is a regular guest on the Today show, Good Morning America, Rachel Ray, and Dr. Oz. He is the host of the Cooking Channel’s Not My Mama’s Meals and a frequent guest on many Food Network shows, including Paula’s Home Cooking.
This lecture will be held at the Atlanta History Center. Admission for lectures is $5 members, $10 nonmembers, and free to AHC Insiders unless otherwise noted; reservations are required; call 404.814.4150 or reserve online at AtlantaHistoryCenter.com/Lectures.
Promotional Support provided by Viking Store and Cooking School
Struggles and Strides: The Early Fight for Civil Rights
Saturday, February 23, 2013
11:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Guests will explore the African American experience from the Great Migration to the Civil Rights Movement.
This program is free to members; included in the cost of general admission for nonmembers. For more information about this program or to purchase admission tickets, please visit AtlantaHistoryCenter.com/Family or call 404.814.4000.
Support: Funding for this program is provided by the Fulton County Board of Commissioners under the guidance of Fulton County Arts Council.
Cherokee Garden Library: J. Ryan Gainey, The Gathered Garden
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
4:00 PM
Join the Atlanta History Center's Cherokee Garden Library for a lecture with internationally-known landscape designer, plantsman, and artist J. Ryan Gainey.
His latest volume, The Gathered Garden, showcases exquisite botanical illustrations depicting a palette of plants, arranged seasonally, that thrive in our Atlanta gardens. The book also discusses the history of the plants themselves and the stories of how Ryan gathered them from dear friends and family to imbue his garden with beauty.
Lecture is followed by an exploration of a botanical art display, book signing, and reception in the History Center's McElreath Hall. This lecture is free to the public. Reservations required, please call 404.814.4046 or email SCatron@AtlantaHistoryCenter.com.
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Homeschool Day: The Cherokee
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
1:00 – 4:00 PM
The Atlanta History Center offers special monthly programs for homeschool students and their families. Each month explores a different subject through exhibition tours and a variety of activities geared toward kids from toddler to teen.
Discover the long and fascinating history of Cherokee Indians in Georgia. Where did they come from and where are they today? Assume the identity of real Cherokee Indians and take an unforgettable journey on the Trail of Tears. Learn about Sequoyah and the Cherokee story of survival through adaptation and cultural change.
Admission to Homeschool Days is $8.50 nonmembers; $6.50 children of members; and free for adult members. Discounted rates are available for groups with 10 or more children. For more information, or to make group reservations, please call 404.814.4018, email Homeschool@AtlantaHistoryCenter.com, or visit www.AtlantaHistoryCenter.com/Homeschool.
Magic Monday: Egg Hunt at the Smith Family Farm
March 11, 2013
10:00 AM - 1:00 PM
This monthly program for toddlers and preschoolers, ages eighteen months to five years, engages our youngest visitors in activities that introduce them to history in creative ways. Each Magic Monday has a unique theme and includes a guided exploration of one of our exhibitions, historic houses, or award-winning gardens, as well as demonstrations, arts and crafts projects, and story time. Join us for another exciting year and connect with old friends while meeting new ones.
This month, celebrate springtime on the farm with our annual egg hunt and let your kids join the search for colorful eggs hidden throughout the Smith Family Farm to win prizes. They can also participate in fun and games, like the peep toss, and create spring-time crafts. A visit from the Easter Bunny delights everyone.
Members are admitted for free. Admission is $6.50 adults; $5.50 children. Discounted rates are available for groups with ten or more children. For information call 404.814.4110
For more information, please call 404.814.4110 or visit AtlantaHistoryCenter.com.
Support: Funding for this program is provided by the Fulton County Board of Commissioners under the guidance of the Fulton County Arts Council.
Lifestyle Lecture Series: Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman, Top Dog: The Science of Winning and Losing
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
7:00 PM
What are the differences between a winning and losing performance? In Top Dog: The Science of Winning and Losing, New York Times bestselling authors Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman reveal how to tip the odds of success in our favor, either at the office, school, playing field, or home. Looking at competition through a multidisciplinary lens integrating wisdom from politics, finance, genetics, neuroscience, psychology, and other fields, Bronson and Merryman reveal hidden factors that fuel our determination, passion, and competition, and explore how to harness the forces of competition to succeed.
Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman are authors of the New York Times bestseller, NurtureShock: New Thinking about Children. They have won nine national awards for reporting, including PEN Center USA Literary Award for Journalism; the American Association for the Advancement for Science (AAAS) Award for Science Journalism; an “Audie” from the Audio Publishers Association; and two Clarion Awards.
This lecture will be held at the Atlanta History Center. Admission for lectures is $5 members, $10 nonmembers, and free to AHC Insiders unless otherwise noted; reservations are required; call 404.814.4150 or reserve online at AtlantaHistoryCenter.com/Lectures.
Citizens and Soldiers: The American Civil War
Saturday, March 16, 2013
11:00 AM - 4:00 PM
The commemoration of the Civil War sesquicentennial continues with Citizens and Soldiers. Experience reenactments, weapon demonstrations, home front activities and encampment on our 1860s farm, and enjoy tours of our two award-winning Civil War exhibitions.
This program is free to members; included in the cost of general admission for nonmembers. For more information about this program or to purchase admission tickets, please visit AtlantaHistoryCenter.com/Family or call 404.814.4000.
Support: Funding for this program is provided by the Fulton County Board of Commissioners under the guidance of Fulton County Arts Council.
Homeschool Day: Living Off the Land
Thursday, April 11, 2013
1:00 – 4:00 PM
The Atlanta History Center offers special monthly programs for homeschool students and their families. Each month explores a different subject through exhibition tours and a variety of activities geared toward kids from toddler to teen.
Become a Georgia Pioneer and enter into a real working farm to find out what it was like to live during the 1800s. Immerse yourself in a first-person experience, meeting people from the era, and helping with the chores needed to survive. Help plant field crops, card wool and cotton, weave fabric, make butter and candles, and assist our cook, woodworker, blacksmith, and so much more. Just like children in the 1800s, you also have to find time to go to school and make your own toys. Come dressed and ready to get your hands dirty!
Admission to Homeschool Days is $8.50 nonmembers; $6.50 children of members; and free for adult members. Discounted rates are available for groups with 10 or more children. For more information, or to make group reservations, please call 404.814.4018, email Homeschool@AtlantaHistoryCenter.com, or visit www.AtlantaHistoryCenter.com/Homeschool.
Sheep to Shawl
Saturday, April 13, 2013
10:30 AM - 4:30 PM
Gather the entire family for a full day of engaging activities including demonstrations of sheep shearing, spinning, weaving, open-hearth cooking, blacksmithing, candle making, and much more at Smith Family Farm, including storytelling and traditional music.
This program is free to members; included in the cost of general admission for nonmembers. For more information about this program or to purchase admission tickets, please visit AtlantaHistoryCenter.com/Family or call 404.814.4000.
Support: Funding for this program is provided by the Fulton County Board of Commissioners under the guidance of Fulton County Arts Council.
Magic Monday: Fun and Games
April 8, 2013
10:00 AM - 1:00 PM
This monthly program for toddlers and preschoolers, ages eighteen months to five years, engages our youngest visitors in activities that introduce them to history in creative ways. Each Magic Monday has a
unique theme and includes a guided exploration of one of our exhibitions, historic houses, or award-winning gardens, as well as demonstrations, arts and crafts projects, and story time. Join us for another exciting year and connect with old friends while meeting new ones.
This month, let the games begin at the Atlanta History Center! Visit our Centennial Olympic Games exhibition and view medals, Olympic torches, and learn about the sports that are a part of the games. Children play with old-fashioned toys and games, and participate in organized children’s games like Duck, Duck, Goose, Red Light Green Light, and musical chairs.
Members are admitted for free. Admission is $6.50 adults; $5.50 children. Discounted rates are available for groups with ten or more children. For more information, please call 404.814.4110 or visit AtlantaHistoryCenter.com.
Support: Funding for this program is provided by the Fulton County Board of Commissioners under the guidance of the Fulton County Arts Council.
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Homeschool Day: ??? You Decide!
Thursday, May 10, 2013
1:00 – 4:00 PM
The Atlanta History Center offers special monthly programs for homeschool students and their families. Each month explores a different subject through exhibition tours and a variety of activities geared toward kids from toddler to teen.
Homeschooler’s Choice. Throughout the year, we have surveys available during our Homeschool Day programs to submit your ideas for the theme of this month’s program. We choose the most popular theme from your suggestions after the March Homeschool Day. This is your opportunity to tell us what you would like to see. Your wish is our command!
Admission to Homeschool Days is $8.50 nonmembers; $6.50 children of members; and free for adult members. Discounted rates are available for groups with 10 or more children. For more information, or to make group reservations, please call 404.814.4018, email Homeschool@AtlantaHistoryCenter.com, or visit www.AtlantaHistoryCenter.com/Homeschool.
Magic Monday: Bugging Out
May 13, 2013
10:00 AM - 1:00 PM
This monthly program for toddlers and preschoolers, ages eighteen months to five years, engages our youngest visitors in activities that introduce them to history in creative ways. Each Magic Monday has a unique theme and includes a guided exploration of one of our exhibitions, historic houses, or award-winning gardens, as well as demonstrations, arts and crafts projects, and story time. Join us for another exciting year and connect with old friends while meeting new ones.
This month, your kids learn how important bugs and insects are to us and the world around us. They walk through our gardens to see the beautiful flowers in bloom and learn about the special relationship between insects and flowers. Then they create a creepy-crawly inspired craft and bug out to a sing-a-long.
Members are admitted for free. Admission is $6.50 adults; $5.50 children. Discounted rates are available for groups with ten or more children. For information call 404.814.4110
For more information, please call 404.814.4110 or visit AtlantaHistoryCenter.com.
Support: Funding for this program is provided by the Fulton County Board of Commissioners under the guidance of the Fulton County Arts Council.
Military Timeline
Saturday, May 25, 2013
11:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Spend a day in the company of veterans and hear their stories of wartime through personal accounts and memorabilia. Living history interpreters represent soldiers of previous wars by showing authentic dress, equipment, and vehicles.
This program is free to members; included in the cost of general admission for nonmembers. For more information about this program or to purchase admission tickets, please visit AtlantaHistoryCenter.com/Family or call 404.814.4000.
Support: Funding for this program is provided by the Fulton County Board of Commissioners under the guidance of Fulton County Arts Council.
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Juneteenth: The First Day of Freedom
Saturday, June 15, 2013
11:00 AM - 4:00 PM
This celebration will focus on the appreciation, reconciliation, and commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States.
This program is free to members; included in the cost of general admission for nonmembers. For more information about this program or to purchase admission tickets, please visit AtlantaHistoryCenter.com/Family or call 404.814.4000.
Support: Funding for this program is provided by the Fulton County Board of Commissioners under the guidance of Fulton County Arts Council.
