past exhibitions

2023

 

Community Stitches:
Quilt Designs & Stories

 

2022

Starting Anew:
Transforming Pasadena, 1890-1930

 

2019

American, Wonder Horse, spring rocking horse, circa 1940

Giddy Up:

Children Take the Reins

Something Revealed;

California Women Artists Emerge, 1860-1960

 

2018

NBCUniversal Battlestar Galactica
Dreaming the Universe: The Intersection of Science, Fiction, & Southern California

Tournament of Roses royal crown

Royals of Pasadena: Rose Queen® and Royal Court

2017

chalk drawing, Masquerade Party

Art in the Street: 25 Years of the Pasadena Chalk Festival

The Art of Getting There: Railroad Inspired Artistry

Batchelder: Tilemaker

Cast & Fired: Pasadena's Mid-century Ceramics Industry

2016

carousel animal

Flying Horses & Mythical Beasts: The Magical World of Carousel Animals

quilt from the collection of Maggi Gordon

Crossing the Atlantic Quilt by Quilt

woven art by Susan Beeler Anderson

Strings Attached: Tradition Meets Contemporary Woven Art

Fabulous Fashion exhibit logo

Fabulous Fashion – Decades of Change: 1890s, 1920s, & 1950s

2015

John McDonald, drummer boy in the Civil War, at age 16 (Main Photo Collection)

When Johnny Came Marching West: How the Civil War Shaped Pasadena

Thaddeus Lowe as a young man

Thaddeus Lowe: Chief Aeronaut of the Union Army

Mystery History exhibit logo

Mystery History

Pasadena Pursuit exhibit logo

Pasadena Pursuit

2014

Pasadena Parrots by David Sikes

Contemporary Masters, Artistic Eden IV

Crown City Jubilee exhibit logo

Crown City Jubilee

Knabenshue dirigible

Kites, Wings, & Other Flying Things

Colorado Street Bridge

The Colorado Street Bridge Centennial Exhibition

2013

Alexander McQueen wedding gown

I Do! I Do! Pasadena Ties the Knot – Part II: 1950 to Present Day

Sleeve detail from 1910 wedding dress

I Do! I Do! Pasadena Ties the Knot – Part I: 1850 to 1950

2012

Elephant at the Doo Dah parade

What a Long, Strange Trip Its Been: 35 Years of Doo Dah

Pacific Electric Railway artwork

Pacific Electric Railway: Then & Now

watercolor by Joseph Stoddard

Contemporary Masters, Artistic Eden III

2011

Photograph of bungalow by Helen Lukens Gaut

Southern California’s Evolving Landscape: The Photography of Helen Lukens Gaut (1872-1955)

Early Pasadena resident

Mad for Hats!

2010

Pasadena Patron: The Life & Legacy of Eva Scott Fényes

2009

Family Stories: Sharing a Community’s Legacy

Contemporary Masters, Artistic Eden II: Life in the San Gabriel Valley

2008

The Purse and the Person: A Century of Women’s Purses

Mount Lowe: Souvenirs from the Incline Railway

Curators’ Choice: Objects Selected from the Museum’s Collections

The Art and Craft of Textile Design: 1860-1920

Living Beautifully: Greene and Greene in Pasadena

2007

Who Was Sam? The Art of Sam Hyde Harris (1889-1977)

African American Quilts from the Robert and Helen Cargo Collection

Contemporary Masters, Artistic Eden

Prosperous Pasadena: Doing Business in the Crown City and Beyond