An exhibit opens today (Saturday) at the State Historical Museum that will allow visitors to see how they might have been living if they’d been around 125 years ago. Anita Walker, the director of Iowa’s Department of Cultural Affairs, says the exhibit called “Discover Victorian Iowa” is set in the 1880s. Walker says visitors will see a reproduction of a home’s Victorian parlor and will get to live as people did then, trying on clothing, playing parlor games like chess and various yard games. The museum is planning a series of Victorian events over the next several weeks, including tea parties and etiquette lessons. Walker says Iowans can live better today by learning more about how we lived in decades past. Walker says it helps us understand where we came from which helps pave the path to where we’re going, and to better comprehend ourselves and our culture as we move forward. She says today’s younger generation may gather in the family room around the TV for a favorite show or video game, but children in the Victorian Era didn’t have such things — they had parlors and parlor games.The exhibit will be at the museum in Des Moines through November 27th. Admission is free. For more information, call (515) 281-5111 or visit “www.iowahistory.org”.
