The Prairie Landscape

THE ILLINOIS HUMANITIES COUNCIL BRINGS SMITHSONIAN EXHIBITION "KEY INGREDIENTS" TO MOUNT VERNON

10/28/2003

Exhibition on American Foodways to open November 7

CHICAGO—Through a partnership with the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C, the Illinois Humanities Council (IHC) is bringing "Key Ingredients: America by Food," a portable 5-kiosk display designed especially for small museums and historical societies, to Mount Vernon, Illinois. The exhibition will open on Friday, November 7th at the Jefferson County Historical Society Museum, 1411 N 27th Street, and remain on display until December 19th. The opening event, "Dining Through the Generations," begins at 6 p.m. The opening will feature a keynote address by Dr. Bruce Kraig, President of the Culinary Historians of Chicago and Professor Emeritus of History and Humanities at Roosevelt University in Chicago, a musical performance, and a four-course meal. Each course of the meal will be drawn from a different period in America’s culinary history. The opening event will take place in Mount Vernon’s Veterans Park Community Building on South 27th Street. Tickets for the opening dinner are $15, and reservations are required by November 3. The Museum will also host a series of local events in conjunction with the exhibit. For details, a schedule, or to make reservations for the opening event, please call the Museum at 618.246.0033.

"Key Ingredients" looks at the rich regional food traditions found across the United States, focusing on the diversity of foods and customs associated with them. By displaying a broad selection of photographs, illustrations, and artifacts, the exhibit investigates the way differences in cultures, ethnicities, and classes have created unique American food traditions. The exhibit also examines the tremendous effecttechnological innovation has had on America’s food traditions, from changes in kitchen appliances to the development of large multi-market conglomerates.

The exhibition has been on display in West Chicago, Morrison, and Macomb. Following the Mount Vernon engagement, the exhibition will make its final stop in Danville. The Vermilion County Museum Society in Danville will host the exhibition from January 9-February 20, 2004.

"Key Ingredients" is part of the Smithsonian’s Museum on Main Street (MOMs) program. MOMs serves small-to medium-sized communities by bringing Smithsonian-quality exhibitions to local museums, historical societies, libraries, and community centers that traditionally have limited access to traveling exhibitions due to space and cost limitations.
For more information about "Key Ingredients," or any other IHC program, please call (312) 422-5580 or visit www.prairie.org and click on "Programs."

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