The Trenton Museum Society is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. And to commemorate, the museum asked area writer, artist, and past Trenton City Museum curator Ilene Dube to create a history that focuses on the people who made it happen.
But before doing so, Dube focuses the reader on the museum’s often missed attributes. First is the building, Ellarslie, “the magnificent Italianate mansion” designed by 19th-century Scottish-American architect John Notman. Then there is the setting. Cadwalader Park, designed by Father of American Landscape Architecture Frederick Law Olmsted. And then there is the museum’s collection of world-known pottery and historic artifacts.
She also points out the range of activities that the Trenton Museum Society has been producing over the years: art exhibitions featuring works by some of the leading artists of our region, talks, concerts, and programs for children.
Nevertheless, Dube’s main subject is the people who have made and continue to make the museum a living place.
They will also be honored during the TMS’s 50th anniversary gala on Thursday, October 19, at the Trenton County Club.
Leading Dube’s list is former Trenton resident Carolyn Stetson, who, now lives in Colorado.
According to Dube, the former West Windsor-Plainsboro High School English teacher remains a stalwart supporter of TMS. Having served more terms as president than anyone else – beginning with two terms in the mid-1980s, one in the ’90s, and four terms between 2002 and 2011.
That included the time when the City of Trenton eliminated the paid director position and the volunteer board needed to develop exhibits, selected art, hang it, and handle all the behind-the-scenes work.
“One of the highlights during Stetson’s tenure was a collaboration with McCarter Theatre Center in Princeton,” notes Dube. “During its 2002 production of ‘Crowns,’ about women and their church hats in North Carolina, Ellarslie mounted an exhibition of the photographs the play was based on and held a tea for the women pictured in the book. This was followed by several other collaborations with McCarter Theatre, bringing in new audiences.”
Among the other collaborations Stetson fondly recalls are with the African American Cultural Festival, held in Cadwalader Park for several years.
Dube then lists several other individuals important to the organization.
One is current board president and long-time arts dealer Joan Perkes, “who had to step into the role during the sudden departure of her predecessor, and kept the museum not only fully operational but vibrant during the pandemic lockdown, bringing in new programming and reaching out to communities the museum could build new relationships with. Perkes is now serving a sixth term.”
Mary Yess is cited as the “Mother of the Ellarslie Open,” the museum’s signature annual exhibition that draws artists from all over the region.
A noted artist, Yess served as first president of the Trenton Artists Workshop Association and served on the boards of the Trenton Arts commission, the Mercer County Cultural and Heritage Commission, and as the founding executive director of Artworks Trenton.
“If there’s a face of Ellarslie, it would belong to Carol Hill,” writes Dube about the former South Hunterdon High School art teacher and owner of an advertising and then printing agency.
Hill worked with Stetson on a variety of projects, including managing nearly a decade of Ellarslie Opens. She also is involved with the gardens that surround the museum building.
Dube winds down her history by noting that among the other honorees at the gala “are Betty Holland, who was a major supporter of the Trenton Museum Society and Trenton City Museum in their earliest years (and still is), and who was First Lady to the late Honorable Arthur J. Holland, Mayor of Trenton and namesake of the Holland Gallery; James Seibert, who made a major donation of Trenton artifacts to get the Collection started; Rosalie Dietz, who urged Mayor Arthur Holland to establish an art and history museum in the Cadwalader Park mansion house; David Goldberg, who wrote the Trenton Potteries books; Molly Merlino, who established the museum shop; and archaeologist Brenda Springsted, who shared her knowledge about the people and factories involved with the Trenton potteries.
“Brian Hill, who served as director of the museum for 12 years, will serve as emcee of the gala.
“Asked why people give so much of themselves to the Trenton Museum Society, Stetson doesn’t hesitate. ‘It’s the people, and the chance to make a difference to the city of Trenton and the surrounding areas. What we do matters.’”
Trenton Museum Society 50th Anniversary Gala, Trenton Country Club, 201 Sullivan Way, West Trenton. Thursday, October 19, 6:30 to 10 p.m. Register. $175 per person.
Trenton City Museum, Cadwalader Park, Trenton. Open Friday and Saturday, noon to 4 p.m., Sunday 1 to 4 p.m. Free. For more information on the museum or the gala: 609-989-3632 or www.ellarslie.org.
