Sylvia: A 19th Century Life Unveiled by Stacy Renee Morrison

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Sylvia: A 19th Century Life Unveiled

stacy renee morrison

Jan 26, 2020

Sylvia: A 19th Century Life Unveiled
Thursday, January 30 - Monday, May 4

The Merchant's House Museum announces a new exhibition of modern photography and 19th century ephemera by visual artist Stacy Renee Morrison.

In 2002, a small, timeworn leather trunk was discarded for garbage on a sidewalk in Lower Manhattan; it was found replete with the cherished keepsakes of a 19th century woman. Thus began visual artist Stacy Renee Morrison’s self-proclaimed love affair with Sylvia DeWolf Ostrander, whose early life parallels that of Gertrude Tredwell, who lived at 29 East 4th Street.

For almost two decades, Ms. Morrison has been on an obsessive quest to weave together Sylvia’s life in the 19th century through the personal belongings she left behind — and to re-imagine it in today’s world through photography and fashion.

Photo by Stacy Renee Morrison

This is the first time Sylvia’s trunk and its treasured contents will be exhibited in public. On display, an invitation in 1860 to a ball honoring the Prince of Wales, letters from the Civil War, Sylvia’s journals, mourning jewelry made of human hair, paper dolls, and other ephemera. Photographs and screen-printed clothing illustrate Sylvia’s life in the present as the artist’s muse.

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Stacy Renee Morrison

Also by Stacy Renee Morrison —

The Girl of My Dreams- Sylvia: A 19th Century Life

Storyteller Series

Sylvia Pop-Up at the Pop-Up Shop on Queen Street in Lancaster, PA

Sylvia: A 19th Century Life Unveiled - Artist Talk and Reception

Half-Way to the Rail Station in the Hot Summer Weather

Stories We Tell, Stories We Keep: In Conversation With Stacy Renee Morrison

On On Using Photography To Create What You Can't See

Victorian Era through Contemporary Artists'Lenses

GVSHP Lecture from June 25, 2020

Sylvia: A 19th Century Life Unveiled Artist Talk 6/25

Sylvia: A 19th Century Life Unveiled Online

Lecture: March 26, 2020

The Maid's Story

The Ghosts of New York Past