You may have visited the exciting exhibitions at Pasadena History Museum (PHM) and perhaps found yourself wanting to know more. Now you can actually visit the Curator’s Blog, where articles will be released throughout the duration of the different exhibitions. There are many stories to be told and fascinating historical facts that PHM’s expert curators will share with you, including topics such as the history of Memorial Day.
CURATORS BLOG
Curators Nick Smith and Michael Patris will provide readers with insightful and fascinating information that will give an in-depth background to the exhibitions currently at the Pasadena History Museum. Some of the topics posted are:
- What’s an Enfield, and why is it in the exhibit?
- Thomas Croft: The Man Who Owned Pasadena for a Day
- The John F. Godfrey Post, Grand Army of the Republic
- A Closer Look at Thaddeus Lowe
One of the articles speaks about Memorial Day so we wanted to share some of the history behind this very special weekend that lies ahead of us:
THE HISTORY OF MEMORIAL DAY
Memorial Day stems from a tradition that started in 1860’s when people decorated graves of Union soldiers who had died in while in a Confederate prisoner war camp. As local celebrations were held to commemorate this day, General John Logan, commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, issued orders to the members of the G.A.R. The general order was as follows:
General Order
No. 11
Headquarters, Grand Army of the Republic
Washington, D.C., May 5, 1868
“The 30th day of May, 1868, is designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village, and hamlet churchyard in the land…”
183 GAR Posts answered his call, with over 300 holding memorial services the following year. There was no specific name given to the day, but often called Decoration Day. By the late 1880’s people began to call it Memorial Day.
MEMORIAL DAY CELEBRATION IN PASADENA
Monday, May 25, 2015 at 2:00 pm at Mountain View Cemetery, 2400 N Fair Oaks Avenue, Altadena
Graves of Civil War veterans and veterans of other wars to be honored and decorated with flags and flowers. There will also be a program telling some of the stories of the Union and Confederate veterans buried at Mountain View.
