Museum of the Shenandoah Valley

The Museum

History

The broad sweep of Valley prehistory and history is explored in three Shenandoah Valley Gallery rooms. A number of different techniques introduce the Valley story, and include audio and video presentations, images, maps, tableaus, interactive elements, and display of objects.

 

Quickfact

Julian Wood Glass Jr. (1910-1992) transformed the Glen Burnie Historic House into the home visitors see today. In addition to the collection with which Glass furnished his ancestral home, he also collected for his New York apartment and Oklahoma home. That collection, which is mostly European in origin, is now on display in the MSV and includes oil paintings, watercolors, pastels, pencil drawings, furniture, and decorative objects from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

The Museum of the Shenandoah Valley opened April 3, 2005. Its opening fulfilled Julian Wood Glass Jr.’s vision to share his significant collection of fine and decorative arts with the general public. The museum, however, expands that vision; informed and directed by audience research, the Shenandoah Valley Gallery provides a broad overview of the region’s history.

The museum was aided in this goal by its fortunate acquisition of a significant collection of Valley objects amassed over more than fifty years by Valley collectors Bruce and Mildred Helsley. This core collection helps present a satisfying overview of the Valley’s history that provides context for the many historic houses, sites, and other museums throughout the region.

The MSV was designed by Michael Graves & Associates and built by HITT Contracting, Inc. For more details about the museum's architecture and construction, see the Design & Construction section.

Detail of a Grecian Sofa, maker unknown, London, England, ca. 1810.