DEARBORN, Mich. — A new exhibit at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn features nearly 7,000 Christmas tree ornaments.
The Miniature Moments exhibit opened on November 20th with Christmas tree decor from the Hallmark company. Some of the ornaments date back to 1973 when the company first began producing them.
"In 2019, my colleague Donna Braden and I were sent to check out a collection of Hallmark ornaments at a hallmark store in Warsaw, Indiana and this is what we found," said curator Jeannie Miller as she stood in the exhibit.
Miller says the family who owned the Indiana store collected and displayed the original ornaments in the store over the years. After the family members decided to retire, they contacted the museum to see if they were interested in purchasing the collection.
The Miniature Moments exhibit features ornaments in the traditional bulb form, mini lunchboxes, characters from movies and books and more.
'When people come to see this they will see ornaments that date from 1973 to 2009 and they will see how the topics and style of design changes over time," said Miller.
The ornaments are also organized in themed sections. Curators put up specialty displays for Easter ornaments, superhero ornaments, exercise ornaments and even Harry Potter themed ornaments. Additionally, there's a section of the exhibit dedicated to miniature ornaments.
"A lot of people started having tiny little table top trees so in 1988 Hallmark started creating these mini ornaments and some of the designs are similar to the designs you’d see in larger ornaments but there’s also a lot that are unique to the mini series," said Miller.
The miniature moments exhibit will be permanent at the Henry Ford Museum. Information on times and days to visit the museum can be found on the Henry Ford Museum website.
