The Alexander Palace at the Newark Museum

[KayTanaka]

Dear FA,

Yea!!! And thank you both!!! But I was checking all around and saw that some of the posts still contain the original errors in their titles. CLAYCAT'S first post and then my last post and your last post are okay, but the others haven't adjusted. Maybe that's not possible in the software. Just trying to see that the exhibition at Newark gets off to a good start. It seems important that what readers might seek out as the exhibit's main thread on this website be as accurate as possible.

[azrael7171918]

Can't wait to see the exhibit!! Does anyone know if any of the special events are booked already? RKM is giving a lecture on the 24th of October on the Family"s home life.

[Janet_W.]

Amen to that, AnastasiaFan! Seeing the exhibit while it was in Santa Fe was fabulous, but oh how wonderful it would be to hear Robert Massie speak!

[helenazar]

Hi AnastasiaFan,

I was at the Newark Museum that day too and saw the Robert Massie lecture and talked to him and got my books signed   I am wondering if you were among the group of girls one of whom (wearing a blue hat) asked the FOTR question at the Q&A?
Great exhibit, wasn't it? My sister and I were reading all those fan letters from the kids too, they were so cute! Did you see that the little American boy who wrote to  Nicholas asking him for stamps, adressed him as "Dear Mr Tsar" , that was so cute!  And I was impressed with Marie's water color of Kostroma, do you remember that one? It was kind of small, but very nice... All in all, highly recommend this exhibit to anyone who can go! I think it's there until the end of January...

Helen

[Janet_W.]

Hi Helen--

I remember that water color from my visit to the exhibit while it was on display in Santa Fe. The water color was beautifully done; Marie clearly had quite a talent.

The letters to the Tsar and his family from children in the United States were also a wonderful feature, and very unexpected.

Santa Fe was a wonderful place to visit on its own, but those of you living in and around Newark are fortunate to have had the opportunity to see Robert Massie!

[Annie]

I'm glad you had a wonderful time AnastasiaFan! How exciting!

[mek]

I live in Cincinnati and understand the exhibit is scheduled to come here in January.  How exciting that Massie was in Newark!  Was he at the Santa Fe exhibit also?  It would be wonderful if he is scheduled for Cincinnati.

[Sunny]

Many thanks for the notes on, The Alexander Palace at the Newark Museum exhibition. Please tell us more  

Sunny

[helenazar]

OMG! Yes, that was us! The girl in the blue hat was my friend. I was the blonde in the pink shirt sitting next to her.  

Hi AnastasiaFan,

You know, for some reason I knew it instinctively! I was at the museum with my sister and I was telling her about APTM forum, and I remember I said to her, you know those girls over there seem like they would be from this forum! I don't know if you remember, but you (or one of your friends) and I had a short exchange of comments, as we were coming out from the lecture, about your friend's FOTR question...  

Helen

[helenazar]

I live in Cincinnati and understand the exhibit is scheduled to come here in January.  How exciting that Massie was in Newark!  Was he at the Santa Fe exhibit also?  It would be wonderful if he is scheduled for Cincinnati.

From what I understand, Mr Massie lives just north of NYC, so this was a convenient location for him...

[helenazar]

BTW, did you guys notice that Robert Massie was walking around the exhibit before the lecture? I am not sure if anyone recognized him at that time. He was also sitting at a table in the food courtyard eating borcht right before the lecture  , we happened to be sitting at the next table . I had so many questions for him and was dying to talk to him at that time, but restrained myself so as not to be rude... Unfortunately after the lecture it was too crowded with the book signers to talk to him much... He was very nice about it, but the exhibit supervisor, or whoever that lady was, was very militaristic and would have none of it!  

Helen

[helenazar]

Hi Helen--

I remember that water color from my visit to the exhibit while it was on display in Santa Fe. The water color was beautifully done; Marie clearly had quite a talent.

Seeing these types of things is what really gets to you, I think. This is when you really perceive them as human beings who had so much potential, and not just some characters from a book. I am not sure if I am expressing myself clearly about this. At the moment I saw that little water color, I got very sad, and I was thinking "I just can't believe that they killed them like that!". It's not like I didn't think that before, but it was just one of those moments when it all becomes real instead of abstract. I remember that I also felt this way when I visited the Alexander Palace last May and saw a doll that belonged to one of the girls. I actually got tears in my eyes at that moment. You just never know what will get to you, even when you have been reading about this stuff for years!
Helen

[Abby]

I went to the exhibit yesterday, I was there from 12-4 and it was GREAT! I agree with AnastasiaFan that the home movies of the family were very moving. I got more choked up when I saw their photo albums for the first time, behind the glass. I just coulnd't beleive that these were the same albums that they had all sat around and posted photos in together! I had seen pictures of the albums so many times but here they were before my eyes. Their handwriting still very visible on the pages. It was very haunting. I said that I wanted to turn the pages and see the other pictures in the album and my dad joked that after hours the museum employees probably flipped through them   LOL
Anyway it was all soo wonderful and I enjoyed it very much. Their dresses and Alexei's toys were amazing to see. I think I liiked it better when me and my family were going around the exhibit on our own than when the docent gave the tour. She was really good but we couldn't hear her very well and there were so many people it was hard to see! I thought it was interesting how, at the end of the tour when they talk about the murder of the family, the tour guide said that "the body of Anastasia had been identified in the grave and Marie and Alexei were the ones who are missing."
I wanted to say "well we don't know that for sure!" but I didn't, LOL.
Very good exhibit, if you can get down there to see it, try to!

[chintz22]

Hi All--

I wondered if this exhibition has a poster?  There were some lovely "poster-like" images on the website but nothing in the online shop.  Also, is the catalog worth getting?  Could someone who has been to the exhibit let me know?  

Thanks!

[Janet_W.]

Hi chintz22--

Although I visited the Santa Fe exhibit and not the current one in Newark, I can tell you that the catalog--common to all three exhibit sites--is very worthwhile. A number of articles are included, along with photographs and helpful captions. The production aspects of the catalog itself are first-class, making it a definite "keeper"!

Unfortunately, the museum shop at the Santa Fe exhibit did not offer any posters. What a shame; I think they would have been a "hot item"! Overall, the gift shop selection in Santa Fe was reasonably good, although the inclusion of some books--such as the one by Shay McNeil--I found highly questionable. Here's hoping that the buyer for the Newark museum has been a bit more selective!