Maria Prato, Staff Writer
CRANBURY — They’ve been tucked away in a closet or gathering dust on a shelf, perhaps as part of a great aunt’s wardrobe or in a neighbor’s kitchen or a grandmother’s attic.
But these local family heirlooms all have one thing in common: They made their way to The Cranbury Museum.
The exhibit, appropriately titled “Family Heirlooms,” opens Sunday at the museum, 4 Park Place East, and will run through Oct. 30.
”Family heirlooms could mean so many different things,” said Ruth Jost, a co-curator at the museum.
This time around, curators wanted to include more residents in the exhibit, scouring the community for the items to put on display.
”We were asking people in town to give a collection item from whatever they would consider a family heirloom,” Ms. Jost said. “I would classify it as fun exhibit that the residents of Cranbury helped set up. It’s so much fun, and if people came in, I think they, too, would agree.”
Following organizers’ public plea for heirlooms, hundreds of items made their way over to the museum, eventually falling into several basic categories, she said.
One category, around the world, includes items from various foreign lands — anything from an Irish statue to a Hungarian doll, she said.
Other categories include out of town, childhood memories, handmade crafts, house beautiful and tools and crafts. These items run the gamut when it comes to interests, Ms. Jost said, from Mickey Mouse dishes predating World War II to a Quaker bonnet to an early 1900s model car collection.
Farm tools, toys, wedding garbs, muskets, antique fans and teacups are all part and parcel of the heirloom exhibit, she said.
”We have such a diverse collection,” Ms. Jost said.
For more information on the exhibit, which will run every Sunday from 1 to 4 p.m., contact Ms. Jost at 609-235-9078.
