'Return to Normalcy' exhibit

Sunday will be the last day to take a tour of the exhibit The Return to Normalcy: A Life of Leisure in Wood County, 1920-1939.

The exhibit features then presidential candidate Warren G. Harding, who wanted a return to the pre-World War I lifestyle or a “return to normalcy.” Soldiers returned from WWI, to their homes in Wood County with a desire to succeed, to relax, and to enjoy life. Advancements in technology also created opportunities for fun in this rural community.

Jacob A. Riis: How the Other Half Lives will open on June 16 and run until August 11, 2019. This traveling exhibit from the National Endowment for the Humanities’ touring program, “NEH on the Road,” documents the squalid living conditions of New York’s poor immigrants and laborers in “The Gilded Age” of the early 20th century.

This contrast to the growing wealth of millionaires, such as Carnegie and Rockefeller, inspired many reforms of working-class housing. Riis was a Danish-born American photographer (1849-1914). This exhibit was made possible with a donation from Edwin and Irma Wolf.