In this feisty election season, the Michigan State University Museum presents a new exhibition with a political theme: "No Holds Barred: Political Cartoons of the Gilded Age," Aug. 24 - Dec. 31 in the West Gallery.

Among the most important developments in the popularization of the Gilded Age press (the late 19th Century) was the increasingly sophisticated use of visual ridicule -- political cartoons that informed, aroused, and pronounced on myriad contemporary issues, explains Samuel J. Thomas, MSU professor of history and the exhibition's curator. Favorite targets included graft and fraud that then, as now, too often characterized political life, most often at the local and state levels, but also at times at the national level.

"Political cartoons were widely read and quickly became the most effective criticism available in this highly partisan political culture. "Puck" magazine, the source of the political cartoons in this exhibit, was the premier journal of visual satire during the late 19th century, notes Thomas.

"The late Nineteenth Century was the Golden Age of political or editorial cartooning," he adds. "Colorful personalities and controversial events combined with advances in print and visual technologies and exceptionally talented artists made the Gilded Age a cartoonist's paradise."

Political cartoons -- a staple for searing social commentary in today's newspapers, periodicals and online -- are more than mere illustrations. They are valuable primary sources of the American past. Thomas, who has used these political cartoons in MSU classes and seminars for a number of years, was inspired to create a special exhibit at the MSU Museum during the 2008 election season. The "No Holds Barred" exhibit features 40 original political cartoons from his personal collections.

"They demonstrate both the superb artistry of their creators at the same time that they provide a unique mirror of a bygone age, the residuals of which are still very much with us in this presidential election year," Thomas adds.

Also of interest is another timely political-oriented special exhibit at the MSU Museum: "Presidential Elections in Times of Crisis: the Campaigns of Abraham Lincoln and Franklin D. Roosevelt." The exhibit features posters, portraits, graphics and sculptures and other artifacts on loan from Doug Kelley, Ann Arbor, Mich. This exhibit runs in the MSU Museum's Ground Floor Lobby now through December 2008.

This summer, the MSU Museum joined a select number of museums across America to serve as host sites for the Smithsonian Latino Center's new Young Ambassadors Program. The program consists of an in-depth seminar, held in Washington, D.C., and a month-long internship opportunity at one of 11 host museums across the United States. These experiences are intended to increase the participants' exposure to the arts and culture field, foster knowledge and pride in Latino cultural identity, and provide the participants with financial support with which to seek higher education. Through the program, the Smithsonian Latino Center hopes to "empower Latino youth to develop leadership and academic skills."

The program is funded by the Ford Motor Company Fund and as Raquel "Rocky" Egusquiza, director of Community Development and International Strategy at Ford Motor Company Fund says, "We believe that the arts have the ability to transform, educate, and inspire. We are thrilled to sponsor the Young Ambassadors Program and build on our tradition of supporting projects that celebrate Latino heritage and help shape the new generation of Latino leaders in the arts and culture."

The Smithsonian Latino Center selected, from a pool of national applicants, 12 high school students to participate in summer 2008. The intern who was matched with the MSU Museum is Guillermo Peralta, valedictorian of this spring's graduation class at Everett High School in Lansing, who will be starting at Yale University this fall as a music major.

During his time at the MSU Museum, Michigan's first Smithsonian affiliate, Peralta spent time doing object provenance research, assisted in researching potential participants in the educational programs for the fall 2008 exhibition "Our Journeys, Our Stories: Portraits of Latino Achievement," assisted with site coordination at the Great Lakes Folk Festival, and curated an "Exhibit in a Drawer" in the MSU Museum's Collection Connection exhibition gallery. Of his time at the MSU Museum, Peralta said it opened his eyes up to the richness and complexities of museum work and the potential to use objects in primary research. He is now considering part-time student employment at one of the museums at Yale.

Dr. Marsha MacDowell, curator and professor, Michigan State University Museum, served as Peralta's overall internship supervisor and Lynne Swanson, Bill Matt, and Val Berryman of the MSU Museum also supervised additional activities. Peralta also provided some assistance to Dr. Ricardo Lorenz in the MSU College of Music related to bring conductor Tania Léon to campus.

Join the MSU Museum, City of East Lansing and all your friends at 6 p.m. for the opening of the 2008 Great Lakes Folk Festival! Great Highlands bagpiper Devin Lamb will lead a procession from Dublin Square to the M.A.C. Stage, at the corner of M.A.C. and Albert. (Then catch Lamb later in the weekend as part of the new CraftWORKS! program -- read more below.)

Then GLFF will officially open with April Verch's Ottawa Valley fiddling and hot-footed step-dancing. Also on tap for the evening, musically: Sones de Mexico, Mamadou Diabate from Mali, Africa, Tuba Dan's Family Band polka, New Ballard's Branch Bogtrotters old-time, Jeffery Broussard and the Creole Cowboys, Crooked Road Revue bluegrass, Singletons gospel, Cephas & Wiggins Piedmont blues, and Reveillons! Quebecois music from Canada. Special thanks to the City of East Lansing for sponsoring the music program.

The weekend includes 21 hours of programming produced by the MSU Museum, picking up Saturday, 12 noon - 10:30 p.m. and Sunday, 12 noon - 6 p.m.

SHARE YOUR FESTIVAL PHOTOS! Share your Great Lakes Folk Festival photos and video clips with the MSU Museum and we'll add links to the online galleries to our GLFF web site and MSU Museum Facebook page. Just send them to: pr@museum.msu.edu.

FESTIVAL FAST FACTS: RIDE THE CATA RED & GREEN ROUTES:
Ride for just 25-cents, one-way fare, when you board a Great Lakes Folk Festival bus. If you pay cash to ride CATA, you must use exact change. Children 42" or less ride for free. Board and deboard at any CATA bus stop along red and green routes, with designated parking areas at the Abbott Center and MSU Lot 91, respectively. (The Abbott Center is on Abbott just North of Saginaw & Lot 91 is located on Service Road, just west of Hagadorn Road, on the MSU campus.) Transfers to other buses may be made at boarding centers or bus stops along the route. CATA fixed-route transfers are free. Just ask the driver for a transfer ticket when you board your first bus.

The Great Lakes Folk Festival bus route schedule is available on CATA's web site, http://www.cata.org, at the MSU Museum, East Lansing City Hall and various business locations.

Please note the CATA Folk Festival bus routes are scheduled to run:
4:30 PM - 11:30 PM Friday, August 8
11 AM - 11:30 PM Saturday, August 9
11 AM - 6:30 PM Sunday, August 10

Buses run approximately every 10 minutes. This service allows festival-goers to arrive early and stay until the end and still have a ride back to their vehicle.

Additionally, bike racks are available on all CATA buses for those who wish to bike to the festival and ride the bus home, and all buses are equipped with lifts and ramps.

BETTER YET, BIKE TO GLFF!
With soaring gas prices, now may be a better time to ditch the car and bike to GLFF. The Tri-County Bicycle Association will provide free guarded parking for festival-goers at a bike lot located at the corner of Albert Street and Abbott Road.

DRIVERS, NOTE:
For those who drive, the City of East Lansing has a number of parking ramps downtown. Motorists can also park literally steps away from the festival, across the street on the MSU campus in designated spots that are free to the public on weekends (check posted signs).

ROAD CLOSURES:
The following roads will be closed for festival pedestrian traffic from Friday, Aug. 8 through Sunday, Aug. 10: Evergreen Road (from East Grand River Avenue to Oakhill Avenue); Albert Avenue (corner of Albert Avenue and Charles Street); Grove Street (corner of Grove Street and Albert Avenue); Abbott Road (from Grand River Avenue to Oakhill); Valley Court Drive (closed entirely); MAC (from Albert to Linden); and Delta (from Grand River Avenue to Valley Court Drive). Motorists are advised to please find alternate routes for these roads on the days of the festival.

HANDICAPPER PARKING: - Adjacent to St. John's Student Parish, 327 M.A.C. Avenue
- Designated areas and in each Park & Ride parking area
- City Hall parking lot, on Park Lane
- West Valley Court Drive, near the Community Center.

Join the MSU Museum for a special activity constructing "Ugly Quilts" this weekend at GLFF. "Ugly Quilts" are sleeping bags made from scraps of old clothes, bedspreads, ties and any other kind of scrap fabrics someone may have tucked away in a closet at home. Quilters make these inexpensive quilts and then distribute them to the homeless in their surrounding cities. Nationally, more than 100,000 "Ugly Quilts" have been given away to people in need.

An "Ugly Quilt" can be made in less than a day and a group can make one in an hour. No previous experience is necessary to participate. The "Ugly Quilt" activity will be set up next to the Folk Arts Marketplace on Saturday and Sunday, 12 noon - 6 p.m., between Evergreen and Valley Court Drive.

This activity is presented as part of MSU Museum's "Quilts and Human Rights" exhibit which runs until Aug. 24 in the Main Gallery. The exhibit reveals how traditional art forms are used to convey powerful beliefs, values and experiences related to social-justice issues. Learn more here: http://museum.msu.edu/Exhibitions/Current/quilts_and_human_rights.html.

NEW AT GLFF '08: CRAFTWORKS! The MSU Museum shows the vitality and vibrance of the state's cultural heritage at the Great Lakes Folk Festival, Aug. 8-10 in downtown East Lansing, with its new CraftWORKS! program in downtown East Lansing.

Because of Michigan's unique natural and physical elements, together with its incredible diversity of social, occupational, recreational, ethnic, and religious traditions, it is no wonder that the state hosts thousands of individuals and businesses who have and can make a wide variety of crafts. Some of these crafts are unparalleled in their form, technical mastery, and creativity; some have deep meanings to the communities from which they spring; all contribute to the economy of the state.

CraftWORKS! program demonstrations will take place at GLFF near the Legacy Stage and Folk Arts Marketplace, between Evergreen and Valley Court Drive. Some musical performances and meet-the-artist sessions are also planned for the Legacy Stage (see the schedule for details). The Children's Folk Activities Area will also pick up the CraftWORKS! theme with make-and-take crafts. CraftWORKS! program hours are Saturday and Sunday, 12 noon - 6 p.m.

MSU MUSEUM PRESENTS 2008 MICHIGAN HERITAGE AWARDS AT GLFF Recipients of the 2008 Michigan Heritage Awards will be recognized at a public ceremony at the Great Lakes Folk Festival on Saturday, Aug. 9 at 2:45 p.m. at the Legacy Stage, where the honorees will also receive legislative tributes recognizing their contributions to the state's rich cultural heritage.

The following individuals have received a 2008 Michigan Heritage Award for their achievements: Performance: Seikichi Iha of Lansing for Okinawan traditional martial art of karate-do; and Johnny Sarweh of Fraser for playing the qanun, Middle Eastern zither; and for Material Culture, Herb Nehring of Oshtemo for blacksmithing.

The Michigan Heritage Awards are the state's highest distinction to honor individuals who preserve and share their family, community and cultural traditions with excellence.

Learn more about these and other programs at http://greatlakesfolkfest.net , and invite all your Facebook friends to attend the event as well -- see http://www.new.facebook.com/event.php?eid=10222494617 (log-in required).

Date/ Time: Thursday, September 25, 2008 at 7:30 p.m.
Location: Pasant Theatre
Tickets: $25.00 General Public $15.00 for students with valid
ID Box Office: www.whartoncenter.com
517.432.2000, 1.800.WHARTON
Jay Ungar & Molly Mason are extraordinary musicians. If you didn't know it before, you sure did after Ken Burns' The Civil War hit the airwaves. Their performance of Jay's haunting composition "Ashokan Farewell" - the musical hallmark of the PBS series - earned the couple international acclaim. The soundtrack won a Grammy and "Ashokan Farewell" - originally inspired by Jay & Molly's annual fiddle and dance camps - was nominated for an Emmy.

Since joining forces in the late 1970s, Ungar and Mason have become one of the most celebrated duos on the American acoustic music scene. With their comfortable sense of fun and their love of music, they make each concert a musical journey - sometimes spanning two continents and two centuries. Their incomparable warmth and wit - coupled with consummate musicianship - have delighted audiences worldwide.

Listen to the timeless renditions of hard-driving Appalachian, Cajun and Celtic fiddle tunes, stirring Civil War classics, sassy songs from the golden age of swing and country, stunning waltzes, and deeply moving original compositions, and it's immediately apparent why Ungar and Mason concerts warm the heart, feed the soul, and appeal to all ages. They've garnered legions of fans through their appearances on Great Performances, A Prairie Home Companion, their own public radio specials, and work on film soundtracks such as Brother's Keeper, Legends of the Fall, and a host of Ken Burns documentaries.

Co-presented by Wharton Center for Performing Arts and the MSU Museum's Great Lakes Folk Festival.

It's a dino-sized dose of fun and fitness at the 23rd annual MSU Federal Credit Union Dinosaur Dash on Sunday, Oct. 5, 10 a.m. at the Michigan State University Museum.

The fast, flat certified 5K-road race is a fall-time favorite and a long-time benefit for the Michigan State University Museum educational programs. A full line-up of activities creates colossal-fossil fun for the entire family.

The competitive 5K run/walk -- the season capper for the Greater Lansing Race Series -- begins and ends in front of the MSU Museum on West Circle Drive. Dashers compete in several different divisions and dinosaur trophies are awarded to overall male and female winners in both the running and walking categories.

Meanwhile, two special runs are designed for the younger crowd: the Museum Mile for youths 12 and under to run or walk a one-mile loop around West Circle Drive; and the Mini-Dash, an all-out 200-yard sprint for kids 6 and under. All Museum Milers and Mini Dashers receive an official Dinosaur Dash award medal.

Race entry fees for the 5K run/walk are $20 before Sept. 22; $25 from Sept. 23 - Oct.4; and $30 on race day. Children's fees range from $5 before Sept. 22; $10 from Sept. 23 - Oct. 4; and $15 on race day. All fees include a quality short-sleeved T-shirt, a race-walking clinic, post-race food, beverages, and a donation that supports the MSU Museum's educational programs. (Shirt size and selection may be limited on race day.)

A children's carnival outdoors and dinosaur fun indoors round out the day's activities. The MSU Museum features the area's only full-mounted dinosaur casts, a Stegosaurus and Allosaurus, which provide the inspiration for the Dinosaur Dash.

Viewers around the world can watch the proceedings live on this MSU Today webcast of the MSU Museum grounds: http://news.msu.edu/webcams/webcam01.html .

MSU Federal Credit Union Dinosaur Dash entry forms are available at MSUFCU branches, Playmakers on Grand River Ave. in Okemos, and at the MSU Museum; or on-line at http://www.museum.msu.edu/Events/DinosaurDash/ (online registration coming soon). The MSU Museum is located on West Circle Drive, next to Beaumont Tower on the Michigan State University campus. For more details, contact the MSU Museum at (517)355-2370 or email dinodash@museum.msu.edu. Throughout its years as title sponsor for the event, the MSU Federal Credit Union has helped raise more than $250,000 for the MSU Museum, Michigan's natural history and culture museum and the state's first Smithsonian affiliate. Additional sponsors of this year's MSU Federal Credit Union Dinosaur Dash are Asics, Besco, Elfco, Impressions 5 Science Center, Larry Cushion Trophies & Engraving, Meijer, Melting Moments, Panera Bread, Playmakers, 99.1-WFMK, and Yoplait.

The MSU Museum-produced special exhibition "Weavings of War: Fabrics of Memory" has been adapted as a virtual exhibition with educational resources. View it here: http://www.citylore.org/wow .

The exhibit reflects an eloquent and powerful testimony of the impacts of modern warfare in our world and the relevancy and resilience of folk arts in contemporary life. "Weavings of War" showcases textiles made in a variety of techniques by artists -- mostly women -- who have incorporated pictorial imagery in their work to communicate their personal and collective experiences with war. The objects included in "Weavings of War" encompass powerful contradictions: individual artistry versus community aesthetics; global versus local impacts of war; individual versus universal experience; and assumptions of folk arts as unchanging, rural and complacent.

Many of the artists represented by the work in "Weavings of War" still live in countries marked by recent conflict; some are refugees who have resettled in the United States. Examples of work are drawn from residents in and refugees from Afghanistan, Chile, Laos, Lebanon, Peru, South Africa and Thailand.

The exhibition and and an accompanying publication (were produced by City Lore (New York City), Michigan Traditional Arts Program/Michigan State University Museum, and the Vermont Folklife Center (Middlebury), three nationally-recognized organizations that have long been committed to documenting and presenting traditional arts and artists, not only of their immediate geographical areas, but also of artists beyond. Major funding for this project has been provided by The Rockefeller Foundation, The Coby Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts.