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Programs & Activities»The Martha Spencer Rogers Crèche CollectionLocated on the second floor of the Marquette wing And the Word became flesh and dwelt among
us Martha Spencer Rogers lived in La Paz, Bolivia in the mid 1960s and was inspired by her neighbors' devotion to the nativity scene for their Christmas celebrations. One neighbor literally cleared out a bedroom to set up an enormous scene of travelers climbing a mountain to arrive at the nativity. By the time that Martha returned to the United States in 1967, she had acquired thirteen crèches.
Along with her sister Jay, Martha became interested in handmade cultural, ethnic, and folk art crèches. They love exploring and learning about crèche traditions in their travels and as they attend conventions of the Friends of the Crèche. In 2003, she presented a gift of more than 110 crèches representing 77 countries to Westminster. The collection made its debut in The Westminster Gallery for the exhibition The Crèche in Many Languages that Advent.
The collection now lives on the second floor of the
Marquette wing, in the midst of the Sunday School classrooms,
and the collection continues to grow. As new members join
Westminster, Martha strives to find handcrafted crèches from
each country. The most recent addition is from Togo.
Return to The Westminster Gallery For additional information please contact
Rodney Allen
Schwartz, |
