Hoh boy, would my kids love this! A costume museum! I got this email from the Brooklyn Museum, telling me that their latest exhibition (starts January 1) will be moved to Manhattan's Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art and will constitute the largest collection of costumes in the world!

Effective January 2009, the Brooklyn Museum's renowned costume collection of 23,500 objects, amassed during more than a century of collecting, will be transferred to The Costume Institute of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, where it will be known as The Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Works from the collection will be fully integrated into The Costume Institute's program of exhibitions, publications, and education initiatives.

Brooklyn's collection constitutes perhaps the world's foremost holdings of American fashion from the late 19th to the mid-20th century. Director Arnold Lehman stated: "This landmark collaboration will create a model for similar museum partnerships both nationally and internationally. We are deeply grateful to the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for providing funding that made it possible for us to develop careful long-term plans for optimal stewardship of these extraordinary holdings."

...Founded in 1937, The Museum of Costume Art, after its incorporation and renaming as The Costume Institute, became a part of the Metropolitan Museum in 1946. Currently it contains a collection of more than 31,000 pieces dating from the 17th century to the present, including fashionable dress and regional costumes from Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas. The Costume Institute organizes two or three exhibitions each year, which receive international recognition. Involved in art-historical research since its founding, The Costume Institute contributes to scholarship through a range of publications.

We love looking at costumes and other such things. It seems easier to picture the ways of life in history by seeing their clothes and everyday implements. I am always astonished at how TINY the people were! It's staggering to me to realize the great strides we've made in food abundance and nutrition so that we are so much larger then our ancestors. Today, we seem more concerned about losing weight and Lipovox reviews, but back then, losing weight could mean death. It's just amazing to me.

I'm hoping the some of the costumes will be available for viewing online. It's funny that I got this news today-- I was telling the kids how it's so great to visit New York City in the winter, because there are zillions of incredible museums open and no summer crowds. So we'll definitely have to go sometime!

If you are interested, you can check out the Brooklyn Museum's website here.