The M.H. de Young Memorial Museum will close the doors to its earthquake-damaged building for the last time on December 31, 2000 to make way for a new museum that will open in 2005. A series of special events planned for the week of December 26Š31 will allow the public to bid farewell to the old facility and celebrate the de Young and its role in the community. During the final week the admission fee to the de Young will be waived, and visitors will be allowed to take flash photographs.

Elder Arts 2005 features approximately 100 works of art from two programs of Eldergivers, an organization that fosters positive connections between elders and the wider community. Art with Elders places professional artists in long-term care facilities to offer residents an opportunity to explore their creative abilities in weekly painting classes and also exhibits in a variety of public locations the art produced in these classes. Elder Arts Celebrations exhibits the art of alumni, faculty, and students over the age of 65 from Bay Area art schools.

This exhibition inaugurates the de Young’s exciting new textile galleries in grand fashion with a look back over 110 years of the museum’s textile and costume collecting, along with a glimpse into future collecting directions. Old favorites and new surprises make up the approximately 100 objects on view, including European couture fashion, contemporary fiber art, Central Asian carpets, Indian trade cloth, textiles and costume from Africa and Indonesia, and fragments of the costly fabrics that once fueled trade along the Silk Road.

Shortly after the development of photography in France and England at the end of the 1830s, the medium was introduced with great fanfare and enthusiasm to the United States. Since those early days, photography has become an important creative medium in American cultural life through its application in the areas of fine art, science, and documentary projects. The de Young Museum has played an important role in the history of American photography, having hosted the historic F64 group exhibition in 1932.