Special Collections' Marianne Weldon Co-Authors Book on the Detroit Opera House
Marianne Weldon, the collections manager in Bryn Mawr's Special Collections, is co-author of the new book Detroit Opera House.
The book is part of the Images of America series from Arcadia Publishing and The History Press.
From the publishers:
"The theater known today as the Detroit Opera House has been an integral part of the city’s culture and history as well as the live entertainment industry. Its existence has been threatened in the past, but it has survived wars, the Great Depression, civil unrest, economic meltdowns, the abandonment of downtown, and, most recently, a pandemic. Generations of patrons have fond, vivid memories of attending films, stage presentations, or events with family and friends as it transitioned from the Broadway Capitol to the Paramount to the Grand Circus to the Detroit Opera House. The reason for building these 'temples of amusement' was to literally transport a guest into another world, and the Detroit Opera House has valiantly fulfilled that task. What began as an idea by David DiChiera, founder of Michigan Opera Theatre, the owner and operator of today’s Detroit Opera House, blossomed into a magnificent performing arts center with its formal opening in 1996."
Prior to coming to Bryn Mawr, Weldon worked for various museums in the Detroit area, including The Detroit Historical Museum and The Detroit Institute of Arts. While at the Detroit Historical Museum, Weldon and co-author Michael Hauser started collaborating on Images of America books to raise money for various historic institutions. Previous collaborations include Hudson's: Detroit’s Legendary Department Store; Detroit’s Downtown Movie Palaces; 20th Century Retailing in Downtown Detroit; Remembering Hudson’s: The Grand Dame of Detroit Retailing; and 20th Century Retailing in Grand Rapids.
Detroit Opera House will be available on Jan. 24, 2022.