Visit our museum for a delightful and fashionable group outing! We are open year round, Wednesdays through Sundays, and offer fascinating one-hour guided tours by specially trained docents for groups of ten or more. After your tour, you may enjoy shopping at our museum store that features wonderful art, jewelry, books and items related to our exhibitions.

Group rates are $4 per person; tour leader and driver are complimentary. We offer free on-site motor coach parking and are easily accessible via interstates 76 and 480 (we are less than an hour away from Pennsylvania or Cleveland).

We also offer various tour packages in conjunction with other fine attractions in the area. To arrange a group tour please contact Ray Bergdorf, Security Officer, at (330) 672-3450, or by e-mail at museum@kent.edu.

ITINERARY 1
A Fashionable Outing at KSU Museum and Aurora Premium Outlets

Enjoy touring one of the country's loveliest museums of fashion and decorative arts, the Kent State University Museum. We provide a guided tour of our nine galleries of historic and contemporary fashions in addition to collectible glass and other decorative arts. Begin your shopping excursion at our museum store - we stock exclusive and fashionable objets d'art and interesting items related to our exhibitions. After your museum tour, enjoy a delicious home-style Amish lunch and continue your shopping excursion at Aurora Premium Outlets (featuring more than 70 outlets offering designer apparel and manufacturer-direct brands at a savings of 25%-65%).

Tour Details:

Advance reservation is required.

ITINERARY II
A Fashionable Mansion Tour: KSU Museum and Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens

Explore Akron's majestic Stan Hywet Hall and Gardens, a magnificent example of Tudor Revival architecture and the former home of the founding family of Goodyear Tire & Rubber. In the warmer seasons, start your day with a one-hour guided tour of the artfully landscaped Stan Hywet Gardens, followed by an intriguing one-hour guided tour of the celebrated 65-room mansion. After your tour, enjoy a gourmet-boxed lunch on the scenic grounds of the estate and a visit to the gift shop.

Your fashionable mansion tour continues in nearby Kent, Ohio (just 30 minutes away) with a one-hour guided tour of one of the top-rated fashion museums in the country that features one of the nation's largest and finest collections of period and contemporary fashions. Founded in 1983 by fashion leaders Shannon Rodgers and Jerry Silverman, the Kent State University Museum features nine galleries of historic and contemporary fashions in addition to collectible glass and other decorative arts. After the tour, visit the museum store that offers exclusive and fashionable objets d'art and interesting items related to the exhibitions.

Tour Details:

Advance reservation is required.

*Tours are available Wednesday through Saturdays (certain restrictions may apply in January).

ITINERARY III
Home Sweet Home: KSU Museum & Hale Farm and Village

Begin your fashionable tour surrounded by the beauty of the Kent State University Museum. The current exhibition, Designing Domesticity: Decorating the American Home Since 1876, examines the trends and focal points of fashion and the home in an engaging look at how decorative arts and interior design have developed in the United States, how the family uses spaces within the home and how this has changed over the decades. It emphasizes four time periods and rooms within the home including:
- the 1870s front hall with view into the parlor
- the 1920s bungalow kitchen with view into the dining room
- the 1950s basement or recreation room bomb-shelter of the mid-20th century
- and the present day open floor plan or great room arrangement of the 20th century lifestyle exemplified by Martha Stewart

Your next stop will be at the Holiday Inn Richfield for a scrumptious lunch in their full service restaurant. Special group menus provide a variety of nutritious and delicious meals.

Then, you are off for the rest of your day to Hale Farm & Village to experience the life-styles of women and their families in a bustling Western Reserve town where the year is 1848. Visit the historic role-playing Village of Wheatfield, as fashion comes to life! See fashions as they were actually worn in the 19th century, demonstrated by village residents. Speak to women in Wheatfield about fashions of the time period and their fashion sense. Plus, visit historic artisans, such as our spinner and weaver to learn the techniques of creating fashions of the early 19th century.

Tour Details:

Advance reservation is required*.

ITINERARY V
Temptations, Sensations and (a little) Libations Tour
A Package for All Seasons (Northeast Ohio)

Enjoy a group tour that features many wonderful area attractions!

DAY 1

DAY 2

Advance reservation is required.

*Dates and times of tour can be modified to meet time constraints.