Ellen Havre Weis (May 14, 1957 – July 27, 2021) was an American historian and a co-founder of the Museum of Modern Mythology in San Francisco.[1][2]
Ellen Havre Weis | |
|---|---|
 Ellen Havre Weis in 1988 | |
| Born | May 14, 1957 |
| Died | July 27, 2021 (aged 64) |
| Occupation(s) | historian, museum co-founder |
| Known for | Museum of Modern Mythology |
Early life
editWeis was born in 1957 in Levittown, Pennsylvania. Her mother, Aimee LeVita Weis, was a college librarian, and her father Henry Kraus Weis, was a product engineer.[3] In 1975 she enrolled in the writing program of the University of Iowa.[3] She dropped out of school a year before graduating, and continued working in her part-time job as a typesetter at an Iowa City boutique publishing house.[3] In 1982 she moved to San Francisco.[3]
Career
editIn San Francisco, Weis founded the Museum of Modern Mythology in 1982 with Matthew Cohen and Jeff Errick.[1][4] The museum, was open from 1982 to 1989. It displayed 3000 pop advertising icons, including pop brand icons such as Mr. Clean, the Pillsbury Doughboy, Frito Bandito, Col. Sanders, Cap’n Crunch, Mr. Peanut and the Michelin Man.[5] In 1987 Weis said that the museum's goal was to "take these advertising characters out of their normal context of sales and look at them as anthropology. Most of American society has been exposed to these images. Certainly the Jolly Green Giant is more recognizable than Zeus--or your state senator".[5] The museum was damaged during the Loma Prieta earthquake and never reopened.[6] After the museum's closure, Weis opened a public relations firm in San Francisco.[3]
In 2004, Weis authored the book Berkeley: The Life and Spirit of a Remarkable Town.[4]
Death
editWeise died at home at age 64 from brain cancer.[1]
References
edit- ^ a b c Williams, Annabelle (17 August 2021). "Ellen Havre Weis, Whose Museum Put Pop Into Mythology, Dies at 64". The New York Times.
- ^ Glamour. Condé Nast Publications. 1989.
- ^ a b c d e Whiting, Sam (6 August 2021). "Ellen Weis, S.F. museum director who saw cultural value of TV ad characters, dies at 64". San Francisco Chronicle.
- ^ a b McCormick, Erin (11 August 2021). "Remembering Ellen Havre Weis, Berkeley historian and pop culture museum founder". Berkeleyside.
- ^ a b "Mr. Peanut and His Pals Rate Their Own Museum". Los Angeles Times. 17 February 1987.
- ^ "'Mr Peanut has a life of his own': San Francisco bids farewell to a curator who saw ads as art". the Guardian. 11 August 2021.