From left, Connie Foster, department head of Western’s library technical services, and Jennifer Wilson, marketing coordinator of Western’s Libraries, enjoy hors d’oeurves during a twenties-style party at the Kentucky Building Friday evening. Attendees dressed in period clothing in homage to “The Great Gatsby,” which people read as part of the library’s Big Read program. MARY POWERS/HERALD

The Kentucky Building played host to a “The Great Gatsby” themed party Friday night as some guests dressed in twenties-style clothes and others came to the museum to see antique furniture.

The party commemorated the finale of The Big Read initiative by the Warren County Public Library and Western’s Libraries, as well as the official opening of the Snell-Franklin Decorative Arts Gallery in the museum.

The night served as the wrap up of the second Big Read promotion, paid for by the National Endowment for the Arts, said Tracy Harkins, the community outreach leader for Western’s Libraries.

She said they had given out over 1,000 free copies of “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald in just over a month.

“The books went a lot faster than they did with our first initiative with ‘To Kill a Mockingbird,’” Harkins said. “I think word got out faster about the program and many people were interested in reading or re-reading such a great American classic.”

The newly-opened gallery features about 500 handcrafted furnishings mostly built in the Kentucky area, said Timothy Mullin, head of special collections at the library.

“These pieces have been in storage at the museum for quite a while,” he said. “These pieces show us how Kentucky progressed in design, carpentry and furnishing over time.”

Members of the community interested in the history of decoration came out to walk through the exhibit. Bowling Green native Ellen Hauser attended with her husband.

“I can tell a lot more about the history of a place by something that was used by actual people,” Hauser said, glancing at an antique set of silverware. “I just don’t think a pretty painting tells the same story of a time and place like these things do.”

Mullin said most of the exhibit features wood-carved furniture such as four-poster beds.

Some even have a Western connection. He said former Western President Henry Hardin Cherry owned a table and glassware set that’s on display in the gallery.

Mullin said the gallery is named after two men who provided contributions to the university: Perry Snell and C. Ray Franklin. Both are Western alumni who became successful businessmen in their lifetime.

Some of Snell’s European artifacts are included in the exhibit as well as Franklin’s tea table, he said.

“We fully intend to make this a permanent gallery and continue to add more artifacts to the exhibit,” Mullin said.

Harkins said the gallery opening event was a very appropriate send off for this year’s Big Read.

“There are a lot of interesting pieces of historical furniture here,” Harkins said. “They might just be the type of furniture Fitzgerald imagined when writing his book. Who knows?”