The 13th annual Night at the Museum event at the Reading Public Museum celebrated the opening of Dressing the Abbey, an exhibit featuring 36 original costumes worn by the stars of Downton Abbey. The exhibition will be held at the museum until Jan. 18, 2026. The exhibit of the British historical drama television series conveys through design the changes in style that occurred from the late Edwardian era through the early 1930s. The popular show aired in the U.S. on PBS and dealt with the lives of the aristocratic Crawley family and their staff in a post-Edwardian era. It depicted social hierarchy in a fictional Yorkshire country estate through major events such as WWI, a changing class system, and the gradual decline of aristocracy. Several movies about the show were made, the most recent in theaters now, Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale. To celebrate the opening of the museums fall exhibition, Night at The Museum, a ticketed event, gave guests the first chance to explore the exhibit galleries, eat, experience an English tea tasting provided by A Taste of Britain, drink signature cocktails, and dance to live music provided by The Craig Satchell Jazz and Swing Ensemble. Paid additional activities to raise funds for the museum included digital caricatures by Angie Jordan, custom tea blending by Katydid Tea Farm, and a large silent auction, among other events. A younger than expected crowd, guests dressed in cocktail attire, some formal, most semi-formal, all shared the common interest in supporting the museum and their interest in the fictional British show. In 2014, the Winterthur Museum hosted Costumes of Downton Abbey, and the exhibit rewrote the books on attendance for the museum. It was among the most popular and highest attended exhibit the museum ever had. Heres hoping Dressing the Abbey can do the same for the Reading Public Museum. The Reading Public Museum is located at 500 Museum Road, Reading, Pa.