Boston: Revolutionary and Remarkable

In celebration of the United States Semiquincentennial, join us for a special Symposium in Boston! Founded in 1630, Boston was one of the most prosperous and influential port cities in the American colonies and a center of furniture and silver production. It was later the birthplace of the American Revolution, with key events and battles occurring in the city and the surrounding region. In the 19th century, Greater Boston was a distinguished cultural, intellectual, and literary center and remains a dynamic hub for education, innovation, and the arts today. With deep insight from scholars, curators, and archaeologists, the Symposium offers exclusive access to the Boston area’s well-preserved Colonial, Neoclassical, and Victorian neighborhoods and historic house museums, stately public buildings and churches, and venerable academic and cultural institutions.

This program is sold out. Please contact us at programs@decorativeartstrust.org to join the waitlist.

Thursday, September 17, 6:00 pm–9:00 pm

Welcoming Remarks and Opening Reception at American Ancestors

The Jonathan L. Fairbanks Lecture
Boston’s Revolutionary Ground: Archaeology and the Making of an American City
Joe Bagley, City Archaeologist and Director of Archaeology, City of Boston Archaeology Program

Following our opening lecture, join us for a welcome reception that sets the tone for our exploration of the city’s long history. American Ancestors, also known as the New England Historic Genealogical Society, is a national nonprofit center for family history, heritage, and culture, that is opening its doors to us for an after-hours exploration of its galleries, collections, and archival materials.

Sponsored by

Friday, September 18, 8:45 am–5:30 pm

Our day begins at the top of Beacon Hill near the Massachusetts State House. At the Boston Athenaeum, we delve into one of the country’s oldest independent libraries with Reed Gochberg, who curates this unique combination of museum and cultural center. Architect Peter Harrison’s King’s Chapel, with a stately Ionic portico, stands among the finest Georgian structures in Colonial America and was the first Anglican church in Boston and later the earliest Unitarian church in America. At the Old State House, once the center of royal government in the Massachusetts Bay Colony and the site of the famed Boston Massacre, we are hosted by Nat Shieldly, President and CEO of Revolutionary Spaces.

Following lunch at a favorite local restaurant, we continue to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Nonie Gadsden, the Katharine Lane Weems Senior Curator of American Decorative Arts and Sculpture, and her team treat us to special tours of the reimagined 18th-century galleries in the Art of the Americas Wing. The new display, timed in concert with America’s Semiquincentennial celebrations, brings together works of art from cultures across the Americas and considers how artists have contributed to, or in some cases resisted, ideas of nationhood and identity.

Saturday, September 19, 8:45 am–5:00 pm

We spend the morning in Boston’s Back Bay, tucked between Boston Common and the banks of the Charles River. One of the best-preserved examples of 19th-century urban planning in the United States, this historic neighborhood was built upon a system of submerged wooden pilings and is characterized by broad tree-lined avenues and regal Victorian brownstones. Our first stop is Trinity Church, an exuberant expression of Henry Hobson Richardson’s Romanesque Revival architecture, completed in 1877. The nearby Gibson House features exceptionally preserved interiors and collections dating to 1859. Our host Michelle Marchetti Coughlin, Site Director, conveys the cosmopolitan lives of the Gibson family, who occupied the home for three generations. Adjacent to the Back Bay is the venerable Massachusetts Historical Society (MHS) where we are hosted by Lisa Krassner, President. Founded in 1791, the MHS is an invaluable resource for the study of American history, life, and culture.

Lunch is served at The Chilton Club, designed in 1870 by architect Henry Richards of the firm of Ware and Van Brunt, followed by an afternoon on Lower Beacon Hill, a charming neighborhood of cobblestone streets and brick sidewalks lined with Neoclassical and Greek Revival rowhouses and gas lamps. A walking tour led by historic preservation consultant William Young highlights the landmarks in this historic neighborhood. Among them, stands as an exceptional example of architect Charles Bulfinch’s Neoclassicism, the Colonial Society of Massachusetts Headquarters, where we are hosted privately by Robert Allison, President. At the William Hickling Prescott House, Meghan Gelardi Holmes, Executive Director for Properties and Collections for the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America, guides us on an exploration of the rich collections.

Sunday, September 20, 8:45 am–11:00 am in The Square at the Boston Park Plaza Hotel

We conclude our Symposium with four presentations by emerging and distinguished scholars that demonstrate different aspects of Greater Boston’s material culture traditions. From Colonial furniture to Pre-Raphaelite painting to therapeutic craft in the early 20th century, these lectures illustrate Boston’s history of global engagement and social and cultural innovation.

The John A.H. Sweeney Emerging Scholar Lecture
“To Promote the Comfort and Happiness of the Inmates”: Occupational Craft at McLean Hospital in the Early 20th Century
Hailey Robbins, Curator, Gibson House Museum; Site Manager, Royall House and Slave Quarters

The Marie Zimmermann Emerging Scholar Lecture
A Total Work of Art: Paintings, Poems, and Frames in the “Ideal Work” of Mary Lizzie Macomber, 1880–1916
Fiona Owens, PhD Candidate, Case Western Reserve University

Echoing the Past: John Singer Sargent and 18th-Century Portraiture
Erica Hirshler, PhD, Croll Senior Curator of American Paintings, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

A Boston Masterpiece: Benjamin Frothingham’s Bombe Desk and Bookcase
Brock Jobe, Professor Emeritus of American Decorative Arts, Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library

Lincoln and Concord
Tuesday, September 15, 8:30 am–7:30 pm

A scenic coach ride takes us from the hustle and bustle of Boston to the serenity of Lincoln. Our first stop brings us to the Codman Estate, a picture-perfect presentation of Neoclassical sensibility. The design of this grand country house is attributed to architect Charles Bulfinch. Inside the home, art and memorabilia collected in Europe and America showcase the decorative schemes of every era. Shepherding us through the estate are Erica Lome, Curator of Collections at Historic New England, and Brock Jobe, Professor Emeritus of American Decorative Arts at Winterthur. Providing a total change in aesthetic direction, the Gropius House awaits, where we are hosted by Wendy Hubbard, Site Manager. Designed by Walter Gropius, founder of the Bauhaus school, for his family’s use, this residence exemplifies this Modernist architects’ ambition to unify fine art, craftsmanship, functionality, materials, and technology.

We then depart for Concord, rich in Revolutionary history and the ruminations of Romantic writers and poets. At the Old Manse, we are hosted by Rachael Robinson, Property Manager, for small-group tours of this storied house. Built by Reverend William Emerson in 1769, the site remains relatively unchanged today with echoes of the Revolution and the birth of the Transcendentalist movement. A short walk away sits the North Bridge, often referred to as the location of the fabled “shot heard ’round the world” and the beginning of the American War for Independence. Lunch awaits at the Concord Museum, followed by tours of the museum hosted by Christie Jackson, Curator and Director of Exhibitions; David Wood, Curator; and Allison Shilling, Deputy Director and Director of Advancement.

We conclude the day with visits to two exceptional private collections. The 1756 Stratton Tavern was moved to Concord and painstakingly restored by its current owners, who have assembled a remarkable collection of Boston, Concord, and Connecticut River Valley furnishings and decorative arts from 1680 to 1780. We also have a special invitation to visit a leading collector and scholar of Chinese export porcelain and China trade paintings, who shares his treasures with our group.

Cambridge and Waltham
Wednesday, September 16, 8:45 am–7:15 pm

We depart northward over the Charles River for the collegiate city of Cambridge for a walking tour by Charles Sullivan, Executive Director of the Cambridge Historical Commission, and Susan Maycock, Retired Survey Director of the Cambridge Historical Commission. This stroll leads us from the bustle of Harvard Square to the historic district and brings to life tales of Puritanical trials, British Loyalists, and great poets. At the Longfellow House, we are hosted by Kate Hanson Plass, Archivist, and David Daly, Curator. Originally built for a wealthy sugar plantation owner and enslaver, this gorgeous Georgian house is best known as George Washington’s first long-term headquarters during the American Revolution, as well as the residence where Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote many of his most celebrated works.

We enjoy lunch together at a pleasant local restaurant before continuing on for tours of the Harvard Art Museums, which display rich collections of fine and decorative arts from the Middle Ages to the present day. Continuing westward for Waltham, we arrive at Gore Place for afternoon tours. Our hosts, Gavin Kleespies, Executive Director, and Clark Pearce, Collections Committee member, offer an in-depth perspective on this significant Neoclassical mansion, built in 1806 for Massachusetts governor Christopher Gore and sometimes referred to as the Monticello of the North. A reception on the grounds of the 50-acre estate concludes the day’s activities.

The South Shore
Thursday, September 17, 8:30 am–5:00 pm

Our morning begins with a southward drive along the coastline to Quincy. Established in 1625, the town was home to two presidents. We visit the Adams National Historical Park, where we are hosted by Patty Smith and Matthew Vigneau, Curators for the National Park Service, who steward the mid-18th-century house purchased by John and Abigail Adams in 1787 and built upon by four generations of the Adams family, as well as the Stone Library, constructed to preserve the staggering personal collection of John Quincy Adams. We continue to tour the Josiah Quincy House with Nancy Carlisle, Curator Emeritus of Historic New England. This country estate overlooking Quincy Bay transports us to the Revolutionary era and tells the story of Eliza Susan Quincy’s work to preserve her family’s history.

We reach the Eustis Estate in time for lunch followed by guided tours of the house and grounds. Built in 1878, the house sits on a picturesque 80 acres of conserved land at the base of the Blue Hills. It is an exceptional example of late-19th-century Queen Anne architecture, designed by renowned architect W. Ralph Emerson and filled with stunning details unlike those found in any other house in the Boston area. Historic New England’s Peter Gittleman, Vice President of Visitor Experience; Erica Lome, Curator of Collections; and Nancy Carlisle lead our experience of this spectacular site, which includes the Semiquincentennial exhibition Myth and Memory: Stories of the American Revolution.