Next Week! Adam Smith (3/5), Bruce Lincoln (3/6), and Violence and Civilization Colloquium (3/6-3/7), and Brown Bag talk by Michelle Berenfeld (3/5)

The Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology and the Ancient World will be presenting several events next Thursday, Friday, and Saturday:

Brown Bag Series in Archaeology:
Michelle Berenfeld (Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology)
“Nights and Round Tables: Men, Gods, and Dinner in Late Antiquity”

Thursday, March 5th, 2009 at 12:00 pm
Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology, 70 Waterman Street, Seminar Room

Adam Smith (University of Chicago)
“The Political Machine: Sense, Sensibility, & Sentiment in the Late Bronze Age South Caucasus”

Thursday, March 5th, 2009 at 6:30 pm
Mencoff Hall, 68 Waterman Street

Joukowsky Institute Archaeology Colloquium:
Violence and Civilization
Friday, March 6-Sunday, March 8, 2009
http://proteus.brown.edu/violenceandcivilization/6694

Friday, March 6th at 5:30 pm
MacMillan Hall, Room 115

Violence and Civilization Keynote Speaker:
Bruce Lincoln (University of Chicago)
“Sanctified Violence in Ancient Mediterranean Religions: A Typological Overview”

Saturday, March 7th, 8:45 AM-4:30 PM
MacMillan Hall, Room 115

Speakers:
Rod Campbell (Brown University): "Transformations of Violence: On Humanity and Inhumanity in Early China"
Severin Fowles (Barnard College): "On Torture in Societies Against the State"
Catherine Lutz (Brown University): "The Military Normal: Feeling at Home with Counterinsurgency in the United States"
Rebecca Molholt (Brown University): "Violence and Leisure in Roman North Africa"
Kerry Smith (Brown University): "Punishing Violence: State-Sanctioned Killing and the Destruction of Tokyo, 1923"
Edward Swenson (University of Toronto): “Dramas of the Dialectic: Sacrifice and Power in Ancient Polities”



All events are free and open to the public.


Upcoming Events:

Michael Galaty (Millsaps College)
Comparative Frontiers: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Border Zone Archaeology
Tuesday, March 10th, 2009 at 6:30 pm
Mencoff Hall, 68 Waterman Street

Michael Shanks (Stanford University)
From Walter Scott’s Marmion to William Gell’s Morea: Some Lessons in Topography and Topology for Contemporary Reconstructions of Antiquity
Tuesday, March 17th, 2009 at 6:30 pm
Mencoff Hall, 68 Waterman Street

Alison Wylie (University of Washington)
Legacies of Collaboration: Transformative Criticism in Archaeology
Wednesday, March 18, 2009 at 5:30 pm
Mencoff Hall, 68 Waterman Street

Joan Breton Connelly (New York University)
Ritual Movement Through Sacred Space: Procession, Dance, and Footrace within Greek Landscapes
Thursday, March 19th, 2009 at 6:30 pm
Mencoff Hall, 68 Waterman Street

For more upcoming events, visit http://www.brown.edu/joukowskyinstitute/events/

First Annual Senator Claiborne Pell Lecture on Arts and Humanities

First Annual Senator Claiborne Pell Lecture on Arts and Humanities
On March 3, 2009, Jeremy Nowak, President and CEO of The Reinvestment Fund, will present the first lecture in a new series dedicated to the memory of recently deceased United States Senator Claiborne Pell at The Hotel Providence, 5:30 PM. That evening, Creative Providence Planning Team will also share highlights from the cultural assessment and kick-off the upcoming series of planning studios.

 
Jeremy Nowak is a nationally recognized leader in urban development. His work around strategies for community investment in creativity and neighborhood development finds arts and culture can be a key ingredient in neighborhood revitalization by nurturing a wide range of local assets, building social capital and promoting entrepreneurial and civic growth. He calls for investing in community-based creative activity to enhance its place-making role and potential, and offers investment ideas for three specific areas: creativity, development and knowledge.
 
Mr. Nowak's recent publications examine the role of art and culture in neighborhood regeneration, policy options for distressed cities, and the role of development finance for older industrial cities. He is currently a Fellow in entrepreneurial leadership in education at the Aspen Institute and a member of an Executive Session on transforming cities through civic entrepreneurship at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. Nowak holds a Ph.D. from the New School for Social Research and has also been awarded honorary doctorates from Villanova University and La Salle University.
 
A networking social will immediately follow this event at Aspire. Enjoy a 10% discount on cash bar and specialty drinks menu. The event is free and open to the public but space is limited - reserve your spot today at http://www.creativeprovidence.org/index.php?option=com_events&task=view_detail&agid=17&year=2009&month=03&day=03&Itemid=24

Cabaret this Thursday!

Sock & Buskin and Brown University Theatre proudly present Cabaret, a popular musical set in 1930s Berlin just prior to Hitler’s rise to power. The story, based on Christopher Isherwood’s Berlin Stories and John Van Druten’s I Am A Camera, centers around Sally Bowles, a singer at the Kit Kat Klub, and her intense but brief love affair with an American writer.
 
Cabaret runs from February 26 – March 1 and March 5 – 8, Thursday through Saturday at 8pm and Sunday at 2pm, in Stuart Theatre.  To reserve your tickets, go to www.brown.edu/tickets.   For more information, please see the website at http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Theatre_Speech_Dance/performances/cabaret.html or the Cabaret blog at http://cabaretatbrown.blogspot.com/.
 
Willkommen! Bienvenue! Welcome!

 

RI Historical Society -- Upcoming Events

Thursday, February 26, 7:00 p.m.
2009 Annual Newell D. Goff Lecture
Aldrich House
110 Benevolent Street, Providence
For more information: Dalila Goulart
(401) 331-8575 x45 or programs@rihs.org
 
Exhibit Opening: Rhode Island in the Time of Lincoln
The RIHS will continue celebrating the bicentennial of President Abraham Lincoln’s birth with an exhibit that takes a look at life in Rhode Island during the 1860s. Though Lincoln made only two stops in RI, they were widely attended and remembered. But what did the RI that Lincoln visited look like? Join us for the opening event and reception to see the exhibit and also to hear guest speakers share tales of people, places, and attitudes of the times. Rhode Island in the Time of Lincoln will also be open Friday, February 27th and Saturday, February 28th from 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. and will remain on exhibit Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays from 10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. through the spring.  

***********************************

Sunday, March 1, 1:30 p.m.            
Museum of Work & Culture
42 South Main Street, Woonsocket
Free Admission, To R.S.V.P.: Ray Bacon
(401) 769-9675 or rbacon@rihs.org                
 
Ranger Days
Park Ranger Ray Boswell will present "Voices from Worcester's Past: Worcester's Rural Cemetery.” Boswell will speak about the cemetery’s development, and also on the lives and contributions of some of those buried there. Boswell specializes in the Blackstone Canal and the City of Worcester. He also teaches courses on New England Industrial and Blackstone Valley history at Worcester State College.

***********************************

Sunday, March 8, 1:30 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Museum of Work & Culture
42 South Main Street, Woonsocket
Tickets: $10 each
For more information: Anne Conway
(401) 769-9675 or aconway@rihs.org
 
Salute to Spring Celebration!
The Museum of Work & Culture is delighted to host its annual “Salute to Spring.” This fun-filled celebration will feature a concert by Woonsocket’s own jazz musician/singer Daryl Sherman. A living history presentation “Play Ball,” written by local historian Raymond Bacon, will make its debut and will be performed several times. Pat Perry from Sneak Peek Productions will also be presenting a new program called “Crime & Punishment.” The event marks the end of the annual appeal and a raffle will be drawn. The grand prize is a trip for two to Montreal (a 4 day/3 night motor tour) donated by Conway Tours. Tickets are $10 each and are available at the Museum of Work & Culture. Ticket sales are limited to 200 and are expected to sell out quickly.

***********************************
 
At the Brown University John Hay Library …

Abraham Lincoln: The Man, The Myth, The Making of a President
A Bicentennial exhibition in honor of Abraham Lincoln (1809 – 1865)
 
Main Floor, John Hay Library
Open, Monday – Friday, 9-5
Through March 6, 2009

To learn more about Lincoln see:
Lincolniana at Brown (http://dl.lib.brown.edu/lincoln/index.html)

 

************

Founded in 1822, the Rhode Island Historical Society is the nation’s fourth oldest state historical society and is today the steward of tens of thousands of books, manuscripts, prints, photographs, paintings, artifacts, and other historical materials.  The Society maintains its research library and John Brown House Museum in Providence and operates the Museum of Work & Culture in Woonsocket.  The Society’s ongoing public and educational programming includes publication of the historical journal Rhode Island History and the presentation of exhibitions, lectures, workshops, and tours.  www.rihs.org <http://www.rihs.org/>

 

FW: 2009 RI Statewide Historic Preservation Conference

RIHPHC Bulletin 2009 RI Preservation Conference Programs available-sign up now! A special announcement from the RIHPHC February 2009 Dear Chelsea, The Rhode Island Historical Preservation & Heritage Commission occasionally produces the RIHPHC Bulletin to highlight targeted preservation topics.  To follow preservation and smart growth activities in Rhode Island, we recommend subscribing to e-news from Preserve Rhode Island and Grow Smart Rhode Island.  Get with the program! The RIHPHC is planning Preservation Steps Out--the 24th Annual Rhode Island Statewide Historic Preservation Conference--for Saturday, April 25, 2009 at the University of Rhode Island's Kingston Campus. Step out to explore the preservation of outdoor places in historic, inviting South County. Step out to learn about preserving and protecting historic farms, campuses, shorelines, and open space. Explore historic sites in South Kingstown, North Kingstown, Charlestown, Richmond, and Narragansett. Download a pdf copy of the program, or visit the conference website for more information.  Pre-conference registration is open through April 17. Spaces in tours and sessions are limited, so register today! Keynote Address and Discussion Farmer, writer, and New Hampshire's former Commissioner of Agriculture, Markets & Food, Steve Taylor will speak on Cows, Countryside, and Community: Can the Working Landscape of Rural New England Be Saved? Mr. Taylor likens New England's rural landscape to a three-legged stool--with one leg being the forest, the second the built environment, and the third farmland. Today the stool threatens to topple due to weakness in that third leg. Development pressures, combined with low economic returns from farming, imperil acres of fields, meadows, and pastures that afford views, ambience, and a way of life that have long been taken for granted. Mr. Taylor will discuss what is working and what more can be done to preserve New England's rural landscape and the delicate balance of forest, farms, and development. The Plenary Discussion will draw upon the Keynote themes and relate them to local trends in agriculture, historic preservation, land conservation, and smart growth. Panelists include Ken Ayars (RI-DEM/Agriculture); Sheila Brush (Grow Smart Rhode Island), Edward F. Sanderson (RIHPHC), Sen. V. Susan Sosnowski, and keynote speaker Steve Taylor. Get an education on campus... Choose from 17 workshops that look at preserving historic outdoor spaces, like farms, coastal areas, and campuses. Other sessions take on preservation in economic downturn and recovery; disaster planning for cultural institutions; energy efficiency for historic buildings; and more. ...or go to the beach Pick from 11 tours of the region, from coastal resorts to historic farms. Stroll through Kingston, Shannock, and Kenyon, and Wickford villages. Visit the seaside community of Matunuck and Narragansett Pier, the Narragansett Indian Reservation, and the mid-century modern neighborhood known as Biscuit City. Or pedal along the William C. O'Neill Bike Path as it winds through the villages of Peace Dale and Wakefield. See you on April 25 in Kingston. Please join us at URI's historic Kingston Campus on Saturday, April 25. Thanks to all of the conference sponsors, supporters, and venues.  For more information about the RI Statewide Preservation Conference and other programs of the RI Historical Preservation & Heritage Commission, please visit our website, www.preservation.ri.gov The Rhode Island Historical Preservation & Heritage Commission is the state agency for historical preservation and heritage programs. The Commission operates a statewide historical preservation program that identifies and protects historic buildings, districts, structures, and archaeological sites. The Commission also develops and carries out programs to document and celebrate the rich cultural heritage of Rhode Island's people. Quick Links About the RIHPHC Annual RI Statewide HP Conference RIHPHC website URI RI Historical Preservation & Heritage Commission The Old State House 150 Benefit St. Providence, RI 02903 (401)222-2678 www.preservation.ri.gov

Gary Shapiro will speak as part of Foucault Live series on Feb. 25

Gary Shapiro
Tucker-Boatwright Professor in the Humanities
University of Richmond

Garden Variety Philosophy:
Geophilosophy and Geoaesthetics

Wednesday, February 25, 5 p.m.
Marcuvitz Auditorium
185 Meeting Street, Room 220

Gary Shapiro is a professor of philosophy and Tucker-Boatwright Professor in the Humanities at the University of Richmond. His most recent book isArchaeologies of Vision: Foucault and Nietzsche on Seeing and Saying.


Sponsored by the Malcolm S. Forbes Center for Culture and Media Studies, the Department of Modern Culture and Media, and the Department of Comparative Literature.

RI Historical Society -- Upcoming Events

Friday and Saturday,
February 20 and 21
John Brown House Museum
52 Power Street, Providence
For more information: Barbara Barnes
(401) 273-7507 x62 or bbarnes@rihs.org
 
Special Floral-Themed Tours at the John Brown House Museum
This weekend, the John Brown House Museum will be offering museum tours with a floral theme. These special tours will be offered in collaboration with the annual Rhode Island Spring Flower and Garden Show held at the Rhode Island Convention Center the same weekend. Tours begin at 10:30 a.m., 12 noon, 1:30 p.m., and 3:00 p.m. Free for members, and the special tour price for non-members is $5.

**************************************
 
Thursday, February 26, 7:00 p.m.
2009 Annual Newell D. Goff Lecture
Aldrich House
110 Benevolent Street, Providence
For more information: Dalila Goulart
(401) 331-8575 x45 or programs@rihs.org
 
Exhibit Opening: Rhode Island in the Time of Lincoln
The RIHS will continue celebrating the bicentennial of President Abraham Lincoln’s birth with an exhibit that takes a look at life in Rhode Island during the 1860s. Though Lincoln made only two stops in RI, they were widely attended and remembered. But what did the RI that Lincoln visited look like? Join us for the opening event and reception to see the exhibit and also to hear guest speakers share tales of people, places, and attitudes of the times. Rhode Island in the Time of Lincoln will remain on exhibit Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. through the spring.

*************************************
 
Sunday, March 8, 1:30 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Museum of Work & Culture
42 South Main Street, Woonsocket
Tickets: $10 each
For more information: Anne Conway
(401) 769-9675 or aconway@rihs.org
 
Salute to Spring Celebration!
The Museum of Work & Culture is delighted to host its annual “Salute to Spring.” This fun-filled celebration will feature a concert by Woonsocket’s own jazz musician/singer Daryl Sherman. A living history presentation “Play Ball,” written by local historian Raymond Bacon, will make its debut and will be performed several times. Pat Perry from Sneak Peek Productions will also be presenting a new program called “Crime & Punishment.” The event marks the end of the annual appeal and a raffle will be drawn. The grand prize is a trip for two to Montreal (a 4 day/3 night motor tour) donated by Conway Tours. Tickets are $10 each and are available at the Museum of Work & Culture. Ticket sales are limited to 200 and are expected to sell out quickly.

*************************************
 
At the Brown University John Hay Library …

Abraham Lincoln: The Man, The Myth, The Making of a President
A Bicentennial exhibition in honor of Abraham Lincoln (1809 – 1865)
 
Main Floor, John Hay Library
Open, Monday – Friday, 9-5
Through March 6, 2009

To learn more about Lincoln see:
Lincolniana at Brown (http://dl.lib.brown.edu/lincoln/index.html)
 
**************************************
 
At the Brown University Bookstore …

Events are free, open to the public and take place at the Brown Bookstore unless otherwise noted. For more information please call (401) 863-3168 or visit us at http://bookstore.brown.edu <http://bookstore.brown.edu/> .

 
Daniel Mark Epstein - Lincoln's Men reading & book signing
Thursday February 19th 6:30 p.m.

Join us for a fascinating look at the 16th President's private secretaries, John Hay, John Nicolay, and William Stoddard, three exceptional young men who came to be confidants and advisers to Lincoln during one of the darkest periods of American History. Epstein's work illuminates the challenges and rewards of their work and the personal impact that Lincoln had on their lives after his brief time in office.

 
Retired RI Supreme Court Justice Frank Williams - Re-Examining Lincoln and his Relevance to Our Times discussion & book signing
Friday February 20th 2:00 - 4:00 p.m.


We are pleased to host a talk by one of the foremost local experts on Lincoln, who will examine the importance of his presidency and the influence that our nation's 16th President continues to have on our political landscape today. With the inauguration of President Obama who was sworn in with his hand on Lincoln's Bible still fresh in our memory, this is sure to be an engaging lecture and discussion for all those fascinated with American history.

ECHO Festival of the Performing Arts

ECHO Festival of the Performing Arts
Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology
Sunday March 8, 2009
4:00 p.m.
Brown University Campus, Salomon 101/DeCiccio Family Auditorium
 
The Eight Annual ECHO (Education through Cultural and Historical Organizations) Festival of the Performing Arts, entitled The Way to the Heart: Changing Food, Foodways, and Culture, visits Providence with storytellers, singers and dancers coming together to share the cultures of Cape Verde, the Wampanoag of Massachusetts, the Iñupiaq and Gwich’in Athabascan people of Alaska, the Chickasaw/Choctaw of Oklahoma, and the Native people of the Hawaiian Islands. Bring your family for a fun and educational afternoon and then join us in our gallery in Manning Hall for a reception.  Program takes place in Salomon 101 / Deciccio Family Auditorium.  Reception follows in Manning Hall.  ECHO (Education through Cultural and Historical Organizations) is administered by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Innovation and Improvement.   The performance is a collaboration of the Haffenreffer and Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, MA. This program is free and open to the public.

EVENT REMINDER: "Scholarship in a Time of War: Universities, Associations and the Responsibilities of Citizenship" - February 18

Location: Joukowsky Forum, Watson Institute

“Scholarship in a Time of War: Universities, Associations and the Responsibilities of Citizenship.” A public panel


The current United States annual military expenditures match those of the rest of the world combined, exceed levels during the Cold War, and absorb over 40% of current tax revenues. In 2008, the US government committed around $711 billion to its military, compared with $1.8 billion to higher education.

Federal and State resources, together with a sense of civic responsibility expressed in many University mission statements, have always attracted scholars to seek and use government funding for their work. This was especially true during the 1960s, when scholars contributed to government policies on economic development and nation-building around the world.

Current initiatives like the Minerva consortium, offering $50 million over five years for social science research, are in this tradition. Now, though, many citizens question the legality and morality of US foreign policy, as well as government priorities, and raise concerns over the ethical and intellectual implications of such collaboration. This creates quandaries for researchers.

When a postgraduate student receives Department of Defense funding to study Chinese military preparedness, is the product scholarly knowledge or military intelligence? If an untenured professor diagnoses US society as militaristic, and is then accused by students or watchdog organizations of anti-Americanism or bias, how does a tenure committee untangle politics and scholarship, with an eye to principles of academic freedom? How do universities reconcile their commitment to transparency and openness—stated in Brown’s mission statement as “the spirit of free inquiry”—with a world of restricted, classified and proprietary knowledge?

Brown University and the American Anthropological Association are among organizations seeking to navigate these quandaries. Our panelists offer institutional or individual perspectives on the Minvera controversy, issues of openness and secrecy, working with the military, and how (if at all) a new administration in Washington alters the calculus.

Chaired by Clyde Briant, OVPR, Brown University

Confirmed Speakers:

Rob Albro, American University and CEAUSSIC
Minerva and the Challenges of Transparency and Interdisciplinarity

Norm Hebert, Office of Sponsored Projects, Brown University
The Pragmatics and Principles of External Research Funding

George Marcus, University of California Irvine and CEAUSSIC
Individualist Ethnography and the Imperative to Collaborate in the Era of Public Anthropology

David Kennedy, Interim Director, Watson Institute and Vice President of International Affairs, Brown University
Law and the Porous Boundary between the Work of War and the Work of Peace

Catherine Lutz, Department of Anthropology, co-founder of the Network of Concerned Anthropologists
On Militarization and the Construction of Citizenship
 
Sponsored by the Thomas J. Watson Institute for International Studies, the Office of the Vice President of Research, the Joukowsky Institute at Brown University, and the American Anthropological Association.

5-7pm next Friday at New Urban Arts! "And We Drew A City Together"

And We Drew A City Together
Participatory City Building  with Collaged  Stickers

5-7pm
New Urban Arts <http://www.newurbanarts.org>
 743 Westminster St.
PVD, RI, 02909
{totally free and there will be food!}

We live in a tiny city called Providence, which is small enough to feel like you can know the whole city. But, familiarity does not mean we run the place. Often we feel cut off from planning, input and control of our physical surroundings. This project is about authorship of the city- about dictating our environment through individual desire and group effort.At times this is harmonious, driven by planning discourse and collaboration; cohesive communities creating their visions. At other times the process of authorship is dis-orderly- overlapping and effacing one desire with another; strangers working independently. We are here to put these conflicting desires into action.

What is this event gonna look like?

When you walk in someone is going to say "hello." You will be given a sheet of instructions and a pile of stickers. On the wall there will be a big map with empty streets and over to one side there will be a craft table with scissors and markers. The stickers will consist of drawings of architectural elements and complete buildings. You and everyone else will have the job of cutting, coloring, augmenting, collaging, and placing the stickers onto the map. Together we will navigate the tension between our individual dreams and shared resources. Before you leave, the city historian will take your picture so you and your constructions are remembered forever.

Oh, did we mention that the sheet of instructions is going to be a beautiful letter pressed print that you get to keep?

What do you need to do to prepare?

Think about your ideal city. Think about the one you live in. Come ready to play and explore with friends and strangers.

Hidden from History: Slavery in Rhode Island from its Inception to Its End

Landmark Exhibit on Rhode Slavery to Tour State

February 9, 2009, Providence – “Hidden from History: Slavery in Rhode Island from its Inception to Its End,” a landmark exhibit depicting slavery in Rhode Island, will tour the state starting in late February. According to Ray Rickman, the project’s director, authentic historical documents will trace the beginning of slavery in Rhode Island to its end, and give people a rare glimpse into the politics and pervasiveness of slavery. The artifacts will include the earliest known document in Rhode Island, 1652, to the recognition of the last known slave in the state, 1863. Documents will be drawn from the State Archives, Brown University, Rhode Island Historical Society, the Providence Public Library and private collections, and will include runaway slave posters, newspaper advertisements for slave auctions, slave narratives, abolition pamphlets, indenture documents, bills of sale, state laws, and manumission papers.

The exhibit opens on February 26, 6PM at the Providence Public Library with a reception and lecture by Richard Ring, director of Special Collections at the Providence Public Library. The exhibit runs through March 29 and is open during regular library hours.

African Masking Traditions lecture by Bolaji Campbell

African Masking Traditions —Meaning, Motif and History

Wednesday, February 25, 5:30 p.m.

at the Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology at Manning Hall, Main Green, Brown University

Bolaji Campbell (Department of Art and Architectural History, RISD) will discuss African Masking Traditions.

To behold the mask is to encounter the mysterious, the wonderful, and the fearful. The mask is the mediating force at that delicate intersection between the real and the imagined; the concrete and the imperceptible; the serious and the playful; the whimsical and the terrifying; the living and the dead. This multisensorial tradition shapes ways the tangible world of the living and the invincible realm of the departed are perceived, re-envisioned and understood.

Reception follows at our gallery in Manning Hall.

 

Winter Fun Family Day

Winter Fun Family Day
Thursday February 19, 2009
10:00 a.m. to noon
Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology at Manning Hall
Brown University

Come to the Haffenreffer Museum's gallery at the Brown University campus for an exciting program developed especially for families during school winter break.  Explore the Museum's current exhibition, Believing Africa and learn about the various masks used by the people of Africa.  You will be able to take a closer look and even touch African masks that are from our educational collection.  Then, design and create your own mask to take home.  Program takes place in Manning Hall and is free and open to the public.

FW: Historic New England e-newsletter

You are receiving this email because you purchased a product/service or subscribed on the Historic New England website. If you haven't done so already, click to confirm your interest in receiving email campaigns from us.

 

You may unsubscribe if you no longer wish to receive our emails.

News from Historic New England e-newsletter February 2009  Kitchens in Maine America's Kitchens, Historic New England's newest publication, was the topic of an interview with author and Curator Nancy Carlisle for 207, a popular Maine news and entertainment program. Using old photographs, drawings, and advertisements, the book describes what it was like to live and work in kitchens that had none of the conveniences we now take for granted. "As I travel around the region doing book signings and lectures, I'm delighted by people's enthusiasm for the book," said Carlisle. The interview airs on WCSH 6 on February 10 at 7:00 p.m. The America's Kitchens book is part of Historic New England's Year of the Kitchen, a celebration of the role of the kitchen in times past and present. Visit AmericasKitchens.org for a complete listing of programs and events throughout the region. Purchase the America's Kitchens book at our online museum shop. Mrs. May's madeleines In celebration of the Year of the Kitchen, Ceres Bakery in Portsmouth, N.H., recreated Mary Ann Morison May's (of the Rundlet-May House) c. 1880 cookie recipe. The madeleines are for sale in the bakery, frequented daily by workers and tourists in the downtown area. So far, the cookies are a hit and continue to sell out by afternoon. Stop by the bakery but come early.  Glittering gala The fourth Historic New England Gala was held on January 9 at The Four Seasons Hotel in Boston.  Auctioneers Karen Keane and Stephen Fletcher of Skinner, Inc., encouraged the 270 guests to bid on items such as original watercolors by Frederick Cozzens (1846-1928); an exclusive New York City weekend retreat; premium box seat tickets to a Red Sox game; lunch with Pulitzer Prize winning author David Hackett Fischer; and a dinner hosted by the Consul General of Spain. Many thanks to Lead Corporate Sponsor William Vareika Fine Arts, Ltd. of Newport, Rhode Island, and Gold Level Sponsor Skinner, Inc. of Boston.   The gala raised more than $200,000 to support Historic New England's educational programs and outreach efforts, which serve more than 36,000 students every year.   (Photo from left: Historic New England President and CEO Carl R. Nold, Gala Co-chair Kristin Servison, Lead Corporate Sponsor William Vareika, Honorary Chairs Carolyn and Peter Lynch, Gala Co-chair Anne Kilguss.) Special opportunity for Garden and Landscape members Garden and Landscape members are invited to register for the Windowsill Herb Gardening Workshop at the Lyman Estate in Waltham, Mass., on Friday, February 27, from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Garden and Landscape members will propagate herbs to be grown at home. Growing culinary, medicinal, and ornamental herbs is not difficult once you master a few important techniques.   The workshop is followed by a tour of the Historic Lyman Estate Greenhouses and includes lunch. Admission is $25. To register, please call 617-227-3957, ext. 264 or email.   Click here for information on Garden and Landscape membership. Wedding bells at the Otis House On January 29, Steve Hickey and Louis Filhour were married in a civil ceremony in the southeast parlor of the 1796 Otis House in Boston. The couple, who live in an 1838 Greek Revival home and collect nineteenth-century furniture, visited the house last year and fell in love with the architecture and furnishings. When they were looking for a place to hold the wedding, they remembered their visit and asked if the small ceremony could take place at the Otis House. The couple joined Historic New England as Historic Homeowner members and plan to take advantage of the resources available to them as they share their life in their own historic home. Recipe of the month Each month, as part of Historic New England's Year of the Kitchen celebration, the America's Kitchens website features traditional recipes for food fans.  February's recipes put zest in carrots and use carrots to sweeten a squash and ginger soup.   Cooking techniques and appliances have changed over the years, but some aspects remain timeless. Try these recipes and let them become part of your kitchen traditions. Plant of the month Staghorn fern, Platycerium holtummi, so called because of its resemblance to deer horns, have wide fronds with soft hairs. Native to jungles in Africa, Australia, and tropical Asia, as epiphytic plants, the ferns can be grown in pots or mounted on a board or basket. The Lyman Estate Greenhouses in Waltham, Mass., sell plants in six-inch pots for $11.   The greenhouses are open Wednesday through Saturday, 9:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. (7:00 p.m. on Thursdays). For more information, call 781-891-4882, ext. 244.  Receive a $5 discount when you purchase a Garden and Landscape membership at the greenhouses during the month of February.  For membership information click here. Exploring early settlement in Rhode Island Education program staff have introduced a pilot school program at the c. 1693 Arnold House in Lincoln, R.I., which explores Colonial life through a series of hands-on activities. Students immerse themselves in early local history in this authentic setting and engage in activities and role-playing to learn about the people of Colonial Rhode Island. The program encourages students to work together and use personal exploration and critical thinking as they compare life in twenty-first century America to life at the time of the state's early settlement.  The staff are piloting the program with seven different schools in the area, serving first, third, and fifth graders.  For information on all Historic New England's school programs. Program highlights Camellia Blooming Season Monday, February 9, through Sunday, March 8, 10:00 a.m.- 4:00 p.m.; Lyman Estate Greenhouses, Waltham, Mass.;  781-891-4882, ext. 244.  Free. Visit the celebrated collection of camellias in the 1804 camellia house where many of the Lyman Estate trees are more than one hundred years old.  This is the time of year when the camellias put forth a profusion of blossoms in all sizes and shapes.   Meet the Author-Book Signing Year of the Kitchen Program Tuesday, February 24, 6:30 - 8:00 p.m.; Spencer-Peirce-Little Farm, Newbury, Mass.; 978-462-2634. Free. Celebrate America's Kitchens, Historic New England's newest publication, with a talk and book signing by author and Curator Nancy Carlisle. Innovatively designed and lavishly illustrated with drawings, photographs, and colorful ephemera from Historic New England's diverse collections, America's Kitchens features New England kitchens, detached kitchens on southern plantations, Spanish colonial kitchens of the Southwest, elaborate nineteenth-century kitchens in the Midwest, and middle-class open-plan homes of 1950s suburbia. Copies of the book are available for purchase.   The Phillips Collection at Peabody Essex Museum Sunday, March 1, 1:00 p.m.; Phillips House and Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Mass.; 978-744-0440.  $15 Historic New England members, $20 nonmembers. Stephen Henry Phillips and his son had strong ties to Hawaii and an interest in Oceanic cultures. Their collection of hundreds of books, pamphlets, and objects was donated to the Peabody Essex Museum. Start with a tour of the Phillips House and then have a special tour of the Peabody Essex Museum to learn how this prominent Salem family added to one of the greatest Oceanic and maritime collections in the nation. E-mail membership@HistoricNewEngland.org Telephone: 617-227-3956 Web: http://www.historicnewengland.org In this issue... Kitchens in Maine Madeleines Glittering gala Special opportunity Wedding bells Recipe of the month Plant of the month Exploring early settlement Program highlights Join today to receive Historic New England magazine Or call 617-227-3957, ext. 264.  Become a fan of Historic New England on Facebook     Shop online   Calendar of events   Paint color chart   Function rentals   Employment opportunities