Concord Museum

Annual Earth Day Forum ~ Trace: Memory, History, Race, and the American Landscape
2023-04-25 19:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York) | 53 Cambridge Tpke, Concord, MA, 01742, United States
Lauret Savoy, the David B. Truman Professor of Environmental Studies & Geology at Mount Holyoke College and a woman of African American, Euro-American, and Indigenous ancestry, joins us for a conversation on her award-winning book Trace: Memory, History, Race, and the American Landscape. Through personal journeys and historical inquiry, Professor Savoy explores how America’s still unfolding history and ideas of “race” have marked its people and the land.
Please register using the form below.

Metropolitan Museum of Art Curator: A Female View of Historic American Furniture
2023-05-02 19:00 - 20:00 | 53 Cambridge Tpke, Concord, MA, 01742, United States
Considerable attention has been paid to male furniture-makers and the glory of their work in museum collections like the Concord Museum and The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Women, too, served an important part in the furniture industry and the development of utilitarian and decorative forms. Join Alyce Perry Englund, Associate Curator of American Decorative Arts at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, as she explores the influential role women played in the operations of furniture workshops and domestic life in the 1700s and 1800s.
Furniture image: Sewing table, about 1845. Concord Museum Collection; Th44.
Please register using the form below.

The Concordians Behind the Art Walking Tour
2023-05-06 11:00 - 12:30 | 53 Cambridge Tpke, Concord, MA, 01742, United States
Many of the works of art in the Concord Free Public Library’s collection and displayed at the Concord Museum were made by, of, and for Concordians. Join a Concord Museum Guide on a walking tour that delves into the lives of the artists and into subjects featured in the special exhibition A Perpetual Invitation: 150 Years of Art at the Concord Free Public Library.
1-mile walk, mostly flat terrain, rain or shine. Meet at the Concord Museum.
Includes same-day admission to the Concord Museum.
Please register using the form below.

Behind the Dial: The Anatomy of a Clock
2023-05-10 17:30 - 18:30 | 53 Cambridge Tpke, Concord, MA, 01742, United States
Thank you for your interest in our programs. This program is full.
Join the Concord Museum’s curator, David Wood, in a program in which participants will look behind the dial of clocks in the Museum’s collection for insights into the 17th century technology that underlies 18th century clock production in Concord. In the unique setting of the Lisa H. Foote History Learning Center, participants will understand the inner workings of a clock beyond what is typically seen in the galleries.
Image credit: Timepiece by Joseph Dyar, about 1820. Concord Museum Collection, gift of Joseph and Anne Pellegrino; F2530.

An Evening with Robert Pinsky
2023-05-11 19:00 - 20:00 | 53 Cambridge Tpke, Concord, MA, 01742, United States
Robert Pinsky, Poet Laureate of the United States from 1997 – 2000, joins us for a reading and conversation on writing, teaching, and poetry’s place in the world. It was said of Robert Pinsky in the New York Times Sunday Book Review, “No other living American poet—no other living American, probably—has done so much to put poetry before the public eye.” Robert Pinsky will be in conversation with his dear friend and award-winning poet, Gail Mazur, and read from his memoir Jersey Breaks.
Please note that this event will take place at The Fenn School, 516 Monument St, Concord MA in order to accommodate a larger audience.
Please register using the form below.

2023 Concord Museum Annual Gala
2023-05-13 18:30 - 22:00 | 53 Cambridge Tpke, Concord, MA, 01742, United States
Saturday, May 13, 2023
6:30 – 10:00 p.m.
American Heritage Museum
568 Main St
Hudson MA 01749
The Concord Museum is delighted to invite friends and supporters to our Annual Gala, which will take place at the new American Heritage Museum in Hudson MA. Enjoy food, drink and entertainment alongside fellow Museum supporters and friends while you explore the museum, which is dedicated to US History from the Civil War to the present and brings the nation’s WWI and WWII experiences to life in powerful ways.
The Annual Gala supports the Paul Revere’s Ride Fund, which funds free field trips to the Concord Museum (including buses and instruction) for students from Lowell, Lawrence, and other underserved communities in the area. Each year, the Museum serves over 3,500 students through the Paul Revere’s Ride Fund, immersing them in a stimulating history learning experience completely free of charge. Your support ensures the Museum can continue our commitment to bringing Concord’s remarkable history to future generations.
Thank you to those who attended the Annual Gala! If you were unable to attend but would like to offer your support for the Paul Revere’s Ride Fund, please visit the Ride Fund page.

Thank you to our sponsors for generously supporting this event:

Dennis and Kimberly Burns Claire and Joshua Nelson

Watercolor Landscape Workshop
2023-05-17 17:30 - 19:30 | 53 Cambridge Tpke, Concord, MA, 01742, United States
This program is full. Thank you for your interest in our programs, and please consider attending another program this summer.
Unleash your inner artist in a watercolor paint night at the Museum! This special evening begins with a visit to the exhibition A Perpetual Invitation: 150 Years of Art at the Concord Free Public Library, where the instructor will introduce a selection of paintings that exemplify artistic inspiration from the New England landscape. In the second part of the workshop, observe a watercolor demonstration and experiment with brushes, washes, and mark-making as you create a landscape of your own. Bring a friend or make a few as you discover the fun of watercolor.
In partnership with the Umbrella Arts Center.
Please register using the form below.

Emerson-Thoreau Amble Walking Tour
2023-05-20 11:00 - 12:30 | 53 Cambridge Tpke, Concord, MA, 01742, United States
This program is full. Please consider joining us for another program this summer!
Celebrate Emerson’s birthday (May 25) and follow the footsteps of writers Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau! Enjoy the spring weather and learn about the friendship of two notable observers of nature from a museum interpreter.
1-mile walk, mostly flat terrain, rain or shine. Meet at the Concord Museum.
Includes same-day admission to the Concord Museum.
In partnership with the Ralph Waldo Emerson Memorial Association.
Please register using the form below.

Postponed: Third Annual Robert D. Richardson III Annual Forum: A Conversation with Daegan Miller
2023-05-25 19:00 - 20:00 | 53 Cambridge Tpke, Concord, MA, 01742, United States
Thank you for your interest in our programs. This forum is postponed. We will announce the new date shortly.
Writer, critic, and landscape historian Daegan Miller joins us with Guggenheim Fellow and environmental writer Sven Birkerts for a conversation on Daegan’s first book This Radical Land: A Natural History of American Dissent and the literary tradition laid down by Emerson and Thoreau that offers a new way of seeing the American past and of understanding what it can offer us for the present and the future.
In partnership with the Ralph Waldo Emerson Memorial Association.
Please register using the form below.

American Inheritance: A Conversation with Edward Larson
2023-06-01 15:00 - 16:00 | MA
Pulitzer Prize winning author Edward Larson joins us for a conversation on his new book American Inheritance: Liberty and Slavery in the Birth of a Nation, 1765-1795, in which he discusses how liberty and slavery were intertwined during the nation’s founding.
Professor Larson examines the role of Black Americans during the Revolutionary War and in the many debates over slavery and freedom, highlighting the voices of Black Americans as the most persuasive in the urgency of liberty. He explores the fateful compromises over slavery that took place during the Constitutional Convention and their disastrous effects in the coming decades.
“An authoritative contribution to the dismal history of race in America. … Larson, author of Franklin & Washington, A Magnificent Catastrophe and other acclaimed books of American history, recasts the narrative of the nation’s founding by focusing on vociferous debates about liberty that erupted during three crucial decades of revolutionary fervor. … At a time when rebellious colonists proclaimed their refusal to be enslaved by the British, most saw no contradiction in buying and selling men, women, and children. … Larson’s stirring narrative includes the perspectives of free and escaped slaves, such as James Somerset, who was brought to England by his owner, where he successfully sued for his freedom; poet Phillis Wheatley; and Ona Judge, dower property of Martha Washington, whose escape incited George Washington’s desperate, enraged search for her return.” Kirkus Reviews, October 20, 2022
This forum is supported in part by the Sally Lanagan Fund and the Massachusetts Society of the Cincinnati.
Please register using the form below.

34th Annual Garden Tour
2023-06-02 09:00 - 2023-06-03 16:00 | MA
The Concord Museum Guild of Volunteers is thrilled to present the 34th Annual Garden Tour on June 2 and 3, 2023!
This event features carefully selected private gardens throughout Concord. Funds raised provide critical support to the Museum’s education initiatives. This year there are six unique gardens that reflect the individual interests and passions of the owners and will delight amateur landscapers and experienced horticulturists alike.
The Garden Tour will take place on two days, Friday and Saturday, June 2 and June 3. The tour is self-guided and self-paced, beginning each day at 9:00 a.m. and continuing until 4:00 p.m. Tickets are good for either or both days, but each garden may only be visited once.
No photography is permitted at the gardens.
The Garden Tour is a rain or shine event. Please note we are unable to refund tickets once they are purchased.
Ticket Prices: Member $35 Non-Member $45

Online ticket sales are now closed. Tickets may be purchased in-person at the Museum on June 2nd and June 3rd. Credit and debit cards accepted.
Please check your confirmation email for details on picking up your ticket booklet at the Museum on June 2nd and June 3rd. The booklet contains a map, the garden addresses, parking details for each garden location, and detailed information about the plantings in each garden as well as a free admission ticket to the Museum. In addition, the email includes information about our pop-up shops, restrooms, and more. Please note that the ticket booklet cannot be picked up prior to June 2nd.
Will you be touring the gardens with a group? Consider arranging group transportation with a van or limo — see the confirmation email for a list of local transportation companies.

Lead Sponsors

Garden Tour Sponsors

Alden Landscape Design
Laurel Gardens
Jane Rupley Landscape Design
Russells Garden Center
Lazaro Paving
Comina Home
CLAY art+concept
Senkler, Pasley & Dowcett, Coldwell Banker Realty
Pumpkin Brook Organic Gardening
Oak Hill Mulch
Alphagraphics
Long College Admissions Advising
Concord Printing
Cambridge Savings Bank

Media Sponsors

Retail Sponsors

Grave Detectives Walking Tour
2023-06-10 11:00 - 12:00 | MA
Tour the first burial ground in Concord dating to c. 1636 learning about past Concordians with a Museum educator. Explore the classic iconography of New England headstones that feature winged skulls or “death’s head,” urns, willows, and others. About 1 1/2 miles on paved terrain. Rain or shine.
Includes same-day admission to the Concord Museum.
Please register using the form below.

Disunion Among Ourselves: The Perilous Politics of the American Revolution
2023-06-10 15:00 - 16:00 | MA
This program has been canceled. Please visit our Calendar for other upcoming Forums.

Vanderbilt political historian and best-selling author Eli Merritt reveals the deep political divisions that almost tore the Union apart during the American Revolution. Despite their differences, the nation’s founders united for the sake of liberty and self-preservation, forging grueling compromises to hold the nation together. Merritt’s book serves as a reminder that commitment to ethical constitutional democracy and compromise helped the founders overcome far tougher times than our own, and it resonates with our present era of political hyperpolarization and serves as a touchstone for contemporary politics.
“Eli Merritt deftly explores a revolutionary America rife with divisions and driven by a fear of civil wars on multiple fronts. Deeply researched, wide-ranging, and insightful, Disunion Among Ourselves persuades that our national Union began from, and still depends on, fending off the many demons of disunion.”—Alan Taylor, author of American Revolutions: A Continental History, 1750-1804
This forum is supported in part by the Sally Lanagan Fund and the Massachusetts Society of the Cincinnati.
Please register using the form below.

Concord Birds, Then and Now
2023-06-15 19:00 - 20:00 | MA
The detailed records of bird sightings and phenological observations around Concord from the last 170 years—from Thoreau’s notes to today’s studies by scientists at Boston University—provide a key to studying how climate change is affecting bird migration. Boston University professor Richard Primack and Colby College visiting assistant professor Amanda Gallinat present their recent research and unexpected new findings from eBird data collected in Concord.
Following their presentation, Professors Primack and Gallinat will be joined in conversation by a panel of ornithologists.
Tickets are free for Concord Museum and Mass Audubon members.
This event is co-sponsored by Mass. Audubon. Please register using the form below.

A Perpetual Invitation Gallery Talk with the Curators
2023-06-16 12:00 - 13:00, 2023-07-14 12:00 - 13:00 | 53 Cambridge Tpke, Concord, MA, 01742, United States
Curators from the Concord Museum and the Concord Free Public Library lead guided tours of the special exhibition A Perpetual Invitation: 150 Years of Art at the Concord Free Public Library.
No advanced registration necessary. Free with Museum admission. Members visit free.

FULL! Juneteenth Family Program
2023-06-19 10:00 - 11:00 | MA
This program is full. Please consider joining us for another program.
Join us for a celebratory Juneteenth performance with Illstyle & Peace Productions. The group creates work rooted in West African Dance, contemporary and old school hip hop blended with an eclectic mix of dance and performance disciplines including tap, ballet, DJing, and beatboxing. Illstyle & Peace Productions is dedicated to delivering a positive message that showcases the many creative ways that hip hop can be explored, deconstructed, and built back up again.
This program is free and open to the public. We kindly request that you register in advance with the form below, as participation is limited.
Co-sponsored by The Robbins House.

FULL! Antislavery Walking Tour
2023-06-19 11:00 - 12:30 | MA
The 11:00 am walking tour is full. Please consider registering for our 2:00 pm tour.
Coinciding with the celebration of Juneteenth, join us for a walking tour introducing participants to the Concord women and men who played a crucial role in the abolitionist movement in the years leading up to the Civil War.
1.5-mile walk on flat terrain. Rain or shine.
Includes same-day admission to the Concord Museum.
In partnership with The Robbins House.
Advance registration is required.

FULL! Antislavery Walking Tour
2023-06-19 14:00 - 15:30 | MA
This program is full. Please consider joining us for another program.
Coinciding with the celebration of Juneteenth, join us for a walking tour introducing participants to the Concord women and men who played a crucial role in the abolitionist movement in the years leading up to the Civil War.
1.5-mile walk on flat terrain. Rain or shine.
Includes same-day admission to the Concord Museum.
In partnership with The Robbins House.
Advance registration required. Please register using the form below.

Henry at Work: A Conversation with John Kaag and Robert A. Gross
2023-06-20 19:00 - 20:00 | MA
What can Thoreau teach us about working? How can we make our work more meaningful? Professor John Kaag and Professor Robert A. Gross will discuss Kaag’s new book Henry at Work: Thoreau on Making a Living — why we do it, what it does to us, and how to create more meaning in our work.
John Kaag is the Donohue Professor of Ethics and the Arts at UMass Lowell, External Professor at the Santa Fe Institute, and author of numerous books on philosophy and history. Robert A. Gross is the James L. and Shirley A. Draper Professor of Early American History Emeritus at the University of Connecticut and is the author of The Transcendentalists and Their World, one of The Wall Street Journal’s Top 10 Best Books of 2021, and The Minutemen and Their World, winner of the Bancroft Prize.
“An inspiring book that will give you the succor you need to reconsider—and possibly change—the way you work.” –Kirkus Reviews, March 11, 2023
Tickets are free for Concord Museum and Thoreau Society Members.
Forums are supported in part by the Sally Lanagan Fund. Co-sponsored by The Thoreau Society.
Please register using the form below.

Appraisal Day with Bonhams Skinner
2023-06-21 14:00 - 19:00 | MA
Advanced registration is now closed. Please purchase a ticket in-person at the Concord Museum if you wish to participate in the appraisal day.
Do you have a family heirloom passed down through generations? Maybe a great yard sale item or flea market find that might be a treasure? Would you like to know what it is worth? Bring your special items to Bonhams Skinner appraisers Karen Keane, CEO, and Christopher Fox, Vice President, at the Concord Museum for a verbal appraisal.
Tickets are $20/item or $50/three items for Members and $25/item or $65/three items for Non-Members.

History Detective Cart
2023-07-07 10:00 - 16:00, 2023-07-21 10:00 - 16:00, 2023-08-04 10:00 - 16:00 | 53 Cambridge Tpke, Concord, MA, 01742, United States
Located in the April 19, 1775 gallery, this drop-in program offers visitors an opportunity to explore objects and uncover clues about stories and people connected to the first battle of the American Revolution.
Free with Museum admission. Members visit free.

A Wing and a Prayer: The Race to Save Our Vanishing Birds
2023-07-11 19:00 - 20:00 | MA
Join us for a conversation with Anders and Beverly Gyllenhaal on their new book, A Wing and a Prayer: The Race to Save Our Vanishing Birds. The book is the result of a 25,000-mile journey across the Americas in 2021, which they spent documenting the efforts of ornithologists and conservationists to save the world’s birds, almost universally threatened by anthropogenic forces like habitat destruction and climate change. Anders and Beverly Gyllenhaal relay what is being done to save birds in the midst of dramatic downturns in North American populations.
Anders and Beverly Gyllenhaal are veteran journalists who’ve worked for decades as reporters and editors. Beverly was a feature writer, then food editor, and finally syndicated columnist and cookbook author. Her Desperation Dinners series has a quarter million copies in print. Anders was an investigative reporter at The Miami Herald, then went on to lead newsrooms in Raleigh, Minneapolis, Miami and Washington. He’s long been active in journalism circles, serving on the board of the Pulitzer Prizes, Society of Newspaper Editors and Journalism Funding Partners. As their work slowed down, they started following birds and photographing and writing about them for magazines and newspapers around the country. They also publish a photo-rich website, FlyingLessons.US: What We’re Learning from the Birds.
Co-Sponsored by Mass Audubon.
The Gyllenhaals will be signing books after their talk. Copies of A Wing and a Prayer may be purchased at the Forum or in advance from the Mass Audubon online store and picked up at the event (please select “Pick up in-store” and add an order note “Bring to July 11th event”).
Forums are supported in part by the Sally Lanagan Fund. Please register using the form below.

A Walk In Thoreau's Concord
2023-07-15 09:00 - 10:00 | MA
Henry David Thoreau is known for the two years he spent living at Walden Pond. Did you know that he lived in other homes in Concord throughout his life? Take a tour of the domestic side of Thoreau’s wholly human life visiting the homes where he lived and hearing the stories told of him by family and friends.
The tour includes walking about 1-mile on paved terrain.
Includes same-day admission to the Concord Museum.
Please register using the form below.

Object Spotlight Talks
2023-07-15 11:00 - 14:00, 2023-07-29 11:00 - 14:00 | 53 Cambridge Tpke, Concord, MA, 01742, United States
Discover the fascinating stories that our collection can tell us. Interpreters will lead Object Spotlight Talks that highlight objects in our collection. Talks will be given on the hour from 11:00 am to 2:00 pm. Ask at the Front Desk about today’s highlighted object and where it is located.
Free with Museum admission. Members visit free.

Mindfulness in Art
2023-07-26 18:00 - 19:00 | MA
In partnership with Be Well Be Here, join us for a mindfulness program in the special exhibition A Perpetual Invitation: 150 Years of Art at the Concord Free Public Library. Be Well Be Here Founder and Executive Director Lara Wilson will lead a guided conversation and casual journaling activity in the special exhibit. Participants will come away with the tools to reduce stress, anxiety, depression, and anger through the artistic resources readily available in Concord. Bring your own journal or use the provided materials.
Please register online in advance using the form below.

The Concordians Behind the Art Walking Tour
2023-07-29 11:00 - 12:30 | MA
Many of the works of art in the Concord Free Public Library’s collection and displayed at the Concord Museum were made by, of, and for Concordians. Join a Concord Museum Guide on a walking tour that delves into the lives of the artists and subjects featured in the special exhibition A Perpetual Invitation: 150 Years of Art at the Concord Free Public Library.
1-mile walk, mostly flat terrain, rain or shine. Meet at the Concord Museum.
Includes same-day admission to the Concord Museum.
Participation is limited. Please register using the form below.
