Find out about exciting local exhibitions and programs that make a connection with “Here and There.” Here: First, attend Historic New England’s “Women of Beacon Hill” walking tour, dedicated to four centuries of fascinating women. The tour features a diverse group of women activists, educators, …
Welcome to our weekly museums in the news roundup! NYC museum celebrates navy yard’s history Private museum a reflection of China’s growing prosperity Boston Tea Party Museum cuts out local sculptors Brooklyn museum known for stirring controversy will show film of ants crawling on crucifix …
I finally fulfilled my goal of visiting Historic New England’s Codman Estate by attending the intriguing “House of Mirth – House of Codman” program on October 16. The program featured two illustrated lectures and an abridged house tour. Originally built around 1740, five generations of the Codman family inhabited this home and referred to it as “The Grange.” This particular program focussed on Ogden Codman, Jr., an architect and interior designer, and his siblings. Ogden Jr. befriended Edith Wharton in Newport, RI and contributed to the design of both her Newport and New York homes. Together, they wrote The Decoration of Houses, in 1897.
The first lecture familiarized the group with the plot of Wharton’s House of Mirth before going on to describe three major themes linking the novel with the Codman family and The Grange. Following was a brief lecture to acquaint the group with the history and members of the Codman family. Through the lens of high society in the Gilded Age, we were then able to explore the house and learn more about the pursuits of Ogden Jr’s generation. This property was left to Historic New England upon the death of Ogden Jr’s youngest sister, Dorothy, in 1968. Dorothy kept the rooms and their contents as her family members had left them, only adding to them when she sold her Boston townhouse. As a result, the collection is amazingly intact and illustrative of life as a Codman. For me, the highlights were the extensive collection of family portraits and the watercolors by Alice Codman, Ogden Jr’s other sister. Unfortunately, the Codman Estate is already closed for the season, but I urge you to visit next spring for a full tour or one of their wonderful programs.
Margaret Aiken, Program Developer, Lifelong Learning at the Science Museum of Minnesota and M.A. Museum Education (G’10), invites museum studies students to get involved in Experimonth, a month-long blogging experiment that brings an artist, a scientist, and citizens together to use data and observation to …
Find out about exciting local exhibitions and programs that make a connection with “Here and There.” Here: First, encounter remnants of everyday life in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius in “A Day in Pompeii,” at the Museum of Science. There: Next, head up to the …
Hot off the presses, and this sounds really interesting (though I have an admitted fascination with disaster preparedness).
As a recognized leader in the field of emergency preparedness for cultural institutions, the New England Museum Association and COSTEP-MA (Coordinated Statewide Emergency Preparedness for Massachusetts) invite you to a special ‘summit meeting’ of professionals from all over New England, both municipal and private, who are dedicated to increasing the awareness of and preparation for disaster response for cultural resources. The meeting will be held on Tuesday, November 15 from 1:00-3:30 p.m., in the Nathan Hale Room on the third floor of the Hartford Hilton, as a special session preceding the annual NEMA conference.
The meeting will consist of two sessions. The first session will be an opportunity for the leaders of the emergency preparedness community such as COSTEP- MA, the COSTEP initiatives begun in other states, and the Alliance for Response, to meet each other, compare notes, and discuss means and opportunities by which groups can share information and investigate potential collaborations. The group will also discuss how NEMA may best serve as a nexus of information before, during, and after a crisis. The second session, starting at 2:00 p.m., will be open to the entire attendance of the conference, allowing all interested parties to meet the people who can help to coordinate disaster response.