past events
Etiquetteer's Tenth Annual Repeal Day Celebration
To benefit the Gibson House Museum
Friday, December 3, 2021
7:00-8:00 p.m., via Zoom
Tickets: $60
For the past ten years, Etiquetteer Robert B. Dimmick has led a celebration each December celebrating one of the more obscure aspects of the Gibson family’s residence at 137 Beacon Street: museum founder Charlie Gibson's use of the third-floor bathroom for the production of Prohibition-era gin.
While the pandemic prevents us from hosting an in-person party, the party is still going on! Just as in 2020, please join us via Zoom, on Friday, December 3, for Prohibition-era merriment, including a cocktail-mixing demonstration, Prohibition trivia, and an exclusive video tour of the Gibson House Red Study—a space too small to visit during typical Repeal celebrations. The evening will include an informal panel discussion hosted by Etiquetteer on the evolution of cocktail culture in the 21st century, featuring some beloved friends of Repeal: our own Kirsten “Miss Kitty” Amann, co-author of Drinking Like Ladies and Jeremy Cooper, co-author with Andrew Klausner of their three-volume series, Cocktail Hour Meets. . . .
All proceeds from this event will benefit the preservation of the Gibson House Museum, the only historic house museum in Boston's Back Bay.
Register Here!
To benefit the Gibson House Museum
Friday, December 3, 2021
7:00-8:00 p.m., via Zoom
Tickets: $60
For the past ten years, Etiquetteer Robert B. Dimmick has led a celebration each December celebrating one of the more obscure aspects of the Gibson family’s residence at 137 Beacon Street: museum founder Charlie Gibson's use of the third-floor bathroom for the production of Prohibition-era gin.
While the pandemic prevents us from hosting an in-person party, the party is still going on! Just as in 2020, please join us via Zoom, on Friday, December 3, for Prohibition-era merriment, including a cocktail-mixing demonstration, Prohibition trivia, and an exclusive video tour of the Gibson House Red Study—a space too small to visit during typical Repeal celebrations. The evening will include an informal panel discussion hosted by Etiquetteer on the evolution of cocktail culture in the 21st century, featuring some beloved friends of Repeal: our own Kirsten “Miss Kitty” Amann, co-author of Drinking Like Ladies and Jeremy Cooper, co-author with Andrew Klausner of their three-volume series, Cocktail Hour Meets. . . .
All proceeds from this event will benefit the preservation of the Gibson House Museum, the only historic house museum in Boston's Back Bay.
Register Here!
A Cultivated Friendship: Based on letters between Louis Bromfield and Edith Wharton
Created and performed by John Dennis Anderson and Karen Vuranch
Postponed
$10 Members (Join Here!) | $12 Non-members
Two Pulitzer-Prize-winning authors—American expatriates in France in the 1930s—of different generations and different social circles. What topic would bind them in a close friendship? Gardening. “A Cultivated Friendship” is a performance of selected letters of Louis Bromfield (John Dennis Anderson) and Edith Wharton (Karen Vuranch), edited and published by Daniel Bratton in Yrs, Ever Affly: The Correspondence of Edith Wharton and Louis Bromfield. Wharton and Bromfield's mutual passion for gardens created a deep friendship, further enhanced by their shared profession of writing and shared frustration at the business of writing. This 50-minute performance will be followed by a Q&A with the actors.
Created and performed by John Dennis Anderson and Karen Vuranch
Postponed
$10 Members (Join Here!) | $12 Non-members
Two Pulitzer-Prize-winning authors—American expatriates in France in the 1930s—of different generations and different social circles. What topic would bind them in a close friendship? Gardening. “A Cultivated Friendship” is a performance of selected letters of Louis Bromfield (John Dennis Anderson) and Edith Wharton (Karen Vuranch), edited and published by Daniel Bratton in Yrs, Ever Affly: The Correspondence of Edith Wharton and Louis Bromfield. Wharton and Bromfield's mutual passion for gardens created a deep friendship, further enhanced by their shared profession of writing and shared frustration at the business of writing. This 50-minute performance will be followed by a Q&A with the actors.
Wealth & Worldliness: The Gibson Family Paintings Collection
Join Ed Gordon, GHM Programs Director, for a tour focused on select portraits, landscapes, and copies of Old Master European paintings located on the Museum's first and second floors. How did the Gibson family collect these artworks? Why did they choose to display them as they did? Highlighting artists such as Chester Harding, William Morris Hunt, and Samuel T. Coleman, the tour dives deep into the meaning and significance of various paintings in the family's collection.
November 7, 3:00 p.m.
$15 General Admission | $10 Members (Join Here!) | $12 Students and Seniors
Join Ed Gordon, GHM Programs Director, for a tour focused on select portraits, landscapes, and copies of Old Master European paintings located on the Museum's first and second floors. How did the Gibson family collect these artworks? Why did they choose to display them as they did? Highlighting artists such as Chester Harding, William Morris Hunt, and Samuel T. Coleman, the tour dives deep into the meaning and significance of various paintings in the family's collection.
November 7, 3:00 p.m.
$15 General Admission | $10 Members (Join Here!) | $12 Students and Seniors
1874 Nahant beach scene
by L. Prang & Co.
(Courtesy Boston Public Library)
Etiquette of the Brahmin Summer
with Etiquetteer Robert B. Dimmick
Tuesday, August 17
6:00-7:00 p.m., via Zoom
$10 members, $12 non-members
Before air conditioning, Brahmin (wealthy Boston) families retreated for the summer season to homes on the New England coast. Join Robert B. Dimmick, Etiquetteer, for an entertaining look at the rituals, pastimes, and domesticity of the Gibson family and other Yankees. This virtual program will include images from the Gibson House and Gibson family archives.
with Etiquetteer Robert B. Dimmick
Tuesday, August 17
6:00-7:00 p.m., via Zoom
$10 members, $12 non-members
Before air conditioning, Brahmin (wealthy Boston) families retreated for the summer season to homes on the New England coast. Join Robert B. Dimmick, Etiquetteer, for an entertaining look at the rituals, pastimes, and domesticity of the Gibson family and other Yankees. This virtual program will include images from the Gibson House and Gibson family archives.
Tuesday, June 15, 2021
6:00-7:00 p.m.
$10 members, $12 nonmembers
Time weighed heavily on Boston “Brahmins” Ogden Codman, Jr. (1863-1951) and Charles Hammond Gibson, Jr. (1874-1954). Each represented the last of the male line within his family, and both felt somehow displaced in the twentieth century. Join Tripp Evans, professor of American art and architecture, Wheaton College, to explore how these men turned back the hands of time--both by preserving their childhood homes for posterity and, as recent discoveries demonstrate, through Codman's early romantic interest in Gibson.
6:00-7:00 p.m.
$10 members, $12 nonmembers
Time weighed heavily on Boston “Brahmins” Ogden Codman, Jr. (1863-1951) and Charles Hammond Gibson, Jr. (1874-1954). Each represented the last of the male line within his family, and both felt somehow displaced in the twentieth century. Join Tripp Evans, professor of American art and architecture, Wheaton College, to explore how these men turned back the hands of time--both by preserving their childhood homes for posterity and, as recent discoveries demonstrate, through Codman's early romantic interest in Gibson.
R. Tripp Evans is a professor of American art and architecture at Wheaton College in Norton, Massachusetts. He received his B.A. in architectural history from the University of Virginia and his Ph.D. in the history of art from Yale University. His 2010 biography of the painter Grant Wood won the National Award for Arts Writing, and his current book project examines four New England house museums created by bachelor-collectors, including the Codman Estate and Gibson House.
Fridays, June 4 (SOLD OUT!) and June 11, 2021
6:00-6:45 p.m.
$15 per ticket
Explore the Gibson House and early-twentieth-century Boston through Charlie Gibson's eyes! The story of the museum's founder is one of legacy and family history; of the fading grandeur of Victorian-era Boston; and of the role gay men, like Charlie, had in the historic preservation movement. This unique specialty house tour is not to be missed!
This is an in-person tour at the Gibson House Museum. Registration is required.
(Regular and specialty tours are also available for private groups by appointment. For more information and to arrange a tour, contact info@thegibsonhouse.org.)
6:00-6:45 p.m.
$15 per ticket
Explore the Gibson House and early-twentieth-century Boston through Charlie Gibson's eyes! The story of the museum's founder is one of legacy and family history; of the fading grandeur of Victorian-era Boston; and of the role gay men, like Charlie, had in the historic preservation movement. This unique specialty house tour is not to be missed!
This is an in-person tour at the Gibson House Museum. Registration is required.
(Regular and specialty tours are also available for private groups by appointment. For more information and to arrange a tour, contact info@thegibsonhouse.org.)
Babe Ruth
1910-1920: New England Baseball Amid a Decade of Turmoil
Tuesday, May 25, 2021
6:00-7:00 p.m.
$10 members, $12 nonmembers
Virtual via Zoom
The decade 1910-1920 was a time of tremendous turmoil, with a "War to End All Wars" and the deadliest pandemic in recent history. The war and pandemic had significant implications for all areas of American life, including Major League Baseball and the future of the Boston Red Sox. Bob Goodof, former GHM board member and longtime baseball history buff, will build on Skip Desjardin's masterpiece September 1918: War, Plague, and the World Series to discuss events leading to, through, and after this critical period, including a host of other characters, anecdotes, and "fake news."
Tuesday, May 25, 2021
6:00-7:00 p.m.
$10 members, $12 nonmembers
Virtual via Zoom
The decade 1910-1920 was a time of tremendous turmoil, with a "War to End All Wars" and the deadliest pandemic in recent history. The war and pandemic had significant implications for all areas of American life, including Major League Baseball and the future of the Boston Red Sox. Bob Goodof, former GHM board member and longtime baseball history buff, will build on Skip Desjardin's masterpiece September 1918: War, Plague, and the World Series to discuss events leading to, through, and after this critical period, including a host of other characters, anecdotes, and "fake news."
Domestic Staff: Their Work, Their Houses, Their Lives, from the Federal Period through the Gilded Age
Tuesday, May 18, 2021
6:00-7:30 p.m.
$10 suggested donation
Virtual via Zoom
Domestic servants made possible the lifestyles of many families in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, but their stories often go untold. Why did they choose domestic service? What was their relationship with each other and the families they worked for? How did they experience the house? In this panel discussion, representatives from five historic house museums--the Gibson House, Waltham's Gore Place, Newport's Elms Mansion, New York's Merchant's House Museum, and Akron, Ohio's Stan Hywet Hall and Gardens--will explore the experiences of the domestic staff that lived and worked at our sites. Join us to examine these homes through the lens of the workers who kept them running.
The following sites and speakers will be featured. Serving as moderator will be Jennifer Pustz, author of Voices from the Back Stairs: Interpreting Servants’ Lives at Historic House Museums. :
Tuesday, May 18, 2021
6:00-7:30 p.m.
$10 suggested donation
Virtual via Zoom
Domestic servants made possible the lifestyles of many families in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, but their stories often go untold. Why did they choose domestic service? What was their relationship with each other and the families they worked for? How did they experience the house? In this panel discussion, representatives from five historic house museums--the Gibson House, Waltham's Gore Place, Newport's Elms Mansion, New York's Merchant's House Museum, and Akron, Ohio's Stan Hywet Hall and Gardens--will explore the experiences of the domestic staff that lived and worked at our sites. Join us to examine these homes through the lens of the workers who kept them running.
The following sites and speakers will be featured. Serving as moderator will be Jennifer Pustz, author of Voices from the Back Stairs: Interpreting Servants’ Lives at Historic House Museums. :
"Upstairs, Downstairs: Domestic Service at the Gibson House" Specialty Tour Launch
Saturday, May 15 & Sunday, May 16
1:00 & 3:00 p.m.
$15/$12 students & seniors; space is limited
Pre-registration is required.
Explore the lives of the young, Irish immigrant women who worked in domestic service in the Back Bay. On this tour, we invite you to view the Gibson House from a different perspective. We will start in the back alley and move from the working quarters through the rest of the house. Using census records, domestic advice manuals, and the architecture of the Gibson House, this tour explores the work of these women (and some men) and the community they created.
Rarely seen spaces, including the coal shed (the last surviving one in Back Bay) and the fifth-floor servant bedrooms, will be on view.
Additional dates are available this summer through the link below.
*Please note that this tour includes walking up and down six flights of stairs, and that the Gibson House Museum is not air-conditioned.
Saturday, May 15 & Sunday, May 16
1:00 & 3:00 p.m.
$15/$12 students & seniors; space is limited
Pre-registration is required.
Explore the lives of the young, Irish immigrant women who worked in domestic service in the Back Bay. On this tour, we invite you to view the Gibson House from a different perspective. We will start in the back alley and move from the working quarters through the rest of the house. Using census records, domestic advice manuals, and the architecture of the Gibson House, this tour explores the work of these women (and some men) and the community they created.
Rarely seen spaces, including the coal shed (the last surviving one in Back Bay) and the fifth-floor servant bedrooms, will be on view.
Additional dates are available this summer through the link below.
*Please note that this tour includes walking up and down six flights of stairs, and that the Gibson House Museum is not air-conditioned.
Read the Room Book Club: Work by Louisa May Alcott
Wednesday, May 12, 2021
6:00-7:30 p.m.
$12 per meeting, free for members
Virtual via Zoom
This semi-autobiographical story explores the changing experiences and expectations of women’s work within the nineteenth-century backdrop of the Civil War, industrialization, Transcendentalism, and the women’s rights movement.
In this meeting, we will discuss Louisa May Alcott’s life in parallel to this story, including her residences on Beacon Hill (around the corner the Nichols House) and comparisons to members of the Gibson and Nichols households. We’ll also touch on the filming of the 2019 "Little Women" at the Gibson House.
From Goodreads: “In this story of a woman’s search for a meaningful life, Alcott moves outside the family setting of her best known works. Work is both an exploration of Alcott’s personal conflicts and a social critique, examining women’s independence, the moral significance of labor, and the goals to which a woman can aspire.”
Purchase Work from your local bookstore or online through the local-bookstore network, Bookshop. A digital version is free through Project Gutenberg.
Hosts: Meghan Gelardi Holmes (Curator, Gibson House Museum) and Barbara Callahan (Public Engagement Manager, Nichols House Museum)
Space is limited, and advanced registration is required. Registration is free for Nichols House Museum and Gibson House Museum members and is $12 per meeting for non-members. We’re thrilled to offer a very special joint membership in conjunction with the book club: join both museums for $60 (a savings of $35) and receive free access to the book club as well as member benefits at both museums!
6:00-7:30 p.m.
$12 per meeting, free for members
Virtual via Zoom
This semi-autobiographical story explores the changing experiences and expectations of women’s work within the nineteenth-century backdrop of the Civil War, industrialization, Transcendentalism, and the women’s rights movement.
In this meeting, we will discuss Louisa May Alcott’s life in parallel to this story, including her residences on Beacon Hill (around the corner the Nichols House) and comparisons to members of the Gibson and Nichols households. We’ll also touch on the filming of the 2019 "Little Women" at the Gibson House.
From Goodreads: “In this story of a woman’s search for a meaningful life, Alcott moves outside the family setting of her best known works. Work is both an exploration of Alcott’s personal conflicts and a social critique, examining women’s independence, the moral significance of labor, and the goals to which a woman can aspire.”
Purchase Work from your local bookstore or online through the local-bookstore network, Bookshop. A digital version is free through Project Gutenberg.
Hosts: Meghan Gelardi Holmes (Curator, Gibson House Museum) and Barbara Callahan (Public Engagement Manager, Nichols House Museum)
Space is limited, and advanced registration is required. Registration is free for Nichols House Museum and Gibson House Museum members and is $12 per meeting for non-members. We’re thrilled to offer a very special joint membership in conjunction with the book club: join both museums for $60 (a savings of $35) and receive free access to the book club as well as member benefits at both museums!
SOLD OUT! Victorian Back Bay Walking Tour
Friday, April 30, 2021
2:00-3:30 p.m.
Join us for a walking tour highlighting Victorian Back Bay design, from Beacon Street row houses to the great public buildings of Copley Square. The tour will be led by architectural historian and Gibson House Museum Programs Director Ed Gordon. Offered in conjunction with Boston Design Week.
Friday, April 30, 2021
2:00-3:30 p.m.
Join us for a walking tour highlighting Victorian Back Bay design, from Beacon Street row houses to the great public buildings of Copley Square. The tour will be led by architectural historian and Gibson House Museum Programs Director Ed Gordon. Offered in conjunction with Boston Design Week.
Image courtesy of the Peabody Essex Museum, Phillips Library.
Tuesday, April 20, 2021
6:30-7:30 p.m.
$8 members, $10 nonmembers
Victorian "wheel women" were a new generation of independent females mobilized by the bicycle. Along with the freedom this new invention brought women came clever sales pitches. Join the Gibson House as we host art-design historian and Peabody Essex Museum Librarian Sarah Bilotta in the exploration of images that ruled bicycle advertising during the Victorian era. Sarah will discuss advertising ephemera, give you a peek at the images she studies, and reveal who is notably missing from these circulated images.
Sarah Bilotta (she/her) is a design historian, collections cataloger, and writer. She serves as Assistant Cataloging Librarian for the Peabody Essex Museum and Library and Research Fellow for the Museum of Russian Icons. Her research focuses on depictions of women in American and British advertising 1890-1945.
6:30-7:30 p.m.
$8 members, $10 nonmembers
Victorian "wheel women" were a new generation of independent females mobilized by the bicycle. Along with the freedom this new invention brought women came clever sales pitches. Join the Gibson House as we host art-design historian and Peabody Essex Museum Librarian Sarah Bilotta in the exploration of images that ruled bicycle advertising during the Victorian era. Sarah will discuss advertising ephemera, give you a peek at the images she studies, and reveal who is notably missing from these circulated images.
Sarah Bilotta (she/her) is a design historian, collections cataloger, and writer. She serves as Assistant Cataloging Librarian for the Peabody Essex Museum and Library and Research Fellow for the Museum of Russian Icons. Her research focuses on depictions of women in American and British advertising 1890-1945.
Edward Savage, The Washington Family, 1789-1796, National Gallery of Art. This early painting of the Washingtons with an enslaved person hung at the entrance to the Met's American Wing when it opened in 1924. Professor Hole will explore in detail the meaning of this artwork, and its placement in the museum, during the talk.
Tuesday, April 6, 2021
6:00-7:00 p.m.
$10 members, $12 nonmembers
In 1924, the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s new American Wing and the "George Washington rooms" on view at Wanamaker’s New York department store brought contemporary fantasies of an explicitly Anglo-Saxon, early-American domestic life into public view with a newly popular type of display: the period room. That same year, First Lady Grace Coolidge made front-page news shopping for design ideas for the White House in the American Wing, while President Calvin Coolidge signed into law the most restrictive immigration bill ever enacted, the National Origins Act. This talk by Heather Hole, associate professor of art history at Simmons University, examines early-twentieth-century period rooms within the context of contemporary debates over "Americanness," immigration, and race – debates that continue to haunt us today.
6:00-7:00 p.m.
$10 members, $12 nonmembers
In 1924, the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s new American Wing and the "George Washington rooms" on view at Wanamaker’s New York department store brought contemporary fantasies of an explicitly Anglo-Saxon, early-American domestic life into public view with a newly popular type of display: the period room. That same year, First Lady Grace Coolidge made front-page news shopping for design ideas for the White House in the American Wing, while President Calvin Coolidge signed into law the most restrictive immigration bill ever enacted, the National Origins Act. This talk by Heather Hole, associate professor of art history at Simmons University, examines early-twentieth-century period rooms within the context of contemporary debates over "Americanness," immigration, and race – debates that continue to haunt us today.
Todd S. Gernes, Gibson House Museum board member and associate professor of history, Stonehill College, will introduce this talk with a discussion of the Gibson House Museum's founding within the context of the American Colonial Revival in New England.
Heather Hole is associate professor of art history and director of the Arts Administration Program at Simmons University. Her research examines the forgotten exhibition spaces of early-twentieth-century New York, including the cutting-edge modern gallery in Wanamaker's department store, and the doll’s house, filled by work by artists like Marcel Duchamp, created by Florine Stettheimer’s sister Carrie. She is the author of the book Marsden Hartley and the West: The Search for an American Modernism, published by Yale University Press, and is a former curator at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum. She received her Ph.D. from Princeton University and her B.A. from Smith College.
The Rise of Silas Lapham by William Dean Howells (1885)
Wednesday, March 10, 2020
6:00-7:30 p.m.
$12 per meeting; free for Nichols House Museum and Gibson House Museum members (details below)
Location: Virtual, via Zoom
Host: Meghan Gelardi Holmes, Curator, Gibson House Museum
*Register here!
Would Silas Lapham have been accepted into the “in-crowd,” if the decision were up to the Gibsons? In this book club meeting, we will discuss class and Boston society in the nineteenth century using the book and the interiors of the Gibson House Museum as our guide.
Purchase The Rise of Silas Lapham from your local bookstore or online through the local-bookstore network, Bookshop. An ebook version is free through Project Gutenberg.
Book description from Penguin Random House: In his story of one of the millionaire industrialists who flourished in the post-Civil War years, William Dean Howells probes the moral and social conflicts that confront a self-made man trying to crash Boston’s old-guard aristocracy.
About the Book Club
The Nichols House Museum and Gibson House Museum co-host this book club inspired by the literary salons hosted in the houses’ parlors. We welcome both those new to the museums and our familiar friends.
The book club will meet twice a season for group discussion followed by a tour of the host museum. Participants can expect to read a mix of Victorian-era and contemporary fiction (and even the occasional volume of poetry), and each month’s book selection will reflect some aspect or theme of the respective museum. Participants will be given a list of discussion questions the week prior to the event, and each event will highlight particular objects or spaces at the host museum that connect to the book. Programs will take place virtually for now; participants will be invited to meet on site when it becomes safe to do so.
Space is limited, and advanced registration is required. Registration is free for Nichols House Museum and Gibson House Museum members and is $12 per meeting for non-members ($22 for two consecutive meetings).
We’re thrilled to offer a very special joint membership in conjunction with the book club: join both museums for $60 (a savings of $35) and receive free access to the book club as well as member benefits at both museums! Register and sign up for membership here.
Wednesday, March 10, 2020
6:00-7:30 p.m.
$12 per meeting; free for Nichols House Museum and Gibson House Museum members (details below)
Location: Virtual, via Zoom
Host: Meghan Gelardi Holmes, Curator, Gibson House Museum
*Register here!
Would Silas Lapham have been accepted into the “in-crowd,” if the decision were up to the Gibsons? In this book club meeting, we will discuss class and Boston society in the nineteenth century using the book and the interiors of the Gibson House Museum as our guide.
Purchase The Rise of Silas Lapham from your local bookstore or online through the local-bookstore network, Bookshop. An ebook version is free through Project Gutenberg.
Book description from Penguin Random House: In his story of one of the millionaire industrialists who flourished in the post-Civil War years, William Dean Howells probes the moral and social conflicts that confront a self-made man trying to crash Boston’s old-guard aristocracy.
About the Book Club
The Nichols House Museum and Gibson House Museum co-host this book club inspired by the literary salons hosted in the houses’ parlors. We welcome both those new to the museums and our familiar friends.
The book club will meet twice a season for group discussion followed by a tour of the host museum. Participants can expect to read a mix of Victorian-era and contemporary fiction (and even the occasional volume of poetry), and each month’s book selection will reflect some aspect or theme of the respective museum. Participants will be given a list of discussion questions the week prior to the event, and each event will highlight particular objects or spaces at the host museum that connect to the book. Programs will take place virtually for now; participants will be invited to meet on site when it becomes safe to do so.
Space is limited, and advanced registration is required. Registration is free for Nichols House Museum and Gibson House Museum members and is $12 per meeting for non-members ($22 for two consecutive meetings).
We’re thrilled to offer a very special joint membership in conjunction with the book club: join both museums for $60 (a savings of $35) and receive free access to the book club as well as member benefits at both museums! Register and sign up for membership here.
Gibson House and Movie Magic: Filming Greta Gerwig's Little Women
Tuesday, March 2, 2021
6:30-7:30 p.m.
Tickets: $5
We’re headed behind the scenes, or rather to-the-scenes, of our favorite Greta Gerwig movie, Little Women! Join us virtually to commemorate the anniversary of the film’s release and the movie-magic role the Gibson House Museum played. We'll reveal some of the behind-the-scenes happenings, speak on the Gibson House’s own history, and answer questions from you, our curious audience! What it was like to turn Back Bay into Victorian New York? Did they really light Jo’s skirt on fire in the house? How historically accurate were the Gibson House scenes? Tune in to find out!
Tuesday, March 2, 2021
6:30-7:30 p.m.
Tickets: $5
We’re headed behind the scenes, or rather to-the-scenes, of our favorite Greta Gerwig movie, Little Women! Join us virtually to commemorate the anniversary of the film’s release and the movie-magic role the Gibson House Museum played. We'll reveal some of the behind-the-scenes happenings, speak on the Gibson House’s own history, and answer questions from you, our curious audience! What it was like to turn Back Bay into Victorian New York? Did they really light Jo’s skirt on fire in the house? How historically accurate were the Gibson House scenes? Tune in to find out!
Read the Room Book Club Meeting
The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton (1905)
Wednesday, January 20, 2020
6:00-7:30 p.m.
$12 per meeting; free for Nichols House Museum and Gibson House Museum members (details below)
Location: Virtual, via Zoom
Host: Laura Cunningham, Curator of Collections and Education, Nichols House Museum
Like the novel’s protagonist, Lily Bart, Rose Nichols also possessed an independent character that contradicted the rules of an elite society which she simultaneously enjoyed. In this book club meeting, we will discuss the changing social mores for women at the turn of the twentieth century using the book and the Nichols House Museum collection and interiors as our guide.
Purchase The House of Mirth from your local bookstore or online through the local-bookstore network, Bookshop. An ebook version is free through Project Gutenberg.
Book description from goodreads: First published in 1905, The House of Mirth shocked the New York society it so deftly chronicles, portraying the moral, social and economic restraints on a woman who dared to claim the privileges of marriage without assuming the responsibilities.
The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton (1905)
Wednesday, January 20, 2020
6:00-7:30 p.m.
$12 per meeting; free for Nichols House Museum and Gibson House Museum members (details below)
Location: Virtual, via Zoom
Host: Laura Cunningham, Curator of Collections and Education, Nichols House Museum
Like the novel’s protagonist, Lily Bart, Rose Nichols also possessed an independent character that contradicted the rules of an elite society which she simultaneously enjoyed. In this book club meeting, we will discuss the changing social mores for women at the turn of the twentieth century using the book and the Nichols House Museum collection and interiors as our guide.
Purchase The House of Mirth from your local bookstore or online through the local-bookstore network, Bookshop. An ebook version is free through Project Gutenberg.
Book description from goodreads: First published in 1905, The House of Mirth shocked the New York society it so deftly chronicles, portraying the moral, social and economic restraints on a woman who dared to claim the privileges of marriage without assuming the responsibilities.
Victorian Holiday Customs
with Etiquetteer Robert B. Dimmick
Tuesday, December 15, 2020
6:00-7:00 p.m. EST
Tickets: $10
Reservations required. This program will be presented through Zoom.
No one celebrated Christmas quite like the Victorians. The festivities began with Thanksgiving and extended through New Year's Day (and sometimes Twelfth Night). We continue to embrace many customs the Victorians popularized--like the Christmas tree--although others, like the once-traditional gift of an orange, have fallen by the wayside.
Etiquetteer Robert B. Dimmick delves into the food, gifts, entertaining, and superstitions involved in Victorian celebrations.
This event will take place via Zoom. Please be sure to download and acquaint yourself with the platform prior to the program. Access information will be sent to those who register. Registration is required and will close 15 minutes prior to the event.
with Etiquetteer Robert B. Dimmick
Tuesday, December 15, 2020
6:00-7:00 p.m. EST
Tickets: $10
Reservations required. This program will be presented through Zoom.
No one celebrated Christmas quite like the Victorians. The festivities began with Thanksgiving and extended through New Year's Day (and sometimes Twelfth Night). We continue to embrace many customs the Victorians popularized--like the Christmas tree--although others, like the once-traditional gift of an orange, have fallen by the wayside.
Etiquetteer Robert B. Dimmick delves into the food, gifts, entertaining, and superstitions involved in Victorian celebrations.
This event will take place via Zoom. Please be sure to download and acquaint yourself with the platform prior to the program. Access information will be sent to those who register. Registration is required and will close 15 minutes prior to the event.
Etiquetteer's Ninth Annual Repeal Day Celebration for the Gibson House Museum!
Friday, December 4, 2020
6:00-7:00 p.m. EST
Tickets: $60
Reservations required. This program will be conducted through Zoom.
Join Etiquetteer Robert B. Dimmick for the Ninth Annual Celebration of the Repeal of Prohibition to benefit the Gibson House Museum. The coronavirus is not keeping us from celebrating! This year’s virtual Repeal Day will include some special aspects:
RSVP by November 25 so that we can mail your book in time!
This event will take place via Zoom. Please be sure to download and acquaint yourself with the platform prior to the program. Access information will be sent to those who register. Registration is required and will close 15 minutes prior to the event.
Friday, December 4, 2020
6:00-7:00 p.m. EST
Tickets: $60
Reservations required. This program will be conducted through Zoom.
Join Etiquetteer Robert B. Dimmick for the Ninth Annual Celebration of the Repeal of Prohibition to benefit the Gibson House Museum. The coronavirus is not keeping us from celebrating! This year’s virtual Repeal Day will include some special aspects:
- Our beloved Miss Kitty, Kirsten Amann, will be back with us behind the bar, this time conducting a cocktail tutorial for all of us.
- Etiquetteer will be hosting Repeal Day live from a room in the Gibson House you may not have seen yet: the third-floor bathroom, where our founder was known to concoct some good bathtub gin during Prohibition.
- And our special guests Andrew Klausner and Jeremy Cooper, sharing with us interesting aspects of their new book, Cocktail Hour Meets . . . a Presidential Election! Your ticket price includes a complimentary copy of this exciting new book of tasty cocktail recipes based on all the American presidents. Andy and Jeremy used the pandemic quarantine to experiment with new drinks recipes. This resulted first in their book, Cocktail Hour Meets ... a Pandemic, and now with their second volume!
- As usual, there will be door prizes and some Prohibition trivia!
RSVP by November 25 so that we can mail your book in time!
This event will take place via Zoom. Please be sure to download and acquaint yourself with the platform prior to the program. Access information will be sent to those who register. Registration is required and will close 15 minutes prior to the event.
Read-the-Room Book Club:
Winter 2020 Meeting
The Bostonians by Henry James (1886)
Wednesday, December 2, 2020
6:00-7:30 p.m.
$12 per meeting; free for Nichols House Museum and Gibson House Museum members (details below)
Hosted virtually by Meghan Gelardi Holmes, Curator, Gibson House Museum
The Bostonians book summary from Penguin Random House: This brilliant satire of the women’s rights movement in America is the story of the ravishing inspirational speaker Verena Tarrant and the bitter struggle between two distant cousins who seek to control her. Will the privileged Boston feminist Olive Chancellor succeed in turning her beloved ward into a celebrated activist and lifetime companion? Or will Basil Ransom, a conservative southern lawyer, steal Verena’s heart and remove her from the limelight? The Bostonians is one of James's most provocative and astute portrayals of a world caught between old values and the lure of progress.
Discussion will focus on the changing social world of Boston’s elites at the end of the nineteenth century. We will also consider early feminism and the “Boston marriage.” And, of course, we will talk about material culture, both in the book and at the Gibson House.
The Gibson House was featured in the 1984 film version of the book, starring Vanessa Redgrave and Christopher Reeve, which the New York Times called “a rare delight, a high comedy with tragic undertones.” (And we won’t tell if you just watch the movie and come to book club anyway!)
We’re thrilled to offer a very special joint membership in conjunction with the book club: join both museums for $60 (a savings of $35) and receive free access to the book club as well as member benefits at both museums! Register and sign up for membership here.
Purchase The Bostonians through your local bookstore or online through the local-bookstore network, Bookshop. An ebook version is free through Project Gutenberg.
Winter 2020 Meeting
The Bostonians by Henry James (1886)
Wednesday, December 2, 2020
6:00-7:30 p.m.
$12 per meeting; free for Nichols House Museum and Gibson House Museum members (details below)
Hosted virtually by Meghan Gelardi Holmes, Curator, Gibson House Museum
The Bostonians book summary from Penguin Random House: This brilliant satire of the women’s rights movement in America is the story of the ravishing inspirational speaker Verena Tarrant and the bitter struggle between two distant cousins who seek to control her. Will the privileged Boston feminist Olive Chancellor succeed in turning her beloved ward into a celebrated activist and lifetime companion? Or will Basil Ransom, a conservative southern lawyer, steal Verena’s heart and remove her from the limelight? The Bostonians is one of James's most provocative and astute portrayals of a world caught between old values and the lure of progress.
Discussion will focus on the changing social world of Boston’s elites at the end of the nineteenth century. We will also consider early feminism and the “Boston marriage.” And, of course, we will talk about material culture, both in the book and at the Gibson House.
The Gibson House was featured in the 1984 film version of the book, starring Vanessa Redgrave and Christopher Reeve, which the New York Times called “a rare delight, a high comedy with tragic undertones.” (And we won’t tell if you just watch the movie and come to book club anyway!)
We’re thrilled to offer a very special joint membership in conjunction with the book club: join both museums for $60 (a savings of $35) and receive free access to the book club as well as member benefits at both museums! Register and sign up for membership here.
Purchase The Bostonians through your local bookstore or online through the local-bookstore network, Bookshop. An ebook version is free through Project Gutenberg.
Gibson House Museum Virtual Architecture Tour
Tuesday, November 17, 2020
6:00-7:15 p.m.
$10
Experience the Gibson House's unique architecture from the comfort of your own home! Join Building Committee members Jackie Blombach and Lorie Komlyn for an in-depth exploration of the museum's structural features and innovative mechanical systems reflecting nineteenth-century tastes and technology. If you want to admire the ventilation shaft, or think more about how the two separate staircases were designed and used, this is the tour for you! Time will be allowed for audience questions following the presentation.
This event will take place via Zoom. Please be sure to download and acquaint yourself with the platform prior to the program. Access information will be sent to those who register. Registration is required and will close 15 minutes prior to the event.
Tuesday, November 17, 2020
6:00-7:15 p.m.
$10
Experience the Gibson House's unique architecture from the comfort of your own home! Join Building Committee members Jackie Blombach and Lorie Komlyn for an in-depth exploration of the museum's structural features and innovative mechanical systems reflecting nineteenth-century tastes and technology. If you want to admire the ventilation shaft, or think more about how the two separate staircases were designed and used, this is the tour for you! Time will be allowed for audience questions following the presentation.
This event will take place via Zoom. Please be sure to download and acquaint yourself with the platform prior to the program. Access information will be sent to those who register. Registration is required and will close 15 minutes prior to the event.
Read-the-Room Book Club:
Lolly Willowes by Sylvia Townsend Warren (1926)
Wednesday, October 21, 2020
6:00-7:30 p.m.
$12 per meeting; free for Nichols House Museum and Gibson House Museum members (details below)
Hosted virtually by Laura Cunningham, Curator of Collections and Education, Nichols House Museum
The Nichols House Museum and Gibson House Museum are excited to announce a new book club! Inspired by the literary salons once hosted in the Nichols House Museum and Gibson House Museum parlors, our Read-the-Room Book Club welcomes both those new to the museums and our familiar friends.
The book club will meet twice a season for group discussion followed by a tour of the host museum. Participants can expect to read a mix of Victorian-era and contemporary fiction (and even the occasional volume of poetry), and each month’s book selection will reflect some aspect or theme of the respective museum.
Participants will be given a list of discussion questions the week prior to the event, and each event will highlight particular objects or spaces at the host museum that connect to the book. Programs will take place virtually this fall; participants will be invited to meet on site when it becomes safe to do so. Space is limited, and advanced registration is required.
We’re thrilled to offer a very special joint membership in conjunction with the book club: join both museums for $60 (a savings of $35) and receive free access to the book club as well as member benefits at both museums! RSVP and sign up for membership here.
Fall 2020 Meeting
Lolly Willows book summary from The Guardian: Sylvia Townsend Warner’s 1926 novel Lolly Willowes is an act of defiance that gladdens the soul. Put simply, it’s the story of a woman who becomes a witch–-but it will subvert any expectations prompted by that synopsis as gleefully as it subverts every theme it touches on: gender roles, family love, social convention, religious propriety. Read the full article, here (no spoilers).
Discussion will center around the book’s feminist themes as they relate to the history of the Nichols House and the life of Rose Standish Nichols (1872–1960). Settings and imagery in the book will be compared to the Nichols House Museum period rooms. The life of Sylvia Townsend Warren will also be a topic of conversation.
Purchase Lolly Willowes through your local bookstore or online through the local-bookstore network, Bookshop.
Lolly Willowes by Sylvia Townsend Warren (1926)
Wednesday, October 21, 2020
6:00-7:30 p.m.
$12 per meeting; free for Nichols House Museum and Gibson House Museum members (details below)
Hosted virtually by Laura Cunningham, Curator of Collections and Education, Nichols House Museum
The Nichols House Museum and Gibson House Museum are excited to announce a new book club! Inspired by the literary salons once hosted in the Nichols House Museum and Gibson House Museum parlors, our Read-the-Room Book Club welcomes both those new to the museums and our familiar friends.
The book club will meet twice a season for group discussion followed by a tour of the host museum. Participants can expect to read a mix of Victorian-era and contemporary fiction (and even the occasional volume of poetry), and each month’s book selection will reflect some aspect or theme of the respective museum.
Participants will be given a list of discussion questions the week prior to the event, and each event will highlight particular objects or spaces at the host museum that connect to the book. Programs will take place virtually this fall; participants will be invited to meet on site when it becomes safe to do so. Space is limited, and advanced registration is required.
We’re thrilled to offer a very special joint membership in conjunction with the book club: join both museums for $60 (a savings of $35) and receive free access to the book club as well as member benefits at both museums! RSVP and sign up for membership here.
Fall 2020 Meeting
Lolly Willows book summary from The Guardian: Sylvia Townsend Warner’s 1926 novel Lolly Willowes is an act of defiance that gladdens the soul. Put simply, it’s the story of a woman who becomes a witch–-but it will subvert any expectations prompted by that synopsis as gleefully as it subverts every theme it touches on: gender roles, family love, social convention, religious propriety. Read the full article, here (no spoilers).
Discussion will center around the book’s feminist themes as they relate to the history of the Nichols House and the life of Rose Standish Nichols (1872–1960). Settings and imagery in the book will be compared to the Nichols House Museum period rooms. The life of Sylvia Townsend Warren will also be a topic of conversation.
Purchase Lolly Willowes through your local bookstore or online through the local-bookstore network, Bookshop.
There's No Place Like Home: A Virtual Architecture Tour
Tuesday, October 20, 2020
6:00-7:00 p.m.
Suggested donation of $10-$15
Admire five landmark historic homes, experience four centuries of architecture, and explore three of the city’s iconic neighborhoods on this virtual tour that winds its way through picturesque Boston, making for one special experience from the safety and comfort of your own home.
From Colonial to Federal to Victorian, the stylistic intricacies of the Paul Revere House, Otis House, Nichols House, Shirley Eustis House, and Gibson House will be highlighted.
Hosted by the House Museum Alliance of Downtown Boston
Advance ticket purchase is required (click here). Attendees will be emailed a link to access the program prior to the event.
Tuesday, October 20, 2020
6:00-7:00 p.m.
Suggested donation of $10-$15
Admire five landmark historic homes, experience four centuries of architecture, and explore three of the city’s iconic neighborhoods on this virtual tour that winds its way through picturesque Boston, making for one special experience from the safety and comfort of your own home.
From Colonial to Federal to Victorian, the stylistic intricacies of the Paul Revere House, Otis House, Nichols House, Shirley Eustis House, and Gibson House will be highlighted.
Hosted by the House Museum Alliance of Downtown Boston
Advance ticket purchase is required (click here). Attendees will be emailed a link to access the program prior to the event.
Gay in the Gibson House (Virtual Tour)
Tuesday, October 13, 2020
7:00-7:45 p.m.
Free; donations gratefully accepted
Celebrate LGBT History Month and National Coming Out Day from home! Explore queer history through the eyes of Charlie Gibson, the founder of the Gibson House Museum and a Bostonian of the Gilded Age. His story is one of family and legacy, of same-sex attraction and the fading grandeur of Victorian-era Boston. (This is a virtual version of our popular specialty tour, Charlie Gibson's Queer Boston.)
This event will take place via Zoom. Please be sure to download and acquaint yourself with the platform prior to the program. Access information will be sent to those who register the morning of the event. Registration is required (click here) and will close 15 minutes prior to the event.
Tuesday, October 13, 2020
7:00-7:45 p.m.
Free; donations gratefully accepted
Celebrate LGBT History Month and National Coming Out Day from home! Explore queer history through the eyes of Charlie Gibson, the founder of the Gibson House Museum and a Bostonian of the Gilded Age. His story is one of family and legacy, of same-sex attraction and the fading grandeur of Victorian-era Boston. (This is a virtual version of our popular specialty tour, Charlie Gibson's Queer Boston.)
This event will take place via Zoom. Please be sure to download and acquaint yourself with the platform prior to the program. Access information will be sent to those who register the morning of the event. Registration is required (click here) and will close 15 minutes prior to the event.
"The Death of General Warren at the Battle of Bunker's Hill, 17 June, 1775,"
by John Trumbull (after 1815-before 1831),
Museum of Fine Arts Boston. Depicted in the lower-right-hand corner is a Black American soldier.
The Struggle for Freedom: Patriots of Color at Bunker Hill
A webinar co-sponsored by the Shirley-Eustis House Association, National Parks of Boston,
and the Gibson House Museum
Tuesday, September 15, 2020, 12:00 p.m.
Thursday, September 24, 2020, 7:00 p.m.
*Free of charge
The Gibson House Museum is proud to co-host with the Shirley-Eustis House Association and National Parks of Boston an online presentation highlighting the lives of three Black men who fought against the British at the Battle of Bunker Hill. Barzillai Lew, Cuff Whittemore, and Jude Hall were among the thousands of men of color--some enslaved, some free--who chose to fight with the Patriots in a war that seemed to hold no explicit promise of liberty for Black people.
National Parks of Boston staff members Merrill Kohlhofer and Gabriella Hornbeck have combed through archival records and recent research to piece together the stories of these men and their reasons for supporting the Patriot cause. The presentation offers a sample of the growing efforts among historians to revisit and revise the conventional stories we tell about the American Revolution.
A question-and-answer session will follow to allow participants to ask in-depth questions about the soldiers' lives. The session will also provide information on the resources available for exploring this thread of American history.
The Gibson family has a special connection with the Battle of Bunker Hill: Rosamond Warren Gibson's great-granduncle, the famed Patriot Major General (and Dr.) Joseph Warren, was killed in the battle. (Gibson House builder Catherine Hammond Gibson had a Revolutionary War connection, too: her uncle William Dawes accompanied Paul Revere on his famous ride.)
This program is funded by a generous grant from the Massachusetts Society of the Cincinnati.
A webinar co-sponsored by the Shirley-Eustis House Association, National Parks of Boston,
and the Gibson House Museum
Tuesday, September 15, 2020, 12:00 p.m.
Thursday, September 24, 2020, 7:00 p.m.
*Free of charge
The Gibson House Museum is proud to co-host with the Shirley-Eustis House Association and National Parks of Boston an online presentation highlighting the lives of three Black men who fought against the British at the Battle of Bunker Hill. Barzillai Lew, Cuff Whittemore, and Jude Hall were among the thousands of men of color--some enslaved, some free--who chose to fight with the Patriots in a war that seemed to hold no explicit promise of liberty for Black people.
National Parks of Boston staff members Merrill Kohlhofer and Gabriella Hornbeck have combed through archival records and recent research to piece together the stories of these men and their reasons for supporting the Patriot cause. The presentation offers a sample of the growing efforts among historians to revisit and revise the conventional stories we tell about the American Revolution.
A question-and-answer session will follow to allow participants to ask in-depth questions about the soldiers' lives. The session will also provide information on the resources available for exploring this thread of American history.
The Gibson family has a special connection with the Battle of Bunker Hill: Rosamond Warren Gibson's great-granduncle, the famed Patriot Major General (and Dr.) Joseph Warren, was killed in the battle. (Gibson House builder Catherine Hammond Gibson had a Revolutionary War connection, too: her uncle William Dawes accompanied Paul Revere on his famous ride.)
This program is funded by a generous grant from the Massachusetts Society of the Cincinnati.
Elements of the Victorian Dinner Table
(a virtual program)
Tuesday, August 25, 2020
6:00-7:00 p.m.
$10 members, $12 non-members
The Victorians used a lot of tableware for their meals, often much more than we do today. Etiquetteer Robert B. Dimmick and Gibson House Museum Curator Meghan Gelardi Holmes will draw upon the museum’s collection to set an everyday table in the Gibson House dining room, highlighting things we don't often use today. Sharing information about Victorian table manners and menus, they'll explore the dining habits of the Gibson and Warren families and the roles played by servants.
(a virtual program)
Tuesday, August 25, 2020
6:00-7:00 p.m.
$10 members, $12 non-members
The Victorians used a lot of tableware for their meals, often much more than we do today. Etiquetteer Robert B. Dimmick and Gibson House Museum Curator Meghan Gelardi Holmes will draw upon the museum’s collection to set an everyday table in the Gibson House dining room, highlighting things we don't often use today. Sharing information about Victorian table manners and menus, they'll explore the dining habits of the Gibson and Warren families and the roles played by servants.
Charlie Gibson's Queer Boston: Virtual Tour
Tuesday, August 4, 2020
6:00-7:00 p.m.
$5 suggested donation
Explore the Gibson House and the gay subculture of early-twentieth-century Boston through Charlie Gibson's eyes. The story of the Museum's founder is one of legacy and family history, of the fading grandeur of Victorian-era Boston, and of Boston's LGBTQ history.
Reservations are required, and the event will take place via Zoom. Further details, the recipe to our themed cocktail, and additional resources will be sent to registrants. (Please note: Eventbrite requires a $1 minimum to register. Please email museumassistant@thegibsonhouse.org for alternative registration. Registration will close 15 minutes prior to the event.)
Tuesday, August 4, 2020
6:00-7:00 p.m.
$5 suggested donation
Explore the Gibson House and the gay subculture of early-twentieth-century Boston through Charlie Gibson's eyes. The story of the Museum's founder is one of legacy and family history, of the fading grandeur of Victorian-era Boston, and of Boston's LGBTQ history.
Reservations are required, and the event will take place via Zoom. Further details, the recipe to our themed cocktail, and additional resources will be sent to registrants. (Please note: Eventbrite requires a $1 minimum to register. Please email museumassistant@thegibsonhouse.org for alternative registration. Registration will close 15 minutes prior to the event.)
The Wounded Eros
Film showing and discussion with filmmaker Todd S. Gernes, Ph.D.
Tuesday, July 28, 2020
6:00-6:45 p.m.
$5 suggested donation
The short documentary film The Wounded Eros explores the relationship between Charlie Gibson’s literary career and the material culture of the Gibson House, within the context of turn-of-the-twentieth-century gay Boston. A showing of this 12-minute film will be followed by a discussion with documentary historian Todd S. Gernes. Audience questions will be welcome.
Todd S. Gernes is an associate professor of history at Stonehill College. He is presently writing a book about Charles Hammond Gibson Jr. and his literary circle in late-nineteenth-century Boston and beyond. Professor Gernes is a member of the board of the Gibson House Museum.
Film showing and discussion with filmmaker Todd S. Gernes, Ph.D.
Tuesday, July 28, 2020
6:00-6:45 p.m.
$5 suggested donation
The short documentary film The Wounded Eros explores the relationship between Charlie Gibson’s literary career and the material culture of the Gibson House, within the context of turn-of-the-twentieth-century gay Boston. A showing of this 12-minute film will be followed by a discussion with documentary historian Todd S. Gernes. Audience questions will be welcome.
Todd S. Gernes is an associate professor of history at Stonehill College. He is presently writing a book about Charles Hammond Gibson Jr. and his literary circle in late-nineteenth-century Boston and beyond. Professor Gernes is a member of the board of the Gibson House Museum.
Interpreting Queer History at the Gibson House
Tuesday, July 21, 2020
6:00-6:30 p.m.
Free, registration required
Last year, we launched a specialty tour called Charlie Gibson's Queer Boston. View a short presentation on the development of that tour and the importance of highlighting queer history. Bring your questions or comments for a discussion to follow. This talk is perfect for museum professionals, historians, and those interested in queer history/studies.
Tuesday, July 21, 2020
6:00-6:30 p.m.
Free, registration required
Last year, we launched a specialty tour called Charlie Gibson's Queer Boston. View a short presentation on the development of that tour and the importance of highlighting queer history. Bring your questions or comments for a discussion to follow. This talk is perfect for museum professionals, historians, and those interested in queer history/studies.
Online Benefit Raffle
May 14, 2020
Due to the coronavirus crisis, we've had to cancel our Benefit, a major source of the museum's annual funding. Purchasing Raffle tickets will go a long way toward replacing that lost support. We're planning a May 14 live stream drawing on our Instagram. Please stay tuned for updates.
May 14, 2020
Due to the coronavirus crisis, we've had to cancel our Benefit, a major source of the museum's annual funding. Purchasing Raffle tickets will go a long way toward replacing that lost support. We're planning a May 14 live stream drawing on our Instagram. Please stay tuned for updates.
MARCH
International Women's Day
Sunday, March 8
All visitors who identify as women receive free admission to regularly scheduled tours in celebration of International Women’s Day!
A Conversation with Louisa May Alcott
Jan Turnquist, Executive Director, Louisa May Alcott's Orchard House
Wednesday, March 4, 2020
6:00 p.m. reception, 6:30 p.m. program
$12 members, $15 non-members
Pre-registration is required.
The Gibson House Museum is honored to receive a return visit from Louisa May Alcott! Portrayed by Jan Turnquist, Alcott will discuss her family life and how she came to write the beloved 1868 novel.
FEBRUARY
Charlie Gibson’s Queer Boston
Friday, February 28, 2020
4:00 p.m.
$10, $8 students & seniors
Explore the Gibson House and early-twentieth-century Boston through Charlie Gibson's eyes! The story of the museum's founder is one of legacy and family history; of the fading grandeur of Victorian-era Boston; and of the role gay men, like Charlie, had in the historic preservation movement. This unique specialty house tour is not to be missed!
This tour is first-come, first-served. Tickets can be purchased at the door.
Regular and specialty tours are also available for private groups by appointment. For more information and to arrange a tour, contact info@thegibsonhouse.org.
The World of Little Women at the Gibson House
Wednesdays at 5:30 p.m. on 1/29, 2/5, 2/12, and 2/19
$15 general admission/ $12 members
*Pre-registration required
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-world-of-little-women-at-the-gibson-house-tickets-89328958319
What do Jo March, Louisa May Alcott, and Charlie Gibson have in common? They were all nineteenth-century Massachusetts writers. Learn more about the similarities--and the many differences--in their experiences on this lively tour. In addition to exploring the shared worlds of these real and imagined characters, visitors will hear behind-the-scenes details about the recent filming of Greta Gerwig's adaptation of Little Women here at the Gibson House. The tour visits areas of the house not usually on view.
*Tour is one hour and involves walking up and down five flights of stairs.
*Tours require a minimum of four guests to run. Ticket price will be refunded or transferred to a subsequent tour if a tour is cancelled due to low registration.
Wednesdays at 5:30 p.m. on 1/29, 2/5, 2/12, and 2/19
$15 general admission/ $12 members
*Pre-registration required
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-world-of-little-women-at-the-gibson-house-tickets-89328958319
What do Jo March, Louisa May Alcott, and Charlie Gibson have in common? They were all nineteenth-century Massachusetts writers. Learn more about the similarities--and the many differences--in their experiences on this lively tour. In addition to exploring the shared worlds of these real and imagined characters, visitors will hear behind-the-scenes details about the recent filming of Greta Gerwig's adaptation of Little Women here at the Gibson House. The tour visits areas of the house not usually on view.
*Tour is one hour and involves walking up and down five flights of stairs.
*Tours require a minimum of four guests to run. Ticket price will be refunded or transferred to a subsequent tour if a tour is cancelled due to low registration.
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Reimagining Historic House Museums
Book Talk by Kenneth Turino
Wednesday, February 26, 2020
6:00 reception, 6:30 program
$12 members, $15 non-members
Learn how historic house museums across the country are reimagining themselves at this engaging talk by Kenneth C. Turino, co-editor of the new book, Reimagining Historic House Museums. Drawing from innovative organizations across the United States, Reimagining Historic House Museums is an indispensable source of field-tested tools and techniques. It profiles historic sites that are using new models to engage with their communities, adopt creative forms of interpretation and programming, and become more financially sustainable.
Ken Turino is Manager of Community Partnerships and Resource Development at Historic New England; a member of the faculty of Tufts University's Museum Studies Program; Chair of the Leadership in History Awards Program of the American Association for State and Local History, as well as a member of its Historic House Museums Committee; and a member of the advisory council for the American Association of Museums' Museum magazine. He also serves on the Gibson House Museum’s Advisory Council.
Book Talk by Kenneth Turino
Wednesday, February 26, 2020
6:00 reception, 6:30 program
$12 members, $15 non-members
Learn how historic house museums across the country are reimagining themselves at this engaging talk by Kenneth C. Turino, co-editor of the new book, Reimagining Historic House Museums. Drawing from innovative organizations across the United States, Reimagining Historic House Museums is an indispensable source of field-tested tools and techniques. It profiles historic sites that are using new models to engage with their communities, adopt creative forms of interpretation and programming, and become more financially sustainable.
Ken Turino is Manager of Community Partnerships and Resource Development at Historic New England; a member of the faculty of Tufts University's Museum Studies Program; Chair of the Leadership in History Awards Program of the American Association for State and Local History, as well as a member of its Historic House Museums Committee; and a member of the advisory council for the American Association of Museums' Museum magazine. He also serves on the Gibson House Museum’s Advisory Council.
Emma Watson, Florence Pugh, Saoirse Ronan, and Eliza Scanlen as
Meg, Amy, Jo, and Beth March.
Photo by Wilson Webb, copyright CTMG, Inc., courtesy Sony Pictures
JANUARY
*SOLD OUT*
Gibson and Prescott House "Little Women"
Behind-the-Scenes Movie Tour!
Sunday, January 26, 2020
2:00-5:00 p.m.
The Gibson House and its Boston House Museum Alliance partner, Prescott House are both featured in the upcoming "Little Women" movie, adapted from Louisa May Alcott's classic novel. Director Greta Gerwig was impressed by the Gibson and Prescott Houses' original architectural features and period ambiance, and shot several scenes at the museums last fall. Prescott House hosted the grand ballroom scene featuring Meg March (Emma Watson), and the Gibson House served as the location of Jo March's (Saoirse Ronan) New York boardinghouse and her publisher's (Tracy Letts) home office.
Join us for a behind-the-scenes look at locations featured in the film and stories about the filming. Tours will be followed by a wine and cheese reception at the Prescott House.
DECEMBER
A Conversation with Louisa May Alcott
Jan Turnquist, Executive Director, Louisa May Alcott's Orchard House
Wednesday, December 18, 2019
2:00–3:00 p.m.
$12 members, $15 non-members
On Boston’s “Little Women Day,” the Gibson House Museum, a filming location for Greta Gerwig’s new Little Women movie, will be honored with a visit from Louisa May Alcott! Portrayed by Jan Turnquist, Alcott will discuss her family life and how she came to write the beloved 1868 novel.
Jan Turnquist has portrayed Miss Alcott across the U.S. and in Japan, where she was invited to the Imperial Palace on the Empress's birthday. She has also performed as Miss Alcott for First Lady Laura Bush. She has been Executive Director of Louisa May Alcott's Orchard House for twenty years. Open year-round, the Alcott family home in Concord, Mass., is where Louisa May Alcott wrote and set Little Women. (For more information about Orchard House, visit https://louisamayalcott.org/)
Jan Turnquist, Executive Director, Louisa May Alcott's Orchard House
Wednesday, December 18, 2019
2:00–3:00 p.m.
$12 members, $15 non-members
On Boston’s “Little Women Day,” the Gibson House Museum, a filming location for Greta Gerwig’s new Little Women movie, will be honored with a visit from Louisa May Alcott! Portrayed by Jan Turnquist, Alcott will discuss her family life and how she came to write the beloved 1868 novel.
Jan Turnquist has portrayed Miss Alcott across the U.S. and in Japan, where she was invited to the Imperial Palace on the Empress's birthday. She has also performed as Miss Alcott for First Lady Laura Bush. She has been Executive Director of Louisa May Alcott's Orchard House for twenty years. Open year-round, the Alcott family home in Concord, Mass., is where Louisa May Alcott wrote and set Little Women. (For more information about Orchard House, visit https://louisamayalcott.org/)
Holiday Open House
Sunday, December 15, 2019
1:00-4:00 p.m.
Free to all (donations gratefully accepted)
Join us to experience a nineteenth-century Christmas and see the Gibson House decorated in all its finery. Seasonal refreshments will be served.
Holiday Open House
Sunday, December 15, 2019
1:00-4:00 p.m.
Free to all (donations gratefully accepted)
Join us to experience a nineteenth-century Christmas and see the Gibson House decorated in all its finery. Seasonal refreshments will be served.
*SOLD OUT*
Etiquetteer's Eighth Annual Repeal Day Celebration at the Gibson House Museum!
Sponsored by Ryan & Wood Distilleries Knockabout Gin
Friday, December 6, 2019
6:30-8:30 p.m.
Tickets: $75 (Space is limited!)
Hosted by Etiquetteer Robert B. Dimmick (www.etiquetteer.com/home)
Period attire is encouraged but not required.
Prepare to enjoy an evening of Prohibition-era gaiety at the Gibson House's Eighth Annual Repeal Day Celebration! Featuring the debut of the Lady Playfair Cocktail, concocted by Kirsten “Miss Kitty” Amann of Ladies United for the Preservation of Endangered Cocktails. Sumptuous hors d'oeuvres will be served in the dining room. Kindly sponsored by Ryan & Wood Distilleries, www.ryanandwood.com/. Purchase tickets here!
Etiquetteer's Eighth Annual Repeal Day Celebration at the Gibson House Museum!
Sponsored by Ryan & Wood Distilleries Knockabout Gin
Friday, December 6, 2019
6:30-8:30 p.m.
Tickets: $75 (Space is limited!)
Hosted by Etiquetteer Robert B. Dimmick (www.etiquetteer.com/home)
Period attire is encouraged but not required.
Prepare to enjoy an evening of Prohibition-era gaiety at the Gibson House's Eighth Annual Repeal Day Celebration! Featuring the debut of the Lady Playfair Cocktail, concocted by Kirsten “Miss Kitty” Amann of Ladies United for the Preservation of Endangered Cocktails. Sumptuous hors d'oeuvres will be served in the dining room. Kindly sponsored by Ryan & Wood Distilleries, www.ryanandwood.com/. Purchase tickets here!
NOVEMBER
Heaven, By Hotel Standards: The History of the Omni Parker House
Lecture and book signing by author Susan Wilson
Wednesday, November 20, 2019
6:00 reception, 6:30 program
$12 members, $15 non-members
What do Harvey Parker, Mark Twain, Eleanor Roosevelt, Charles Dickens, Boston cream pie, French opera, Nathaniel Hawthorne, John and Jacqueline Kennedy, John Wilkes Booth, Ho Chi Minh, Willa Cather, Parker House rolls, and Kevin Bacon all have in common? The iconic and historic Omni Parker House, the subject of this fascinating slide lecture by the Parker House’s official House Historian, author and photographer Susan Wilson. The lecture will be followed by a sale and signing of Susan’s newest book, Heaven, By Hotel Standards: The History of the Omni Parker House (2019 edition). Books are $25 each, payable by cash or check.
***
“Wilson is a gem: her presentation was lively, interesting, and packed with Boston history—from architecture, food, and politics to curious people and events. Our whole group was impressed.”
Susan Wilson is the Omni Parker House's official historian. She is also a widely respected photographer, writer, multi-media artist, and public historian who has gained national recognition for her many books on Boston history. For three decades, Susan worked for the New England School of Photography as a faculty member and director of the school's Crosscurrents seminar series. With her broad array of contemporary and vintage images and a slew of wonderful stories, she has become a popular speaker in area lecture halls, libraries, historic sites, and classrooms.
NOVEMBER
Heaven, By Hotel Standards: The History of the Omni Parker House
Lecture and book signing by author Susan Wilson
Wednesday, November 20, 2019
6:00 reception, 6:30 program
$12 members, $15 non-members
What do Harvey Parker, Mark Twain, Eleanor Roosevelt, Charles Dickens, Boston cream pie, French opera, Nathaniel Hawthorne, John and Jacqueline Kennedy, John Wilkes Booth, Ho Chi Minh, Willa Cather, Parker House rolls, and Kevin Bacon all have in common? The iconic and historic Omni Parker House, the subject of this fascinating slide lecture by the Parker House’s official House Historian, author and photographer Susan Wilson. The lecture will be followed by a sale and signing of Susan’s newest book, Heaven, By Hotel Standards: The History of the Omni Parker House (2019 edition). Books are $25 each, payable by cash or check.
***
“Wilson is a gem: her presentation was lively, interesting, and packed with Boston history—from architecture, food, and politics to curious people and events. Our whole group was impressed.”
Susan Wilson is the Omni Parker House's official historian. She is also a widely respected photographer, writer, multi-media artist, and public historian who has gained national recognition for her many books on Boston history. For three decades, Susan worked for the New England School of Photography as a faculty member and director of the school's Crosscurrents seminar series. With her broad array of contemporary and vintage images and a slew of wonderful stories, she has become a popular speaker in area lecture halls, libraries, historic sites, and classrooms.
OCTOBER
Halloween at the Gibson House
Thursday, October 31, 2019
5:30-7:00 p.m.
Free
On Halloween night, the Gibson House Museum will open its doors to the neighborhood, offering treats to trick or treaters. Visit the spookiest house in the Back Bay!
Halloween at the Gibson House
Thursday, October 31, 2019
5:30-7:00 p.m.
Free
On Halloween night, the Gibson House Museum will open its doors to the neighborhood, offering treats to trick or treaters. Visit the spookiest house in the Back Bay!
A Trip to the Gibson Family Summer Residence, Forty Steps
Nahant, Massachusetts
Sunday, October 27, 2019
11:00 a.m.-1:15 p.m.
Free
The Gibson family summer home, Forty Steps, is currently for sale and will soon
return to private ownership. This tour is a rare opportunity to visit Forty Steps and
view its interiors, grounds, and beach. The tour will also include the Hammond
House next door (exterior viewing only), the Village Church, and the Nahant Historical Society's exhibition of paintings. Informal commentary will focus on Gibson family summers in Nahant as well as Nahant as a summer colony for Boston's Brahmin families.
Registration required: REGISTRATION CURRENTLY CLOSED
Getting there: Nahant, encompasses two islands connected to Lynn by a causeway. Forty Steps is located at 4 Cliff Street on Big Nahant. We are asking that attendees travel to Nahant by car or by taxi or Uber from the Lynn train station.
Special thanks to Ken Turino, Chris Mathias, and Ed Gordon.
Nahant, Massachusetts
Sunday, October 27, 2019
11:00 a.m.-1:15 p.m.
Free
The Gibson family summer home, Forty Steps, is currently for sale and will soon
return to private ownership. This tour is a rare opportunity to visit Forty Steps and
view its interiors, grounds, and beach. The tour will also include the Hammond
House next door (exterior viewing only), the Village Church, and the Nahant Historical Society's exhibition of paintings. Informal commentary will focus on Gibson family summers in Nahant as well as Nahant as a summer colony for Boston's Brahmin families.
Registration required: REGISTRATION CURRENTLY CLOSED
Getting there: Nahant, encompasses two islands connected to Lynn by a causeway. Forty Steps is located at 4 Cliff Street on Big Nahant. We are asking that attendees travel to Nahant by car or by taxi or Uber from the Lynn train station.
Special thanks to Ken Turino, Chris Mathias, and Ed Gordon.
Annual Boston House Museum Alliance Tour: The 5-4-3-2-1 Architectural Walking Tour
5 Houses, 4 Centuries, 3 Neighborhoods, 2 Hours, 1 Amazing Walking Tour!
Saturdays, October 5 and 19, 2019
10:00 a.m.-noon
Admire the exteriors of five landmark historic houses, experience four centuries of architecture, and explore three of
the city’s iconic neighborhoods on this two-hour walking tour that winds its way across picturesque downtown Boston, making for one special experience. From Colonial to Federal to Victorian, the stylistic intricacies of the Paul Revere House, Otis House, Nichols House, Prescott House, and Gibson House will be highlighted. Additionally, show your ticket to receive free admission at all five houses during the month of October.
October 5 Guide: Keith Trickett
A tour guide and educator at Historic New England’s Otis House Museum, Keith is a member of History Alive!, an interactive theater company dedicated to producing plays about the past. He also brings Samuel Adams to life on “Tavern Nights” at the Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum.
October 19 Guide: Matthew Dickey
Matthew Dickey is Communications and Operations Manager with the Boston Preservation Alliance and Co-Leader of the Rust Belt Coalition of Young Preservationists. He has given independent architectural tours of Boston and possesses a deep interest in preservation and creative storytelling.
www.eventbrite.com/e/house-museum-alliance-of-downtown-boston-presents-5-4-3-2-1-architectural-walking-tour-tickets-65728354277
5 Houses, 4 Centuries, 3 Neighborhoods, 2 Hours, 1 Amazing Walking Tour!
Saturdays, October 5 and 19, 2019
10:00 a.m.-noon
Admire the exteriors of five landmark historic houses, experience four centuries of architecture, and explore three of
the city’s iconic neighborhoods on this two-hour walking tour that winds its way across picturesque downtown Boston, making for one special experience. From Colonial to Federal to Victorian, the stylistic intricacies of the Paul Revere House, Otis House, Nichols House, Prescott House, and Gibson House will be highlighted. Additionally, show your ticket to receive free admission at all five houses during the month of October.
October 5 Guide: Keith Trickett
A tour guide and educator at Historic New England’s Otis House Museum, Keith is a member of History Alive!, an interactive theater company dedicated to producing plays about the past. He also brings Samuel Adams to life on “Tavern Nights” at the Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum.
October 19 Guide: Matthew Dickey
Matthew Dickey is Communications and Operations Manager with the Boston Preservation Alliance and Co-Leader of the Rust Belt Coalition of Young Preservationists. He has given independent architectural tours of Boston and possesses a deep interest in preservation and creative storytelling.
www.eventbrite.com/e/house-museum-alliance-of-downtown-boston-presents-5-4-3-2-1-architectural-walking-tour-tickets-65728354277
Walker Evans and Boston's Victorian Architecture
Tuesday, October 15, 2019
6:00 reception, 6:30 program
$12 members, $15 non-members
In 1931, the photographer Walker Evans, later famous for his collaboration with author James Agee documenting the effects of the Depression, joined Lincoln Kirstein, his early patron, and architect/poet John Brooks Wheelwright in a project to photograph Boston-area Victorian architecture for a book Wheelwright was writing on this subject. Many of the resulting iconic images are in the permanent collections of museums. Join Stephen Jerome, architectural and social historian and a past Gibson House resident guide, for a slideshow about this rare archive of Victorian architecture and the three luminaries behind it.
Tuesday, October 15, 2019
6:00 reception, 6:30 program
$12 members, $15 non-members
In 1931, the photographer Walker Evans, later famous for his collaboration with author James Agee documenting the effects of the Depression, joined Lincoln Kirstein, his early patron, and architect/poet John Brooks Wheelwright in a project to photograph Boston-area Victorian architecture for a book Wheelwright was writing on this subject. Many of the resulting iconic images are in the permanent collections of museums. Join Stephen Jerome, architectural and social historian and a past Gibson House resident guide, for a slideshow about this rare archive of Victorian architecture and the three luminaries behind it.
Specialty Tour: Charlie Gibson's Queer Boston
Friday, October 11, 5:30 pm
In honor of National Coming Out Day, the Gibson House Museum will be offering a specialty house tour that explores Boston’s nineteenth-century queer history through the eyes of museum founder, Charlie Gibson, Jr. His story is one of legacy and family history; of the fading grandeur of Victorian-era Boston; and of the experience of a gay man, finding his way within the constraints of society. First-come, first-served. Tickets are $10 for adults, $8 for students and seniors.
SEPTEMBER
Friday, October 11, 5:30 pm
In honor of National Coming Out Day, the Gibson House Museum will be offering a specialty house tour that explores Boston’s nineteenth-century queer history through the eyes of museum founder, Charlie Gibson, Jr. His story is one of legacy and family history; of the fading grandeur of Victorian-era Boston; and of the experience of a gay man, finding his way within the constraints of society. First-come, first-served. Tickets are $10 for adults, $8 for students and seniors.
SEPTEMBER
Smithsonian Museum Day!
Saturday, September 21, 2019
1:00-4:00 p.m.
In the spirit of the Smithsonian Museums, which offer free admission every day, Museum Day is an annual event hosted by Smithsonian magazine in which participating museums across the country open their doors to anyone presenting a Museum Day ticket for free. The house is open for self-guided tours only.
Saturday, September 21, 2019
1:00-4:00 p.m.
In the spirit of the Smithsonian Museums, which offer free admission every day, Museum Day is an annual event hosted by Smithsonian magazine in which participating museums across the country open their doors to anyone presenting a Museum Day ticket for free. The house is open for self-guided tours only.
Etiquette of the Brahmin Summer
with Etiquetteer Robert B. Dimmick
Tuesday, September 17, 2019
6:00 reception, 6:30 program
$12 members, $15 non-members
Before air conditioning, Brahmin (wealthy Boston) families retreated for the summer season to homes on the New England coast. Join Robert B. Dimmick, Etiquetteer, for an entertaining look at the rituals, pastimes, and domesticity of the Gibson family and other Yankees. The program will include images from the Gibson House and Gibson family archives.
with Etiquetteer Robert B. Dimmick
Tuesday, September 17, 2019
6:00 reception, 6:30 program
$12 members, $15 non-members
Before air conditioning, Brahmin (wealthy Boston) families retreated for the summer season to homes on the New England coast. Join Robert B. Dimmick, Etiquetteer, for an entertaining look at the rituals, pastimes, and domesticity of the Gibson family and other Yankees. The program will include images from the Gibson House and Gibson family archives.
JUNE
Charlie Gibson's Boston
PrideArts Specialty Tour
Sunday, June 9, 2019
1:00, 2:00, & 3:00 p.m.
$10, $8 students & seniors
Explore the Gibson House and early-twentieth-century Boston through Charlie Gibson's eyes! The story of the Museum's founder is one of legacy and family history; of the fading grandeur of Victorian-era Boston; and of the role gay men, like Charlie, had in the historic preservation movement. This specialty house tour, offered in partnership with
Boston Pride, is not to be missed! Tours are first-come, first-served at 1:00, 2:00, and 3:00 p.m.
Charlie Gibson's Boston
PrideArts Specialty Tour
Sunday, June 9, 2019
1:00, 2:00, & 3:00 p.m.
$10, $8 students & seniors
Explore the Gibson House and early-twentieth-century Boston through Charlie Gibson's eyes! The story of the Museum's founder is one of legacy and family history; of the fading grandeur of Victorian-era Boston; and of the role gay men, like Charlie, had in the historic preservation movement. This specialty house tour, offered in partnership with
Boston Pride, is not to be missed! Tours are first-come, first-served at 1:00, 2:00, and 3:00 p.m.
FLOWER POWER: Family friendly activities at the Gibson House!
Saturday, June 8
10:00am - 12:00pm
Free, $5 suggested donation
Come celebrate the blooms of the season with family-friendly activities at the Gibson House Museum! Make tissue-paper flowers in our courtyard to bring home, and see how many flowers you can find in a flower scavenger hunt throughout our 19th century townhouse.
Refreshments will be served. Appropriate for ages 4+.
Saturday, June 8
10:00am - 12:00pm
Free, $5 suggested donation
Come celebrate the blooms of the season with family-friendly activities at the Gibson House Museum! Make tissue-paper flowers in our courtyard to bring home, and see how many flowers you can find in a flower scavenger hunt throughout our 19th century townhouse.
Refreshments will be served. Appropriate for ages 4+.
Charlie Gibson's Boston
PrideArts Tour & Reception
Friday, June 7, 2019
Reception 5:30-8:00 p.m.; Tours at 6:00 & 7:00 p.m.
*6:00 & 7:00 p.m tours are SOLD OUT*
We invite you to join us for a reception to mark the launch of a new specialty house tour, offered in partnership with Boston Pride. Explore the Gibson House and the gay subculture of early 20th century Boston through Charlie Gibson's eyes! The story of the Museum's founder is one of legacy and family history; of the fading grandeur of Victorian-era Boston; and of the role gay men, like Charlie, had in the historic preservation movement.
Registration includes a reception starting 30 minutes prior to tour time. Please choose either the 6:00 or 7:00 p.m.tour start time. Space is limited!
PrideArts Tour & Reception
Friday, June 7, 2019
Reception 5:30-8:00 p.m.; Tours at 6:00 & 7:00 p.m.
*6:00 & 7:00 p.m tours are SOLD OUT*
We invite you to join us for a reception to mark the launch of a new specialty house tour, offered in partnership with Boston Pride. Explore the Gibson House and the gay subculture of early 20th century Boston through Charlie Gibson's eyes! The story of the Museum's founder is one of legacy and family history; of the fading grandeur of Victorian-era Boston; and of the role gay men, like Charlie, had in the historic preservation movement.
Registration includes a reception starting 30 minutes prior to tour time. Please choose either the 6:00 or 7:00 p.m.tour start time. Space is limited!
MAY
Favorite Landmarks of a Writer and Socialite:
Charlie Gibson's Early 1900s Back Bay
Walking tour given by Ed Gordon, GHM Board of Directors and
Historic Preservation Consultant
Sunday, May 5, 2019
2:00 p.m. lemonade reception in Gibson House courtyard; 2:30–4:00 p.m. tour
$10 GHM & VSA members; $15 non-members
In honor of Preservation Month, historic preservation consultant (and GHM board member) Ed Gordon will lead a walking tour celebrating local historic landmarks. Beginning with a lemonade reception in the Gibson House courtyard, the tour will meander through the Back Bay to Boston Common, highlighting Charlie Gibson's favorite places along the way.
Favorite Landmarks of a Writer and Socialite:
Charlie Gibson's Early 1900s Back Bay
Walking tour given by Ed Gordon, GHM Board of Directors and
Historic Preservation Consultant
Sunday, May 5, 2019
2:00 p.m. lemonade reception in Gibson House courtyard; 2:30–4:00 p.m. tour
$10 GHM & VSA members; $15 non-members
In honor of Preservation Month, historic preservation consultant (and GHM board member) Ed Gordon will lead a walking tour celebrating local historic landmarks. Beginning with a lemonade reception in the Gibson House courtyard, the tour will meander through the Back Bay to Boston Common, highlighting Charlie Gibson's favorite places along the way.
Chalk It Up to Boston at the Gibson House
April 26–May 5, 2019
Make your story part of the history of the Gibson House Museum and Back Bay by writing on our participatory outdoor chalkboard! The chalkboard will welcome visitors and passers-by during ArtWeek 2019 (April 26-May 5). We invite you to answer a question and see how the Gibsons might have answered. And then take a guided tour afterwards, if you like!
APRIL
Sketch the Story: Fashion History at the Gibson House Museum
Sunday, April 28, 2019
1:00–4:00 p.m.
Free to all (donations gratefully accepted)
Join us for a FREE Open House, with an opportunity to view rarely seen selections from the Museum's collection of
historic dress. The Museum will be open for self-guided tours, and costumes will be on display throughout the house.
As you explore, we invite you to help us tell the story of these outfits with a sketch, poem, short story, or museum label. This special event is part of ArtWeek 2019.
MARCH
April 26–May 5, 2019
Make your story part of the history of the Gibson House Museum and Back Bay by writing on our participatory outdoor chalkboard! The chalkboard will welcome visitors and passers-by during ArtWeek 2019 (April 26-May 5). We invite you to answer a question and see how the Gibsons might have answered. And then take a guided tour afterwards, if you like!
APRIL
Sketch the Story: Fashion History at the Gibson House Museum
Sunday, April 28, 2019
1:00–4:00 p.m.
Free to all (donations gratefully accepted)
Join us for a FREE Open House, with an opportunity to view rarely seen selections from the Museum's collection of
historic dress. The Museum will be open for self-guided tours, and costumes will be on display throughout the house.
As you explore, we invite you to help us tell the story of these outfits with a sketch, poem, short story, or museum label. This special event is part of ArtWeek 2019.
MARCH
The Gibson House Museum
Twenty-Third Annual Benefit
Wednesday, March 27, 2019
6:00 p.m.
St. Botolph Club
199 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston
Wine and hors d'oeuvres will be served
Always an elegant (and fun!) affair, the party will feature hors d’oeuvres, a light buffet supper, and, of course, our raffle of interesting items. Our formal lecture will be replaced by brief remarks to celebrate our honoree. To add to the enjoyment of chatting with old friends and making new ones, this year we will swing and sing along with music provided by the Craig Ball White Heat Swing Trio.
We are also pleased to announce that we will honor Robert Bayard Severy, a generous benefactor who has underwritten the restoration of many of the Gibson House’s paintings and other items in the collection. His wide-ranging philanthropy has benefited institutions including the Boston Athenaeum, the Bostonian Society, the Massachusetts Historical Society, and the Massachusetts State House. Mr. Severy is an accomplished photographer, described by The Boston Globe as a chronicler of the city’s places in time. He has diligently photographed Boston’s people, streetscapes, and neighborhoods, and has donated much of his work to the Boston Public Library, the Bostonian Society, Historic New England, and the University of Massachusetts.
Proceeds to benefit the preservation of the Gibson House Museum.
Twenty-Third Annual Benefit
Wednesday, March 27, 2019
6:00 p.m.
St. Botolph Club
199 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston
Wine and hors d'oeuvres will be served
Always an elegant (and fun!) affair, the party will feature hors d’oeuvres, a light buffet supper, and, of course, our raffle of interesting items. Our formal lecture will be replaced by brief remarks to celebrate our honoree. To add to the enjoyment of chatting with old friends and making new ones, this year we will swing and sing along with music provided by the Craig Ball White Heat Swing Trio.
We are also pleased to announce that we will honor Robert Bayard Severy, a generous benefactor who has underwritten the restoration of many of the Gibson House’s paintings and other items in the collection. His wide-ranging philanthropy has benefited institutions including the Boston Athenaeum, the Bostonian Society, the Massachusetts Historical Society, and the Massachusetts State House. Mr. Severy is an accomplished photographer, described by The Boston Globe as a chronicler of the city’s places in time. He has diligently photographed Boston’s people, streetscapes, and neighborhoods, and has donated much of his work to the Boston Public Library, the Bostonian Society, Historic New England, and the University of Massachusetts.
Proceeds to benefit the preservation of the Gibson House Museum.
Friday, March 8
International Women's Day
All visitors who identify as women receive free admission to regularly scheduled tours in celebration of International Women’s Day!
International Women's Day
All visitors who identify as women receive free admission to regularly scheduled tours in celebration of International Women’s Day!
FEBRUARY
Tuesday, February 26, 2019
Antique Clocks, a lecture by Bob Frishman
6:00 reception, 6:30 lecture
$15 non-members, $12 members
Antique clock expert Bob Frishman returns to the Gibson House for another entertaining, nontechnical, and lushly illustrated talk! Bob will discuss the history of timekeeping in New England, from the time of the Mayflower to the 1883 adoption of standard time. He will also share dozens of images, including several iconic fine art examples from his "Horology in Art” project that culminated in a 2017 symposium he organized for Boston's Museum of Fine Arts (http://www.horologyinart.com/). Bob will also speak briefly about the important timepieces in the Gibson House, including the Aaron Willard tall clock he has serviced gratis over the years.
Following his lecture, Bob will offer informal appraisals of the audience's mechanical clocks and watches.
Read more about Bob at www.bell-time.com
2018
DECEMBER
Tuesday, February 26, 2019
Antique Clocks, a lecture by Bob Frishman
6:00 reception, 6:30 lecture
$15 non-members, $12 members
Antique clock expert Bob Frishman returns to the Gibson House for another entertaining, nontechnical, and lushly illustrated talk! Bob will discuss the history of timekeeping in New England, from the time of the Mayflower to the 1883 adoption of standard time. He will also share dozens of images, including several iconic fine art examples from his "Horology in Art” project that culminated in a 2017 symposium he organized for Boston's Museum of Fine Arts (http://www.horologyinart.com/). Bob will also speak briefly about the important timepieces in the Gibson House, including the Aaron Willard tall clock he has serviced gratis over the years.
Following his lecture, Bob will offer informal appraisals of the audience's mechanical clocks and watches.
Read more about Bob at www.bell-time.com
2018
DECEMBER
Holiday Open House
Sunday, December 16, 2018, 1:00-4:00 p.m.
Free to all (donations gratefully accepted)
Join us to experience a nineteenth-century Christmas and see the Gibson House decorated in all its finery.
Seasonal refreshments will be served.
Sunday, December 16, 2018, 1:00-4:00 p.m.
Free to all (donations gratefully accepted)
Join us to experience a nineteenth-century Christmas and see the Gibson House decorated in all its finery.
Seasonal refreshments will be served.
Repeal Day at the Gibson House 2018 from Leila Duncan on Vimeo.
Produced by Leila Duncan.SOLD OUT!
Seventh Annual Repeal Day Celebration
Friday, December 7, 2018, 6:30-8:30 p.m.
Tickets: $85
Hosted by Etiquetteer Robert B. Dimmick (www.etiquetteer.com/home)
Period attire is encouraged but not required.
Prepare to enjoy an evening of Prohibition-era gaiety at the Gibson House's Seventh Annual Repeal Day Celebration! Proudly sponsored by Ryan and Wood Distilleries (www.ryanandwood.com/), featuring their Knockabout Gin and Folly Cove Rum! Kirsten “Miss Kitty” Amann and Misty Kalkofen will oversee the bar and speak about their new book, Drinking Like Ladies: 75 Modern Cocktails from the World's Leading Female Bartenders
Sumptuous hors d'oeuvres will be served in the dining room.
Seventh Annual Repeal Day Celebration
Friday, December 7, 2018, 6:30-8:30 p.m.
Tickets: $85
Hosted by Etiquetteer Robert B. Dimmick (www.etiquetteer.com/home)
Period attire is encouraged but not required.
Prepare to enjoy an evening of Prohibition-era gaiety at the Gibson House's Seventh Annual Repeal Day Celebration! Proudly sponsored by Ryan and Wood Distilleries (www.ryanandwood.com/), featuring their Knockabout Gin and Folly Cove Rum! Kirsten “Miss Kitty” Amann and Misty Kalkofen will oversee the bar and speak about their new book, Drinking Like Ladies: 75 Modern Cocktails from the World's Leading Female Bartenders
Sumptuous hors d'oeuvres will be served in the dining room.
NOVEMBER
SOLD OUT!
Chateau Higginson: Social Life in Boston's Back Bay, 1870-1920
Book talk by author Margo Miller (co-sponsored with the Victorian Society)
Tuesday, November 6, 2018
6:00 p.m. reception, 6:30 p.m. program
$15 non-members, $12 members of the GHM and VSA
Author Margo Miller, former performing arts and architecture reporter for the Boston Globe, discusses this vivid and absorbing account of the efforts of Henry Lee Higginson (best known for founding the Boston Symphony Orchestra) to construct a building that would create "a new way for Bostonians--and Americans--to live."
OCTOBER
Annual Boston House Museum Alliance Tour:
Picture of Health: Medical Histories at Boston's Historic Houses
Saturday, October 20, 2018
3:00 p.m.
The Boston House Museum Alliance presents its fall 2018 special tour series. This year, the Gibson House, Nichols House, Prescott House, and Paul Revere House draw on their rich collections and stories to explore the theme of health and wellness over four centuries. The Gibson House Museum tour will paint a picture of Victorian-era family health and hygiene, taking into account the ways the house's layout and technologies promoted personal well-being. It will also explore the family’s connection to generations of prominent Boston doctors, including Dr. Joseph Warren of Revolutionary War fame; Harvard Medical School founder Dr. John Warren; and Dr. John Collins Warren, who performed the first surgery using ether anesthesia.
SEPTEMBER
Smithsonian Museum Day Live!
Saturday, September 22, 2018
1:00-4:00 p.m.
In the spirit of the Smithsonian Museums, which offer free admission every day, Museum Day Live! is an annual event hosted by Smithsonian magazine in which participating museums across the country open their doors to anyone presenting a Museum Day Live! ticket for free. Tours will not be offered, but rooms will be open for viewing. For tickets visit www.smithsonianmag.com/museumday/museum-day-2018/
JUNE
Saturday, September 22, 2018
1:00-4:00 p.m.
In the spirit of the Smithsonian Museums, which offer free admission every day, Museum Day Live! is an annual event hosted by Smithsonian magazine in which participating museums across the country open their doors to anyone presenting a Museum Day Live! ticket for free. Tours will not be offered, but rooms will be open for viewing. For tickets visit www.smithsonianmag.com/museumday/museum-day-2018/
JUNE
Back by popular demand! An encore of the November 2017 program:
A Discreet Society: The World of Charlie Gibson
A Lecture by John Burrows
Monday, June 11, 2018
6:00 p.m. reception, 6:30 p.m. lecture
$12 members, $15 non-members
John Burrows, a past president of the Gibson Society and longtime friend of the museum, will explore the world of Anglo-American gay men and women of the Victorian and Edwardian eras in which Charles Gibson Jr. came of age.
The founder and proprietor of J. R. Burrows & Company, specialists in historic reproduction decorative arts, John Burrows is nationally recognized for his knowledge of nineteenth-century architecture and interior design. During his career, he has worked on over 100 of America's most significant historic houses and public buildings. His recent projects include manufacturing reproductions of the Gibson House Museum's red and blue carpets.
A Discreet Society: The World of Charlie Gibson
A Lecture by John Burrows
Monday, June 11, 2018
6:00 p.m. reception, 6:30 p.m. lecture
$12 members, $15 non-members
John Burrows, a past president of the Gibson Society and longtime friend of the museum, will explore the world of Anglo-American gay men and women of the Victorian and Edwardian eras in which Charles Gibson Jr. came of age.
The founder and proprietor of J. R. Burrows & Company, specialists in historic reproduction decorative arts, John Burrows is nationally recognized for his knowledge of nineteenth-century architecture and interior design. During his career, he has worked on over 100 of America's most significant historic houses and public buildings. His recent projects include manufacturing reproductions of the Gibson House Museum's red and blue carpets.
MAY
Seventh Annual Early Baseball in Boston Program:
Honoring and Memorializing the World Champion 1918 Red Sox
with headline storytellers Gordon Edes, Red Sox team historian, and
Skip Desjardin, author of the forthcoming book, September 1918: War, Plague, and the World Series
Monday, May 21, 2018
5:30 p.m.
$30, $25 members of the GHM, BBHA, BoSox Club, BPA, NABB, SABR, and VSA
The year 1918 represents a watershed period in the history of the nation, the Commonwealth, and the Boston Red Sox. The world was at war, and a division of Massachusetts militia volunteers led the first unified American fighting force into battle in France, turning the tide in what we now call World War I. But death was not confined to the battlefield. The world’s deadliest pandemic, the Spanish Flu, swept across Boston and its suburbs, leaving in its wake unimaginable loss and sorrow beyond that already inflicted by war.
Meanwhile, the Red Sox were cementing their place as baseball’s first great dynasty and in 1918 would win their 5th World Series in 16 seasons—and their last in 86 years. Their star pitcher, Babe Ruth, would soon be sparring with the club’s new owner, a theater impresario named Harry Frazee. A little more than a year following the 1918 World Series win, Frazee would sell the Babe to the New York Yankees in a deal that would define two franchises for the better part of a century.
Joining to tell the story of that momentous year will be Red Sox team historian Gordon Edes, a former sports journalist for the Boston Globe and ESPN, and Skip Desjardin, author of the forthcoming book, September 1918: War, Plague, and the World Series.
Prior to the program, Edes will offer a special tour of Fenway Park at 3:30 p.m. The tour is limited to 30. This is a unique opportunity to get a special, behind-the-scenes look at the park from the perspective of a sports journalist and historian who has covered the team for decades. Tickets are $10. Registrants should bring their e-mail receipt to the meeting point of 4 Yawkey Way.
Festivities begin at 5:30 p.m. in the courtyard of the Gibson House Museum at 137 Beacon St., Boston, with a
“Ballpark Cocktail Hour” featuring beer, hot dogs, and crackerjacks. The program gets underway at 6:45 p.m. at Fisher College (across the street).
Seventh Annual Early Baseball in Boston Program:
Honoring and Memorializing the World Champion 1918 Red Sox
with headline storytellers Gordon Edes, Red Sox team historian, and
Skip Desjardin, author of the forthcoming book, September 1918: War, Plague, and the World Series
Monday, May 21, 2018
5:30 p.m.
$30, $25 members of the GHM, BBHA, BoSox Club, BPA, NABB, SABR, and VSA
The year 1918 represents a watershed period in the history of the nation, the Commonwealth, and the Boston Red Sox. The world was at war, and a division of Massachusetts militia volunteers led the first unified American fighting force into battle in France, turning the tide in what we now call World War I. But death was not confined to the battlefield. The world’s deadliest pandemic, the Spanish Flu, swept across Boston and its suburbs, leaving in its wake unimaginable loss and sorrow beyond that already inflicted by war.
Meanwhile, the Red Sox were cementing their place as baseball’s first great dynasty and in 1918 would win their 5th World Series in 16 seasons—and their last in 86 years. Their star pitcher, Babe Ruth, would soon be sparring with the club’s new owner, a theater impresario named Harry Frazee. A little more than a year following the 1918 World Series win, Frazee would sell the Babe to the New York Yankees in a deal that would define two franchises for the better part of a century.
Joining to tell the story of that momentous year will be Red Sox team historian Gordon Edes, a former sports journalist for the Boston Globe and ESPN, and Skip Desjardin, author of the forthcoming book, September 1918: War, Plague, and the World Series.
Prior to the program, Edes will offer a special tour of Fenway Park at 3:30 p.m. The tour is limited to 30. This is a unique opportunity to get a special, behind-the-scenes look at the park from the perspective of a sports journalist and historian who has covered the team for decades. Tickets are $10. Registrants should bring their e-mail receipt to the meeting point of 4 Yawkey Way.
Festivities begin at 5:30 p.m. in the courtyard of the Gibson House Museum at 137 Beacon St., Boston, with a
“Ballpark Cocktail Hour” featuring beer, hot dogs, and crackerjacks. The program gets underway at 6:45 p.m. at Fisher College (across the street).
APRIL
If Development Wins, What Do We Lose? Stonehurst, the Robert Treat Paine Estate
(VSA Program)
Monday, April 30, 2018
6:00 p.m. reception, 6:30 p.m. talk
$12 GHM and VSA members, $15 nonmembers
The Robert Treat Paine Estate (Stonehurst; stonehurstwaltham.org) in Waltham is a convention-breaking early Arts & Crafts estate inspired by the American wilderness. America's preeminent architect H. H. Richardson and landscape designer Frederic Law Olmstead created its cohesive, organic design. Now, some of the 134 acres surrounding the estate are at risk for development.
Join us for a reception and illustrated talk about this masterpiece and the threat facing the land. Program presented by Robert Treat Paine Storer III, President, Friends of Stonehurst, and Stonehurst Curator Ann Clifford, and sponsored by the Victorian Society of America, New England Chapter.
If Development Wins, What Do We Lose? Stonehurst, the Robert Treat Paine Estate
(VSA Program)
Monday, April 30, 2018
6:00 p.m. reception, 6:30 p.m. talk
$12 GHM and VSA members, $15 nonmembers
The Robert Treat Paine Estate (Stonehurst; stonehurstwaltham.org) in Waltham is a convention-breaking early Arts & Crafts estate inspired by the American wilderness. America's preeminent architect H. H. Richardson and landscape designer Frederic Law Olmstead created its cohesive, organic design. Now, some of the 134 acres surrounding the estate are at risk for development.
Join us for a reception and illustrated talk about this masterpiece and the threat facing the land. Program presented by Robert Treat Paine Storer III, President, Friends of Stonehurst, and Stonehurst Curator Ann Clifford, and sponsored by the Victorian Society of America, New England Chapter.
Gibson House Museum Twenty-Second Annual Benefit
Wednesday, April 11, 2018
six to eight o'clock
The Chilton Club
152 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston
Wine and hors d'oeuvres will be served
An elegant (and fun!) affair, the Gibson House Museum’s annual benefit is a major fundraising opportunity for the museum. All proceeds support the museum’s mission of preserving and sharing this unique time capsule of Boston life. We hope you will join us as we celebrate the architectural and social history of Boston. Together, we can welcome visitors from near and far who want to experience this important historic landmark.
We are also pleased to announce that we will honor Jean Carroon, a principal with award-winning Boston design firm Goody Clancy, for her career as a preservation architect and her role in the stewardship of more than a dozen National Historic Landmarks. These include many in the Back Bay: Trinity Church, Old South Church, Church of the Covenant, Arlington Street Church, and the Ayer Mansion. We honor her also for her passionate advocacy—as practitioner, author, teacher, and lecturer—for leveraging sustainable building practices to fully realize the beauty and transformative potential of existing buildings.
Wednesday, April 11, 2018
six to eight o'clock
The Chilton Club
152 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston
Wine and hors d'oeuvres will be served
An elegant (and fun!) affair, the Gibson House Museum’s annual benefit is a major fundraising opportunity for the museum. All proceeds support the museum’s mission of preserving and sharing this unique time capsule of Boston life. We hope you will join us as we celebrate the architectural and social history of Boston. Together, we can welcome visitors from near and far who want to experience this important historic landmark.
We are also pleased to announce that we will honor Jean Carroon, a principal with award-winning Boston design firm Goody Clancy, for her career as a preservation architect and her role in the stewardship of more than a dozen National Historic Landmarks. These include many in the Back Bay: Trinity Church, Old South Church, Church of the Covenant, Arlington Street Church, and the Ayer Mansion. We honor her also for her passionate advocacy—as practitioner, author, teacher, and lecturer—for leveraging sustainable building practices to fully realize the beauty and transformative potential of existing buildings.
MARCH
Talk on Boston’s South End by Author Lauren Prescott
Tuesday, March 20, 2018
6:00 p.m. reception, 6:30 p.m. lecture
$10 members, $15 non-members Lauren Prescott, Executive Director of the South End Historical Society, will discuss her new book, Boston’s South End,which traces the history of this dynamic area of Boston from its nineteenth-century inception as a wealthy residential district to its development in the early twentieth century as a vibrant immigrant community.
FEBRUARY
Talk on Boston’s South End by Author Lauren Prescott
Tuesday, March 20, 2018
6:00 p.m. reception, 6:30 p.m. lecture
$10 members, $15 non-members Lauren Prescott, Executive Director of the South End Historical Society, will discuss her new book, Boston’s South End,which traces the history of this dynamic area of Boston from its nineteenth-century inception as a wealthy residential district to its development in the early twentieth century as a vibrant immigrant community.
FEBRUARY
Special Tour of the Russell Medical Museum and Ether Dome at Mass General Hospital
Monday, February 26, 2018
3:30–5:00 p.m.
2 North Grove St., Boston
Free admission; tour is limited to 15 people. Reservations required--*REGISTRATION FULL
Join us for a special tour of the Russell Museum of Medical History and Innovation at Mass General Hospital. Led by a Russell Museum docent, the tour will include a visit to the Ether Dome, where the first surgery using anesthetic was performed by Rosamond Warren Gibson's grandfather, Dr. John Collins Warren.
2017
Monday, February 26, 2018
3:30–5:00 p.m.
2 North Grove St., Boston
Free admission; tour is limited to 15 people. Reservations required--*REGISTRATION FULL
Join us for a special tour of the Russell Museum of Medical History and Innovation at Mass General Hospital. Led by a Russell Museum docent, the tour will include a visit to the Ether Dome, where the first surgery using anesthetic was performed by Rosamond Warren Gibson's grandfather, Dr. John Collins Warren.
2017
DECEMBER
Holiday Open House
Sunday, December 17, 2017, 1:00-4:00 p.m.
Free to all (donations gratefully accepted)
Join us to experience a nineteenth-century Christmas and see the Gibson House decorated in all its finery.
Seasonal refreshments will be served.
Holiday Open House
Sunday, December 17, 2017, 1:00-4:00 p.m.
Free to all (donations gratefully accepted)
Join us to experience a nineteenth-century Christmas and see the Gibson House decorated in all its finery.
Seasonal refreshments will be served.
Sixth Annual Repeal Day Celebration
Friday, December 8, 2017, 6:30-8:30 p.m.
Hosted by Etiquetteer Robert B. Dimmick (www.etiquetteer.com/home)
Tickets: $75 Space is limited!
Period attire is encouraged but not required.
Prepare to enjoy an evening of Prohibition-era gaiety at the Gibson House's Sixth Annual Repeal Day Celebration! Proudly sponsored by Ryan and Wood Distilleries (www.ryanandwood.com/), featuring their Knockabout Gin and Folly Cove Rum! With Ladies United for the Preservation of Endangered Cocktails behind the bar. Sumptuous hors d'oeuvres will be served in the dining room.
Pre-registration is required through info@thegibsonhouse.org or 617-267-6338.
Friday, December 8, 2017, 6:30-8:30 p.m.
Hosted by Etiquetteer Robert B. Dimmick (www.etiquetteer.com/home)
Tickets: $75 Space is limited!
Period attire is encouraged but not required.
Prepare to enjoy an evening of Prohibition-era gaiety at the Gibson House's Sixth Annual Repeal Day Celebration! Proudly sponsored by Ryan and Wood Distilleries (www.ryanandwood.com/), featuring their Knockabout Gin and Folly Cove Rum! With Ladies United for the Preservation of Endangered Cocktails behind the bar. Sumptuous hors d'oeuvres will be served in the dining room.
Pre-registration is required through info@thegibsonhouse.org or 617-267-6338.
NOVEMBER
A Discreet Society: The World of Charlie Gibson
A Lecture by John Burrows
Wednesday, November 15, 2017
6:00 p.m. reception, 6:30 p.m. lecture
$12 members, $15 non-members
John Burrows, a past president of the Gibson Society and longtime friend of the museum, will explore the world of Anglo-American gay men and women of the Victorian and Edwardian eras in which Charles Gibson Jr. came of age.
The founder and proprietor of J. R. Burrows & Company, specialists in historic reproduction decorative arts, John Burrows is nationally recognized for his knowledge of nineteenth-century architecture and interior design. During his career, he has worked on over 100 of America's most significant historic houses and public buildings. His recent projects include manufacturing reproductions of the Gibson House Museum's red and blue carpets.
Pre-registration is required through info@thegibsonhouse.org or 617-267-6338.
A Discreet Society: The World of Charlie Gibson
A Lecture by John Burrows
Wednesday, November 15, 2017
6:00 p.m. reception, 6:30 p.m. lecture
$12 members, $15 non-members
John Burrows, a past president of the Gibson Society and longtime friend of the museum, will explore the world of Anglo-American gay men and women of the Victorian and Edwardian eras in which Charles Gibson Jr. came of age.
The founder and proprietor of J. R. Burrows & Company, specialists in historic reproduction decorative arts, John Burrows is nationally recognized for his knowledge of nineteenth-century architecture and interior design. During his career, he has worked on over 100 of America's most significant historic houses and public buildings. His recent projects include manufacturing reproductions of the Gibson House Museum's red and blue carpets.
Pre-registration is required through info@thegibsonhouse.org or 617-267-6338.
OCTOBER
Halloween at the Gibson House
Tuesday, October 31, 2017
5:30-7:00 p.m.
Free
On Halloween night, the Gibson House Museum will open its doors to the neighborhood, offering treats to trick or treaters. Visit the spookiest house in the Back Bay!
Low Art Tiles: John Gardner Low and the Artists of Boston's Gilded Age
Monday, October 23, 2017
6:00 p.m. reception, 6:30 p.m. lecture
$12 members, $15 non-members
Richard Pennington, author of Low Art Tiles: John Gardner Low and the Artists of Boston's Gilded Age, will give an illustrated presentation on Boston's Low Art Tile Company, a highly successful producer of artistic ceramic products in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. The firm's owner, John Gardner Low, was friends with some of the most famous artists of the age, including William Morris Hunt and Childe Hassam. Also discussed will be the exceptional Low art tiles at the Eustis Estate Museum in Milton, now a Historic New England property. Books will be available for purchase.
SEPTEMBER
Special Tour of the Society of Arts and Crafts
Thursday, September 28, 2017
100 Pier Four Blvd., Suite 200, Boston
6:30-8:30 p.m.
Free admission; tour is limited to 20 people
Join us for a curator-led tour of the new home of the Society of Arts and Crafts, established in 1897. Now located in the Seaport District, the space features inspiring galleries showcasing the work of contemporary local craftspeople. For more information, visit https://www.societyofcrafts.org/ .
Smithsonian Museum Day Live!
Saturday, September 23, 2017
Tours at 1:00, 2:00, and 3:00 p.m.
In the spirit of the Smithsonian Museums, which offer free admission every day, Museum Day Live! is an annual event hosted by Smithsonian magazine in which participating museums across the country open their doors to anyone presenting a Museum Day Live! ticket for free. To download a ticket to the Gibson House offering free admission for two people go to the Museum Day Live! website.
JUNE
Book Talk: A Description of the New York Central Park
by Maureen Meister
Monday, June 12, 2017
6:00 p.m. reception, 6:30 p.m. program
$10 for members, $12 for non-members
A Description of the New York Central Park by Clarence C. Cook, issued in 1869, is recognized as the most important book about the park to appear during its early years. This work has been republished with a new Introduction by Maureen Meister that reveals the roles of Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux in the creation of the book, which served in part to champion their vision for a major public park—a park that would become a model for the nation.
MAY
Tuesday, October 31, 2017
5:30-7:00 p.m.
Free
On Halloween night, the Gibson House Museum will open its doors to the neighborhood, offering treats to trick or treaters. Visit the spookiest house in the Back Bay!
Low Art Tiles: John Gardner Low and the Artists of Boston's Gilded Age
Monday, October 23, 2017
6:00 p.m. reception, 6:30 p.m. lecture
$12 members, $15 non-members
Richard Pennington, author of Low Art Tiles: John Gardner Low and the Artists of Boston's Gilded Age, will give an illustrated presentation on Boston's Low Art Tile Company, a highly successful producer of artistic ceramic products in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. The firm's owner, John Gardner Low, was friends with some of the most famous artists of the age, including William Morris Hunt and Childe Hassam. Also discussed will be the exceptional Low art tiles at the Eustis Estate Museum in Milton, now a Historic New England property. Books will be available for purchase.
SEPTEMBER
Special Tour of the Society of Arts and Crafts
Thursday, September 28, 2017
100 Pier Four Blvd., Suite 200, Boston
6:30-8:30 p.m.
Free admission; tour is limited to 20 people
Join us for a curator-led tour of the new home of the Society of Arts and Crafts, established in 1897. Now located in the Seaport District, the space features inspiring galleries showcasing the work of contemporary local craftspeople. For more information, visit https://www.societyofcrafts.org/ .
Smithsonian Museum Day Live!
Saturday, September 23, 2017
Tours at 1:00, 2:00, and 3:00 p.m.
In the spirit of the Smithsonian Museums, which offer free admission every day, Museum Day Live! is an annual event hosted by Smithsonian magazine in which participating museums across the country open their doors to anyone presenting a Museum Day Live! ticket for free. To download a ticket to the Gibson House offering free admission for two people go to the Museum Day Live! website.
JUNE
Book Talk: A Description of the New York Central Park
by Maureen Meister
Monday, June 12, 2017
6:00 p.m. reception, 6:30 p.m. program
$10 for members, $12 for non-members
A Description of the New York Central Park by Clarence C. Cook, issued in 1869, is recognized as the most important book about the park to appear during its early years. This work has been republished with a new Introduction by Maureen Meister that reveals the roles of Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux in the creation of the book, which served in part to champion their vision for a major public park—a park that would become a model for the nation.
MAY
Gibson House Annual Baseball Program: "Old Boston Baseball's Colorful Characters"
Tuesday, May 9, 2017
5:30 p.m.
$30 in advance; $25 for members; $35 at the door
Baseball fans have a chance to explore the game's present and revisit its past on Tuesday, May 9. The Gibson House Museum, in conjunction with the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) and the Boston Braves Historical Association (BBHA), proudly presents "Boston Baseball's Colorful Characters." This is your chance to meet other baseball history fans while hearing about the local scene's most colorful characters from years long past. Featuring hosts Bill Nowlin, Joanne Hulbert, Donna Halper, and Wayne Soini, the evening will highlight entertaining baseball stories as seen through the eyes (and pens) of Boston's early-twentieth-century cartoonists.
Festivities begin at 5:30 p.m. in the courtyard of the Gibson House Museum at 137 Beacon St., Boston, with a “Ballpark Cocktail Hour” featuring beer, hot dogs, and crackerjacks. The program gets underway at 6:45 p.m. at Fisher College (across the street). Please visit www.thegibsonhouse.org/events.html to pre-register.
APRIL
The Gibson House Museum's Painting Collection:
Commentary on Selected Paintings by Ed Gordon, Gibson House Museum Director of Public Programs
Saturday, April 29, 2017
4:00 reception, 4:30 program
$10 for members, $12 for non-members
This tour will focus on select portraits, landscapes, and copies of Old Master European paintings located on the first and second floors of the museum. It will highlight artists such as Chester Harding, William Morris Hunt, Samuel T. Coleman, and others. We will discuss the known and probable provenance of the works and talk about the way specific interiors dictate the types of subject matter.
"Business as Usual: Families and Work at Boston’s Historic Houses" Special Tour
Saturday, April 1, 2017
1:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. (regular tour offered at 2:00)
$7 for adults; children under 15 free; tickets are sold separately at each site
The Boston House Museum Alliance presents its spring 2017 tour series. For these special tours, the Gibson House Museum, Nichols House Museum, Otis House Museum, and Paul Revere House Museum draw on their rich collections and stories to explore the occupations of the owners of these historic houses over four centuries.
In upper-middle-class, nineteenth-century households like the Gibsons', families functioned with a division of labor, each part of equal importance. This tour will explore how both the business pursuits of Charles Gibson, Sr., and the social- and domestic-management activities of Rosamond Warren Gibson kept the household running.
MARCH
Tuesday, May 9, 2017
5:30 p.m.
$30 in advance; $25 for members; $35 at the door
Baseball fans have a chance to explore the game's present and revisit its past on Tuesday, May 9. The Gibson House Museum, in conjunction with the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) and the Boston Braves Historical Association (BBHA), proudly presents "Boston Baseball's Colorful Characters." This is your chance to meet other baseball history fans while hearing about the local scene's most colorful characters from years long past. Featuring hosts Bill Nowlin, Joanne Hulbert, Donna Halper, and Wayne Soini, the evening will highlight entertaining baseball stories as seen through the eyes (and pens) of Boston's early-twentieth-century cartoonists.
Festivities begin at 5:30 p.m. in the courtyard of the Gibson House Museum at 137 Beacon St., Boston, with a “Ballpark Cocktail Hour” featuring beer, hot dogs, and crackerjacks. The program gets underway at 6:45 p.m. at Fisher College (across the street). Please visit www.thegibsonhouse.org/events.html to pre-register.
APRIL
The Gibson House Museum's Painting Collection:
Commentary on Selected Paintings by Ed Gordon, Gibson House Museum Director of Public Programs
Saturday, April 29, 2017
4:00 reception, 4:30 program
$10 for members, $12 for non-members
This tour will focus on select portraits, landscapes, and copies of Old Master European paintings located on the first and second floors of the museum. It will highlight artists such as Chester Harding, William Morris Hunt, Samuel T. Coleman, and others. We will discuss the known and probable provenance of the works and talk about the way specific interiors dictate the types of subject matter.
"Business as Usual: Families and Work at Boston’s Historic Houses" Special Tour
Saturday, April 1, 2017
1:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. (regular tour offered at 2:00)
$7 for adults; children under 15 free; tickets are sold separately at each site
The Boston House Museum Alliance presents its spring 2017 tour series. For these special tours, the Gibson House Museum, Nichols House Museum, Otis House Museum, and Paul Revere House Museum draw on their rich collections and stories to explore the occupations of the owners of these historic houses over four centuries.
In upper-middle-class, nineteenth-century households like the Gibsons', families functioned with a division of labor, each part of equal importance. This tour will explore how both the business pursuits of Charles Gibson, Sr., and the social- and domestic-management activities of Rosamond Warren Gibson kept the household running.
MARCH
Gibson House Museum's Twenty-First Annual Benefit
Wednesday, March 29, 2017
6:00-8:00 p.m.
Chilton Club, 152 Commonwealth Ave., Boston
An elegant (and fun!) affair, the Gibson House Museum’s annual Benefit is a major fundraising opportunity for the museum. Please join us as we honor Robert J. Allison for his academic career as a Professor of History and former Chairman of the History Department at Suffolk University, as well as for his wonderful dedication to raising awareness of and enthusiasm for Boston history. We will honor him also for his many good works on behalf of the Colonial Society, the Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston National Historical Park, Boston by Foot, the New England Chapter of the Victorian Society, and the South Boston Historical Society.
International Women's Day at the Gibson House Museum
Wednesday, March 8, 2017
1:00, 2:00, and 3:00 p.m.
The Gibson House Museum is celebrating International Women's Day with free guided tours for all women visitors. Explore the elegant nineteenth century home through the lives of the Gibson women and female servants who lived there.
FEBRUARY
Mourning in the Victorian Era
Presented by Etiquetteer Robert B. Dimmick
On both Sunday, February 5, and Sunday, February 12, 2017
Reception at 4:00 p.m., program at 4:30 p.m.
$10.00 members of the Gibson House Museum & Victorian Society; $12.00 non-members
Mourning attire encouraged.
Read more Etiquetteer at www.etiquetteer.com/home.
2016
DECEMBER
Neighborhood Holiday Open House
Sunday, December 18, 2016, 1:00-4:00 p.m.
Free to all (donations gratefully accepted)
Join us to experience a nineteenth-century Christmas and see the Gibson House decorated in all its finery. Seasonal refreshments will be served.
Wednesday, March 29, 2017
6:00-8:00 p.m.
Chilton Club, 152 Commonwealth Ave., Boston
An elegant (and fun!) affair, the Gibson House Museum’s annual Benefit is a major fundraising opportunity for the museum. Please join us as we honor Robert J. Allison for his academic career as a Professor of History and former Chairman of the History Department at Suffolk University, as well as for his wonderful dedication to raising awareness of and enthusiasm for Boston history. We will honor him also for his many good works on behalf of the Colonial Society, the Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston National Historical Park, Boston by Foot, the New England Chapter of the Victorian Society, and the South Boston Historical Society.
International Women's Day at the Gibson House Museum
Wednesday, March 8, 2017
1:00, 2:00, and 3:00 p.m.
The Gibson House Museum is celebrating International Women's Day with free guided tours for all women visitors. Explore the elegant nineteenth century home through the lives of the Gibson women and female servants who lived there.
FEBRUARY
Mourning in the Victorian Era
Presented by Etiquetteer Robert B. Dimmick
On both Sunday, February 5, and Sunday, February 12, 2017
Reception at 4:00 p.m., program at 4:30 p.m.
$10.00 members of the Gibson House Museum & Victorian Society; $12.00 non-members
Mourning attire encouraged.
Read more Etiquetteer at www.etiquetteer.com/home.
2016
DECEMBER
Neighborhood Holiday Open House
Sunday, December 18, 2016, 1:00-4:00 p.m.
Free to all (donations gratefully accepted)
Join us to experience a nineteenth-century Christmas and see the Gibson House decorated in all its finery. Seasonal refreshments will be served.
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Fifth Annual Repeal Day Celebration
Hosted by Etiquetteer Robert B. Dimmick, www.etiquetteer.com/home
Friday, December 2, 2016
6:30-8:30 p.m.
Tickets: $75
Period attire encouraged but not required.
Prepare to enjoy an evening of Prohibition-era gaiety at the Gibson House’s Fifth Annual Repeal Day Celebration! Proudly sponsored by Ryan and Wood Distilleries, featuring their “bright and flexible” Knockabout Gin, and
debuting a NEW Gibson House cocktail concocted with their Folly Cove Rum! (http://ryanandwood.com/products.html)
Featuring Ladies United for the Preservation of Endangered Cocktails behind the bar. Sumptuous hors d’oeuvres will be served in the dining room.
Pre-registration is required through info@thegibsonhouse.org or 617-267-6338.
NOVEMBER
Making History/Making Place: Celebrating Local Learning and Discovery
William Hosley, principal, Terra Firma Northeast
Tuesday, November 15, 2016
6:00 reception, 6:30 p.m. program
$10 members; $15 non-members
William Hosley has been a curator, museum director, public speaker, project manager, writer, photographer, and cultural resource entrepreneur. With more than thirty years' experience in museums and historic preservation, his affiliations have included Historic Deerfield, the Winterthur Museum, the Wadsworth Atheneum, and, most recently, Connecticut Landmarks and the New Haven Museum, where he served as executive director. Author of five books and many articles, his work has appeared in dozens of magazines and newspapers. His talk will center on the role of small museums--such as the Gibson House--as "civic miracles" that serve as educators, preservationists, and stewards of "local stuff and stories."
Pre-registration is required through info@thegibsonhouse.org or 617-267-6338.
OCTOBER
Halloween at the Gibson House
Monday, October 31, 2016
5:30-7:00 p.m.
Free
On Halloween night, the Gibson House Museum will open its doors to the neighborhood, offering treats to trick or treaters. Visit the spookiest house in the Back Bay!
"Bostonians at Home: Servant Life in Downtown Boston" Special Tour
Saturday, October 22, 2016
1:00 and 3:00 p.m.
$7 for adults; children under 15 free; tickets are sold separately at each site
Back by popular demand, the Boston House Museum Alliance presents its fall 2016 tour series, Servant Life in Downtown Boston. For these special tours, the Gibson House Museum, Nichols House Museum, and Otis House Museum draw on their rich collections and stories to illuminate the history of domestic service over three centuries
Reading the Turn-of-the-Century Interior: Edith Wharton's House of Mirth
Caroline Cole, Ellyn McColgan Assistant Curator of Decorative Arts and Sculpture, Museum of Fine Arts Boston
Tuesday, October 18, 2016
6:00 reception, 6:30 p.m. program
$15 members; $20 non-members
“There were moments when she longed blindly for anything different, anything strange, remote and untried; but the utmost reach of her imagination did not go beyond picturing her usual life in a new setting. She could not figure herself as anywhere but in a drawing-room, diffusing elegance as a flower sheds perfume.” – House of Mirth by Edith Wharton (1905)
In the world of Miss Lily Bart, one’s interior setting defines his or her station in life. Through the protagonist of her most popular novel, House of Mirth, Edith Wharton guides us through the drawing rooms, libraries, and salons of turn-of-the-century society. Join Caroline Cole, Assistant Curator of American decorative arts and sculpture at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, for an evening “tour” of Wharton’s fictional settings, using the collections of the MFA and Gibson House Museum as context.
Pre-registration is required through info@thegibsonhouse.org or 617-267-6338.
SEPTEMBER
Smithsonian Museum Day Live!
Saturday, September 24, 2016
Tours at 1:00, 2:00, and 3:00 p.m.
In the spirit of the Smithsonian Museums, which offer free admission every day, Museum Day Live! is an annual event hosted by Smithsonian magazine in which participating museums across the country open their doors to anyone presenting a Museum Day Live! ticket for free. To download a ticket to the Gibson House offering free admission for two people go to the Museum Day Live! ticket registration website.
MAY
"A Victorian House in the Millennial Age: Providence's Lippitt House Museum"
Speaker: Carrie Taylor, Executive Director, Lippitt House Museum
Monday, May 16, 2016
6:00 reception, 6:30 program
$10 members, $15 non-members
Lippitt House has been a Providence landmark for 150 years. A reflection of the great wealth created from manufacturing in nineteenth-century Providence, the museum represents the epitome of Victorian design and sensibilities. But what relevancy does it have today in our post-industrial age? Lippitt House Museum Executive Director Carrie Taylor will discuss the evolving role of historic house museums as a community resource and the museum's efforts to engage the local community through new program initiatives.
APRIL
Annual Baseball Program: "Boston Baseball: The Blue Period: 1920-1935"
Thursday, April 14, 2016
5:30 p.m.
$30 in advance, $35 at the door, with a special $25 admission for members of the Gibson House Museum, the SABR, the BBHA, the Boston Preservation Alliance, the Ayer Mansion, the Neighborhood Association of the Back Bay, and the Victorian Society
The Gibson House Museum, in conjunction with the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) and the Boston Braves Historical Association (BBHA), proudly presents “Boston Baseball: The Blue Period 1920–1935.” During the era of the Roaring Twenties, the Jazz Age, and Prohibition, both the Red Sox and Braves staked claim to a fifteen-year period of lackluster performances. Yet although their playing may have been mediocre, the teams’ histories during this period were anything but dull. Both featured controversial owners (Judge Emil Fuchs and Harry Frazee) and colorful players (Casey Stengel, Smead Jolley, Ernie Padgett—Who? Attend and find out!).
Festivities begin at 5:30 p.m. in the courtyard of the Gibson House Museum at 137 Beacon St., Boston, with a “Ballpark Cocktail Hour” featuring beer, hot dogs, and crackerjacks. The program, hosted by local authors Bill Nowlin, Wayne Soini, and Donna Halper, gets underway at 6:30 p.m. at the Trustees Reading Room at Fisher College (across the street at 118 Beacon St.).
"Bostonians at Home: Servant Life in Downtown Boston" Special Tour
Saturday, April 2, 2016
1:00 and 3:00 p.m.
$7 for adults; children under 15 free; tickets are sold separately at each site
The Gibson House Museum, 137 Beacon St. Boston, Mass.
Back by popular demand, the Boston House Museum Alliance presents its spring 2016 tour series, Servant Life in Downtown Boston. For these special tours, the Gibson House Museum, Nichols House Museum, and Otis House Museum draw on their rich collections and stories to illuminate the history of domestic service over three centuries.
MARCH
Hosted by Etiquetteer Robert B. Dimmick, www.etiquetteer.com/home
Friday, December 2, 2016
6:30-8:30 p.m.
Tickets: $75
Period attire encouraged but not required.
Prepare to enjoy an evening of Prohibition-era gaiety at the Gibson House’s Fifth Annual Repeal Day Celebration! Proudly sponsored by Ryan and Wood Distilleries, featuring their “bright and flexible” Knockabout Gin, and
debuting a NEW Gibson House cocktail concocted with their Folly Cove Rum! (http://ryanandwood.com/products.html)
Featuring Ladies United for the Preservation of Endangered Cocktails behind the bar. Sumptuous hors d’oeuvres will be served in the dining room.
Pre-registration is required through info@thegibsonhouse.org or 617-267-6338.
NOVEMBER
Making History/Making Place: Celebrating Local Learning and Discovery
William Hosley, principal, Terra Firma Northeast
Tuesday, November 15, 2016
6:00 reception, 6:30 p.m. program
$10 members; $15 non-members
William Hosley has been a curator, museum director, public speaker, project manager, writer, photographer, and cultural resource entrepreneur. With more than thirty years' experience in museums and historic preservation, his affiliations have included Historic Deerfield, the Winterthur Museum, the Wadsworth Atheneum, and, most recently, Connecticut Landmarks and the New Haven Museum, where he served as executive director. Author of five books and many articles, his work has appeared in dozens of magazines and newspapers. His talk will center on the role of small museums--such as the Gibson House--as "civic miracles" that serve as educators, preservationists, and stewards of "local stuff and stories."
Pre-registration is required through info@thegibsonhouse.org or 617-267-6338.
OCTOBER
Halloween at the Gibson House
Monday, October 31, 2016
5:30-7:00 p.m.
Free
On Halloween night, the Gibson House Museum will open its doors to the neighborhood, offering treats to trick or treaters. Visit the spookiest house in the Back Bay!
"Bostonians at Home: Servant Life in Downtown Boston" Special Tour
Saturday, October 22, 2016
1:00 and 3:00 p.m.
$7 for adults; children under 15 free; tickets are sold separately at each site
Back by popular demand, the Boston House Museum Alliance presents its fall 2016 tour series, Servant Life in Downtown Boston. For these special tours, the Gibson House Museum, Nichols House Museum, and Otis House Museum draw on their rich collections and stories to illuminate the history of domestic service over three centuries
Reading the Turn-of-the-Century Interior: Edith Wharton's House of Mirth
Caroline Cole, Ellyn McColgan Assistant Curator of Decorative Arts and Sculpture, Museum of Fine Arts Boston
Tuesday, October 18, 2016
6:00 reception, 6:30 p.m. program
$15 members; $20 non-members
“There were moments when she longed blindly for anything different, anything strange, remote and untried; but the utmost reach of her imagination did not go beyond picturing her usual life in a new setting. She could not figure herself as anywhere but in a drawing-room, diffusing elegance as a flower sheds perfume.” – House of Mirth by Edith Wharton (1905)
In the world of Miss Lily Bart, one’s interior setting defines his or her station in life. Through the protagonist of her most popular novel, House of Mirth, Edith Wharton guides us through the drawing rooms, libraries, and salons of turn-of-the-century society. Join Caroline Cole, Assistant Curator of American decorative arts and sculpture at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, for an evening “tour” of Wharton’s fictional settings, using the collections of the MFA and Gibson House Museum as context.
Pre-registration is required through info@thegibsonhouse.org or 617-267-6338.
SEPTEMBER
Smithsonian Museum Day Live!
Saturday, September 24, 2016
Tours at 1:00, 2:00, and 3:00 p.m.
In the spirit of the Smithsonian Museums, which offer free admission every day, Museum Day Live! is an annual event hosted by Smithsonian magazine in which participating museums across the country open their doors to anyone presenting a Museum Day Live! ticket for free. To download a ticket to the Gibson House offering free admission for two people go to the Museum Day Live! ticket registration website.
MAY
"A Victorian House in the Millennial Age: Providence's Lippitt House Museum"
Speaker: Carrie Taylor, Executive Director, Lippitt House Museum
Monday, May 16, 2016
6:00 reception, 6:30 program
$10 members, $15 non-members
Lippitt House has been a Providence landmark for 150 years. A reflection of the great wealth created from manufacturing in nineteenth-century Providence, the museum represents the epitome of Victorian design and sensibilities. But what relevancy does it have today in our post-industrial age? Lippitt House Museum Executive Director Carrie Taylor will discuss the evolving role of historic house museums as a community resource and the museum's efforts to engage the local community through new program initiatives.
APRIL
Annual Baseball Program: "Boston Baseball: The Blue Period: 1920-1935"
Thursday, April 14, 2016
5:30 p.m.
$30 in advance, $35 at the door, with a special $25 admission for members of the Gibson House Museum, the SABR, the BBHA, the Boston Preservation Alliance, the Ayer Mansion, the Neighborhood Association of the Back Bay, and the Victorian Society
The Gibson House Museum, in conjunction with the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) and the Boston Braves Historical Association (BBHA), proudly presents “Boston Baseball: The Blue Period 1920–1935.” During the era of the Roaring Twenties, the Jazz Age, and Prohibition, both the Red Sox and Braves staked claim to a fifteen-year period of lackluster performances. Yet although their playing may have been mediocre, the teams’ histories during this period were anything but dull. Both featured controversial owners (Judge Emil Fuchs and Harry Frazee) and colorful players (Casey Stengel, Smead Jolley, Ernie Padgett—Who? Attend and find out!).
Festivities begin at 5:30 p.m. in the courtyard of the Gibson House Museum at 137 Beacon St., Boston, with a “Ballpark Cocktail Hour” featuring beer, hot dogs, and crackerjacks. The program, hosted by local authors Bill Nowlin, Wayne Soini, and Donna Halper, gets underway at 6:30 p.m. at the Trustees Reading Room at Fisher College (across the street at 118 Beacon St.).
"Bostonians at Home: Servant Life in Downtown Boston" Special Tour
Saturday, April 2, 2016
1:00 and 3:00 p.m.
$7 for adults; children under 15 free; tickets are sold separately at each site
The Gibson House Museum, 137 Beacon St. Boston, Mass.
Back by popular demand, the Boston House Museum Alliance presents its spring 2016 tour series, Servant Life in Downtown Boston. For these special tours, the Gibson House Museum, Nichols House Museum, and Otis House Museum draw on their rich collections and stories to illuminate the history of domestic service over three centuries.
MARCH
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Photos courtesy of Mary Prince Photography
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Gibson House Museum's Twentieth Annual Benefit
Thursday, March 31, 2016
6:00-8:00 p.m.
Chilton Club
152 Commonwealth Ave., Boston
An elegant (and fun!) affair, the Gibson House Museum’s annual Benefit is a major fundraising opportunity for the museum. All proceeds support the museum’s mission of preserving and sharing this unique time capsule of Boston life.
Please join us as we honor William Clendaniel, the former president of Mount Auburn Cemetery who serves on the board of trustees of the Massachusetts Historical Society, on the board of directors of the Friends of the Public Garden, and as a corporate trustee of the Trustees of Reservations. Bill has spent over thirty years managing private nonprofit organizations dedicated to preserving and making accessible to the public the natural and cultural heritage of Massachusetts. He shares the Gibson House Museum's mission of preserving Boston's nineteenth-century legacy for future generations.
Please see "2016 Benefit" on "Events" page for more information.
Smithsonian Museum Day Live!
Saturday, March 12, 2016
Tours at 1:00, 2:00, and 3:00 p.m.
Free admission
In celebration of Women's History Month, the Gibson House Museum will participate in the Smithsonian Museum's nationwide campaign to encourage all people, particularly women and girls of color, to explore their nation's cultural institutions free of charge. To download a ticket to the Gibson House offering free admission for two people, visit the Museum Day Live! ticket registration website.
FEBRUARY
"The Gibson Family's Photograph Albums"
Tuesday, February 23, 2016
6:00 reception, 6:30 lecture
$15 non-members, $10 members
Join us for what is sure to be a fascinating talk by Curator Wendy Swanton about the personal photograph albums of Charles and Rosamond Warren Gibson. Recently digitized and never before exhibited, these images will help us connect in new ways with the Gibsons, their family, and nineteenth-century Boston society.
2015
DECEMBER
Neighborhood Holiday Open House
Sunday, December 13, 2015, 1:00-4:00 p.m.
Free to all (donations gratefully accepted)
Join us to experience a nineteenth-century Christmas and see the Gibson House decorated in all its finery. Seasonal refreshments will be served.
Fourth Annual Repeal Day Celebration
Friday, December 4, 2015, 6:30-8:30 p.m.
Sponsored by Ryan and Wood’s Knockabout Gin and hosted by Etiquetteer Robert B. Dimmick. Prepare to enjoy an evening of Prohibition-era gaiety at the Gibson House’s Fourth Annual Repeal Day Celebration! Ladies United for the Preservation of Endangered Cocktails (LUPEC) staff the bar, featuring the Charlie’s Beacon cocktail. Sumptuous hors d’oeuvres in the dining room. Hotcha! Tickets are $75. RSVP by November 30 to info@thegibsonhouse.org.
NOVEMBER
"The Heart of the Home: Family Life in Downtown Boston" Special Tour
Saturday, November 28, 2015, 12:00, 1:00, and 3:00 p.m.
$7 for adults; children under 15 free; tickets are sold separately at each site
The Boston House Museum Alliance announces its 2015 tour series, "The Heart of the Home: Family Life in Downtown Boston." For these family-friendly special tours, the Gibson House, Nichols House, and Paul Revere House draw on their rich collections and stories to illuminate the experiences of family life and childhood in historic Boston. The Gibson House tour will draw upon the museum’s archives and collections to paint a picture of family life in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, placing special emphasis on the Gibson children’s experiences.
SEPTEMBER
Smithsonian Museum Day Live!
Saturday, September 26, 2015
Tours at 1:00, 2:00, and 3:00 p.m.
In the spirit of the Smithsonian Museums, which offer free admission every day, Museum Day Live! is an annual event hosted by Smithsonian magazine in which participating museums across the country open their doors to anyone presenting a Museum Day Live! ticket for free. To download a ticket to the Gibson House offering free admission for two people go to http://www.smithsonianmag.com/museumday/
Back by Popular Demand!
The Evolution of the Dinner Party, 1860-1954
Presented by Robert B. Dimmick, Etiquetteer (http://etiquetteer.com)
Thursday, September 24, 2015; reception at 6:00 p.m., program at 6:30 p.m.
$10 members, $15 non-members
Etiquetteer explores how the way Americans entertained at home changed during the time the Gibsons lived at the Gibson House. The Victorian formal dinner party of many courses and ever more obscure accessories gradually gave way with the social upheavals following World War I, including Prohibition, cafe society, and the growing acceptance of smoking. By World War II, writers like Dorothy Draper were gaily recommending buffet dinners with striking color schemes and other novelties.
Thursday, March 31, 2016
6:00-8:00 p.m.
Chilton Club
152 Commonwealth Ave., Boston
An elegant (and fun!) affair, the Gibson House Museum’s annual Benefit is a major fundraising opportunity for the museum. All proceeds support the museum’s mission of preserving and sharing this unique time capsule of Boston life.
Please join us as we honor William Clendaniel, the former president of Mount Auburn Cemetery who serves on the board of trustees of the Massachusetts Historical Society, on the board of directors of the Friends of the Public Garden, and as a corporate trustee of the Trustees of Reservations. Bill has spent over thirty years managing private nonprofit organizations dedicated to preserving and making accessible to the public the natural and cultural heritage of Massachusetts. He shares the Gibson House Museum's mission of preserving Boston's nineteenth-century legacy for future generations.
Please see "2016 Benefit" on "Events" page for more information.
Smithsonian Museum Day Live!
Saturday, March 12, 2016
Tours at 1:00, 2:00, and 3:00 p.m.
Free admission
In celebration of Women's History Month, the Gibson House Museum will participate in the Smithsonian Museum's nationwide campaign to encourage all people, particularly women and girls of color, to explore their nation's cultural institutions free of charge. To download a ticket to the Gibson House offering free admission for two people, visit the Museum Day Live! ticket registration website.
FEBRUARY
"The Gibson Family's Photograph Albums"
Tuesday, February 23, 2016
6:00 reception, 6:30 lecture
$15 non-members, $10 members
Join us for what is sure to be a fascinating talk by Curator Wendy Swanton about the personal photograph albums of Charles and Rosamond Warren Gibson. Recently digitized and never before exhibited, these images will help us connect in new ways with the Gibsons, their family, and nineteenth-century Boston society.
2015
DECEMBER
Neighborhood Holiday Open House
Sunday, December 13, 2015, 1:00-4:00 p.m.
Free to all (donations gratefully accepted)
Join us to experience a nineteenth-century Christmas and see the Gibson House decorated in all its finery. Seasonal refreshments will be served.
Fourth Annual Repeal Day Celebration
Friday, December 4, 2015, 6:30-8:30 p.m.
Sponsored by Ryan and Wood’s Knockabout Gin and hosted by Etiquetteer Robert B. Dimmick. Prepare to enjoy an evening of Prohibition-era gaiety at the Gibson House’s Fourth Annual Repeal Day Celebration! Ladies United for the Preservation of Endangered Cocktails (LUPEC) staff the bar, featuring the Charlie’s Beacon cocktail. Sumptuous hors d’oeuvres in the dining room. Hotcha! Tickets are $75. RSVP by November 30 to info@thegibsonhouse.org.
NOVEMBER
"The Heart of the Home: Family Life in Downtown Boston" Special Tour
Saturday, November 28, 2015, 12:00, 1:00, and 3:00 p.m.
$7 for adults; children under 15 free; tickets are sold separately at each site
The Boston House Museum Alliance announces its 2015 tour series, "The Heart of the Home: Family Life in Downtown Boston." For these family-friendly special tours, the Gibson House, Nichols House, and Paul Revere House draw on their rich collections and stories to illuminate the experiences of family life and childhood in historic Boston. The Gibson House tour will draw upon the museum’s archives and collections to paint a picture of family life in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, placing special emphasis on the Gibson children’s experiences.
SEPTEMBER
Smithsonian Museum Day Live!
Saturday, September 26, 2015
Tours at 1:00, 2:00, and 3:00 p.m.
In the spirit of the Smithsonian Museums, which offer free admission every day, Museum Day Live! is an annual event hosted by Smithsonian magazine in which participating museums across the country open their doors to anyone presenting a Museum Day Live! ticket for free. To download a ticket to the Gibson House offering free admission for two people go to http://www.smithsonianmag.com/museumday/
Back by Popular Demand!
The Evolution of the Dinner Party, 1860-1954
Presented by Robert B. Dimmick, Etiquetteer (http://etiquetteer.com)
Thursday, September 24, 2015; reception at 6:00 p.m., program at 6:30 p.m.
$10 members, $15 non-members
Etiquetteer explores how the way Americans entertained at home changed during the time the Gibsons lived at the Gibson House. The Victorian formal dinner party of many courses and ever more obscure accessories gradually gave way with the social upheavals following World War I, including Prohibition, cafe society, and the growing acceptance of smoking. By World War II, writers like Dorothy Draper were gaily recommending buffet dinners with striking color schemes and other novelties.
AUGUST
Rarely Seen at the Gibson House Museum: A Behind-the-Scenes Tour
(offered in conjunction with the Boston Center for Adult Education)
Monday, August 17, 2015
Tour begins at 5:30 p.m.; reception to follow at 7:00 p.m.
The Gibson House Museum is treasured for the story it tells about upper-middle-class life in Boston during the late-nineteenth to mid-twentieth centuries. Its elegant wallpapers, imported carpets, and abundance of furniture, paintings, silver, and more reveal the lives of three generations of one family living in Boston's Back Bay from 1860 to 1954. But there’s more to the story, and a special tour offered by the Gibson House and the Boston Center for Adult Education features a rare glimpse into the lives of the home’s other inhabitants—its servants—whose “downstairs” experiences were largely played out behind the scenes.
Tickets are $25 and must be purchased through the Boston Center for Adult Education, www.bcae.org, 617-267-4430.
MAY
"The Heart of the Home: Family Life in Downtown Boston" Special Tour
Saturdays, April 11 and May 16, 2015, 12:00, 1:30, and 3:00 p.m.
$5; tickets are sold separately at each site
The Boston House Museum Alliance announces its spring 2015 tour series, "The Heart of the Home: Family Life in Downtown Boston." For these family-friendly special tours, the Gibson House, Nichols House, Otis House, Prescott House, and Paul Revere House draw on their rich collections and stories to illuminate the experiences of family life and childhood in historic Boston. The Gibson House tour will draw upon the museum’s archives and collections to paint a picture of family life in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, placing special emphasis on the Gibson children’s experiences.
Arts and Crafts Architecture: History and Heritage in New England
Maureen Meister, Tufts University Professor of Art History and Author, Arts & Crafts Architecture: History and Heritage in New England
Tuesday, May 5, 2015; reception at 6:00 p.m., lecture at 6:30 p.m.
$5 members; $10 non-members
Anyone who has spent time in New England will recognize the century-old buildings that Maureen Meister will discuss in a slide lecture that draws upon her new book, Arts and Crafts Architecture: History and Heritage in New England (University Press of New England). Focusing on the 1890s through the 1920s, she will explain how a group of Boston architects and craftsmen were influenced by English Arts and Crafts theories to produce works that are now landmarks, admired for their exquisite ornament. At the same time, the buildings reflect a rich intellectual culture that flourished in New England 100 years ago.
Maureen Meister is an art historian who writes about American art and architecture of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. She is the author of Architecture and the Arts and Crafts Movement in Boston: Harvard's H. Langford Warren (2003), and was volume editor of H. H. Richardson: The Architect, His Peers, and Their Era (1999). She holds a doctorate from Brown University and an A.B. from Mount Holyoke College. Since 1998, she has taught at Tufts University.
APRIL
Early Baseball in Boston: A Look at the Era through the Lens of Local Baseball History
"Baseball's First Dynasty: The 1912-1918 Boston Red Sox," featuring guest speaker Thomas Whalen,
author of When the Red Sox Ruled: Baseball's First Dynasty
Thursday, April 30, 2015, 5:30 p.m.
$30 in advance; $35 at the door; $25 for members of the Gibson House Museum, the Society for American Baseball Research, the Boston Braves Historical Association, the Ayer Mansion, the Boston Preservation Alliance, the Neighborhood Association of the Back Bay, and the Victorian Society
The Gibson House Museum, in conjunction with the Society for American Baseball Research and the Boston Braves Historical Association, will celebrate "Baseball's First Dynasty: The 1912-1918 Boston Red Sox." Festivities begin at 5:30 p.m. in the courtyard of the Gibson House Museum with a "Ballpark Cocktail Hour" featuring beer and hot dogs. The program gets underway at 6:30 p.m. at the Trustees Reading Room at Fisher College (across the street at 118 Beacon Street). The evening will feature vignettes of the early years of baseball in Boston--when the Red Sox won four World Championships in seven years with a roster that included Babe Ruth, Smoky Joe Wood, Tris Speaker, and a cast of somewhat lesser-known but equally colorful players.
Rarely Seen at the Gibson House Museum: A Behind-the-Scenes Tour
(offered in conjunction with the Boston Center for Adult Education)
Monday, August 17, 2015
Tour begins at 5:30 p.m.; reception to follow at 7:00 p.m.
The Gibson House Museum is treasured for the story it tells about upper-middle-class life in Boston during the late-nineteenth to mid-twentieth centuries. Its elegant wallpapers, imported carpets, and abundance of furniture, paintings, silver, and more reveal the lives of three generations of one family living in Boston's Back Bay from 1860 to 1954. But there’s more to the story, and a special tour offered by the Gibson House and the Boston Center for Adult Education features a rare glimpse into the lives of the home’s other inhabitants—its servants—whose “downstairs” experiences were largely played out behind the scenes.
Tickets are $25 and must be purchased through the Boston Center for Adult Education, www.bcae.org, 617-267-4430.
MAY
"The Heart of the Home: Family Life in Downtown Boston" Special Tour
Saturdays, April 11 and May 16, 2015, 12:00, 1:30, and 3:00 p.m.
$5; tickets are sold separately at each site
The Boston House Museum Alliance announces its spring 2015 tour series, "The Heart of the Home: Family Life in Downtown Boston." For these family-friendly special tours, the Gibson House, Nichols House, Otis House, Prescott House, and Paul Revere House draw on their rich collections and stories to illuminate the experiences of family life and childhood in historic Boston. The Gibson House tour will draw upon the museum’s archives and collections to paint a picture of family life in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, placing special emphasis on the Gibson children’s experiences.
Arts and Crafts Architecture: History and Heritage in New England
Maureen Meister, Tufts University Professor of Art History and Author, Arts & Crafts Architecture: History and Heritage in New England
Tuesday, May 5, 2015; reception at 6:00 p.m., lecture at 6:30 p.m.
$5 members; $10 non-members
Anyone who has spent time in New England will recognize the century-old buildings that Maureen Meister will discuss in a slide lecture that draws upon her new book, Arts and Crafts Architecture: History and Heritage in New England (University Press of New England). Focusing on the 1890s through the 1920s, she will explain how a group of Boston architects and craftsmen were influenced by English Arts and Crafts theories to produce works that are now landmarks, admired for their exquisite ornament. At the same time, the buildings reflect a rich intellectual culture that flourished in New England 100 years ago.
Maureen Meister is an art historian who writes about American art and architecture of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. She is the author of Architecture and the Arts and Crafts Movement in Boston: Harvard's H. Langford Warren (2003), and was volume editor of H. H. Richardson: The Architect, His Peers, and Their Era (1999). She holds a doctorate from Brown University and an A.B. from Mount Holyoke College. Since 1998, she has taught at Tufts University.
APRIL
Early Baseball in Boston: A Look at the Era through the Lens of Local Baseball History
"Baseball's First Dynasty: The 1912-1918 Boston Red Sox," featuring guest speaker Thomas Whalen,
author of When the Red Sox Ruled: Baseball's First Dynasty
Thursday, April 30, 2015, 5:30 p.m.
$30 in advance; $35 at the door; $25 for members of the Gibson House Museum, the Society for American Baseball Research, the Boston Braves Historical Association, the Ayer Mansion, the Boston Preservation Alliance, the Neighborhood Association of the Back Bay, and the Victorian Society
The Gibson House Museum, in conjunction with the Society for American Baseball Research and the Boston Braves Historical Association, will celebrate "Baseball's First Dynasty: The 1912-1918 Boston Red Sox." Festivities begin at 5:30 p.m. in the courtyard of the Gibson House Museum with a "Ballpark Cocktail Hour" featuring beer and hot dogs. The program gets underway at 6:30 p.m. at the Trustees Reading Room at Fisher College (across the street at 118 Beacon Street). The evening will feature vignettes of the early years of baseball in Boston--when the Red Sox won four World Championships in seven years with a roster that included Babe Ruth, Smoky Joe Wood, Tris Speaker, and a cast of somewhat lesser-known but equally colorful players.
The Nineteenth Annual Benefit Honoring Author Anthony Mitchell Sammarco
Wednesday, April 1, 2015, 6:00-8:00 p.m.
Chilton Club, Boston
An elegant and fun affair that helps us support our mission of preserving and sharing the Gibson House as a unique time capsule of Back Bay life.
FEBRUARY
Post-Performance Talk on Gibson House Servant Life by Edward Gordon
The Second Girl, Huntington Theatre, Boston
Friday, February 20, 2015; 8:00 p.m.
Following the 8:00 p.m. performance of the Huntington Theatre's The Second Girl, the new play by acclaimed playwright Ronan Noone, Gibson House Museum board member Edward Gordon will discuss servant life at the Gibson House. This talk is part of the Huntington Theatre's Humanities Forum.
Return of Etiquetteer: Robert Dimmick Presents
"The Evolution of the Dinner Party, 1860-1954"
Tuesday, February 17, 2015; reception at 6:00 p.m., program at 6:30 p.m.
$10 members, $15 non-members
Etiquetteer explores how the way Americans entertained at home changed during the time the Gibsons lived at the Gibson House. The Victorian formal dinner party of many courses and ever more obscure accessories gradually gave way with the social upheavals following World War I, including Prohibition. By World War II, writers like Dorothy Draper were gaily recommending buffet dinners with striking color schemes and other novelties.
_
Wednesday, April 1, 2015, 6:00-8:00 p.m.
Chilton Club, Boston
An elegant and fun affair that helps us support our mission of preserving and sharing the Gibson House as a unique time capsule of Back Bay life.
FEBRUARY
Post-Performance Talk on Gibson House Servant Life by Edward Gordon
The Second Girl, Huntington Theatre, Boston
Friday, February 20, 2015; 8:00 p.m.
Following the 8:00 p.m. performance of the Huntington Theatre's The Second Girl, the new play by acclaimed playwright Ronan Noone, Gibson House Museum board member Edward Gordon will discuss servant life at the Gibson House. This talk is part of the Huntington Theatre's Humanities Forum.
Return of Etiquetteer: Robert Dimmick Presents
"The Evolution of the Dinner Party, 1860-1954"
Tuesday, February 17, 2015; reception at 6:00 p.m., program at 6:30 p.m.
$10 members, $15 non-members
Etiquetteer explores how the way Americans entertained at home changed during the time the Gibsons lived at the Gibson House. The Victorian formal dinner party of many courses and ever more obscure accessories gradually gave way with the social upheavals following World War I, including Prohibition. By World War II, writers like Dorothy Draper were gaily recommending buffet dinners with striking color schemes and other novelties.
_