This ticket is good for entry at Revolutionary Spaces’ two historic sites: Old State House (206 Washington St.) and Old South Meeting House (310 Washington St.), and all exhibits, gallery talks, and tours available therein. Explore the Old State House, the seat of colonial and post-revolutionary power in Massachusetts, and the Old South Meeting House, the site where the meeting that led to the Boston Tea Party was held.

Revolutionary Spaces is open from 10am to 5pm daily unless otherwise noted. Hours are subject to change. Please check website for most up-to-date schedule.

Join Associate Director of Collections Lori Erickson Fidler and award-winning professors and authors Dr. Zara Anishanslin and Dr. Kimberly Alexander as they present a treasured item from the Revolutionary Spaces collection: a quilt believed to be made of fabrics from Martha Washington’s dresses that was once owned by her great grandniece.

Starting with the fabrics found in the quilt, the program will examine the roles of eighteenth-century American women, exploring how women’s socioeconomic status was reflected in their clothing and the types of textiles they used and wore. The panel will be moderated by Revolutionary Spaces Board Chair Martha McNamara, Director of the New England Arts and Architecture Program and Co-Director of Architecture in the Department of Art at Wellesley College. The program will conclude with an engaging audience Q&A.

Step back in time and discover the stories woven into every stitch of this cherished quilt, unraveling the intricacies of history with us. Doors will open at 6:00 pm and the program will begin at 6:30  pm. Food and refreshments will be provided in the museum store located on the lower level of the Old South Meeting House prior to the start of the program. Due to the delicate nature of the quilt, food and beverage of any kind will be strictly prohibited in the main hall.

Threads of History: Martha Washington and the Lives of Eighteenth-Century Women is free and open to the public thanks to the generous support of The Lowell Institute. Mark your calendars and pre-register today for an unforgettable evening at Old South Meeting House.

About the Speakers 

Dr. Kimberly Alexander is on the faculty of the History Department at the University of New Hampshire, where she is Director of Museum Studies and Senior Lecturer. Alexander is a James Hayes Research Fellow for 2023-2024, awarded by the UNH Center for the Humanities. She has held curatorial positions at several New England museums, including the MIT Museum, Peabody Essex Museum, and Strawbery Banke. Her most recent books are Treasures Afoot: Shoe Stories from the Georgian Era (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2018), which won an Honor Award from Historic New England in 2019, and Fashioning the New England Family (Massachusetts Historical Society, 2021).

Zara Anishanslin is a scholar and public historian who specializes in looking at history through material culture.  An Associate Professor of History and Art History and the Director of the American Civilization Program at the University of Delaware, she focuses on Early American and Atlantic World History.  Her first book, Portrait of a Woman in Silk: Hidden Histories of the British Atlantic World (Yale University Press, 2016) showed how making, buying, and using goods in the 18th century British Atlantic world tied its inhabitants together while allowing for different views of the Empire.  When not in the classroom or archives, Anishanslin talks history on a wide variety of podcasts and TV shows and consults on exhibitions, including the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s early American galleries and Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton: The Exhibition. Anishanslin is currently a Postdoctoral Fellow at the David Center for the American Revolution at the American Philosophical Society.  Her next project, Under the King’s Nose: Ex-Pat Patriots during the American Revolution (The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press), will be published in 2025.  

Lori Erickson Fidler is Associate Director of Collections for Revolutionary Spaces. She manages the object collections and archives, overseeing collections care, planning, and documentation. Before joining Revolutionary Spaces, Fidler  held positions as Curator and Collections Manager, in addition to working as a museum collections and exhibitions consultant. She holds both a bachelor of arts and a master of science in anthropology with a focus on archaeology and museum studies.

About the Moderator

Martha McNamara is an art and architectural historian who specializes in the visual and material culture of New England.  McNamara is Director of the New England Arts and Architecture Program and Co-Director of Architecture in the Department of Art at Wellesley College where she teaches courses in American art and architectural history, historic preservation, the history of cities, and material culture studies. She currently serves as Board Chair of Revolutionary Spaces.

It’s easy to get discouraged about our ability to achieve change in civic life these days. To reignite your belief in civic progress, Revolutionary Spaces has invited award-winning spoken word artist Amanda Shea to curate an event at the Old State House. Join us for All the Voices in the House, which will remind us how we stand on the shoulders of so many prior generations who took civic leaps and lifted their voices, even as they faced challenges that seemed daunting and likely had long odds of success.

While the vast majority of people living in the commonwealth in the 17th and 18th centuries lacked the right to vote, many used the right to petition the government for change. By believing that their voices mattered, they helped lay the groundwork for the rights and privileges we have today. To honor these individuals and inspire all of us to get more civically engaged, Shea and dynamic spoken word artists Anita Dias and D. Ruff will read and reinterpret powerful petitions that were presented by people of varying backgrounds during this time period at the Old State House, which was the center of colonial government in Massachusetts. 

For the first time, their petitions will be spoken from the same balcony where the Declaration of Independence was first read in Boston. Some of the petitions include a a 1694 petition from Elizabeth Proctor, one of the victims of the Salem witch trials; a 1777 petition from Prince Hall, an African American abolitionist seeking to end slavery in Massachusetts; a 1783 petition from Belinda Sutton, a formerly enslaved person seeking a pension from the proceeds of her enslaver’s estate; and a 1783 petition from the Mashpee seeking greater sovereignty. The petitions were selected in collaboration with Daniel Carpenter, the Allie S. Freed Professor of Government at Harvard University and author of the award-winning Democracy by Petition: Popular Politics in Transformation, 1790-1870. 

All the Voices in the House will begin at 5:30 pm outside the Old State House, located at the intersection of Congress Street and State Street. In case of rain or inclement weather, the event will be moved to Tuesday, May 14.

This program will be a prequel to Your Voice in This House, which will take place on May 23 at Old South Meeting House. Gather with contemporary activists, historians, and elected officials as they share stories of how they overcame self-doubt and redefined themselves as civic change agents at the local, state, and national levels.

This program is free and open to the public thanks to the generous support of The Lowell Institute. Pre-register now to receive updates about this event!

Taking the leap from civic bystander to civic agent is more than learning the ins and outs of governmental policies and processes. It involves taking intellectual and emotional leaps: Learning to see and believe in yourself as a powerful civic change agent, understanding that there are so many ways to express civic agency, and being ready to handle the ups and downs of working with others to achieve long-lasting change.

Start (or restart) your civic journey by joining Revolutionary Spaces at the Old South Meeting House for Your Voice in This House to listen to the inspiring stories of activists, historians, and elected officials who overcame self-doubt and redefined themselves as civic change agents at the local, state, and national levels. 

This program is the sequel to All the Voices in the House, a powerful reading and reinterpretation of 18th century petitions from the balcony of the Old State House on May 13 that reminds us that the rights and privileges we have today are the result of ordinary people who took the risk of raising their voices for change.

Take your place in the unfinished story of American democracy as you sit inside the Old South Meeting House, the place where ordinary people debated the colony’s relationship with Great Britain in the run-up to the American Revolution. Your Voice in this House is free and open to the public. Doors will open at 6:00 pm and the program will begin at 6:30 pm. Light snacks and refreshments will be provided. 

This program is made possible by the generous support of The Lowell Institute.