Material Culture Now Open
Material Culture: Domestic Cloth-Making in 18th-Century New England
Open June 4, 2022-October 30, 2022
This exhibition explores the material culture of early domestic textile arts and the tools used to produce linen and woolen cloth in rural New England homesteads. Material goods provide a window into standards of living, self-sufficiency, economic diversification, and the transition from frontier life to settled communities.
Upcoming Programs
Chadbourne Dig Reunion
OBHS is hosting a Chadbourne Dig Reunion on Saturday, August 20th from 9-11am at the Counting House Museum.
9-10am: Open House with breakfast treats and coffee. Explore the new exhibition, Berwick Begins, which highlights the most intriguing artifacts of the Chadbourne Dig. There will be a slideshow, and we will bring out additional items to view.
10am: Dr. Tad Baker will present a short talk about the significance of the dig, the connections it makes to other collections in the region, and what comes next.
Bring your scrapbooks/photos!
Questions? Please email info@oldberwick.org
Lecture: From Chinese Silks to Indian Cottons: New England’s Imported Textiles and Their Imitations
Textile historian Titi Halle explores the wide variety of silks and cottons from China and India available in New England in the 17th to 19th centuries, and how they were used in furnishing and dress. These imported textiles inspired American and British printed and embroidered counterparts, showing an international appreciation for materials and motifs.
Fundraisers
Forgotten Frontier Catalog
Forgotten Frontier Catalog
We will hand deliver to all South Berwick addresses. Shipping is an additional $7.
Collectors, Curators, Cooks
Old Berwick Historical Society guest curators, Nancy & Peter Cook look forward to welcoming guests to a behind-the-scenes introduction to the exhibition, Material Culture: Domestic Cloth-Making in 18th-Century New England at The Counting House Museum. Curator Ruth Greene-McNally will contribute insights into the selection of objects and exhibition installation process.
Tour guests will then travel in their own vehicles to nearby Tare Shirt Farm, a working 18th-century farmstead with heirloom orchards, heritage breeds of domestic livestock, and a restored 18th-century vernacular home complete with period furnishings.
The excursion continues with a signature lunch and an in-depth tour of the Cooks’ extensive textile, decorative, and fine arts collection in the couple’s historic period home and the spinning barn, along with a walking tour of the pastoral landscape.