A historic partnership continues in 2025!
Historic Newton is excited to continue our collaboration with Newton Free Library to co-sponsor the “Newton History Series”, a lecture series in January, February, and March 2025. Each talk will encourage audiences to consider their relationship with the past and history’s relevance to the present. A continuing legacy in Newton, this partnership enlivens critical thinking and education among Newton residents and visitors alike. All lectures will be held in the Druker Auditorium at Newton Free Library; these events are free to attend. Registration is not required.
The first lecture will take place on Thursday, January 16 at 7:00 p.m., led by educator and interpreter Michele Gabrielson. Her talk, “A Pressing Matter - 18th Century Media Literacy and Bias”, examines media and information literacy as essential 21st-century skills in order to be an informed citizen. These are also skills that, when applied in a historical context, help us become better historians. In this discussion, Gabrielson will analyze perspective, language, and bias in 18th-century newspapers, with a critical lens on how news was consumed in colonial America.
Michele Gabrielson is a history teacher and historic interpreter of the 18th century. When she is not teaching in the classroom, Michele can be found leading tours, lectures, and demonstrations at historic sites in the greater Boston area. She serves on several committees dedicated to preserving the history of colonial America, is a member of the Authenticity Standards Committee for Minuteman National Historic Park, and is the coordinator for the Battle Road Guides for the annual reenactment of the Battle of Lexington and Concord. She was recently awarded a 2024 Rising Star Award for Public History by the Massachusetts History Alliance, and she was named a finalist for the 2024 Massachusetts History Teacher of the Year.
The second lecture will be given by author Hasia Diner on Thursday, February 13 at 7:00 p.m.. Diner’s talk, “Collaborations Between Irish Americans and Jewish Americans” will be centered around her new book, Opening Doors: The Unlikely Alliance Between the Irish and the Jews of America. From the late 19th century into the 1930s, a productive alliance brought Jewish and Irish Americans into each other’s orbit. In crucial spaces, like the labor movement, the political machine and the public schools, Irish Americans, well settled and indeed entrenched, helped Jewish immigrants, more recent arrivals to the United States, to achieve integration into American society.
Hasia Diner is Professor Emerita, New York University where she held the Paul and Sylvia Steinberg Chair in American Jewish History. She also served as interim director of NYU's Glucksman Ireland House. Her work has focused on American Jewish history, American immigration history, and the history of American women. A prolific author, several of whose books have won prizes, she has won a Guggenheim Fellowship as well as a Fulbright award.
Her book Opening Doors will be available for purchase at this event.
The third and final lecture will be on Thursday, March 6 at 7:00 p.m., given by Stephen Guerriero, Director of Education at the Charles River Museum of Industry and Innovation, titled “Shuttle Boats on the Charles at the Turn of the 20th Century.” This talk will provide a broad view of how the Charles River came to be used in various ways by industry and society, as seen by the rise and fall of commuter steamboat services, canoe manufacturing, and leisure activities of this new industrial class that lived and worked in the Newton and Waltham stretch.The Charles River was once a major transportation artery , recreation destination, and a symbol of the new industrial working-class society of Greater Boston. The stretch of the river from Waltham through Newton was especially active, with multiple steamers bringing hundreds of passengers from the Moody Street dam up to Norumbega Park to enjoy the amusement park, zoo, picnic grounds, and dance hall. Meanwhile, at least three major canoe manufacturers were located along the river’s Waltham stretch, catering to a burgeoning industry of outdoor recreation for factory workers who took to the river with friends and romantic interests.
The Charles River Museum of Industry & Innovation has as its mission "to educate about America's industrial history and to encourage and inspire future innovation." Located on the banks of the Charles in Waltham, the Museum tells the story of American technical and business innovations that have taken place in this region and continue to change the world.
Stephen Guerriero is the Director of Education of the Charles River Museum and holds an M.A. in Classical Studies from Brandeis University, and an M.Ed. from Boston College. Before coming to the Museum, Steve was a classroom teacher in the Needham Public Schools for more than 20 years.. He has a passion for history, archaeology, and the transformative power of education to help us use history to inform our present and prepare for the future.
Historic Newton is proud to continue our partnership with the Newton Free Library through this winter’s Lecture Series, an over 10-year long series highlighting the work of dozens of local researchers, community leaders, and neighbors. We invite you to attend one or more of the talks this winter as we continue to uncover the past while moving into the future.
Historic Newton connects our community with its history in order to enrich future generations. Along with operating two museums, the Jackson Homestead (a former stop on the Underground Railroad) and the Durant-Kenrick House and Grounds, Historic Newton presents programs that inspire discovery and engagement in history.
The Newton Free Library brings the community together to enjoy, explore, create, and discover.
