Framingham History Calendar of Events
Framingham Remembers
Civil War Exhibit
Location: Edgell Memorial Building/ 3 Oak Street
Parking: Because of Center common construction, please park in the Village Hall lot (2 Oak St.) or behind the Jonathan Maynard Building (14 Vernon St.)
Hours: Open Wednesdays-Saturdays 1:00pm-4:00pm
Admission: Free for FHC Members, $5 for Non-Members
The history of the Civil War and Framingham is a collection of intriguing individual stories of national significance as well as the collective story of a town that contributed more than its share. Framingham entered the war from the start with a united front and supported its servicemen with wholehearted zeal. This exhibition, housed in the Edgell Memorial Library, attempts to answer why such a small New England town erected such a magnificent memorial building six years after the war. It presents poignant letters to and from its boys on the front lines illustrating tremendous pride in their hometown, and in turn, the town’s pride in their service. It encompasses newly discovered stories and objects including a war trophy taken by Framingham’s own hero, General George H. Gordon, from the Confederate executive mansion within 36 hours of the fall of Richmond. The home front and battlefield are represented with a just-restored Citizen’s Flag hanging alongside the battle worn 13th regimental flag that was carried at Antietam and Gettysburg, among other renowned battle sites. From receipts for Framingham slaves to the stirring words of Sojourner Truth, Henry David Thoreau, and William Lloyd Garrison at Harmony Grove in 1850, this exhibition puts Framingham’s Civil War history on the map.
Memory and Meaning Series
Making History/Making Place: New England's Search for a Useable Past Presented by: Bill Hosley
Location: Edgell Memorial Library/ 3 Oak Street
Date:Sunday, January 22
Time: 2:00-3:30 p.m.
Admission: $5 FHC Members and students /$10 for Non-Members
Presented by: Bill Hosley, President Terra Firma Associates - cultural resource consultant, planner, teacher, writer and photographer
This program connects us with artists and antiquarians who used collections, monuments, story-telling and the built environment to preserve, protect, and promote the New England places they loved. The program will focus on artists, photographers, preservationists and champions of New England including Wallace Nutting of Framingham. It will explore the role of art, antiques, and civic narrative in shaping values, aspirations and civic identity and suggest how localisms and local knowledge can combat the homogenizing effects of globalization.
Puchase tickets online
or send checks payable to:
Framingham History Center
PO Box 2032
Framingham, MA 01703
"Be Swift My Soul”
A Salon with Julia Ward Howe
Date – Sunday, February 12, 2012
Time – 1:30 – 3:00
Location – Heineman Ecumenical Center, Framingham State College*
Join Libby Frank as she portrays Julia Ward Howe - a woman who produced perhaps the most stirring and recognizable lines of music in U.S. history. Julia was transformed from a wealthy New York belle to a Boston writer and abolitionist in the decades leading up to the Civil War. As the wife of reformer Dr. Samuel Gridley Howe, Director of the Perkins Institute for the Blind - she entertained and visited with poets, politicians, reformers, writers and exceptional women. Libby will present Julia as the host of a salon that might have included H.W. Longfellow, Edgar Alan Poe, Florence Nightingale, Margaret Fuller, Charles Sumner and Charles Dickens among others. These acquaintances along with her travels abroad, her love of language and music all gave birth to the compelling verses of the Battle Hymn of the Republic which were first sung in Framingham at the Plymouth Church nearly 150 years ago – February 22, 1862.Music of the era will be performed. Refreshments served following the performance at the Alumni House, 42 Adams Rd., Framingham
Civil War Living History Encampment
Date: May 4-6, 2012 Location:Framingham’s Centre Common
Union and Confederate soldiers will set up camp, perform artillery demonstrations, drills and medical scenarios. There will be a Saturday Night contra dance at the Village Hall also located on the Common, as well as activities related to the Civil War exhibition Framingham Remembers…The Civil War at the Edgell Memorial Library. This Library, which is the town’s civil war memorial, will be rededicated during the weekend activities and three local authors will be signing recently published books on Framingham’s Civil War history. More programming to follow. Click here for more Civil War commemoration activties
Framingham Tales & Trivia
On the first Wednesday of each month at 7 p.m. tune into Framingham Public Access TV (Comcast Cha. 9, RCN Ch. 3 or Verizon Ch. 43) for monthly shows on Framingham history. Shows are also aired on the same channels the next day Thursday at 9:00 am and Sunday/Monday at Midnight.
Note: All dates and times are subject to change. Check this page frequently for updates.
