What We Do
History Programs
Enjoy a rich selection of living history programs, exhibitions, tours, lectures and community meetings throughout the year. Come and gather with others to share stories, do research, learn more about preservation work on our buildings, attend book groups, and explore our treasure trove of important local artifacts. Go to the annual calendar of programs for descriptions of upcoming programs and to purchase tickets.
Tours
The Framingham Timeline exhibition is open Wednesday-Saturday from 12:00-4:00 and by appointment at the Old Academy on 16 Vernon Street and available free of charge. Group tours can be arranged by calling or emailing michelle@framinghamhistory.org. Each year, on the Sunday after Mother's Day, the Framingham History Center offers a self-guided house tour event featuring historic sites throughout the town.
Research Opportunities
Meet with our resident historians for help with your research and genealogy questions on Wednesdays from 12-4 They are also available by appointment and can be reached at research@framinghamhistory.org.
Volunteer Opportunities
Volunteers make it possible for us to dedicate ourselves to the work of sharing and preserving our local history. There are a wide variety of opportunities to participate occasionally or on an ongoing basis with programming, collections and events. Join our community of educators, program enthusiasts and historians. Click here for more information on volunteering.
For Educators
Delve into a remarkable history with your students. Our research library and collection offer extensive resources for undergraduate and graduate research as well. In addition to tours for all of the third grades in the Framingham Public Schools during the months of April and May, the FHC offers docent-led tours, permanent and revolving exhibitions and lectures to inspire your curriculm.
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16 Vernon Street, Framingham, MA 01703
Directions & Hours
Framingham History Events
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.)
Framingham Remembers...The Civil War
Location: Edgell Memorial Building/ 3 Oak Street
Hours: Open Wednesdays-Saturdays 1:00pm-4:00pm
Admission: Free for FHC Members, $5 for Non-Members
"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
Memory and Meaning Series
Making History/Making Place: New England's Search for a Useable Past
Location: Edgell Memorial Library/ 3 Oak Street
Date: Sunday, January 22, 2012
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.
Click here to for more information and to puchase tickets online
Click here for more information and to puchase tickets online.
Civil War Living History Encampment
Location: Starts at the Old Academy Building, 16 Vernon St.
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 Events »
Framingham History Blog
- Read the latest about Framingham History Center news and events at our new blog.
Blog Entries »
Help Honor Our Local Heritage
We are a non-profit organization that depends largely on memberships and donations to perform our mission of preserving and sharing Framingham's unique history and culture.
Please join us or
Winner of $100,000 Partners in Preservation grant for Window restoration at Edgell Memorial Library
"Congratulations! What a testament to your project and your organization!"
Marilyn Martino, Executive Director, Sudbury Foundation
