Fall events announced at the Paul Revere House

September

19 Chemistry in the 18th Century 1:00 – 3:00

By the late 1700s only about two dozen elements were known, there was no periodic table, and there were very few of the laboratory practices and equipment we use today. Chemistry teacher R. P. Hale will demonstrate the 18th century chemistry and procedures behind the art of making oak-gall writing ink. He will show how some artist’s pigments were made, and how they were derived both from natural sources and made in the laboratory.

26 Woodworking Demonstration 1:00 – 3:00

Though women did not legally own household items in early America, Revere family tradition holds that the lady’s work table ca. 1810, currently on display in the Revere House Best Chamber, belonged to Paul’s second wife, Rachel Revere. Sharon C. Mehrman, furniture maker and historian, will demonstrate carving elements found on a table like Rachel’s.

October

3 Paper Marbling 1:00 – 3:00

See how colonial craftsmen created eye-catching marbled papers. Watch as R. P. Hale floats pigments in water, swirls the colors, then transfers the designs to paper. It may look like magic but Hale will explain the very real science behind this fascinating phenomenon.

10 Captain Amasa Soper’s Company 1:00 – 3:00

Costumed members of this Revolutionary War reenactment group take on the roles of farmers, printers, and tailors who volunteered to defend Boston harbor after the siege of the city ended in 1776.

17 Stone Carving Demonstration 1:00 – 3:00

Michael Brahce is a stone carver who has been working with Karin Sprague Stone Carvers, located in North Scituate, Rhode Island, since 2022. He will be carving a slate gravestone using the traditional method of hand-held mallet and chisel. Michael will be demonstrating carving techniques similar to those which would have been used 250 years ago.

24 Bark Basket Making Demonstration 1:00 – 3:00 Bark is to the Northeast Woodland tribes as bison is to the tribes of the Western Plains. Bark is the material traditionally used to make wigwams, canoes, harvesting and storage containers, even raincoats. There is a season to harvesting bark, just like there is a season to harvesting raspberries. Craftsperson Jennifer Lee will demonstrate sewing a bark container together with spruce roots, and will have finished containers for sale.

Please note: No program on October 31.

2026 Lowell Lecture Series

“Engrave, Paint, Sew, Weave: Craft and Craftspeople in Massachusetts”

Craft transcends boundaries of place, time, and culture by communicating across literal and figurative distances. Many craft traditions are also deeply rooted in the places they are practiced in, influenced by local climates, geographies, and resources. Inspired by Paul Revere’s legacy as an artisan, this series delves into four local and regional histories of craft and craftspeople.

Lectures take place on Mondays, September 14 and 28 and October 05 and 26, from 6:30 to 7:45 pm. Lectures are free to the public and can be watched online or in person at Smith Commons (5th floor), Sargent Hall, Suffolk University, 120 Tremont Street, Boston, MA 02108. The lectures will be recorded and available after the fact.

The in-person location is wheelchair accessible and has accessible restrooms. Seating is in free-standing chairs which may be moved. The live-stream and recording will have auto-generated closed captions only. Please contact the Paul Revere House with any questions about accessibility.

Presented in partnership with GBH Forum Network, the Suffolk University History Department, and the Museum of Fine Arts, with funding from the Lowell Institute.

Paul Revere, Silversmith: Assessing his Craft and Legacy with Janine E. Skerry and Jeannine Falino

Monday, September 14, 6:30 pm – 7:45 pm

Join Executive Director Nina Zannieri and two noted silver experts for a thoughtful discussion of Revere as perhaps America’s best-known silversmith. Is this status warranted by his talent, a result of his “Midnight Ride” fame, or a little of both? How does his work inform our notion of craft, craftsmanship, business, and entrepreneurship?

Crafting Reform: The Saturday Evening Girls and the Paul Revere Pottery with Nonie Gadsden

Monday, September 28, 6:30 pm – 7:45 pm

The Saturday Evening Girls’ club was established in 1899 to provide cultural activities for Italian and Jewish immigrant girls who lived in the tenements of Boston’s North End. In 1908, the reform-minded club leaders founded a pottery to provide the girls with a clean and educational venue in which to earn money. They named the enterprise the Paul Revere Pottery in honor of the patriot’s home which stood near their clubhouse, and to emphasize their own desire to be seen as Americans, not foreign immigrants. The pottery exemplified the ideals of the early twentieth-century Arts and Crafts movement, a design reform movement which sought to alleviate the negative social effects of industrialized society by promoting hand craftsmanship, the integration of art into everyday life, and healthy working conditions for artisans.

Restoring the Plants, Restoring the Practice with Paula Peters

Monday, October 5, 6:30 pm – 7:45 pm

Paula Peters will explore the deep relationship between environmental health, Indigenous knowledge, and cultural practice. Focusing on native materials such as bulrush and wampum, the talk will show how plants and shells are not simply resources, but living connections to land, water, craft, and identity. Peters will discuss how invasive species, development, and ecological imbalance threaten these traditions—and how restoration efforts to bring native plants back can help renew both the landscape and the cultural practices rooted within it.

Piece by Piece: Crazy Quilting and Making Memory in 19th-Century Massachusetts, with Tenesha Carter Johnson

Monday, October 26, 6:30 pm – 7:45 pm

Look closely at a crazy quilt and you’ll find a life woven in the mosaic of textured surfaces: a scrap of wedding silk, a ribbon from the county fair, a souvenir swatch, a sliver of someone’s favorite dress. Gaining distinct popularity by the end of the nineteenth century, “crazy” quilting was more than a technique, but how makers kept record of what mattered to them. What did it mean to spend hundreds of hours of nimble labor into something you’d sleep under every night? These quilts reveal how ordinary women turned scraps and keepsakes into personal archives—and what their quilts can still tell us about the relationship between memory and material culture today.