Pilgrim Hall Museum - Lectures + Videos

Here you will find archived many of our virtual events from 2021,
both our Zoomed lectures and events originally streamed live on Facebook.

ZOOM IN JUNE | FIRST SATURDAY HISTORY TOURS

LECTURES | EVENTS | BOOK LAUNCHES

Every Thursday evening in June, 2021, viewers met to hear and see book specialists and authors through live webinar programs, free to the public. We have here all four of these well-attended programs. .

Proprietor of the internationally known Brattle Book Shop in Boston’s Downtown Crossing section, and also a frequent guest appraiser on PBS’ Antiques Roadshow, Ken Gloss shares stories of old and rare books, describes some of the joys of the "hunt," and explains what makes a book valuable.

John Forti has been an influential "garden guru" throughout the New England region and beyond during a wide-ranging horticultural career. An advocate of the global "Slow Foods" movemement, he has written widely on food and horticulture. He is currently Executive Director at Bedrock Garden in Lee, NH, and former Director of the Massachusetts Horticulture Society.

Author Rev. Dr. Judith Campbell joins us to discuss her book Paper Trail, which is partly set in a fictionalized Pilgrim hall Museum. The third in the Viridienne Greene Mystery Series, Paper Trail involves planty of familiar Plymouth scenery with an unusual series of forgeries, thefts and a one-eyed cat. Judith is also the author of the popular Olympia Brown Mystery Series.

Author Jeffrey H. Hacker discusses his dual biography of James Otis, Jr. and Mercy Otis Warren, both of whom embraced the patriot cause with equal incendiary passion. Hacker's new book places James and Mercy in the spotlight together for the first time, in a compelling narrative of their unique impact on the Revolutionary movement in Massachusetts.

The Plymouth Antiquarian Society and Pilgrim Hall Museum co-host a free public tour series of Plymouth’s historic Burial Hill. This popular program has returned to a live, in-person format in 2022 for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic. A limited series of four themed history tours will be offered in person at Plymouth’s ancient burying ground at 1 PM on the first Saturday of every other month from April to October. The event will not be simultaneously streamed or broadcast live; however, an enhanced and audio-corrected digital version of each tour will premiere online the month following each live event. Topics cover a wide range of local Plymouth history.

Meet the denizens of Mr. Davis’s neighborhood in a tour guided by historian Donna Curtin, Executive Director of Pilgrim Hall Museum. Filmed live on Burial Hill, Plymouth on August 6, 2022

Explore local funeral practices and mourning traditions between 1785 and 1820 with Stephen O’Neill, Executive Director of the Hanover Historical Society. This free tour was filmed at Burial Hill in Plymouth, MA on June 4, 2022.

Many of the individuals memorialized on Burial Hill travelled widely in their lifetimes. What took them away from Plymouth? How did they get to their destinations? Hear the travel accounts that illuminate their experiences on the road with Dr. Anne Mason, Executive Director of the Plymouth Antiquarian Society. This free, one-hour tour was recorded live on Burial Hill, April 4, 2022.

What's the scoop from a decade-long archeological investigation of downtown Plymouth, Massachusetts? Dr. David Landon of UMass Boston's Fiske Center for Archaeological Research has been doggedly searching for Plymouth Colony's earliest structures - and this summer's excavations on historic Burial Hill turned up amazing finds!

What trends and innovations were noteworthy to past generations in Plymouth? Dr. Donna Curtin, Executive Director of Pilgrim Hall Museum, taps the memoirs of local historian William T. Davis to explore what was fresh and new in olden times. Presented on September 4, 2021 in collaboration with the Plymouth Antiquarian Society.

Join Melissa Ferretti, Chairwoman/President of the Herring Pond Wampanoag Tribe, for a virtual tour of historic and sacred places in Plymouth and Bournedale, including the Pondville Meetinghouse, Dina Path Burial Ground, and a "Sacrifice Rock," one of a number of culturally significant natural features in Herring Pond Wampanoag homelands.

Pilgrim Hall Museum and the Plymouth Antiquarian Society recorded a free virtual program on Thursday, March 24, 2022 at 6:30 pm.
“Fact & Myth: Dorothy May Bradford Remembered” features presentations by two scholars who explore the impact of literature and film on our understanding of 17th-century women’s history. Dr. Kari Miller, Professor of English at Georgia State University’s Perimeter College in Atlanta, discusses the influential Pilgrim fiction of American author Jane Goodwin Austin (1831-1894). Dr. Miller focuses on the story “William Bradford’s Love Life” to explore the ways Austin used fact, fiction, and speculation in her work and how that impacted not only her legacy, but also American culture. Dr. Stacey Dearing, Teaching Assistant Professor of English at Siena College in Loudonville, NY, discusses how Dorothy May Bradford’s death in December 1620 has been represented in pop culture. Using National Geographic’s 2015 miniseries Saints & Strangers as a case study, Dr. Dearing argues for the importance of telling Bradford’s story — and those of all the women of the Mayflower — while also clearly demarcating facts from myths.

A Local Look at the Long Road to Freedom: a mini-history of racial injustice in the Plymouth area produced for Martin Luther King Day, January 18, 2021, a virtual celebration presented by the Plymouth No Place for Hate, Barnstable No Place for Hate, and Bethel AME Church of Plymouth.

Pilgrim Hall Museum announces an epic embroidery of Plymouth Colony’s founding, being crafted by many hands for the 400th anniversary. Monday, December 23, 2019

Mayflower Kids Challenge - fun and creative portraits of young Mayflower voyagers created by kids in response to our 2020 challenge, with support from Highland Street Foundation and the Edgar & Pauline Main Family Foundation. Monday, February 22, 2021

Celebrating 100 Years of U.S. Women's Suffrage - 19 Plymouth voters gathered in August 2020 for a socially distanced flashmob to honor the passage of the 19th Amendment. Video released on August 26th, 2020, the date the Amendment took effect! Thanks to our terrific partnering organizations: Plymouth Area League of Women Voters, Herring Pond Wampanoag Tribe, Indivisible Plymouth, Plymouth Antiquarian Society, and Plymouth 400, with special thanks to Senator Susan Moran and State Rep. Kathy LaNatra, and all of our local participants. Drone footage courtesy of Denise A. Maccaferri Photography.

The Life of Peregrine White Virtual Book Launch. Author Stephen C. O’Neill traces the journey of Mayflower baby Peregrine White through a lifespan that paralleled the history of Plymouth Colony itself. Hosted by Pilgrim Hall Museum and the Marshfield Historical Society. February 21, 2021

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