Ipswich Museum

Evening Lecture Series: Contention in the Commons
2024-01-17 19:30 - 21:00 (America/New_York) | Ipswich Museum, 54 South Main Street, Ipswich, MA, 01938, United States
Speaker: Gordon Harris, Ipswich Town Historian
In the commons, the early Massachusetts town adopted English institutions of land management that often predated their own experience in the mother country, reproducing medieval systems whose roots dated back several centuries, but the communal system quickly failed. Disagreements over the division and usage of the common lands resulted in a switch to individual ownership by the end of the 17th century.
Members: free | Non-members: $10.00

Evening Lecture Series: Schlitz on Mt. Washington and Ski America First
2024-02-21 19:30 - 21:00 | Ipswich Museum, 54 South Main Street, Ipswich, MA, 01938, United States
Speaker: Tom Blake
Blake presents Christopher Young’s classic 1937 movie about the misadventures of the eccentric Dr. Wolfgang Schlitz on holiday at Mt. Washington, considered to be the first American comedy-classic ski movie (Sydney Shurcliffe’s 1942 comedy of Dr. Quackenbusch was inspired by this film) Ski America First is a documentary filmed by Sydney Shurcliffe in the 1940s. Come enjoy a fun evening.
Members: Free | Non-members: $10

Evening Lecture Series: Walking Castle Neck (Crane Beach) in the Footsteps of Ipswich Naturalist Charles Wendell Townsend MD
2024-03-20 19:30 - 21:00 | Ipswich Museum, 54 South Main Street, Ipswich, MA, 01938, United States
Speaker: Joseph Carlin
Throughout 2023 Joe Carlin, food historian and nutritionist, walked the beach photographing and documenting observations Townsend made about his beloved Ipswich in his book, “Sand Dunes and Salt Marshes.” Dr. Townsend, Harvard Class of 1881, was a noted Boston obstetrician and child nutrition authority.
Members: Free | Non-members: $10

Evening Lecture Series: Step into the Arctic
2024-04-17 19:30 - 21:00 | Ipswich Museum, 54 South Main Street, Ipswich, MA, 01938, United States
Speaker: John Wigglesworth
Join John Wigglesworth to hear the story of his recent trip to the North Pole. He joined the team from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) on a 2 month research cruise aboard the USCG Cutter Healy. Through pictures, John will share his experience with the science, the ship operations, the ice and the awe of standing on top of the world.
Members: Free | Non-members: $10

Evening Lecture Series: The American Dream
2024-05-22 19:30 - 21:00 | Ipswich Museum, 54 South Main Street, Ipswich, MA, 01938, United States
Speaker: David Scudder
The American Dream, in the words of historian James Truslow Adams, is a dream “of a better, richer and happier life for all citizens of every rank.” He regarded it as “the greatest contribution we have as yet made to the thought and welfare of the world.” While the American Dream has been with us since the earliest white European settlers arrived here in the 17th century, what does the term mean? What have been its components and how have they affected America over the succeeding 300 or more years? David Scudder will describe the tensions between differing versions and visions of the American Dream, examine its successes and more recent attempts to reverse the progress.
Members: Free | Non-members: $10

Evening Lecture Series: Harry and Hilda: Letters Home
2024-06-19 19:30 - 21:00 | Ipswich Museum, 54 South Main Street, Ipswich, MA, 01938, United States
Speaker: Jennifer Hamlin Church
Church will read excerpts from her new book and discuss the lively research that went into it .The book is a biography of two people who left Queen Victoria’s England alone, as teens, 30 years apart, seeking unknown opportunity in America. Subtitled “The Sparkling Life of the Lupine Lady and the Professor Who Made it Possible” the book tells the story of Harry N. Gardiner, who became a Smith College professor and founder of the American Philosophical Association, and his niece, Hilda Edwards Hamlin, the real life lupine lady of Maine, role model for the fictional Miss Rumphius (1982) who “made the world more beautiful.” The book chronicles more than a century of history on both sides of the Atlantic
Members: Free | Non-members: $10

Evening Lecture Series: Queen Elizabeth II *This Presentation will take place at Boone Hall in Ascension Church*
2024-09-18 19:30 - 21:00 | Ascencion Church, 31 County St., Ipswich, MA, 01938, United States
Featuring: Sheryl Faye, actor
Back again by popular demand is Sheryl Faye and this year she has a new presentation: Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II. This will be terrific.
Members: Free | Non-members: $10

The History of Ipswich Education
2026-01-21 19:30 | Ipswich Museum, 54 South Main Street, Ipswich, MA, 01938, United States
Scott Jewel, board member and teacher will talk about Ipswich’s rich history and at the heart of that story is education. From the earliest colonial days, learning has always been a cornerstone of this community. Today, we will explore how education in Ipswich has grown and transformed over the centuries, and we’ll take a look ahead at where it might be headed in the future. I invite you to join me on this journey through the evolution of education in Ipswich.

Ships and Shipwrecks of Ipswich Bay
2026-02-18 19:30 - 21:00 | Ipswich Museum, 54 South Main Street, Ipswich, MA, 01938, United States
Join town historian, Gordon Harris, who will talk about the long history of tragic shipwrecks due to dangerous storms and limited navigation. There were over 3,000 shipwrecks off the Massachusetts coast. In the early 20th century coal schooners sailed up the river to town wharf, and sand schooners became stranded on the beaches, but Ipswich was a favorite destination for Bostonians, who left their cars at the wharf for pleasure cruises to Little Neck, Grape Island, and Plum Island.

Stop and Smell the Thyme at the Whipple House 17th Century Housewife's Garden
2026-03-18 19:30 - 21:00 | Ipswich Museum, 54 South Main Street, Ipswich, MA, 01938, United States
Joe Carlin, Food historian, will review the contributions of landscape architects Arthur and Sidney Shurcliff who designed in 1955 the original Whipple House Garden. In the 1960s Isadore Smith (pseudonym Ann Leighton), author of Early American Gardens, provided leadership to make the garden historically accurate with authentic medicinal and culinary herbs known to have been grown and used in the area. Joe will show how 17th Century women preserved their medicinal solutions for all types of ills in manuscript cookbooks.

Swamp Yankee Adventures Chronicle of a Journalist in Low Orbit Around the World
2026-04-22 19:30 - 21:00 | Ipswich Museum, 54 South Main Street, Ipswich, MA, 01938, United States
Join Crocker Snow Jr., journalist, author, as he takes you on a personal journey where he chronicles his life both nationally, internationally and locally. His focus has been on international affairs for public radio, TV and for the Boston Globe, World Times, The World Paper, was editor in chief of World Times and the World Paper and as director of the Murrow Center of public Diplomacy at the Fletcher School. He has been engaged as a citizen of the world concerned with world issues all of his life time.

Meet Abigail Adams, America's First Second Lady
2026-05-20 19:30 - 21:00 | Ipswich Museum, 54 South Main Street, Ipswich, MA, 01938, United States
Since 2003, Sheryl Faye, actor has been presenting Historical Women to inspire adults and children about history. Her one man show will leave you spell-bound and inspired. Her performances are entertaining and educational, and they help the members of the audience to truly understand the profound positive impact these women have made in history. She has been here doing her presentations a number of times.

After the Party
2026-06-17 19:30 - 21:00 | Ipswich Museum, 54 South Main Street, Ipswich, MA, 01938, United States
Ipswich’s Bob Waite, Professor, Seneca Polytechnic College and author brings his wit to the topic of politics, drawn on his experience serving as Press Secretary to Senator Ed Brooke (R-MA), Senator Bob Dole (R-KS), as a member of the Reagan Administration, and including his long-time bipartisan friendship with Democrats George McGovern and Michael J. Harrington.

Eido Period Block Prints, Snapshots and a Mysterious Table
2026-09-23 19:30 - 21:00 | Ipswich Museum, 54 South Main Street, Ipswich, MA, 01938, United States
Join Stephen Miles as we follow Arthur Wesley Dow’s journey from Ipswich, MA to the Ecole Julien in Paris, the artist community at Pont-Aven, Brittany, working as assistant to Fenellosa at the MFA Boston and subsequent tour of Japan in 1903 with findings represented in the collection of the Ipswich Museum.

Play Readings by Boston Reads
2026-10-21 19:30 - 21:00 | Ipswich Museum, 54 South Main Street, Ipswich, MA, 01938, United States
These readings of four or five ten minute plays will be performed by award winning professional actors M. Lynda Robinson and Richard McElvain. Lynda has been working on Boston theatre stage for the last thirty five years. She has founded three theatres, The Court, The West End and the Blackburne Performing Arts Theatre. She is an accomplished, published and produced playwright and has mentored young playwrights for seven years through the MA Young Playwrights Program. Richard McElvain is an actor and director and has appeared in film and television, as well as on stage throughout the area for the past twenty years. His directing credits include many of the classics as well as appearing in several episodes of Spence for Hire.
