February Vacation Art Workshop “Who’s Who?” Exhibition
2026-02-19 10:30 - 12:00 (America/New_York) | Ipswich Museum, 54 South Main Street, Ipswich, MA, 01938, United States
Come investigate our new portrait exhibition, “Who’s Who?” at the Ipswich Museum. We’ll learn about some of the past citizens of our town and look at some of the elements of portraiture. Then, we’ll sketch our own portraits.
Date: Thursday, February 19, 2026
Time: 10:30-12:00 PM
Ages: 6-10
Cost: $25
Location: Appleton Room, Heard House

The Archives of Arthur Wesley Dow: Sketchbook Tour
2026-02-28 10:00 - 14:00
Join Ipswich Museum’s Dow Curator, Stephanie Gaskins, for an intimate look at the archives of artist Arthur Wesley Dow. Participants will have the rare opportunity to get close with Dow’s sketchbooks and drawings from the collection of the Ipswich Museum, as well as to explore and discuss his educational philosophy and methodology.
Date: Saturday, February 28, 2026
Time: 10:00 – 12:00 PM
Cost: $50 Members / $55 Non-members
Age: Adults
Group size: Maximum 6 people

The Early Voyages of Augustine Heard
2026-03-02 12:00 - 13:00
Join Robert Gray, Heard descendant as he talks about his recent research on his family.
During the late 1830s Augustine Heard of Ipswich composed a list of his early voyages during 1805-1830, from ship “Eliza” to Leghorn from Eben Francis through barque “Lintin to Canton with Bennet Forbes. This talk provides an illustrated embellishment of Heard’s list and the ships, people, and places involved—including the most famous of the voyages popularized in books by Robert Bennet Forbes, Thomas Franklin Waters, and Samuel Eliot Morison. Several contradictions and inconsistencies among the stories are resolved and reconciled with historical documents.

Stop and Smell the Thyme at the Whipple House 17th Century Housewife's Garden
2026-03-18 19:30 - 21:00
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.

Women in Ipswich History
2026-04-06 12:00 - 13:00
Gordon Harris, town historian will share stories of women in Ipswich from the first settlement to the present century. Learn about Ann Dudley Bradstreet, the first published poet, Emma Jane Mitchell Safford, a descendant of Massasoit; Jenny Slew, the first enslaved person to successfully sue for freedom, Eunice Caldwell, who returned to her hometown in 1844 to run the Ipswich Female Seminary and many others.

The Life and Work of Arthur Wesley Dow Sunday Stroll
2026-04-19 14:00 - 15:00
Join Ipswich Museum’s Dow Curator, Stephanie Gaskins, for a tour of some locations in town related to Dow’s career as one of Ipswich’s most prolific and celebrated painters of the 20th century.
When: Sunday April 19, 2026 2-3PM
Where: The tour will depart from the Ipswich Museum parking lot at 2PM and will last 45-60 minutes.
Cost: $10 Members / $15 Non-members
Tours take place rain or shine, please dress accordingly. In the event of extreme weather, they will be cancelled and tickets refunded.

Swamp Yankee Adventures Chronicle of a Journalist in Low Orbit Around the World
2026-04-22 19:30 - 21:00
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.

Ipswich in the Revolution Sunday Stroll
2026-04-26 14:00 - 15:00
Who knew that Ipswich was in the epicenter of the American Revolution? Join Scott Jewell on a walk around town and learn about what happened here 250 years ago.
When: Sunday April 26, 2026 2-3PM
Where: The tour will depart from the Ipswich Museum parking lot at 2PM and will last 45-60 minutes.
Cost: $10 Members / $15 Non-members
Tours take place rain or shine, please dress accordingly. In the event of extreme weather, they will be cancelled and tickets refunded.

The Dams and Bridges of Ipswich Sunday Stroll
2026-05-03 14:00 - 15:00
We use these bridges every day, but hardly give them a second thought as significant pieces of history. Join Scott Jewell for a walk around the town and learn about the stories the bridges and dams can tell.
When: Sunday May 3, 2026 2-3PM
Where: The tour will depart from the Ipswich Museum parking lot at 2PM and will last 45-60 minutes.
Cost: $10 Members / $15 Non-members
Tours take place rain or shine, please dress accordingly. In the event of extreme weather, they will be cancelled and tickets refunded.

Eating Well, Living Well: Cook and Be Free
2026-05-04 12:00 - 13:00
Join Chef Sarah Naugler for ideas on how to eliminate kitchen nightmares and make cooking fun.
She is a graduate of the Cambridge School of Culinary Arts and spent ten years working with prestigious Chefs of Boston and the North Shore. She eventually left that lifestyle and ventured into private cooking. Here her love of culinary arts began. She has instructed students of all ages on how to master the art of cooking with the goal of her students being able to turn the knowledge they gained into daily living. She will be covering subjects such as affordability, menu planning and development around different lifestyles and about kids and how to get them curious, excited and thinking about their next meal.

The Women of Ipswich Sunday Stroll
2026-05-10 14:00 - 15:00
Celebrate Mother’s Day with the stories of how women have shaped the town. From the wrongfully enslaved Jenny Slew to the visionaries of the Ipswich Female Seminary, Stephanie Gaskins will guide you through Ipswich’s past from a new perspective. Mothers are free with a paying family member!
When: Sunday May 10, 2026 2-3PM
Where: The tour will depart from the Ipswich Museum parking lot at 2PM and will last 45-60 minutes.
Cost: $10 Members / $15 Non-members + Free for moms with a paying family member
Tours take place rain or shine, please dress accordingly. In the event of extreme weather, they will be cancelled and tickets refunded.

Ipswich 101 Sunday Stroll
2026-05-17 14:00 - 15:00
Are you new to Ipswich or in the dark about this town’s long and rich history? This tour is designed as a crash course through Ipswich’s past. Join Scott Jewell for a walk through some of the highlights and lowlights that have shaped this great town over thousands of years.
When: Sunday May 17, 2026 2-3PM
Where: The tour will depart from the Ipswich Museum parking lot at 2PM and will last 45-60 minutes.
Cost: $10 Members / $15 Non-members
Tours take place rain or shine, please dress accordingly. In the event of extreme weather, they will be cancelled and tickets refunded.

Meet Abigail Adams, America's First Second Lady
2026-05-20 19:30 - 21:00
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.

2026 Tour Season Opening Day
2026-05-23 10:00 - 16:00

Loom Demonstration
2026-06-01 12:00 - 13:00
Come listen to a talk and demonstration on weaving. Diane Howe, weaver will explain techniques and tools used in this process. There will be a small pop-up exhibit downstairs in the Whipple House to see items made in that time period. This talk and demonstration will be held on the second floor of the Whipple House.

After the Party
2026-06-17 19:30 - 21:00
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.

Remembering September 11th
2026-09-14 12:00 - 13:00
Join Stephanie Gaskins, Dow Curator as she takes us down memory lane to encourage a conversation on where you were on that very sad day and what memories do you recall of that time period. This is an interactive discussion.

Eido Period Block Prints, Snapshots and a Mysterious Table
2026-09-23 19:30 - 21:00
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.

Gems from the Archives
2026-10-05 12:00 - 13:00
Heidi Horner, archivist at the Ipswich Public Library, will introduce us to special items from the Ipswich Public Library’s archival collections focused on local history. Heidi studied archives management and library science at Simmons University, and got her start in archives at the Cape Ann Museum and the Harvard University Archives. She has lived in Gloucester for 16 years and loves to research Virginia Lee Burton, the Folly Cove Designers, and other local creative people and collectives.

Play Readings by Boston Reads
2026-10-21 19:30 - 21:00
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.
