As the first American to roll copper into sheets for the young United States Navy, Revere’s innovative practices helped lead his young nation into the industrial age.
Curious about the old mill complex by the river? Discover the history and architecture of the world’s first modern factory, the 1813 Boston Manufacturing Company, which lies right in your own backyard!
Take a walk by the river in the fresh air. Then have a delicious lunch at one of Waltham’s local eateries.
It all starts at the Charles River Museum.
Learn how this maze of buildings developed from a single brick mill—and why that humble mill was a powerhouse of industry and innovation!
The inaugural NextGen STEMFest is a day-long community-focused STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) occurring on May 10th, 2025 at the Charles River Museum of Industry and Innovation in Waltham, MA.
The festival hours are 10:00 am to 5:00 pm and the event is suitable for all ages!
With funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF) the NextGen STEMFest celebrates the 75th year that the NSF has played in incubating and supporting innovation and discovery that has changed and improved the lives of so many in the United States. At the NextGen STEMFest come let your curiosity wander with interactive learning activities and experiences from some of the worlds top STEM companies and University research labs. You will see and learn about regenerative medicine, new biotechnologies, hear from young people about their college STEM experiences, learn about physical computing, and more.
You can sign up to learn how to use a laser, how to 3D print nearly anything, screen printing at Massachusetts’ only youth-led innovation maker-space, the Charles River Collaboratory located at the Charles River Museum of Industry of Innovation.
While you are at NextGen STEMFest you can also visit the Charles River Museum of Industry which will be free to visitors for the day and at the same time just a few hundred yards away is will be the famous Watch City Steampunk festival.
Presented by David Mindell
Professor of Aerospace Engineering and Dibner Professor of the History of Engineering and Manufacturing at MIT
Free to the public
REGISTRATION REQUIRED
Climate change, global disruption, and labor scarcity are forcing us to rethink the underlying principles of industrial society. How can a new generation reanimate the best ideas of our industrial forebearers and begin to build a realistic and human-centered future? Join us at the Charles River Museum of Industry and Innovation for a conversation with David Mindell who envisions a new form of industrialism that draws upon the first principles of the Industrial Revolution that date back to the 18th Century in his recent book The New Lunar Society.
While discussing new industrialism, he will tell the story of the Lunar Society, a group of engineers, scientists, and industrialists who came together to apply the principles of the Enlightenment to industrial processes. The Lunar Society included pioneers like James Watt, Benjamin Franklin, and Josiah Wedgwood whose conversations both ignited the Industrial Revolution and shaped the founding of the United States.
David Mindell is Professor Aerospace Engineering and Dibner Professor of the History of Engineering and Manufacturing at MIT. He has led or participated in more than 25 oceanographic expeditions, written seven books, and holds 34 patents in RF navigation, autonomous systems, and AI-assisted piloting. He is also Founder and Executive Chair of Humatics, a navigation technology company based in Waltham, and Cofounder of Unless, an investment firm that is catalyzing the next technological revolution.
Mill Talks at the Charles River Museum of Industry and Innovation are free and open to the public and are made possible by the generous support of the Lowell Institute.
Explore the history of American ingenuity with this new tour, a guided experience that provides an overview of the museum’s collection, highlighting transformative advancements in manufacturing, precision engineering, and industrial technology.
Visitors will learn about include the revolutionary textile machines of the early factory system, the world-class craftsmanship of Waltham watchmaking, and tools and inventions that shaped the modern age.
IT’S BACK! Waltham Repair Cafe RETURNS to the Charles River Museum! Repair Cafes bring the community together and provide a place where folks can bring their well-loved, broken items to be fixed by volunteers (if possible).
Free to attend - including free museum entry.
Tips and donations are encouraged, but not required.
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED! We are looking for more people to volunteer to help repair goods, help with administration, or help direct people where to go. I will send an initial email to volunteers later this week.
FAQ: https://www.walthamrc.org/faq
Volunteer sign up: https://www.walthamrc.org/volunteer
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/walthamrc
presented by Hendrik Broekman
This is an IN PERSON Event, FREE to the public
REGISTRATION REQUIRED
Join us for a night at the Charles River Museum with Henrik Broekman where the small talk question of “What do you do for work?” will be expanded into a curiosity-driven discussion of what it is like to pursue your bliss and fully immerse yourself in the world of harpsichords. Throughout his decades of experience in this industry, Hendrik has found himself constantly asked about the craftmanship behind these exquisite instruments, how they are manufactured, and more. He will be answering these questions while sharing what it is like to build and create a career centered around harpsichords.
Henrik Broekman has been a pioneering craftsman, musician, and harpsichord builder for over 50 years. He worked with both Frank Hubbard and Eric Hertz, though most of his career was spent as Technical Director in the Hubbard Shop. He took over operations after the retirement of Diane Hubbard in 2000 and still plays, repairs, and builds harpsichords.
Mill Talks at the Charles River Museum of Industry and Innovation are free and open to the public and are made possible by the generous support of the Lowell Institute.
presented by Luciano Bueno
Free to the Public, REGISTRATION REQUIRED
Join us at the Charles River Museum of Industry and Innovation for a talk with Luciano Bueno who will explore how bold entrepreneurship is redefining the cotton industry through the lens of future-forward production. From lab-grown breakthroughs to cutting-edge technologies, he will share how next-generation ventures are transforming the way we make things—faster, cleaner, and smarter. This isn’t just about cotton; it’s a glimpse into the industrial revolutions of tomorrow. Luciano will dive into the challenges, the untapped opportunities, and how entrepreneurial vision can lead to massive impacts.
Luciano Bueno is an American Brazilian entrepreneur who started his journey at 16, selling t-shirts door-to-door to support his family. Doing so he learned grit, hustle, and the art of turning no into yes. Today, he is the founder and CEO of GALY, a frontier tech company pioneering a new age of production through cellular agriculture. Starting with cotton, GALY’s process is 10x faster, 500x more productive, and 80% more resource efficient than production methods—creating new possibilities beyond the constraints of land, weather, or infrastructure.
Before founding GALY, Luciano built a career in consulting, auditing, startups, and venture capital, working across sectors like global payments, retail, textiles, and agriculture. He also helped launch two innovative schools in Brazil. He holds a business degree, completed postgraduate studies in biotechnology at MIT, and earned an OPM from Harvard Business School, with executive education at Stanford and other learning institutions.
Luciano moved to the U.S. as an EB-1 Green Card recipient, known as the “Einstein visa,” and continues to mentor young entrepreneurs, volunteer with the Red Cross, and pursue passions like travel, chess, and extreme sports, His mission is clear: build world-changing companies and empower the next generation of builders.
Luciano’s philosophy: Hard work outpaces smart work every time, and those who believe they can or can’t are usually right.
Mill Talks at the Charles River Museum of Industry and Innovation are free and open to the public and are made possible by the generous support of the Lowell Institute.
Curious about the old mill complex by the river? Discover the history and architecture of the world’s first modern factory, the 1813 Boston Manufacturing Company, which lies right in your own backyard!
Take a walk by the river in the fresh air. Then have a delicious lunch at one of Waltham’s local eateries.
It all starts at the Charles River Museum.
Learn how this maze of buildings developed from a single brick mill—and why that humble mill was a powerhouse of industry and innovation!
Come learn about the first industrial mill in the United States at the Charles River Museum of Innovation and Industry. Join us as we address the role of women in industrial America. The tour explores the trials and triumphs of mill women who worked in Boston Manufacturing Company and the Boston Associates’ textile mills in Waltham and Lowell, MA. You will hear songs written by the mill women, recorded at a Museum concert performance by historical folk singer Diane Taraz, as well as artifacts and images of the women themselves. These working women act as a case study for industrialization in America.
The Mill Girls of New England are an iconic feature of early American industry. More than being a symbol of industrialization, they were the first industrial workforce in the U.S. These working women contributed to the growth of the American industrial economy, challenged the idea that women couldn’t be “breadwinners” and were actively involved in early workers rights movements and trade unions.
FREE to the Public
REGISTRATION REQUIRED
250 years ago, the revolution that would lead to our country’s independence was in its early stages. The Continental Army was facing a major problem, gunpowder shortages. Join the Charles River Musuem for an exploration of how the production of saltpeter, the principal ingredient of this explosive material, changed the course of history.
This talk will explore the different ways saltpeter was manufactured by Americans, the wide variety of instructions that guided their efforts, and the motivations-both lofty and materialist-that drove them forward.
A native of the Chicago area, David C. Hsuing earned his B.A. from Yale, his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan, and ever since has taught history at Juniata College in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, He has won multiple awards for his teaching and scholarship, including an award from the Forest History Society for his article, “Food, Fuel, and the New England Environment in the War for Independence, 1775-1776" in The New England Quarterly. He is currently writing a book on the environmental history of the War of Independence.
Mill Talks at the Charles River Museum of Industry and Innovation are free and open to the public and are made possible by the generous support of the Lowell Institute.
Come learn about the first industrial mill in the United States at the Charles River Museum of Innovation and Industry. Join us as we address the role of women in industrial America. The tour explores the trials and triumphs of mill women who worked in Boston Manufacturing Company and the Boston Associates’ textile mills in Waltham and Lowell, MA. You will hear songs written by the mill women, recorded at a Museum concert performance by historical folk singer Diane Taraz, as well as artifacts and images of the women themselves. These working women act as a case study for industrialization in America.
The Mill Girls of New England are an iconic feature of early American industry. More than being a symbol of industrialization, they were the first industrial workforce in the U.S. These working women contributed to the growth of the American industrial economy, challenged the idea that women couldn’t be “breadwinners” and were actively involved in early workers rights movements and trade unions.
Explore the history of American ingenuity with this new tour, a guided experience that provides an overview of the museum’s collection, highlighting transformative advancements in manufacturing, precision engineering, and industrial technology.
Visitors will learn about include the revolutionary textile machines of the early factory system, the world-class craftsmanship of Waltham watchmaking, and tools and inventions that shaped the modern age.
presented by Rick Kfoury
This is an IN PERSON event, Free to the public
REGISTRATION REQUIRED
Once a famous through-route between Boston and Northampton, by the 1970s the Boston & Maine Railroad's Central Mass Branch had seen better days. Yet there was still activity to be seen and photographed, and important history to document. This presentation will provide a visual look into the final years of railroad operations on the Central Mass Branch west of Waltham; included are photographs, documents, and some film footage.
Rick Kfoury is a railroad historian and author with an express interest in New England railroading in the second half of the twentieth century. He has authored four books on the subject, The New England Southern Railroad Volumes I and II, Queen City Rails: Manchester's Railroads 1965-1990, and Steam Trains of Yesteryear: The Monadnock, Steamtown & Northern Story.
A 2018 graduate of the Keene State College history program, Rick currently serves as President and Newsletter Editor for the Boston & Maine Railroad Historical Society and is employed in college admissions for Southern New Hampshire University.
The Boston & Maine Railroad Historical Society, Inc. is a non-profit, 501(c)(3) organization composed of people who want to share their knowledge, and learn more about, the history and operations of the Boston and Maine Railroad, its predecessors, and successors. The Society was founded in 1971 and consists of over 1,000 active members from the New England region and beyond.
Mill Talks at the Charles River Museum of Industry and Innovation are free and open to the public and are made possible by the generous support of the Lowell Institute.
presented by Judy Neiswander
This is an IN PERSON Event, FREE to the public
REGISTRATION REQUIRED
Excavated between 1639 and 1641, the Mother Brook canal in Dedham is arguably the oldest power canal in North America. The waterway connects the Charles and the Neponset Rivers by way of an inland spring-fed brook. This created a fall of water that was strong enough to power the town’s first grist mill. Join us at the Charles River Museum for a night with Judy Neiswander who will be discussing industrial uses of the canal and East Dedham’s evolution into a powerhouse of textile production.
Judy Neiswander, Ph.D., is an independent scholar and former Dedham resident. During her time on the town’s Historic District Commission/Historical Commission she oversaw the historic survey of Mother Brook and the mill area of East Dedham, as well as the creation of a National Register District centered on the Mill Pond and surrounding buildings. She is the author of Mother Brook and the Mills of East Dedham, published in September, 2024.
Mill Talks at the Charles River Museum of Industry and Innovation are free and open to the public and are made possible by the generous support of the Lowell Institute.
Curious about the old mill complex by the river? Discover the history and architecture of the world’s first modern factory, the 1813 Boston Manufacturing Company, which lies right in your own backyard!
Take a walk by the river in the fresh air. Then have a delicious lunch at one of Waltham’s local eateries.
It all starts at the Charles River Museum.
Learn how this maze of buildings developed from a single brick mill—and why that humble mill was a powerhouse of industry and innovation!
Come learn about the first industrial mill in the United States at the Charles River Museum of Innovation and Industry. Join us as we address the role of women in industrial America. The tour explores the trials and triumphs of mill women who worked in Boston Manufacturing Company and the Boston Associates’ textile mills in Waltham and Lowell, MA. You will hear songs written by the mill women, recorded at a Museum concert performance by historical folk singer Diane Taraz, as well as artifacts and images of the women themselves. These working women act as a case study for industrialization in America.
The Mill Girls of New England are an iconic feature of early American industry. More than being a symbol of industrialization, they were the first industrial workforce in the U.S. These working women contributed to the growth of the American industrial economy, challenged the idea that women couldn’t be “breadwinners” and were actively involved in early workers rights movements and trade unions.
Come learn about the first industrial mill in the United States at the Charles River Museum of Innovation and Industry. Join us as we address the role of women in industrial America. The tour explores the trials and triumphs of mill women who worked in Boston Manufacturing Company and the Boston Associates’ textile mills in Waltham and Lowell, MA. You will hear songs written by the mill women, recorded at a Museum concert performance by historical folk singer Diane Taraz, as well as artifacts and images of the women themselves. These working women act as a case study for industrialization in America.
The Mill Girls of New England are an iconic feature of early American industry. More than being a symbol of industrialization, they were the first industrial workforce in the U.S. These working women contributed to the growth of the American industrial economy, challenged the idea that women couldn’t be “breadwinners” and were actively involved in early workers rights movements and trade unions.
Explore the history of American ingenuity with this new tour, a guided experience that provides an overview of the museum’s collection, highlighting transformative advancements in manufacturing, precision engineering, and industrial technology.
Visitors will learn about include the revolutionary textile machines of the early factory system, the world-class craftsmanship of Waltham watchmaking, and tools and inventions that shaped the modern age.
Free to the public
REGISTRATION REQUIRED
When Francis Cabot Lowell revolutionized industrial manufacturing, he could never have imagined that industrialization at scale would change everything about the way we work, live, and even eat. Join us for an eye-opening talk from NYU Professor Amy Bentley as she traces the development of the modern American diet as it became another sector of the mass manufacturing commercial economy. Food could be processed, packaged, and sold faster, more efficiently, and in huge quantities – but there were serious unintended consequences. Her case study – baby food.
By the 1950s, commercial baby food had become emblematic of all things modern in postwar
America. Little jars of baby food were thought to resolve a multitude of problems in the domestic sphere, but these baby food products laden with sugar, salt, and starch also became a gateway to the industrialized diet that blossomed during this period.
Today, baby food continues to be shaped by medical, commercial, and parenting trends. Baby food producers now contend with health and nutrition problems as well as the rise of alternative food movements. All of this matters because it’s during infancy that palates become acclimated to tastes and textures, including those of highly processed, minimally nutritious, and calorie-dense industrial food products.
Speaker Bio: Amy Bentley is Professor in the Department of Nutrition and Food Studies at New York University, a 2024-25 NYU Humanities Fellow, and recipient of a 2024 NYU Distinguished Teaching Award. A historian with interests in the social, historical, and cultural contexts of food, she is the author of Inventing Baby Food: Taste, Health, and the Industrialization of the American Diet (California, 2014), (James Beard Award finalist, and ASFS Best Book Award).
Current research projects include a history of food in US hospitals, the cultural and historical contexts of meat and dairy substitutes, the cultural contexts of food waste, the role of flavor in human and planetary health, and an assessment of how historians write about food. She has been featured as an expert on the science of the American diet, most recently in the New York Times Magazine article “Ozempic Could Crush the Junk Food Industry. But It Is Fighting Back” (Nov. 19, 2024).
Mill Talks at the Charles River Museum of Industry and Innovation are free and open to the public and are made possible by the generous support of the Lowell Institute.
FREE to the Public
REGISTRATION REQUIRED
250 years ago, the revolution that would lead to our country’s independence was in its early stages. The Continental Army was facing a major problem, gunpowder shortages. Join the Charles River Musuem for an exploration of how the production of saltpeter, the principal ingredient of this explosive material, changed the course of history.
This talk will explore the different ways saltpeter was manufactured by Americans, the wide variety of instructions that guided their efforts, and the motivations-both lofty and materialist-that drove them forward.
A native of the Chicago area, David C. Hsuing earned his B.A. from Yale, his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan, and ever since has taught history at Juniata College in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, He has won multiple awards for his teaching and scholarship, including an award from the Forest History Society for his article, “Food, Fuel, and the New England Environment in the War for Independence, 1775-1776" in The New England Quarterly. He is currently writing a book on the environmental history of the War of Independence.
Mill Talks at the Charles River Museum of Industry and Innovation are free and open to the public and are made possible by the generous support of the Lowell Institute.
Explore the history of American ingenuity with this new tour, a guided experience that provides an overview of the museum’s collection, highlighting transformative advancements in manufacturing, precision engineering, and industrial technology.
Visitors will learn about include the revolutionary textile machines of the early factory system, the world-class craftsmanship of Waltham watchmaking, and tools and inventions that shaped the modern age.
FREE to the public, REGISTRATION REQUIRED
Join the Charles River Museum of Industry & Innovation for a captivating Mill Talk on the history of Levi Strauss & Co., the invention of the modern blue jean, or riveted denim pant, and how a historic American brand continues to stay relevant today. Tracey Panek, Historian and Director of Archives at Levi Strauss & Co., will explore how this American brand, founded by an immigrant during the California Gold Rush, revolutionized fashion and became a global icon.
This talk is especially fitting at the Charles River Museum, the site of Francis Cabot Lowell’s first cotton textile mill, where America’s industrial revolution transformed fabric production and laid the foundation for the mass manufacturing of textiles—including the denim used to create the first Levi’s® blue jeans. Discover how industrial ingenuity, and a patented innovation, shaped what we wear today and helped define American culture.
Speaker Bio: Tracey Panek is the Historian for Levi Strauss & Co. and Director of Archives at the company’s world headquarters in San Francisco. She manages the day-to-day workings of the Levi Strauss & Co. Archives as a key corporate asset, answering historical questions, assisting designers, brand managers, executives and other employees whose work requires historical materials in the Archives. She regularly hunts for unique vintage Levi’s® garments and unusual Levi’s® items to add to the Archives.
Tracey is a contributor to Unzipped, the company’s blog, writing about company history, vintage Levi’s® garments, and behind-the-scenes work in the Archives. She narrates the video series From the Levi’s® Archives on YouTube and From the Levi’s® Archives on TikTok. Tracey is the media spokesperson for Levi Strauss & Co. heritage.
Mill Talks at the Charles River Museum of Industry and Innovation are free and open to the public and are made possible by the generous support of the Lowell Institute.
A special performance as part of our Rediscovering Waltham’s Harpsichord History special exhibition
François Couperin (1668-1733)
Troisiême Ordre (Pièces de clavecin, Book I)
Allemande La Ténébreuse
Premiere Courante
Seconde Courante
Sarabande La Lugubre
Les Pélerines
La Marche
La Caristade
Le Remerciement
La Favorite, Chaconne à deux tems
Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1757)
Sonata for Violin and Harpsichord in D minor, K. 90
Grave
Allegro
[Allegro] Allegro
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Suite Pour Le Clavecin in B-minor, BWV 814
Allemande
Courante
Sarabande
Anglaise
Menuet and Trio
Gigue
Sonata for Violin and Harpsichord in A major, BWV 1014
Dolce
Allegro
Andante ma non poco
Presto
Mark Kroll’s distinguished career as a performer, scholar and educator spans a period of more than fifty years. He has appeared in North and South America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia as a recitalist and chamber musician, winning critical praise for his expressive playing and virtuosity. He has also performed as concerto soloist with the world’s major orchestras, and served as harpsichordist for the Boston Symphony from 1979-2008.
Kroll’s extensive list of recordings includes the music of Bach, Handel, Scarlatti, Biber, Duphly, Balbastre, Royer, Schubert, and Hummel; a 10-disc set of the complete pièces de clavecin of François Couperin; critically acclaimed CDs of contemporary harpsichord music; and Dutilleux’s Les Citations with the Boston Symphony Chamber Players.
Equally active as a scholar, Kroll has published eight books— Bach, Handel and Scarlatti: Reception in Britain 1750-1850; The Cambridge Companion to the Harpsichord; Ignaz Moscheles and the Changing World of Musical Europe; Playing the Harpsichord Expressively; The Beethoven Violin Sonatas; Johann Nepomuk Hummel: A Musician and His World (a second edition and a Slovakian translation were published this year in Bratislava); The Boston School of Harpsichord Building; and an annotated facsimile of part III of J. N. Hummel’s piano treatise—plus numerous chapters and articles, and scholarly editions for Bärenreiter, Ut Orpheus and A-R Editions. His book, Contemporary Harpsichord Music Since 1900, is in preparation.
A dedicated educator, Kroll is Professor emeritus at Boston University, where he served for twenty-five years as Professor of Harpsichord and Chair of the Department of Historical Performance. He teaches and lectures worldwide, and has been visiting professor and guest lecturer at Northeastern University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Yale and Princeton Universities, and others throughout the United States.
For further details, see www.markkroll.com
Curious about the old mill complex by the river? Discover the history and architecture of the world’s first modern factory, the 1813 Boston Manufacturing Company, which lies right in your own backyard!
Take a walk by the river in the fresh air. Then have a delicious lunch at one of Waltham’s local eateries.
It all starts at the Charles River Museum.
Learn how this maze of buildings developed from a single brick mill—and why that humble mill was a powerhouse of industry and innovation!
Mill Talk: “The Greater Boston School of Harpsichord Building”
Opening: “Rediscovering Waltham’s Harpsichord History” Special Exhibition
(6:00 PM Exhibit Opening, 7:00 PM Discussion)
presented by Mark Kroll, Professor Emeritus, Boston University
FREE to the Public, Registration Required
Join us for the kickoff of our very special exhibition, Rediscovering Waltham’s Harpsichord History, which will examine the story of Frank and Diane Hubbard, founders and operators of Hubbard Harpsichords manufacturers of instruments and kits for almost 50 years. Through their work, Greater Boston became a center of the revivial of the harpsichord as an instrument and Early Music as a genre. Mark Kroll has written the definitive book on chronicling this important period of music history and collected dozens of firsthand accounts of the principal players, workers, and artisans associated with the ‘Big Three’ harpsichord shops in Greater Boston – Hubbard in Waltham, William Dowd and Eric Herz, both in Cambridge.
Kroll will give a talk that sets the context in which the Hubbards’ shop at the Lyman Estate carriage house expanded to the old Cotton Picker Building of the Boston Manufacturing Factory site on Moody Street. Hubbard Harpsichords pioneered the use of DIY kits that became popular in the 1960s and 70s, many of which were built in this mill complex.
This Mill Talk marks the grand opening of Rediscovering Waltham’s Harpsichord History, a special exhibition on the artisanship, industry, and art of designing and building harpsichords, exemplified by those of the Hubbard shop. This three-month exhibition will include a full harpsichord, wood-bending frames, tools and materials of the trade, and imagery from the Hubbard shop that centers the workers who created instruments and kits for decades on site. Over the course of its installation, the program will include music, informational talks, panel discussions, and other special events to bring this almost-forgotten part of Waltham’s and Greater Boston’s music history back to the forefront.
March 22, 2025: Mark Kroll performs chamber music concert at the Charles River Museum (free, registration required) (supported in part by the Waltham Cultural Council)
Speaker Bio: Professor emeritus Mark Kroll, Boston University:
Mark Kroll’s distinguished career as a performer, scholar and educator spans a period of more than fifty years. He has appeared in North and South America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia as a recitalist and chamber musician, winning critical praise for his expressive playing and virtuosity. He has also performed as concerto soloist with the world’s major orchestras and served as harpsichordist for the Boston Symphony from 1979-2008. Kroll’s extensive list of recordings includes the music of Bach, Handel, Scarlatti, Biber, Duphly, Balbastre, Royer, Schubert, and Hummel; a 10-disc set of the complete pièces de clavecin of François Couperin; critically acclaimed CDs of contemporary harpsichord music; and Dutilleux’s Les Citations with the Boston Symphony Chamber Players.
Equally active as a scholar, Kroll has published eight books— Bach, Handel and Scarlatti: Reception in Britain 1750-1850; The Cambridge Companion to the Harpsichord; Ignaz Moscheles and the Changing World of Musical Europe; Playing the Harpsichord Expressively; The Beethoven Violin Sonatas; Johann Nepomuk Hummel: A Musician and His World (a second edition and a Slovakian translation were published this year in Bratislava); The Boston School of Harpsichord Building; and an annotated facsimile of part III of J. N. Hummel’s piano treatise—plus numerous chapters and articles, and scholarly editions for Bärenreiter, Ut Orpheus and A-R Editions. His book, Contemporary Harpsichord Music Since 1900, is in preparation.
A dedicated educator, Kroll is Professor emeritus at Boston University, where he served for twenty-five years as Professor of Harpsichord and Chair of the Department of Historical Performance. He teaches and lectures worldwide and has been visiting professor and guest lecturer at Northeastern University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Yale and Princeton Universities, and others throughout the United States.
Links:
Mark Kroll: Personal Website
The Boston School of Harpsichord Building (2019) Edwin Mellen Press
March 22, 2025: Mark Kroll performs chamber music concert at the Charles River Museum (free, registration required) (supported in part by the Waltham Cultural Council)
Explore the history of American ingenuity with this new tour, a guided experience that provides an overview of the museum’s collection, highlighting transformative advancements in manufacturing, precision engineering, and industrial technology.
Visitors will learn about include the revolutionary textile machines of the early factory system, the world-class craftsmanship of Waltham watchmaking, and tools and inventions that shaped the modern age.
presented by Benson Gray
FREE to the public, Registration required
With a presentation display of three canoes in our collection – two HB Arnolds and one Robertson Racing Canoe
At the turn of the last century, Waltham was a hub of canoeing and canoe manufacturing at the intersection of athletics, recreation, and craftmanship. A new industrial working class developed in Waltham and surrounding areas as companies like Boston Manufacturing and Waltham Watch employed thousands of line workers. Along with industrialization, leisure activities gained popularity as these same workers looked to the river to relax, socialize, and have fun on the weekends. The weekend itself is a consequence of industrialization and the factory work week.
In Waltham, builders like HB Arnold, Waltham Canoe, and others were at work crafting, renting, and selling their canoes. Large boathouses, dancehalls, and canoe launches popped up all along the stretch of the Charles from Moody Street back up to Newton Upper Falls. Come, hear about the innovative canoe builders on the Charles and the new leisure working class they served.
On view as part of Benson’s talk will be three wonderful examples of period canoes – two that were crafted by the HB Arnold Company of Waltham, and a Robertson racing canoe built in Auburndale. Two of our canoes were recently and expertly restored by members of the Wooden Canoe Heritage Association, Norumbega Branch.
Speaker Bio: Benson Gray grew up in Old Town, Maine, and has always loved canoes, so it was exciting to discover that many others shared an appreciation for these wonderful boats. His work with computers, combined with an interest in the history of canoes, has led to some fascinating collaborations. In the 1990s, he initiated a project to scan the Old Town Canoe Company catalogs, which later evolved into a much larger effort encompassing a variety of canoe manufacturers, with significant help from Dan Miller and others. His largest wooden canoe history project involved scanning most of the Old Town, Carleton, and Kennebec build records. These projects have made the history of canoes more accessible to everyone, but the true essence of an organization like the Charles River Museum lies in connecting people who share an interest in wooden canoes.
Links: Wooden Canoe Heritage Association
Maine Boats: "An Heirloom Canoe An Old Town family boat finds its way home"
Mill Talks at the Charles River Museum of Industry and Innovation are free and open to the public and are made possible by the generous support of the Lowell Institute.
Explore the history of American ingenuity with this new tour, a guided experience that provides an overview of the museum’s collection, highlighting transformative advancements in manufacturing, precision engineering, and industrial technology.
Visitors will learn about include the revolutionary textile machines of the early factory system, the world-class craftsmanship of Waltham watchmaking, and tools and inventions that shaped the modern age.
FREE TO THE PUBLIC Registration Required
Kittie Knox was a young biracial cyclist in the 1890s who fought against race-based limitations in America’s post-Reconstruction reaction against Black advancement. During her cycling career (1893 – 1899), she became a well-known century (100-mile) rider, protested the League of American Wheelmen’s color bar in 1895, and refused to conform to conventions about fast riding and wearing a long skirt while cycling. For decades after her untimely death, Knox’s groundbreaking story was virtually unknown outside of the world of cycling. Scholar and writer Larry Finison has worked to bring her remarkable life back to a wider audience and will speak about Kittie Knox in the context of the late 19th century cycling craze.
The Charles River Museum has long had a display of turn of the century bicycles to represent the Waltham Manufacturing Company of Charles Metz. Metz innovated and built bicycles, motorcycles, and cars, all under the Orient brand name. Alongside Major Taylor, Kittie Knox will have a prominent representation in our gallery as a pioneering figure in the early days of cycling history and having appeared here in Waltham at the Waltham Cycling Track in its heyday.
Speaker Bio: Lorenz “Larry” Finison
Larry Finison is a social psychologist by training and public health practitioner by profession and then turned to the social history of bicycling. He is the author of Boston's Cycling Craze, 1880-1900, Boston's 20th Century Bicycling Renaissance, and Bicycling Inclusion and Equity (2023). His most recent work is Kittie Knox: Exclusion and Inclusion in Boston’s Black Athletes: Identity, Performance, and Activism. He is also a friend to the University of Massachusetts Boston’s Bicycling History Collections Archives and a member of the New England Cycling Coalition for Diversity. Larry has done significant research in bringing the story of Kittie Knox’s life to a modern audience.
Mill Talks at the Charles River Museum of Industry and Innovation are free and open to the public and are made possible by the generous support of the Lowell Institute.
Explore the history of American ingenuity with this new tour, a guided experience that provides an overview of the museum’s collection, highlighting transformative advancements in manufacturing, precision engineering, and industrial technology.
Visitors will learn about include the revolutionary textile machines of the early factory system, the world-class craftsmanship of Waltham watchmaking, and tools and inventions that shaped the modern age
Mill Talk: “Denim Culture: Past Present & Future”
and Screening: “Riveted: The History of Jeans” from PBS’s American Experience
FREE to the Public
REGISTRATION REQUIRED
Join us for a fascinating discussion on the past, present, and future of a ubiquitous fabric – denim. The Charles River Museum is at the site of Francis Cabot Lowell’s first cotton textile mill, and it was cotton manufacturing that powered the Industrial Revolution. Now, jeans are the iconic American fashion staple that almost all of us own. Fashion history professor, curator, and author Emma McClendon will join us as we screen the acclaimed PBS documentary, “Riveted: The History of Jeans.” The production features McClendon and other experts tracing the history and culture of jeans, and their place in American’s self-image.
Then, Emma McClendon will engage in an interactive discussion about where she sees the future of jeans as a fashion item, utilitarian garment, and manufactured product. She has a special interest in the sustainability of denim production, and the ways in which jeans have become not just clothing, but a way of expressing individuality and identity. This is sure to be a thought-provoking conversation around an article of clothing that, at any given moment, literally half of the planet’s population is wearing.
Speaker Bio: Emma McClendon, St. John’s University
Emma McClendon is Assistant Professor of Fashion Studies at St. John’s University in New York and author of Denim: Fashion’s Frontier (2016). While Associate Curator at The Museum at FIT from 2011-2020, she curated numerous critically acclaimed fashion history exhibitions including “Power Mode: The Force of Fashion” (2019), “The Body: Fashion and Physique” (2017) and “Denim: Fashion’s Frontier” (2015). She holds an MA Hons. in Art History from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland and an MA in the History of Dress from the Courtauld Institute of Art in London.
She is currently completing her PhD at the Bard Graduate Center for decorative arts, design history, and material culture in New York City. Her research focuses on the power dynamics inherent in clothing with a particular interest in body politics, labor, technology, and standardized sizing. Recent publications include Power Mode: The Force of Fashion (Skira, 2019) and the forthcoming (Re)Dressing American Fashion: Wear as Witness (Yale, March 2025).
Links:
Denim: Fashion's Frontier (2016) Yale University Press
(Re)Dressing American Fashion: Wear as Witness | Yale University Press
Online Exhibition: Denim: Fashion's Frontier
Emma McClendon, St. John’s University – Jeans: Universal and Unsustainable
The Washington Post: Denim is getting weird again
Mill Talks at the Charles River Museum of Industry and Innovation are free and open to the public and are made possible by the generous support of the Lowell Institute.
IT’S BACK! Waltham Repair Cafe RETURNS to the Charles River Museum! Repair Cafes bring the community together and provide a place where folks can bring their well-loved, broken items to be fixed by volunteers (if possible).
Free to attend - including free museum entry.
Tips and donations are encouraged, but not required.
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED! We are looking for more people to volunteer to help repair goods, help with administration, or help direct people where to go. I will send an initial email to volunteers later this week.
FAQ: https://www.walthamrc.org/faq
Volunteer sign up: https://www.walthamrc.org/volunteer
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/walthamrc
In 1816, Francis Cabot Lowell was in Washington DC lobbying Congress to pass the first protectionist tariff in American history. In the aftermath of the War of 1812, the burgeoning cotton textile industry he had fought so hard to build was imperiled by the cheap dumping of British imports. By building a coalition between Northern industrialists and Southern plantation owners, Lowell was successful in arguing that tariffs would ensure that American domestic manufacturing should be protected, and that the federal government’s trade policy had a duty to so.
Now, tariffs are back in the political conversation, and the efforts around the Tariff of 1816 and its consequences are as relevant as ever. Join us as we engage in a dynamic conversation connecting the past, present, and future of tariffs and trade policy and their effects. Economist Bryan Snyder and historian Larry Peskin will draw lessons from American history to inform our understanding of economic policy today.
Speaker Bio: Lawrence Peskin, Morgan State University
Lawrence Peskin is a professor of History at Morgan State University in Baltimore. He specializes in antebellum political economy and has written extensively on pro-manufacturing protectionism, most recently on American business and diplomacy in the Mediterranean. His books include Manufacturing Revolution: The Intellectual Origins of American Industry (Johns Hopkins University Press; Matthew Carey, The New Olive Branch (Anthem Press, editor); Three Consuls: Capitalism, Empire and the Rise and Fall of America's Mediterranean Community, 1776-1840."
Links:
Dr. Lawrence Peskin | Morgan State Univeristy Faculty
Speaker Bio: Bryan Snyder, Bentley University
Professor Snyder is a Distinguished Lecturer in the Department of Economics at Bentley University. His teaching interests cover a wide scope of economics, economic history and political economy. His current writing and research activities focus on the editing and production of the classroom readers Real World Micro (31st edition), Real World Macro (41st edition) and Economic of the Environment (4th edition) for Dollars & Sense magazine. He has also taught Business Ethics at University of Massachusetts-Lowell and has adapted the curriculum to high school, undergraduate and graduate curriculums. Professor Snyder delights in incorporating “normative” issues into his curriculum and challenges his students to address moral and ethical issues in the study of economics.
Links:
Mill Talks at the Charles River Museum of Industry and Innovation are free and open to the public and are made possible by the generous support of the Lowell Institute.
Curious about the old mill complex by the river? Discover the history and architecture of the world’s first modern factory, the 1813 Boston Manufacturing Company, which lies right in your own backyard!
Take a walk by the river in the fresh air. Then have a delicious lunch at one of Waltham’s local eateries.
It all starts at the Charles River Museum.
Learn how this maze of buildings developed from a single brick mill—and why that humble mill was a powerhouse of industry and innovation!
Explore the history of American ingenuity with this new tour, a guided experience that provides an overview of the museum’s collection, highlighting transformative advancements in manufacturing, precision engineering, and industrial technology.
Visitors will learn about include the revolutionary textile machines of the early factory system, the world-class craftsmanship of Waltham watchmaking, and tools and inventions that shaped the modern age.
Explore the history of American ingenuity with this new tour, a guided experience that provides an overview of the museum’s collection, highlighting transformative advancements in manufacturing, precision engineering, and industrial technology.
Visitors will learn about include the revolutionary textile machines of the early factory system, the world-class craftsmanship of Waltham watchmaking, and tools and inventions that shaped the modern age.
Come learn about the first industrial mill in the United States at the Charles River Museum of Innovation and Industry. Join us as we address the role of women in industrial America. The tour explores the trials and triumphs of mill women who worked in Boston Manufacturing Company and the Boston Associates’ textile mills in Waltham and Lowell, MA. You will hear songs written by the mill women, recorded at a Museum concert performance by historical folk singer Diane Taraz, as well as artifacts and images of the women themselves. These working women act as a case study for industrialization in America.
The Mill Girls of New England are an iconic feature of early American industry. More than being a symbol of industrialization, they were the first industrial workforce in the U.S. These working women contributed to the growth of the American industrial economy, challenged the idea that women couldn’t be “breadwinners” and were actively involved in early workers rights movements and trade unions.
FREE to the public
REGISTRATION REQUIRED
Join Dr. Jonathan Michael Square on February 6 at Charles River Museum of Industry & Innovation for an in-depth exploration of the history of negro cloth and its pivotal role in the American fashion industry, with a focus on its production in Lowell, Massachusetts. The talk will also examine how enslaved individuals utilized textiles as a form of self-fashioning in the face of the deprivation of their self-hood.
Dr. Jonathan Michael Square is the Assistant Professor of Black Visual Culture at Parsons School of Design. He earned a PhD from New York University, an M.A. from the University of Texas at Austin, and a B.A. from Cornell University. Previously, he taught in the Committee on Degree in History and Literature at Harvard University and was a fellow in the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Most recently, he curated the exhibition Past Is Present: Black Artists Respond to the Complicated Histories of Slavery at the Herron School of Art and Design, which closed in January 2023. He is currently preparing for his upcoming show titled Almost Unknown: Afric-American Picture Gallery at the Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library. A proponent of the use of social media as a form of radical pedagogy, Dr. Square also leads the digital humanities project Fashioning the Self in Slavery and Freedom.
Link: https://www.instagram.com/fashioningtheself/
Tatter: ‘We Black Folks Had To Wear Lowells’: an interview with Dr. Jonathan Michael Square (May 11, 2024)
Mill Talks at the Charles River Museum of Industry and Innovation are free and open to the public and are made possible by the generous support of the Lowell Institute.
Curious about the old mill complex by the river? Discover the history and architecture of the world’s first modern factory, the 1813 Boston Manufacturing Company, which lies right in your own backyard!
Take a walk by the river in the fresh air. Then have a delicious lunch at one of Waltham’s local eateries.
It all starts at the Charles River Museum.
Learn how this maze of buildings developed from a single brick mill—and why that humble mill was a powerhouse of industry and innovation!
Come learn about the first industrial mill in the United States at the Charles River Museum of Innovation and Industry. Join us as we address the role of women in industrial America. The tour explores the trials and triumphs of mill women who worked in Boston Manufacturing Company and the Boston Associates’ textile mills in Waltham and Lowell, MA. You will hear songs written by the mill women, recorded at a Museum concert performance by historical folk singer Diane Taraz, as well as artifacts and images of the women themselves. These working women act as a case study for industrialization in America.
The Mill Girls of New England are an iconic feature of early American industry. More than being a symbol of industrialization, they were the first industrial workforce in the U.S. These working women contributed to the growth of the American industrial economy, challenged the idea that women couldn’t be “breadwinners” and were actively involved in early workers rights movements and trade unions.
Free to the public
REGISTRATION REQUIRED
What can a 19th-century mill disaster teach us about workplace safety today?
Join Professor Robert Forrant (UMass Lowell) and Gabriel Porter (Safety and Health Specialist/Process Safety Management Coordinator OSHA Boston Regional Office) for a compelling discussion moderated by Charles River Museum’s Director of Education, Stephen Guerriero. Forrant will delve into the catastrophic Pemberton Mill collapse of 1860—an industrial tragedy that claimed 98 lives, revealed systemic failures, and left questions of accountability unresolved. Porter will explore how OSHA builds on lessons from such events to safeguard workers in today’s industries. Together, they’ll connect history to modern-day practices, offering insights into the ongoing fight for safer workplaces.
Robert Forrant is Distinguished University Professor of History at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. His most recent book, Where Are the Workers: Interpreting Labor and Working-Class History at Museums and Historic Sites, was published in 2022. In early 2024 he published “‘No Avenging Gibet’: The 1860 Pemberton Mill Collapse” in The New England Quarterly. The article forms the basis for his talk.
Links:
Robert Forrant: UMASS Lowell
Where Are the Workers? Labor’s Stories at Museums and Historic Sites (University of Illinois Press)
"'No Avenging Gibbet': The 1860 Pemberton Mill Collapse" The New England Quarterly
Gabriel Porter is a New Hampshire based Safety and Health Specialist/Process Safety Management Coordinator with the US Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Boston Regional Office. A graduate of Northeastern University, he has close to 20 years' experience working in the field of workplace safety and compliance. Porter helps to communicate the role and history of OSHA as a regulatory agency tasked by Congress to ensure worker health and safety are maintained across a broad spectrum of industries and sites.
Links:
Occupational Safety and Health Administration
OSHA at 50: 50 Years of Workplace Safety and Healt
Mill Talks at the Charles River Museum of Industry and Innovation are free and open to the public and are made possible by the generous support of the Lowell Institute.
presented by author Stephen Puleo
Shortly after noon on January 15, 1919, a 50-foot-tall steel tank filled with 2.3 million gallons of molasses collapsed on Boston’s waterfront, disgorging its contents in a 15-foot-high wave of molasses that traveled at 35 miles per hour. The Great Boston Molasses Flood claimed the lives of 21 people and caused widespread destruction.
Puleo’s bestselling book, Dark Tide (2003) tells the gripping story of the molasses flood in its full historical context, from the tank’s construction in 1915 through the multiyear lawsuit that followed the disaster. Puleo uses the gripping drama of the flood to examine the sweeping changes brought about by World War I, Prohibition, the anarchist movement, immigration, and the expanding role of big business in society. To understand the flood is to understand America of the early twentieth century – the flood was a microcosm of America, a dramatic event that encapsulated something much bigger, a lens through which to view the major events that shaped a nation.
It’s also a chronicle of the courage of ordinary people, from the firemen caught in an unimaginable catastrophe to the soldier-lawyer who presided over the lawsuit with heroic impartiality. Even now, the tragic event behind Dark Tide continues to capture the imagination of readers across the country and is the only adult nonfiction book on America’s most unusual tragedy.
Author Bio
A former award-winning newspaper reporter and contributor of articles and book reviews to publications and organizations that include American History magazine, Politico, The Boston Globe, and the Bill of Rights Institute, Steve has also taught history at Suffolk University in Boston and at UMass-Boston. He also has developed and taught numerous writing workshops for high school and college students, as well as for adults who aspire to be writers.
Steve holds a master’s degree in history from UMass-Boston. His master’s thesis, “From Italy to Boston’s North End: Italian Immigration and Settlement, 1890-1910,” has been downloaded more than 25,000 times by scholars and readers around the world. Steve is also a Massachusetts Historical Society Fellow and is a past recipient of the prestigious i migliori award, presented by the Pirandello Lyceum to Italian-Americans who have excelled in their fields of endeavor. Steve and his wife Kate, who live south of Boston, donate a portion of his book proceeds to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF). His latest work is The Great Abolitionist: Charles Sumner and the Fight for a More Perfect Union (2024), a biography of U. S. Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts.
Links:
Bookshop.org: The Great Abolitionist: Charles Sumner and the Fight for a More Perfect Union
City of Boston: The Great Molasses Flood, 100 Years Later
Mill Talks at the Charles River Museum of Industry and Innovation are free and open to the public and are made possible by the generous support of the Lowell Institute.
Come learn about the first industrial mill in the United States at the Charles River Museum of Innovation and Industry. Join us as we address the role of women in industrial America. The tour explores the trials and triumphs of mill women who worked in Boston Manufacturing Company and the Boston Associates’ textile mills in Waltham and Lowell, MA. You will hear songs written by the mill women, recorded at a Museum concert performance by historical folk singer Diane Taraz, as well as artifacts and images of the women themselves. These working women act as a case study for industrialization in America.
The Mill Girls of New England are an iconic feature of early American industry. More than being a symbol of industrialization, they were the first industrial workforce in the U.S. These working women contributed to the growth of the American industrial economy, challenged the idea that women couldn’t be “breadwinners” and were actively involved in early workers rights movements and trade unions.
for inquiries on private event rentals, use our contact form HERE
HOURS of OPERATION: Wed - Fri: 10:00 AM - 3:00 PM * Sat: 10:00 AM - 2:30 PM
Final admission is 30 minutes before closing. Hours subject to change due to special and private events.
Closed Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day.
We are proud to participate in Mass Cultural Council's Card to Culture program in collaboration with the Department of Transitional Assistance, the Department of Public Health's WIC Nutrition Program, the Massachusetts Health Connector, and hundreds of organizations by making cultural programming accessible to those for whom cost is a participation barrier.
EBT cardholders receive 50% off regular admission.
See the complete list of participating organizations offering EBT, WIC, Wonderfund, and ConnectorCare discounts.
The Charles River Museum of Industry & Innovation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation
