August 10, 2024 • 24 mins
Lisa Krassner, the Executive Director of the Concord Museum, discusses the amazing array of cultural and historical objects representing Concord’s multi-faceted history. She also reveals details about the 250 day countdown to the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
This is What's at Risk with Mike Christian on WBZ,
Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Hi, Mike Christian. Here of What's at Risk. First up
on tonight's show, we speak with Lisa Krasner, the executive
director of the Conquered Massachusetts Museum. Lisa discusses the amazing
array of cultural and historical objects representing Concord's multifaceted history.
She also reveals details about the two hundred and fifty
(00:31):
day countdown celebration to the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary
of the American Revolution. And in our second segment, we
present an encore edition of What's at Risk. Honor Shown,
co founder of Break Time in Boston, thoughtfully addresses the
root causes of young adult homelessness and effective measures to
(00:53):
break the persistent cycle of homelessness. Lisa Krasner joined the
Conquered Museum in September of twenty twenty two as the
Edward W. Kain Executive Director. With over twenty years of
museum leadership experience at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the
American Museum of Natural History, and the Museum of Fine
(01:16):
Arts in Boston, Krasner brings her wealth of strategic leadership
to the Conquered Museum. Lisa holds a Bachelor of Arts
degree from Brinmar College and received a Master of Business
Administration with honors from Simmons University.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
Say you wan a rebelation, Well, you know, we all
wanna chain it will.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Our guest is Lisa Krasner, the executive director of the
Concord Museum in Massachusetts. Lisa, how you doing.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
I'm doing really well. Thanks so much for having me today.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Great, well, thanks for being with us. Maybe a good
place to start is just for you to tell our
listeners about a little bit about your background.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
I've been with the Conquered Museum as the executive director
for nearly two years, but I'm celebrating my twenty fifth
year working in museums. It had a really fortunate career.
I started at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.
I spent thirteen years there in a very public facing job,
running departments like membership and visitor services and securities. I
(02:20):
was then in New York for ten years. I was
at the Metropolitan Museum of Art for six seven years,
and then I went to the American Museum of Natural
History running operations there. So this is a lovely return
back to Massachusetts after ten years in New York City.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Well, that's an impressive background, particularly in the museum business.
Speaker 3 (02:44):
Thank you, thank you.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
It's been a lot of fun, and I'm very grateful
I've had such an opportunity to work at such interesting
organizations and contribute.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
Concord Museum was established, I believe in eighteen eighty six.
I'm reading my history right. Tell us a little bit
about what prompted the museum and what its history has been.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
Sure, well, we.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
Were incorporated in eighteen eighty six as the Conquered Antiquarian Society,
But the founder, Cummings Davis, really started the collection in
like the eighteen fifties, and he was a gentleman who
lived here and conquered. He was not particularly educated, he
was not wealthy. He sold concessions at the train station,
(03:32):
he brought newspapers to Louise m Elcott. But he understood
material culture, and he was a collector and he understood
the need to collect history. And Conquert's always been very,
very rich in history. So he became the person in
town who both purchased things and were given object And
(03:54):
in nineteen thirty we moved to this location where our
Lexington Turnpike and Lexington Road and the Conquered to Turnpike converge.
This was We're across the street from Ralph Waldo Emerson's
home and this was actually his fruit orchard. So the
(04:14):
land we're on right now is Emerson's fruit orchard, a
couple acres here. So the first building was built nineteen
thirty and brick building we did. We've had two more
additions since then, when in nineteen ninety one to expand
our special exhibition space and sort of welcoming people in
in a more gracious way, bigger space.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
And then in twenty eighteen we actually.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
Opened the rest Useon Education Center, which is a space
with four classrooms. We serve over fourteen thousand school kids
on site every year for field trips.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
Yeah, that's great. I love in Emerson's Yeah, sure, that's awesome.
I know exactly where it is. I just drove through
Conquered I looked at Emerson's houson that I was driving through.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
Yeah, And a little bit about the collection.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
We have a really really treasured collection of early American
material culture and decorative arts. We have about forty five
thousand objects in our collection and We are very strong,
obviously on early American history around the American Revolution. We
have many of the objects and writings of celebrated Transcendentalists
(05:32):
like Emerson, like Henry David Threaux as well as you know,
Louisa May Alcott lived here as well. And we have
a very rich history of indigenous artifacts in the collection,
and we continue to collect, so we continue to acquire
anything that might relate to Conquered and it's past.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
You're referencing the history of Conquered, which and I love history,
and I think it rivals the history of practically any
other town in the country from the Revolutionary War. You
reference to a lot of it, to all Rivere's famous ride,
to all the rich literary community that was there. How
does all that happen in one little town. We're encapsulating
(06:16):
it there in your museum, but I think how it
will happen.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
Conquered punches above its way. It always has. It's still
a very interesting community of people as well. But most
people who live here are so committed to telling the
story of Conquered and are so respectful of its history
and want to make sure that it's open and available
(06:40):
and accessible to the public. So I do think that
Conquered is a very very special place. I mean, has
its natural beauty. It was incorporated very early in sixteen
thirty five. Conquered itself was actually a little bit bigger.
It's been divvied up, you know, Carlisle, Lincoln, so it
was a bigger town technically than it is now, but
(07:01):
it is.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
It does play a very important role in American history
in many ways.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
And I think that, you know, as we come up
towards the two hunter and fiftieth anniversary of the American Revolution,
we're really excited to.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
Share our history with everyone. It's an exciting tay.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
You have all these markers that you can always create
a celebration around every five or ten years, right. I
just want to mention one thing that I just found
out today is that the American Alliance of Museums accredited
the Conquered Museum with an award calling it the Community's
North Star. And this designation is the highest national recognition
available to any museum in the United States and the
(07:39):
gold standard of museum excellence for more than fifty years.
That's pretty amazing. How did you qualify for that? Did
you apply or did they just pick you or.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
We are part of the American Alliance of Museums.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
We have been accredited with them for the past fifty years,
and every ten years you go through a very rigorous
creditation process. So we started the process, gosh, two years ago,
we started to do our self assessment and it's very
very rigorous and robust. So we went through a whole
(08:14):
self assessment process, and we then had peer reviewers come
out this past spring and they spent two days with us,
meeting with all the staff or board, really checking out
our programs. Even followed a school group around the galleries.
They spent time in storage with us, and we then,
(08:35):
you know, kind of wait and hope that the report
comes back and they're really pleased with our performance, and
they were. We really got a glowing review in the
last few weeks from AM and we're excited. As you said,
we weren't expecting to be called the north star of
constellation of heritage sites and assets in this community.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
That was really wonderful. Acolade.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Yeah, that's very validating.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
And I think it speaks to the hard work of the staff,
but also to the support of our board and just
the greater community and conquered and beyond. I mean it
speaks to our membership base and our supporters and like
I said, you know people conquered to care deeply about history.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
What are some of your current programs you talked about,
you know, what you capture from a historic standpoint there
both in the town and around the town. But what
are some of the programs that you have.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
Very recently, the museum was transformed by having all of
our galleries redone, so our galleries were completely rethought and reinstalled,
and we unveiled all of these new galleries in twenty
twenty one amidst COVID. The galleries are very immersive, they're
(09:50):
very engaging. They're telling many inclusive stories, and I think
that we do a great job highlighting just kind of
diverse every day experiences of life in Conquered, but also
tell the stories of the indigenous community that was here,
both enslaved and freed African Americans that lived in Conquered,
(10:14):
as well as the literary writers, women's roles and conquered
the abolitionist movement. So we have a rotating special exhibition program,
So every five months or so we put a new
special exhibition in place, and then we also as I
mentioned earlier, we serve a lot of school children. So
over fourteen thousand school kids every year come to the
(10:36):
museum from across the region, across Middlesex County, across Boston
come to the museum and do immersive activities, tour the
galleries and might walk up to the North Bridge. They
might do some colonial cooking, colonial dancing, but they really
steep them in.
Speaker 3 (10:56):
The history of early American history.
Speaker 1 (10:59):
And we also have a public program a very thriving
public programs offering. We do a form series and we
have speakers come from all over the country, their writers,
they're historians, public thinkers who are coming to talk about
issues that might be historical, but it might be very
(11:23):
very contemporary. So for example, as we lead up to
the two hundred fiftieth anniversary of the American Revolution, we
have Mary Beth Norton coming in September, I mean, great,
great historian coming in to talk about her book seventeen
seventy four and the time leading.
Speaker 3 (11:37):
Up before the Revolution, everything that was happening.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
But then we're having somebody contemporary come in in November,
and we're having Barbara McQuaid. She's a professor at Michigan
Law School. She's also a legal scholar and analyst for
MSNBC and NBC News, and she's doing a program called
Attack from Within How disinformation is Sabotage. So we really
(12:01):
run the gamut. I mean, we try to be very
very focused on American history, but we really I think,
try to bring many voices to the table and contemporary
voices as well.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
One of your programs caught my eye, and it looks
like I got a lot of people's eyes because it's
sold out. Is the Grave Detectives Walking.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
That.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
I don't know why that's so interesting to me, but
you have to tell me about it.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
There's one of our walking tours and we take people
to Sleepy Hollow and we have one of our trained
guides who go take them on a walking tour. It
is limited, it's a it's a small group, but if
you want to come like we can we can add
you because we also do a bunch of fun walking
(12:49):
tours during in October for around Halloween that those are
always very popular as well.
Speaker 3 (12:56):
So many famous people were buried and conquered.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
I know, I know that makes it really more interesting.
So on the Detectives walking tour, what do do you
look at go dig around graves or what's that?
Speaker 1 (13:07):
Oh, no, we're respectful. We're respectful. How we keep those
on arms lane, that's fair enough, no tools involved.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
We'll take a step away from our discussion with Lisa
Krasner to revisit that day long ago in April seventeen
seventy five. Conquered Him is a poem by Ralph Waldo Emerson,
written for the eighteen thirty seven dedication of an obelisk
monument in Conquered Massachusetts. It commemorates the battles of Lexington
(13:42):
and Conquered a series of skirmishes on April nineteen, seventeen
seventy five, which sparked the American Revolutionary War. By the
rude bridge that standed the flood, they're flagged to April's
breeze unfurled here once the battle farm stood and fired
the shot heard round the world. Emerson's line the shot
(14:06):
heard round the world is a fixture in the lore
of the American Revolution. Conquered Him established Emerson as a poet,
and Emerson biographer Robert Richardson notes the phrase has since
become the most famous line he ever wrote. And now
back to our talk with Lisa, you've referenced it a
couple times. On August eleventh, Ye're hosting an exciting, a
(14:28):
pretty exciting community event, two hundred and fifty day countdown
to the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of Paul Revere's
famous midnight ride. Tell us about that.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
On August eleventh, we are co hosting with Conquered T fifty,
which is the Town Committee, an event that's taking place
at the Conquered Museum, and we're gathering to mark the
moment of two hundred and fifty days to the two fiftieth.
So the countdown will begin for Conquered and as many
of you know, nineteenth twenty twenty five was you know,
(15:02):
sort of the first day of the first Battle of
the American Revolution here and Conquered at the North Bridge.
The Paul Revere's Ride happened the night before, starting on
the eighteenth. So we will be gathering here to bring
everyone together and for engaging afternoon evening. We will have
(15:24):
everything from you know, obviously access to the museum, and
we want people to come and see Paul Revere's lanterns.
Speaker 3 (15:32):
Gets the signal lantern that was.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
In the belfry of the North Church the night of
the ride, and we want people to come and see
that and take in the rest of the galleries and
see all the eyewitness objects that are in the collection
that speak to this moment in time.
Speaker 3 (15:51):
And then we're also gonna have a lot of outdoor activities.
We're gonna have lawn games, we're gonna have face painting,
We're going to have the Conquered as well as the
act in minute men here to engage with folks, and
we'll have some food trucks. We have a wine truck coming.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
Even The whole day will be a free day, but
the program in the evening will run from five point
thirty to seven thirty, and then at seven thirty we're
going to do a procession into town to Monument Square
and everyone will bring their lantern, so we'll have lantern
making activities, and there's been a lot of groups in
town that we've been partnering with where families and students
(16:28):
have been making lanterns, so everybody will bring their lantern
with them and bring it to Monument Square for that moment.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
Oh, that's great. So that's the lantern, the one if
by Land two by Sea lantern, famous Longfellow poem. Right, Yes,
it is.
Speaker 3 (16:45):
It is.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
It came into the collection quite early, came into the
collection in seventeen eighty two. It was purchased from the
sexton from the North, the Old North Church Church in Boston.
Speaker 3 (17:01):
Captain Daniel Brown purchased the lantern.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
The lantern was then in the Brown family for many
years and Cummings Davis acquired it in eighteen fifty three.
So it is one of our earlier objects that came
into the collection. And there were two lanterns, but this
is the only one that exists. So nobody knows what happened.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
To the end I see anyway, so it didn't matter.
So yeah, that's that's pretty interesting. That's a permanent exhibit there.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
Yeah, so we have three galleries on our second floor
dedicated to April nineteenth. So the lantern is one of
our iconic objects. But the gallery itself is full of
eyewitness objects of the day and things that were you know,
both used at the battle, but also you know, telling
stories that sort of reflect on lead up to the battle.
(17:58):
And we also have an immersive wall of technology that
takes people through the twenty four hours the experience of
what happened in kind of like minute by minute in
the battles. It's a really terrific way to kind of
learn the story of from the ride to the battle
(18:20):
and then the siege of Boston.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Paul Revere was captured right around where the museum is, right,
a little bit.
Speaker 3 (18:27):
Further up or towards Lexington.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
But if you come here you'll also see some Paul
Revere silver as well. So yeah, so Paul Revere was
captured on what we call the battle Road on Lexington Road.
So we didn't actually make it to conquered. Another rider did.
But yeah, so I was going to say, but he
obviously he got the glory for the ride.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
Yeah, he definitely did, longfellow for it. Because there's a
couple other guys that rode that night too, but they
didn't get.
Speaker 3 (18:57):
We're exactly Samuel Prescott.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
Exactly exactly. I always felt bad for Prescott. Yeah, career
got all the acclaim.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
Huh.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
Some of these just talk about some of the other
interesting exhibits, like yeah, one of Throw's desks.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
Right, oh, yes, we did. We have his desk he
wrote on. We have the furniture that he brought out
to Walden. We have many objects from his family because
his family had been here for generations as well. So well,
many people make pilgrimage out to Walden Pond to you know,
(19:35):
sort of taken the beauty and the spiritual moment of
you know, being in Walden.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
Yeah, that's great. You know, when I was a kid,
I went to Walden and I thought he was like
hundreds of miles out in the middle of nowhere. But
when I later found out that he could actually go
and have lunch at his mom's house too and.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
Concate, right, they brought him food and everything exactly.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
So what are some of the upcoming exhibits and more
unique experiences for the museum out out into the future.
I think you have some things planned for the cost.
Speaker 3 (20:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:08):
Yeah, So to commemorate the two fifty if, the museum
is going to present three special exhibitions focused on an
overarching theme of whose Revolution. And you know, as I
was saying earlier, these exhibitions will really feature many underrepresented
stories and experiences. So we're telling the story of women
as enslaved in free African Americans in this community, indigenous
(20:30):
communities and what did the revolution mean to them and
how did it transform the everyday lives of individuals, families
and communities. So you know, the major themes across the
board are going to be around the founding principles of
liberty and equality and really questioning what did it mean
(20:51):
to have community and community and crisis and how do
we also memorialize the.
Speaker 3 (20:57):
Revolution over time.
Speaker 1 (20:59):
So our first exhibit, which will open in March of
twenty twenty five, which is coming up soon, is entitled
Whose Revolution, And I'll highlight the kind of competing and
contradictory meanings of revolution during the period leading up to
the war. It was a very very fractured time. Families
were torn apart, So it's going to be an interesting exhibition.
(21:19):
Our second exhibition will be Transformed by Revolution that's going
to open in September of twenty twenty five, and that
I'll explore sort of the little known history of conquered
as a site of refuge during the Siege of Boston
in seventeen seventy five, and so, for example, Harvard students
came out here for the year and did their classes
and studies because they were pushed off the campus. And
(21:43):
how did all these events transform the community And a
lot of women were really running many things here in
the community as well as the men were fighting. And
our last exhibition, which will be Spring of twenty twenty
six Ape of twenty twenty six, will be remembering the Revolution,
and this will really focus on the leg seeing the
memory of the war and.
Speaker 3 (22:01):
Shaping the town's identity.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
As well as like how we think about the revolution
over time. And our hope is is that all of
this will really be, you know, a resource not just
for conquered but for people coming from all over the place.
So we're excited to have these exhibitions, We're excited to have,
you know, all the public programs we're doing. We're doing
(22:25):
our conference as well. Our head curator, David Woods celebrating
his fortieth anniversary, and he's actually doing a catalog of
our American Revolutionary Work collection as well, so we have
a new catalog out early next year.
Speaker 3 (22:40):
So there's a lot.
Speaker 1 (22:41):
Of different ways we're celebrating the two fiftieth and one
of the ways that I think is most important to
me is the work we do with students.
Speaker 3 (22:49):
We have been.
Speaker 1 (22:50):
Doing teacher workshops every summer with students across the region,
and we are working on expanding our traveling Trunk Program.
This program has been in existence, but we're expanding it
and what it provides is lesson plans and curriculum for
students along with replica objects and you know, basically a
(23:13):
whole lesson plan in a box that will be distributing.
Speaker 3 (23:17):
Across the commonwealth.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
So it'll have the most up to date, most inclusive
research and you know, for for students, for teachers to use,
and we'll be able to basically.
Speaker 3 (23:31):
You know, distribute them across the commonwealth.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
Yeah, that's wonderful. But we've been speaking with Lisa Krasner,
the executive director of the Conquered Museum in Conquered, Massachusetts,
and Lisa, I know, I know you have a lot
of material to work with there, but you really do
a great job of bringing history to life, especially for
the young people, which is so wonderful.
Speaker 3 (23:51):
Thank you so very much. I appreciate the time. Stop.
Speaker 1 (23:54):
What's that?
Speaker 3 (23:56):
What's going
Speaker 2 (24:06):
We'll be right back after the news at the bottom
of the hour.
This is What's at Risk with Mike Christian on WBZ,
Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Hi, Mike Christian. Here of What's at Risk. First up
on tonight's show, we speak with Lisa Krasner, the executive
director of the Conquered Massachusetts Museum. Lisa discusses the amazing
array of cultural and historical objects representing Concord's multifaceted history.
She also reveals details about the two hundred and fifty
(00:31):
day countdown celebration to the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary
of the American Revolution. And in our second segment, we
present an encore edition of What's at Risk. Honor Shown,
co founder of Break Time in Boston, thoughtfully addresses the
root causes of young adult homelessness and effective measures to
(00:53):
break the persistent cycle of homelessness. Lisa Krasner joined the
Conquered Museum in September of twenty twenty two as the
Edward W. Kain Executive Director. With over twenty years of
museum leadership experience at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the
American Museum of Natural History, and the Museum of Fine
(01:16):
Arts in Boston, Krasner brings her wealth of strategic leadership
to the Conquered Museum. Lisa holds a Bachelor of Arts
degree from Brinmar College and received a Master of Business
Administration with honors from Simmons University.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
Say you wan a rebelation, Well, you know, we all
wanna chain it will.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Our guest is Lisa Krasner, the executive director of the
Concord Museum in Massachusetts. Lisa, how you doing.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
I'm doing really well. Thanks so much for having me today.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Great, well, thanks for being with us. Maybe a good
place to start is just for you to tell our
listeners about a little bit about your background.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
I've been with the Conquered Museum as the executive director
for nearly two years, but I'm celebrating my twenty fifth
year working in museums. It had a really fortunate career.
I started at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.
I spent thirteen years there in a very public facing job,
running departments like membership and visitor services and securities. I
(02:20):
was then in New York for ten years. I was
at the Metropolitan Museum of Art for six seven years,
and then I went to the American Museum of Natural
History running operations there. So this is a lovely return
back to Massachusetts after ten years in New York City.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Well, that's an impressive background, particularly in the museum business.
Speaker 3 (02:44):
Thank you, thank you.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
It's been a lot of fun, and I'm very grateful
I've had such an opportunity to work at such interesting
organizations and contribute.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
Concord Museum was established, I believe in eighteen eighty six.
I'm reading my history right. Tell us a little bit
about what prompted the museum and what its history has been.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
Sure, well, we.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
Were incorporated in eighteen eighty six as the Conquered Antiquarian Society,
But the founder, Cummings Davis, really started the collection in
like the eighteen fifties, and he was a gentleman who
lived here and conquered. He was not particularly educated, he
was not wealthy. He sold concessions at the train station,
(03:32):
he brought newspapers to Louise m Elcott. But he understood
material culture, and he was a collector and he understood
the need to collect history. And Conquert's always been very,
very rich in history. So he became the person in
town who both purchased things and were given object And
(03:54):
in nineteen thirty we moved to this location where our
Lexington Turnpike and Lexington Road and the Conquered to Turnpike converge.
This was We're across the street from Ralph Waldo Emerson's
home and this was actually his fruit orchard. So the
(04:14):
land we're on right now is Emerson's fruit orchard, a
couple acres here. So the first building was built nineteen
thirty and brick building we did. We've had two more
additions since then, when in nineteen ninety one to expand
our special exhibition space and sort of welcoming people in
in a more gracious way, bigger space.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
And then in twenty eighteen we actually.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
Opened the rest Useon Education Center, which is a space
with four classrooms. We serve over fourteen thousand school kids
on site every year for field trips.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
Yeah, that's great. I love in Emerson's Yeah, sure, that's awesome.
I know exactly where it is. I just drove through
Conquered I looked at Emerson's houson that I was driving through.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
Yeah, And a little bit about the collection.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
We have a really really treasured collection of early American
material culture and decorative arts. We have about forty five
thousand objects in our collection and We are very strong,
obviously on early American history around the American Revolution. We
have many of the objects and writings of celebrated Transcendentalists
(05:32):
like Emerson, like Henry David Threaux as well as you know,
Louisa May Alcott lived here as well. And we have
a very rich history of indigenous artifacts in the collection,
and we continue to collect, so we continue to acquire
anything that might relate to Conquered and it's past.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
You're referencing the history of Conquered, which and I love history,
and I think it rivals the history of practically any
other town in the country from the Revolutionary War. You
reference to a lot of it, to all Rivere's famous ride,
to all the rich literary community that was there. How
does all that happen in one little town. We're encapsulating
(06:16):
it there in your museum, but I think how it
will happen.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
Conquered punches above its way. It always has. It's still
a very interesting community of people as well. But most
people who live here are so committed to telling the
story of Conquered and are so respectful of its history
and want to make sure that it's open and available
(06:40):
and accessible to the public. So I do think that
Conquered is a very very special place. I mean, has
its natural beauty. It was incorporated very early in sixteen
thirty five. Conquered itself was actually a little bit bigger.
It's been divvied up, you know, Carlisle, Lincoln, so it
was a bigger town technically than it is now, but
(07:01):
it is.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
It does play a very important role in American history
in many ways.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
And I think that, you know, as we come up
towards the two hunter and fiftieth anniversary of the American Revolution,
we're really excited to.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
Share our history with everyone. It's an exciting tay.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
You have all these markers that you can always create
a celebration around every five or ten years, right. I
just want to mention one thing that I just found
out today is that the American Alliance of Museums accredited
the Conquered Museum with an award calling it the Community's
North Star. And this designation is the highest national recognition
available to any museum in the United States and the
(07:39):
gold standard of museum excellence for more than fifty years.
That's pretty amazing. How did you qualify for that? Did
you apply or did they just pick you or.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
We are part of the American Alliance of Museums.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
We have been accredited with them for the past fifty years,
and every ten years you go through a very rigorous
creditation process. So we started the process, gosh, two years ago,
we started to do our self assessment and it's very
very rigorous and robust. So we went through a whole
(08:14):
self assessment process, and we then had peer reviewers come
out this past spring and they spent two days with us,
meeting with all the staff or board, really checking out
our programs. Even followed a school group around the galleries.
They spent time in storage with us, and we then,
(08:35):
you know, kind of wait and hope that the report
comes back and they're really pleased with our performance, and
they were. We really got a glowing review in the
last few weeks from AM and we're excited. As you said,
we weren't expecting to be called the north star of
constellation of heritage sites and assets in this community.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
That was really wonderful. Acolade.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Yeah, that's very validating.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
And I think it speaks to the hard work of the staff,
but also to the support of our board and just
the greater community and conquered and beyond. I mean it
speaks to our membership base and our supporters and like
I said, you know people conquered to care deeply about history.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
What are some of your current programs you talked about,
you know, what you capture from a historic standpoint there
both in the town and around the town. But what
are some of the programs that you have.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
Very recently, the museum was transformed by having all of
our galleries redone, so our galleries were completely rethought and reinstalled,
and we unveiled all of these new galleries in twenty
twenty one amidst COVID. The galleries are very immersive, they're
(09:50):
very engaging. They're telling many inclusive stories, and I think
that we do a great job highlighting just kind of
diverse every day experiences of life in Conquered, but also
tell the stories of the indigenous community that was here,
both enslaved and freed African Americans that lived in Conquered,
(10:14):
as well as the literary writers, women's roles and conquered
the abolitionist movement. So we have a rotating special exhibition program,
So every five months or so we put a new
special exhibition in place, and then we also as I
mentioned earlier, we serve a lot of school children. So
over fourteen thousand school kids every year come to the
(10:36):
museum from across the region, across Middlesex County, across Boston
come to the museum and do immersive activities, tour the
galleries and might walk up to the North Bridge. They
might do some colonial cooking, colonial dancing, but they really
steep them in.
Speaker 3 (10:56):
The history of early American history.
Speaker 1 (10:59):
And we also have a public program a very thriving
public programs offering. We do a form series and we
have speakers come from all over the country, their writers,
they're historians, public thinkers who are coming to talk about
issues that might be historical, but it might be very
(11:23):
very contemporary. So for example, as we lead up to
the two hundred fiftieth anniversary of the American Revolution, we
have Mary Beth Norton coming in September, I mean, great,
great historian coming in to talk about her book seventeen
seventy four and the time leading.
Speaker 3 (11:37):
Up before the Revolution, everything that was happening.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
But then we're having somebody contemporary come in in November,
and we're having Barbara McQuaid. She's a professor at Michigan
Law School. She's also a legal scholar and analyst for
MSNBC and NBC News, and she's doing a program called
Attack from Within How disinformation is Sabotage. So we really
(12:01):
run the gamut. I mean, we try to be very
very focused on American history, but we really I think,
try to bring many voices to the table and contemporary
voices as well.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
One of your programs caught my eye, and it looks
like I got a lot of people's eyes because it's
sold out. Is the Grave Detectives Walking.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
That.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
I don't know why that's so interesting to me, but
you have to tell me about it.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
There's one of our walking tours and we take people
to Sleepy Hollow and we have one of our trained
guides who go take them on a walking tour. It
is limited, it's a it's a small group, but if
you want to come like we can we can add
you because we also do a bunch of fun walking
(12:49):
tours during in October for around Halloween that those are
always very popular as well.
Speaker 3 (12:56):
So many famous people were buried and conquered.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
I know, I know that makes it really more interesting.
So on the Detectives walking tour, what do do you
look at go dig around graves or what's that?
Speaker 1 (13:07):
Oh, no, we're respectful. We're respectful. How we keep those
on arms lane, that's fair enough, no tools involved.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
We'll take a step away from our discussion with Lisa
Krasner to revisit that day long ago in April seventeen
seventy five. Conquered Him is a poem by Ralph Waldo Emerson,
written for the eighteen thirty seven dedication of an obelisk
monument in Conquered Massachusetts. It commemorates the battles of Lexington
(13:42):
and Conquered a series of skirmishes on April nineteen, seventeen
seventy five, which sparked the American Revolutionary War. By the
rude bridge that standed the flood, they're flagged to April's
breeze unfurled here once the battle farm stood and fired
the shot heard round the world. Emerson's line the shot
(14:06):
heard round the world is a fixture in the lore
of the American Revolution. Conquered Him established Emerson as a poet,
and Emerson biographer Robert Richardson notes the phrase has since
become the most famous line he ever wrote. And now
back to our talk with Lisa, you've referenced it a
couple times. On August eleventh, Ye're hosting an exciting, a
(14:28):
pretty exciting community event, two hundred and fifty day countdown
to the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of Paul Revere's
famous midnight ride. Tell us about that.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
On August eleventh, we are co hosting with Conquered T fifty,
which is the Town Committee, an event that's taking place
at the Conquered Museum, and we're gathering to mark the
moment of two hundred and fifty days to the two fiftieth.
So the countdown will begin for Conquered and as many
of you know, nineteenth twenty twenty five was you know,
(15:02):
sort of the first day of the first Battle of
the American Revolution here and Conquered at the North Bridge.
The Paul Revere's Ride happened the night before, starting on
the eighteenth. So we will be gathering here to bring
everyone together and for engaging afternoon evening. We will have
(15:24):
everything from you know, obviously access to the museum, and
we want people to come and see Paul Revere's lanterns.
Speaker 3 (15:32):
Gets the signal lantern that was.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
In the belfry of the North Church the night of
the ride, and we want people to come and see
that and take in the rest of the galleries and
see all the eyewitness objects that are in the collection
that speak to this moment in time.
Speaker 3 (15:51):
And then we're also gonna have a lot of outdoor activities.
We're gonna have lawn games, we're gonna have face painting,
We're going to have the Conquered as well as the
act in minute men here to engage with folks, and
we'll have some food trucks. We have a wine truck coming.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
Even The whole day will be a free day, but
the program in the evening will run from five point
thirty to seven thirty, and then at seven thirty we're
going to do a procession into town to Monument Square
and everyone will bring their lantern, so we'll have lantern
making activities, and there's been a lot of groups in
town that we've been partnering with where families and students
(16:28):
have been making lanterns, so everybody will bring their lantern
with them and bring it to Monument Square for that moment.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
Oh, that's great. So that's the lantern, the one if
by Land two by Sea lantern, famous Longfellow poem. Right, Yes,
it is.
Speaker 3 (16:45):
It is.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
It came into the collection quite early, came into the
collection in seventeen eighty two. It was purchased from the
sexton from the North, the Old North Church Church in Boston.
Speaker 3 (17:01):
Captain Daniel Brown purchased the lantern.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
The lantern was then in the Brown family for many
years and Cummings Davis acquired it in eighteen fifty three.
So it is one of our earlier objects that came
into the collection. And there were two lanterns, but this
is the only one that exists. So nobody knows what happened.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
To the end I see anyway, so it didn't matter.
So yeah, that's that's pretty interesting. That's a permanent exhibit there.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
Yeah, so we have three galleries on our second floor
dedicated to April nineteenth. So the lantern is one of
our iconic objects. But the gallery itself is full of
eyewitness objects of the day and things that were you know,
both used at the battle, but also you know, telling
stories that sort of reflect on lead up to the battle.
(17:58):
And we also have an immersive wall of technology that
takes people through the twenty four hours the experience of
what happened in kind of like minute by minute in
the battles. It's a really terrific way to kind of
learn the story of from the ride to the battle
(18:20):
and then the siege of Boston.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Paul Revere was captured right around where the museum is, right,
a little bit.
Speaker 3 (18:27):
Further up or towards Lexington.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
But if you come here you'll also see some Paul
Revere silver as well. So yeah, so Paul Revere was
captured on what we call the battle Road on Lexington Road.
So we didn't actually make it to conquered. Another rider did.
But yeah, so I was going to say, but he
obviously he got the glory for the ride.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
Yeah, he definitely did, longfellow for it. Because there's a
couple other guys that rode that night too, but they
didn't get.
Speaker 3 (18:57):
We're exactly Samuel Prescott.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
Exactly exactly. I always felt bad for Prescott. Yeah, career
got all the acclaim.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
Huh.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
Some of these just talk about some of the other
interesting exhibits, like yeah, one of Throw's desks.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
Right, oh, yes, we did. We have his desk he
wrote on. We have the furniture that he brought out
to Walden. We have many objects from his family because
his family had been here for generations as well. So well,
many people make pilgrimage out to Walden Pond to you know,
(19:35):
sort of taken the beauty and the spiritual moment of
you know, being in Walden.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
Yeah, that's great. You know, when I was a kid,
I went to Walden and I thought he was like
hundreds of miles out in the middle of nowhere. But
when I later found out that he could actually go
and have lunch at his mom's house too and.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
Concate, right, they brought him food and everything exactly.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
So what are some of the upcoming exhibits and more
unique experiences for the museum out out into the future.
I think you have some things planned for the cost.
Speaker 3 (20:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:08):
Yeah, So to commemorate the two fifty if, the museum
is going to present three special exhibitions focused on an
overarching theme of whose Revolution. And you know, as I
was saying earlier, these exhibitions will really feature many underrepresented
stories and experiences. So we're telling the story of women
as enslaved in free African Americans in this community, indigenous
(20:30):
communities and what did the revolution mean to them and
how did it transform the everyday lives of individuals, families
and communities. So you know, the major themes across the
board are going to be around the founding principles of
liberty and equality and really questioning what did it mean
(20:51):
to have community and community and crisis and how do
we also memorialize the.
Speaker 3 (20:57):
Revolution over time.
Speaker 1 (20:59):
So our first exhibit, which will open in March of
twenty twenty five, which is coming up soon, is entitled
Whose Revolution, And I'll highlight the kind of competing and
contradictory meanings of revolution during the period leading up to
the war. It was a very very fractured time. Families
were torn apart, So it's going to be an interesting exhibition.
(21:19):
Our second exhibition will be Transformed by Revolution that's going
to open in September of twenty twenty five, and that
I'll explore sort of the little known history of conquered
as a site of refuge during the Siege of Boston
in seventeen seventy five, and so, for example, Harvard students
came out here for the year and did their classes
and studies because they were pushed off the campus. And
(21:43):
how did all these events transform the community And a
lot of women were really running many things here in
the community as well as the men were fighting. And
our last exhibition, which will be Spring of twenty twenty
six Ape of twenty twenty six, will be remembering the Revolution,
and this will really focus on the leg seeing the
memory of the war and.
Speaker 3 (22:01):
Shaping the town's identity.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
As well as like how we think about the revolution
over time. And our hope is is that all of
this will really be, you know, a resource not just
for conquered but for people coming from all over the place.
So we're excited to have these exhibitions, We're excited to have,
you know, all the public programs we're doing. We're doing
(22:25):
our conference as well. Our head curator, David Woods celebrating
his fortieth anniversary, and he's actually doing a catalog of
our American Revolutionary Work collection as well, so we have
a new catalog out early next year.
Speaker 3 (22:40):
So there's a lot.
Speaker 1 (22:41):
Of different ways we're celebrating the two fiftieth and one
of the ways that I think is most important to
me is the work we do with students.
Speaker 3 (22:49):
We have been.
Speaker 1 (22:50):
Doing teacher workshops every summer with students across the region,
and we are working on expanding our traveling Trunk Program.
This program has been in existence, but we're expanding it
and what it provides is lesson plans and curriculum for
students along with replica objects and you know, basically a
(23:13):
whole lesson plan in a box that will be distributing.
Speaker 3 (23:17):
Across the commonwealth.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
So it'll have the most up to date, most inclusive
research and you know, for for students, for teachers to use,
and we'll be able to basically.
Speaker 3 (23:31):
You know, distribute them across the commonwealth.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
Yeah, that's wonderful. But we've been speaking with Lisa Krasner,
the executive director of the Conquered Museum in Conquered, Massachusetts,
and Lisa, I know, I know you have a lot
of material to work with there, but you really do
a great job of bringing history to life, especially for
the young people, which is so wonderful.
Speaker 3 (23:51):
Thank you so very much. I appreciate the time. Stop.
Speaker 1 (23:54):
What's that?
Speaker 3 (23:56):
What's going
Speaker 2 (24:06):
We'll be right back after the news at the bottom
of the hour.
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