Have you ever wanted to play in a closet with items from the 1800’s???? Well I did just that! Where you ask? I traveled to the Hingham Historical Society in Hingham, MA for my adventure.
Michael Achille, the Collections Manager and Registrar for the society was generous and allowed me into the newly built addition that now stores all the textiles the society has acquired.
The collection focuses on Hingham and historical pieces that have a provenance from Hingham. The collection began in 1950 and the society acquired most of the textiles up until 1970. Most numerous in the collection are quilts that are kept in dark storage. (Sounds like you need a key and a special password to enter the dark storage area!) The dark storage also contains historical documents and some artifacts. Many of the society’s possessions are donations. Some come from families that have ancestors from Hingham, other items come from people that are renovating a home and open up a wall to find things hidden behind it. Now that would be something!
A walk through the dark storage brought me closer to people like Sarah Lincoln and Dorothy Quincy Hancock. Amazing! I encourage you to take time to visit the Hingham Historical Society. The staff has a vast knowledge of the collection and love to tell the stories behind the items they exhibit.
I think the picture says it all!
I will be writing about my finds in the next few blog posts. Stay tuned!
Historical Society building
Ballet shoe from the 1800’s
