Written by Katie Cynkar “Si quaeratis monumenta circumspicite. If you seek memorials, look around you.”¹ These words, written by nineteenth-century historian Thomas W. Bicknell, speak to the way that objects hold…
In September of 2025, we welcomed Katie Cynkar as our Curatorial Fellow. Katie received her MA from the Winterthur Program in American Material Culture after starting her career as a…
Written by Jessica Pearl Happy Valentine’s Day! Today marks the day we celebrate one of the first known valentines in North American history. From November 1778 to May 1779, the…
Written by: Jessica Pearl I’ve been perusing a scrapbook kept by Solomon Townsend II (1805-1880), which contains newspaper clippings, letters, notes, and drawings related to the Townsend family. In some…
Written by: Jessica Pearl We recently had an unexpected visit to the museum. A couple, let’s call them John and Jane Doe, stopped by the museum saying they had something…
Guest Post by Elizabeth Fox, Marcia Brady Tucker Fellow in American Decorative Arts at the Yale University Art Gallery Textile enthusiasts, knitters, and sewing bees: this post is for you! …
Raynham Hall Museum held our annual Valentine's Day Poetry Contest, celebrating the museum's legacy as the place where the first documented Valentine poem was written in the United States. Students…
Written by: Jessica Pearl While recently moving archival materials to our new collections storage space, I found part of a well-known sketchbook in our collection inside a box. The section…
Our guest expert, Joanna Badami, has more than 25 years of experience appraising and evaluating household furnishings, including paintings, prints, sculptures, furniture, silver, porcelain, glass, rugs, and textiles. She also…
The book featured in this video was printed in 1884 and donated to the museum by a local resident in the 1990s. The illustrator Doré was a French artist, printmaker,…