Boston Flora

Tag: New York University

  • Wednesday, May 24, 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm Eastern – The Costs of Luxury: Mahogany and Tall Case Clocks in Early America, Live and Online

    On May 24 at 6:30 pm, explore the human and environmental impact behind the rich mahogany exteriors of early American tall case clocks with Jennifer Anderson. Early clockmakers and cabinetmakers utilized some of the finest materials available to craft the tall case clocks featured in wealthy homes of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Historian Dr. Jennifer Anderson will examine the human and environmental costs of one such material, mahogany. Beneath the rich and silky exterior of this exotic wood lies a larger story of consumer demand, exploitation, and environmental impact.

    Your in-person ticket includes access to visit Striking Beauty: New Jersey Tall Case Clocks, 1730 – 1830, from 5:00 to 6:00 p.m.

    This event is hybrid – held both live and online. Doors open for the in-person event at 6:00 p.m. in the Stockton Education Center at the Morven Museum & Garden, 55 Stockton Street in Princeton, New Jersey. The virtual waiting room opens on Zoom at 6:00 p.m. Q&A for both live and virtual attendees will follow the talk.

    A Zoom webinar link will be shared with virtual ticket holders upon registration. A recording of the event will be provided following the program.

    Jennifer Anderson, Associate Professor of History at Stonybrook University, holds a PhD in Atlantic and Early American History from New York University. She is the author of Mahogany: The Costs of Luxury in Early America (Harvard Univ. Press, 2012) about the social and environmental history of the tropical timber trade in the 18th century. She has received many awards and fellowships, including the 2016 Murrin Prize and the Society of American Historians’ Nevins Prize. She headed the research team for the Emmy-nominated documentary, “Traces of the Trade,” about the New England slave trade and in 2013 curated an exhibition about Sylvester Manor, a 17th century plantation in New York. Her new research focuses on reinterpreting the complex human and environmental history of Long Island within the broader Atlantic context. Strongly committed to public history, she serves as a historical consultant at numerous historic sites and museums.

  • Tuesday, December 13, 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm – English Garden Eccentrics, Online

    If you missed the event at the Clark Museum, here is a second change to hear Todd Longstaffe-Gowan speak on English Garden Eccentrics. Your London Parks & Gardens ticket entitles you to attend the online lecture and to receive a link of the recorded lecture which will be available to watch for one week after the event. £5.00 Register HERE.

    This is an entertaining look at obscure and eccentric English garden-makers who created some immensely personal and idiosyncratic gardens between the early 17th and early 20th centuries. Themes include the building of miniature mountains and risings, the shaping and moving of topiaries, the collecting and display of birds and animals, the excavation of caves and other burrowings, the assemblage of architectural fragments, and an Edwardian rebuilding of the Garden of Eden.

    Todd Longstaffe-Gowan is a landscape architect with an international practice based in London. He is gardens adviser to Historic Royal Palaces, lecturer at New York University (London), president of the London Gardens Trust, editor of The London Gardener and author of several books including The London Town Garden and The London Square.