Love & Lace: The Valentines of Esther Howland
This small and intimate exhibit features the work of the mother of the American valentine and Worcester resident, Esther Howland. In 1847, Howland received an English valentine, which inspired her to design her own. She sold her cards through her father's stationery store and business flourished. After merging with Edward Taft in 1879, the New England Valentine Company became one of the largest greeting card companies in the world.
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The Cakemaker's Portrait
This late 1830s portrait of Hepsibeth Hemenway has been part of the Museum collection since 1895. While we know a good deal about the sitter, what can we uncover about the circumstances of the portrait? Visit the newly installed Rice Gallery and learn about the artist community that developed in Worcester in the early 1800s and its relationship to the portrait of the celebrated cakemaker Hepsibeth Hemenway.
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In Their Shirtsleeves
Tells the ongoing story of the innovators, workers, and investors who made industry the story of Worcester. Reflects more than one hundred years of collecting by the Worcester Historical Museum, founded in 1875 as the Worcester Society of Antiquity. Diversity and invention have been the hallmarks of Worcester industry since the beginning of the industrial revolution in the early nineteenth century. Much of what is on exhibition has been gathered recently from generous donors, lenders, and repositories, while other artifacts and images have been part of the museum's collections for decades.
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