Needlearts has long been a tradition on Nantucket. It was not just a hobby, but part of a young girl’s education and later an industry that provided employment for Nantucket women.
We will explore the history of craft on Nantucket as well as several of Nantucket’s iconic businesses and what connects them.
Information
Accommodations
Symposium registrants receive a discount at The Brass Lantern Inn, 11 North Water Street.
Activities
Your symposium ticket includes access to the NHA’s Whaling Museum, Historic Homes, and Historic Sites beginning September 6.
We also provide self guided activities during the symposium to explore.
See the list of self guided activities
Luncheon
Sign up for lunch Monday and Tuesday at the Nantucket Yacht Club.
Schedule
Sunday, September 8
| 4 – 6:00pm | Welcome Reception at the NHA’s 1800 House Garden
4 Mill Street Join us in the garden of the 1800 House, the home of the NHA’s decorative arts programs. Tour the house and Carriage House and enjoy some time in the historic garden. Your symposium ticket will give you access before and after the symposium, beginning September 6, to enjoy the NHA campus at your own pace. |
Monday, September 9
Morning lectures Quaker Meeting House 7 Fair Street
| 8:30am | Doors Open |
| 9:00am | Carefully Inwrought: Nantucket Needlework
Aimee E. Newell, Executive Director of Luzerne County Historical Society A look at the NHA’s collection of needlework. |
| 10:15am | A Garden of Stitches: Erica Wilson on Nantucket
Anne Hilker, a doctoral candidate at the Bard Graduate Center in New York City, is archivist of Erica Wilson’s embroideries and papers and the co-curator of next year’s exhibition on the work of Erica Wilson at the Winterthur Museum. Erica Wilson’s kits, catalogs, books, and press images often reflected her summer life in Nantucket. She took inspiration from the island and also helped foster a renewed interest in the teaching and execution of handwork. This talk considers the ways in which Erica and Nantucket nurtured each other by looking at her career, embroideries, and stitching legacy. |
| 11:00am | The History of The Nantucket Looms A conversation about the common thread that ties several Nantucket iconic businesses together with Liz Winship. |
Lunch
| 12:30pm | Nantucket Yacht Club Pre-registration required Enjoy lunch overlooking the harbor at the Nantucket Yacht Club with a buffet lunch, which will include a selection of salads, sandwiches, water, ice tea, and lemonade.Purchase Lunch Ticket |
Tours and Activities
| 2 – 4:00pm |
Stitching Gam 1800 House, 4 Mill Street Bring your unfinished project to this uninstructed session and enjoy time with like-minded stitchers. Use this time to share your experiences, tips and tricks, and perhaps learn a new stitch from your neighbor. Open to all levels and those who just want to sit and listen. |
| 1:30pm | NHA Downtown Walking Tour Included in your ticket. Pre-registration required. Leaves from the front desk of the Whaling Museum. |
| 3:00pm | Siasconset Chapel Tour
This is a unique opportunity to see the needlepoint that is in that chapel. Sheila Daume will be on hand to talk about the pieces in the chapel and tell of its history. |
Tuesday, September 10
Morning lectures Quaker Meeting House 7 Fair Street
| 8:30am | Doors Open |
| 9:00am | Care and Conservation of Fabrics and Embroideries Elizabeth Gilbert. Ensure the future of your historic and new needleworks. Elizabeth will share some do’s and don’t’s of caring for, preserving, and storing modern fabrics as well as treasures of the past. She will be showing actual examples of each process, using archival products and tried-and-true methods. After the presentation there will be time for Q and A. |
| 10:15am | Mary Ann Beinecke’s Nantucket Textile Renaissance Julie Stackpole, daughter of Mary Ann Beinecke, is a self-taught scholar of costume history. She has made costumes for many historical periods from medieval to modern, with emphasis on 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, for museums, reenactors, and community theater. Her published book on American costume 1775-1805: Dressing The New Republic, has an extensive collection of vintage clothing 1840-1940. She is also a member of the Costume Society of America.The birth of several textile and needlework enterprises all have a common thread. Julie tells of her mother’s, Mary Ann Beinecke, mark on the Nantucket landscape, with the birth of the Nantucket Needlewomen and the Nantucket Needlery. |
| 11:00am | Embroidered Narratives: Storytelling Through the Eye of the Needle
Susan Boardman, Nantucket needlework artist. Sometimes Think of Me, now in its second printing, a collection of Susan’s narratives written by Betsy Tyler. |
Lunch
| 12:30pm | Nantucket Yacht Club Pre-registration required Enjoy lunch overlooking the harbor at the Nantucket Yacht Club with a buffet lunch, which will include a selection of salads, sandwiches, water, ice tea, and lemonade.Purchase Lunch Ticket |
Tours and Activities
| 1:30pm | NHA Downtown Walking Tour Included in your ticket. Pre-registration required. Leaves from the front desk of the Whaling Museum. |
| 2 – 4:00pm
|
Stitching Gam 1800 House, 4 Mill Street Bring your unfinished project to this uninstructed session and enjoy time with like-minded stitchers. Use this time to share your experiences, tips and tricks, and perhaps learn a new stitch from your neighbor. Open to all levels and those who just want to sit and listen. |
| 3:00pm | NHA Research Library Reading Room Visit to view materails from collections that relate to the Nantucket needlework and Susan Boardman’s work. |
Self-Guided Activities
The Nantucket Needlery Needlework Course
The Needlery’s correspondence course provided 15 notebooks full of samples and exercises. All the books will be available in the Discovery Center to look through at your leisure.
Whaling Museum Exhibitions
Modern American Realism: Highlights from the Sara Roby Foundation Collection
Two Hundred Years of American Art on Nantucket: Pairings from the NHA and Private Collections
NHA Historic Homes
Visit three of the NHA’s iconic properties, each representing a different period.
Thomas Macy House, 99 Main Street
Greater Light, 8 Howard Street
Other Locations
Nantucket Lightship Basket Museum, 49 Union Street
Tuesday, 10:30am-4:30pm
Free to all symposium registrants. Stop by to see their ever expanding collection of needlepoint chairs stitched by Nantucket Community members.
St. Paul’s Church, 20 Fair Street, Needlework and Tiffany Windows
Open daily until 5pm