Industry and Innovation Tour:
From Bale to Bolt

Come see an evolution of a historic textile mill

Curious about the old mill complex by the river? Discover the history and architecture of the world’s first modern factory, the 1813 Boston Manufacturing Company, which lies right in your own backyard!

Take a walk by the river in the fresh air. Then have a delicious lunch at one of Waltham’s local eateries.  

It all starts at the Charles River Museum.

Where:
Tours begin overlooking the river beneath the Charles River Museum smokestack. Follow signs from Landry Park off of Moody Street or the footbridge behind Embassy parking. We meet outside our Visitor Entrance.

Directions and Parking Info HERE 

We look forward to seeing you there!

The optimal size for this tour is up to 20 persons.
Groups are welcome to contact the museum to arrange a private tour.         

Mill Talk: The Greater Boston School of Harpsichord Building

Mill Talk: “The Greater Boston School of Harpsichord Building”

Opening: “Rediscovering Waltham’s Harpsichord History” Special Exhibition

(6:00 PM Exhibit Opening, 7:00 PM Discussion)

presented by Mark Kroll, Professor Emeritus, Boston University

FREE to the Public, Registration Required

Join us for the kickoff of our very special exhibition, Rediscovering Waltham’s Harpsichord History, which will examine the story of Frank and Diane Hubbard, founders and operators of Hubbard Harpsichords manufacturers of instruments and kits for almost 50 years. Through their work, Greater Boston became a center of the revivial of the harpsichord as an instrument and Early Music as a genre. Mark Kroll has written the definitive book on chronicling this important period of music history and collected dozens of firsthand accounts of the principal players, workers, and artisans associated with the ‘Big Three’ harpsichord shops in Greater Boston – Hubbard in Waltham, William Dowd and Eric Herz, both in Cambridge.

Kroll will give a talk that sets the context in which the Hubbards’ shop at the Lyman Estate carriage house expanded to the old Cotton Picker Building of the Boston Manufacturing Factory site on Moody Street. Hubbard Harpsichords pioneered the use of DIY kits that became popular in the 1960s and 70s, many of which were built in this mill complex.

This Mill Talk marks the grand opening of Rediscovering Waltham’s Harpsichord History, a special exhibition on the artisanship, industry, and art of designing and building harpsichords, exemplified by those of the Hubbard shop. This three-month exhibition will include a full harpsichord, wood-bending frames, tools and materials of the trade, and imagery from the Hubbard shop that centers the workers who created instruments and kits for decades on site. Over the course of its installation, the program will include music, informational talks, panel discussions, and other special events to bring this almost-forgotten part of Waltham’s and Greater Boston’s music history back to the forefront.

March 22, 2025: Mark Kroll performs chamber music concert at the Charles River Museum (free, registration required) (supported in part by the Waltham Cultural Council)

Speaker Bio: Professor emeritus Mark Kroll, Boston University:
Mark Kroll’s distinguished career as a performer, scholar and educator spans a period of more than fifty years. He has appeared in North and South America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia as a recitalist and chamber musician, winning critical praise for his expressive playing and virtuosity. He has also performed as concerto soloist with the world’s major orchestras and served as harpsichordist for the Boston Symphony from 1979-2008. Kroll’s extensive list of recordings includes the music of Bach, Handel, Scarlatti, Biber, Duphly, Balbastre, Royer, Schubert, and Hummel; a 10-disc set of the complete pièces de clavecin of François Couperin; critically acclaimed CDs of contemporary harpsichord music; and Dutilleux’s Les Citations with the Boston Symphony Chamber Players.

Equally active as a scholar, Kroll has published eight books— Bach, Handel and Scarlatti: Reception in Britain 1750-1850; The Cambridge Companion to the Harpsichord; Ignaz Moscheles and the Changing World of Musical Europe; Playing the Harpsichord Expressively; The Beethoven Violin Sonatas; Johann Nepomuk Hummel: A Musician and His World (a second edition and a Slovakian translation were published this year in Bratislava); The Boston School of Harpsichord Building; and an annotated facsimile of part III of J. N. Hummel’s piano treatise—plus numerous chapters and articles, and scholarly editions for Bärenreiter, Ut Orpheus and A-R Editions. His book, Contemporary Harpsichord Music Since 1900, is in preparation.

A dedicated educator, Kroll is Professor emeritus at Boston University, where he served for twenty-five years as Professor of Harpsichord and Chair of the Department of Historical Performance. He teaches and lectures worldwide and has been visiting professor and guest lecturer at Northeastern University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Yale and Princeton Universities, and others throughout the United States.

Links:
Mark Kroll: Personal Website
The Boston School of Harpsichord Building (2019) Edwin Mellen Press

March 22, 2025: Mark Kroll performs chamber music concert at the Charles River Museum (free, registration required) (supported in part by the Waltham Cultural Council)

The N.E.M.E.S.
New England Model Engineering Show

For more information on EXHIBITING,
and the New England Model Engineering Society,
visit: neme-s.org

Industry and Innovation Tour: Manufacturing the Modern World A Gallery Tour

Explore the history of American ingenuity with this new tour, a guided experience that provides an overview of the museum’s collection, highlighting transformative advancements in manufacturing, precision engineering, and industrial technology. 

Visitors will learn about include the revolutionary textile machines of the early factory system, the world-class craftsmanship of Waltham watchmaking, and tools and inventions that shaped the modern age.

2nd SHIFT Concert: Robinson & Rohe

A Robinson & Rohe live show is a powerful showcase of effortless harmonies, soulful grooves, playful humor, and razor-sharp lyrics. Anaïs Mitchell is a fan, calling Robinson & Rohe “a portrait of togetherness and honest, defiant joy in a messy world.” Come on out and we think you become fans, too.

Mill Talk: “Waltham on the Charles: Canoeing Capital of the World in the Early 1900s”

presented by Benson Gray

FREE to the public, Registration required

With a presentation display of three canoes in our collection – two HB Arnolds and one Robertson Racing Canoe

At the turn of the last century, Waltham was a hub of canoeing and canoe manufacturing at the intersection of athletics, recreation, and craftmanship. A new industrial working class developed in Waltham and surrounding areas as companies like Boston Manufacturing and Waltham Watch employed thousands of line workers. Along with industrialization, leisure activities gained popularity as these same workers looked to the river to relax, socialize, and have fun on the weekends. The weekend itself is a consequence of industrialization and the factory work week.

In Waltham, builders like HB Arnold, Waltham Canoe, and others were at work crafting, renting, and selling their canoes. Large boathouses, dancehalls, and canoe launches popped up all along the stretch of the Charles from Moody Street back up to Newton Upper Falls. Come, hear about the innovative canoe builders on the Charles and the new leisure working class they served.

On view as part of Benson’s talk will be three wonderful examples of period canoes – two that were crafted by the HB Arnold Company of Waltham, and a Robertson racing canoe built in Auburndale. Two of our canoes were recently and expertly restored by members of the Wooden Canoe Heritage Association, Norumbega Branch.

Speaker Bio: Benson Gray grew up in Old Town, Maine, and has always loved canoes, so it was exciting to discover that many others shared an appreciation for these wonderful boats. His work with computers, combined with an interest in the history of canoes, has led to some fascinating collaborations. In the 1990s, he initiated a project to scan the Old Town Canoe Company catalogs, which later evolved into a much larger effort encompassing a variety of canoe manufacturers, with significant help from Dan Miller and others. His largest wooden canoe history project involved scanning most of the Old Town, Carleton, and Kennebec build records. These projects have made the history of canoes more accessible to everyone, but the true essence of an organization like the Charles River Museum lies in connecting people who share an interest in wooden canoes. 

Links:  Wooden Canoe Heritage Association

Maine Boats: "An Heirloom Canoe An Old Town family boat finds its way home" 

Upcycling at the Mill: Hand Sewing Workshop

(ages 12+ and adults) 
$18 Materials and Instruction fee
Space is limited

Give new life to old textiles in this hands-on workshop at the Charles River Museum of Industry & Innovation!

With 11.5 million tons of fabric wasted annually, upcycling offers a creative way to reduce waste while learning hand sewing, embroidery, and darning techniques. Held in the historic mill where America’s textile industry began, this class connects past and present by transforming worn clothing into something new.

Bring your own fabric items and reimagine them with sustainability and creativity in mind! 

2nd SHIFT Concert: Kathleen Parks

kathleenparksmusic.com

You may recognize Parks from her extensive touring and recording with local visionary string band Twisted Pine. Last year, she released a debut solo album that highlights her songwriting and original fiddle tunes, drawing on iconic influences such as John Hartford, Carole King, Roger Miller, and Gordon Lightfoot.

Industry and Innovation Tour: Making the Modern World A Gallery Tour

Explore the history of American ingenuity with this new tour, a guided experience that provides an overview of the museum’s collection, highlighting transformative advancements in manufacturing, precision engineering, and industrial technology. 

Visitors will learn about include the revolutionary textile machines of the early factory system, the world-class craftsmanship of Waltham watchmaking, and tools and inventions that shaped the modern age.

Mill Talk: “Kittie Knox, Cyclist”

and unveiling: “Kittie Knox in the Charles River Museum”

6:00 PM Unveiling, 7:00 PM Mill Talk

presented by Lorenz Finison

FREE TO THE PUBLIC Registration Required

Kittie Knox was a young biracial cyclist in the 1890s who fought against race-based limitations in America’s post-Reconstruction reaction against Black advancement. During her cycling career (1893 – 1899), she became a well-known century (100-mile) rider, protested the League of American Wheelmen’s color bar in 1895, and refused to conform to conventions about fast riding and wearing a long skirt while cycling. For decades after her untimely death, Knox’s groundbreaking story was virtually unknown outside of the world of cycling. Scholar and writer Larry Finison has worked to bring her remarkable life back to a wider audience and will speak about Kittie Knox in the context of the late 19th century cycling craze.

The Charles River Museum has long had a display of turn of the century bicycles to represent the Waltham Manufacturing Company of Charles Metz. Metz innovated and built bicycles, motorcycles, and cars, all under the Orient brand name. Alongside Major Taylor, Kittie Knox will have a prominent representation in our gallery as a pioneering figure in the early days of cycling history and having appeared here in Waltham at the Waltham Cycling Track in its heyday.

Speaker Bio: Lorenz “Larry” Finison

Larry Finison is a social psychologist by training and public health practitioner by profession and then turned to the social history of bicycling. He is the author of Boston's Cycling Craze, 1880-1900, Boston's 20th Century Bicycling Renaissance, and Bicycling Inclusion and Equity (2023). His most recent work is Kittie Knox: Exclusion and Inclusion in Boston’s Black Athletes: Identity, Performance, and Activism. He is also a friend to the University of Massachusetts Boston’s Bicycling History Collections Archives and a member of the New England Cycling Coalition for Diversity. Larry has done significant research in bringing the story of Kittie Knox’s life to a modern audience.

‘Youngest Innovators’ at the Charles River Museum

Designed for Kids 4-7 years old with accompanying adult(s)

‘Youngest Innovators’ is FREE for child participants.
$10 for Accompanying Adult, $5 Seniors

REGISTRATION REQUIRED
Space is Limited

Our youngest innovators are welcomed to the Charles River Museum for a program of activities and fun, led by our experienced early childhood educator, Carole Pugliese. This program is free with regular admission and is part of our efforts to inspire future innovators right from the start!

Upon entry, kids will be welcomed into the museum space and given a bit of history as to what the space was (a steam energy power plant) and how it is used now (a museum and learning space). We will gather in our cozy and inviting Learning Corner for introductions, and Carole will share a story with the kids as part of a read aloud activity. Then, students and accompanying adults will have a walking tour of the museum and experience the museum’s collection of industrial innovations and vintage machinery. They will be encouraged to think about concepts like invention, machinery, energy, and innovation and do a hands-on creative activity. All are welcome to stay to continue “creating” and /or to do a scavenger hunt revisiting the collection.

We will soon be offering museum kits to be used in the galleries with visiting young learners and families. This is part of a larger effort to develop programming specifically geared for that age group. These kits are still being created and will be available soon at our front desk to check out during future visits.

‘Youngest Innovators’ is free with normal admission ($5 for kids 6-7, $10 for adults, $5 seniors, kids 5 and under FREE) and will require registration online. We hope to welcome you here soon!

Industry and Innovation Tour: Making the Modern World A Gallery Tour

Explore the history of American ingenuity with this new tour, a guided experience that provides an overview of the museum’s collection, highlighting transformative advancements in manufacturing, precision engineering, and industrial technology. 

Visitors will learn about include the revolutionary textile machines of the early factory system, the world-class craftsmanship of Waltham watchmaking, and tools and inventions that shaped the modern age

Mill Talk: “Denim Culture: Past Present & Future”
and Screening: “Riveted: The History of Jeans” from PBS’s American Experience

(6:00 PM Screening, 7:00 PM Discussion)

presented by: Professor Emma McClendon, St. John’s University

Join us for a fascinating discussion on the past, present, and future of a ubiquitous fabric – denim. The Charles River Museum is at the site of Francis Cabot Lowell’s first cotton textile mill, and it was cotton manufacturing that powered the Industrial Revolution. Now, jeans are the iconic American fashion staple that almost all of us own. Fashion history professor, curator, and author Emma McClendon will join us as we screen the acclaimed PBS documentary, “Riveted: The History of Jeans.” The production features McClendon and other experts tracing the history and culture of jeans, and their place in American’s self-image.

Then, Emma McClendon will engage in an interactive discussion about where she sees the future of jeans as a fashion item, utilitarian garment, and manufactured product. She has a special interest in the sustainability of denim production, and the ways in which jeans have become not just clothing, but a way of expressing individuality and identity. This is sure to be a thought-provoking conversation around an article of clothing that, at any given moment, literally half of the planet’s population is wearing.

Speaker Bio: Emma McClendon, St. John’s University

Emma McClendon is Assistant Professor of Fashion Studies at St. John’s University in New York and author of Denim: Fashion’s Frontier (2016). While Associate Curator at The Museum at FIT from 2011-2020, she curated numerous critically acclaimed fashion history exhibitions including “Power Mode: The Force of Fashion” (2019), “The Body: Fashion and Physique” (2017) and “Denim: Fashion’s Frontier” (2015). She holds an MA Hons. in Art History from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland and an MA in the History of Dress from the Courtauld Institute of Art in London.

She is currently completing her PhD at the Bard Graduate Center for decorative arts, design history, and material culture in New York City. Her research focuses on the power dynamics inherent in clothing with a particular interest in body politics, labor, technology, and standardized sizing. Recent publications include Power Mode: The Force of Fashion (Skira, 2019) and the forthcoming (Re)Dressing American Fashion: Wear as Witness (Yale, March 2025).

Links:

Denim: Fashion's Frontier (2016) Yale University Press
(Re)Dressing American Fashion: Wear as Witness | Yale University Press
Online Exhibition: Denim: Fashion's Frontier
Emma McClendon, St. John’s University – Jeans: Universal and Unsustainable
The Washington Post: Denim is getting weird again

Mill Talks at the Charles River Museum of Industry and Innovation are free and open to the public and are made possible by the generous support of the Lowell Institute.

FREE 3d Printing Workshop with the Charles River Collaboratory

Interested in 3D Printing? Don't know how to start?

The Charles River Collaboratory will host workshops on February 5, 12, and 26 from 3PM-5PM—FREE to the Public!

Let your imagination run wild as you print and design whatever you want!

More information at the Collaboratory website: https://charlesrivercollab.org/

Tips and donations are encouraged, but not required.

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED! We are looking for more people to volunteer to help repair goods, help with administration, or help direct people where to go. I will send an initial email to volunteers later this week.

FAQ: https://www.walthamrc.org/faq
Volunteer sign up: https://www.walthamrc.org/volunteer
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/walthamrc

Mill Talk: Tariffs and Trade, Then and Now

THIS IS AN IN-PERSON EVENT
FREE to the public
REGISTRATION REQUIRED

Presented by:
Professor Bryan Snyder,
Bentley University
Professor Lawrence Peskin,
Morgan State University

In 1816, Francis Cabot Lowell was in Washington DC lobbying Congress to pass the first protectionist tariff in American history. In the aftermath of the War of 1812, the burgeoning cotton textile industry he had fought so hard to build was imperiled by the cheap dumping of British imports. By building a coalition between Northern industrialists and Southern plantation owners, Lowell was successful in arguing that tariffs would ensure that American domestic manufacturing should be protected, and that the federal government’s trade policy had a duty to so.

Now, tariffs are back in the political conversation, and the efforts around the Tariff of 1816 and its consequences are as relevant as ever. Join us as we engage in a dynamic conversation connecting the past, present, and future of tariffs and trade policy and their effects. Economist Bryan Snyder and historian Larry Peskin will draw lessons from American history to inform our understanding of economic policy today.

Speaker Bio: Lawrence Peskin, Morgan State University

Lawrence Peskin is a professor of History at Morgan State University in Baltimore. He specializes in antebellum political economy and has written extensively on pro-manufacturing protectionism, most recently on American business and diplomacy in the Mediterranean. His books include Manufacturing Revolution: The Intellectual Origins of American Industry (Johns Hopkins University Press; Matthew Carey, The New Olive Branch (Anthem Press, editor); Three Consuls: Capitalism, Empire and the Rise and Fall of America's Mediterranean Community, 1776-1840."

Links:

Three Consuls:Capitalism, Empire, and the Rise and Fall of America's Mediterranean Community, 1776–1840 | Cambridge University Press

Manufacturing Revolution: The Intellectual Origins of Early American Industry | Johns Hopkins University Press

Dr. Lawrence Peskin | Morgan State Univeristy Faculty

Speaker Bio: Bryan Snyder, Bentley University

Professor Snyder is a Distinguished Lecturer in the Department of Economics at Bentley University. His teaching interests cover a wide scope of economics, economic history and political economy. His current writing and research activities focus on the editing and production of the classroom readers Real World Micro (31st edition), Real World Macro (41st edition) and Economic of the Environment (4th edition) for Dollars & Sense magazine. He has also taught Business Ethics at University of Massachusetts-Lowell and has adapted the curriculum to high school, undergraduate and graduate curriculums. Professor Snyder delights in incorporating “normative” issues into his curriculum and challenges his students to address moral and ethical issues in the study of economics.

Links:

Bryan Snyder | Bentley University Faculty

Industry and Innovation Tour:
the historic Francis Cabot Lowell Mill 

Our popular outdoor walking tour returns!
Come see an evolution of a historic textile mill

Curious about the old mill complex by the river? Discover the history and architecture of the world’s first modern factory, the 1813 Boston Manufacturing Company, which lies right in your own backyard!

Take a walk by the river in the fresh air. Then have a delicious lunch at one of Waltham’s local eateries.  

It all starts at the Charles River Museum.

Where:
Tours begin overlooking the river beneath the Charles River Museum smokestack. Follow signs from Landry Park off of Moody Street or the footbridge behind Embassy parking. We meet outside our Visitor Entrance.

Directions and Parking Info HERE 

We look forward to seeing you there!

The optimal size for this tour is up to 20 persons.
Groups are welcome to contact the museum to arrange a private tour.         

‘Youngest Innovators’ at the Charles River Museum

Designed for Kids 4-7 years old with accompanying adult(s)

Free with general admission ticket
REGISTRATION REQUIRED
Space is Limited

Our youngest innovators are welcomed to the Charles River Museum for a program of activities and fun, led by our experienced early childhood educator, Carole Pugliese. This program is free with regular admission and is part of our efforts to inspire future innovators right from the start!

Upon entry, kids will be welcomed into the museum space and given a bit of history as to what the space was (a steam energy power plant) and how it is used now (a museum and learning space). We will gather in our cozy and inviting Learning Corner for introductions, and Carole will share a story with the kids as part of a read aloud activity. Then, students and accompanying adults will have a walking tour of the museum and experience the museum’s collection of industrial innovations and vintage machinery. They will be encouraged to think about concepts like invention, machinery, energy, and innovation and do a hands-on creative activity. All are welcome to stay to continue “creating” and /or to do a scavenger hunt revisiting the collection.

We will soon be offering museum kits to be used in the galleries with visiting young learners and families. This is part of a larger effort to develop programming specifically geared for that age group. These kits are still being created and will be available soon at our front desk to check out during future visits.

‘Youngest Innovators’ is free with normal admission ($5 for kids 6-7, $10 for adults, $5 seniors, kids 5 and under FREE) and will require registration online. We hope to welcome you here soon!

Industry and Innovation Tour: Making the Modern World A Gallery Tour

Explore the history of American ingenuity with this new tour, a guided experience that provides an overview of the museum’s collection, highlighting transformative advancements in manufacturing, precision engineering, and industrial technology. 

Visitors will learn about include the revolutionary textile machines of the early factory system, the world-class craftsmanship of Waltham watchmaking, and tools and inventions that shaped the modern age.

FREE 3d Printing Workshop with the Charles River Collaboratory

Interested in 3D Printing? Don't know how to start?

The Charles River Collaboratory will host workshops on February 5, 12, and 26 from 3PM-5PM—FREE to the Public!

Let your imagination run wild as you print and design whatever you want!

More information at the Collaboratory website: https://charlesrivercollab.org/

Industry and Innovation Tour: Making the Modern World A Gallery Tour

Explore the history of American ingenuity with this new tour, a guided experience that provides an overview of the museum’s collection, highlighting transformative advancements in manufacturing, precision engineering, and industrial technology. 

Visitors will learn about include the revolutionary textile machines of the early factory system, the world-class craftsmanship of Waltham watchmaking, and tools and inventions that shaped the modern age.

The Mill Girls of New England are an iconic feature of early American industry. More than being a symbol of industrialization, they were the first industrial workforce in the U.S. These working women contributed to the growth of the American industrial economy, challenged the idea that women couldn’t be “breadwinners” and were actively involved in early workers rights movements and trade unions.

Tour length: 45 minute

It is a FREE TOUR which will explore a limited section of our exhibits.

Should you wish to stay and tour the remainder of the Museum, we ask that you please pay our regular admission

Mill Talk: “'We black folks had to wear lowells': Negro Cloth, Enslaved People, and the Legacy of Lowell Manufacturing"

Join Dr. Jonathan Michael Square on February 6 at Charles River Museum of Industry & Innovation for an in-depth exploration of the history of negro cloth and its pivotal role in the American fashion industry, with a focus on its production in Lowell, Massachusetts. The talk will also examine how enslaved individuals utilized textiles as a form of self-fashioning in the face of the deprivation of their self-hood.

Dr. Jonathan Michael Square is the Assistant Professor of Black Visual Culture at Parsons School of Design. He earned a PhD from New York University, an M.A. from the University of Texas at Austin, and a B.A. from Cornell University. Previously, he taught in the Committee on Degree in History and Literature at Harvard University and was a fellow in the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Most recently, he curated the exhibition Past Is Present: Black Artists Respond to the Complicated Histories of Slavery at the Herron School of Art and Design, which closed in January 2023. He is currently preparing for his upcoming show titled Almost Unknown: Afric-American Picture Gallery at the Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library. A proponent of the use of social media as a form of radical pedagogy, Dr. Square also leads the digital humanities project Fashioning the Self in Slavery and Freedom.

Link: https://www.instagram.com/fashioningtheself/

Tatter: ‘We Black Folks Had To Wear Lowells’: an interview with Dr. Jonathan Michael Square (May 11, 2024)

FREE 3d Printing Workshop with the Charles River Collaboratory

Interested in 3D Printing? Don't know how to start?

The Charles River Collaboratory will host workshops on February 5, 12, and 26 from 3PM-5PM—FREE to the Public!

Let your imagination run wild as you print and design whatever you want!

More information at the Collaboratory website: https://charlesrivercollab.org/

Industry and Innovation Tour:
the historic Francis Cabot Lowell Mill 

Our popular outdoor walking tour returns!
Come see an evolution of a historic textile mill

Curious about the old mill complex by the river? Discover the history and architecture of the world’s first modern factory, the 1813 Boston Manufacturing Company, which lies right in your own backyard!

Take a walk by the river in the fresh air. Then have a delicious lunch at one of Waltham’s local eateries.  

It all starts at the Charles River Museum.

Where:
Tours begin overlooking the river beneath the Charles River Museum smokestack. Follow signs from Landry Park off of Moody Street or the footbridge behind Embassy parking. We meet outside our Visitor Entrance.

Directions and Parking Info HERE 

We look forward to seeing you there!

The optimal size for this tour is up to 20 persons.
Groups are welcome to contact the museum to arrange a private tour.         

MassDestruction: With a Vengeance!

Sparks will fly, bots will die, and a new champion of MassDestruction will be crowned!

Fight registration on buildersdb.com

Third time is the charm, as MassDestruction returns once again Charles River Museum of Industry and Innovation to bring you an entire day of mechanized mayhem! Expect to see Boston’s brightest put their metal to the metal as we clash 3lb and 1lb robots in our Pyramid of Pain!

NOTE: This is a family friendly spectator event suitable for all ages, but there will be loud noises and crowds.

If you’re new to robot fighting and want to learn how to get involved, please message MassDestruction’s friendly Facebook page and we can get you pointed in the right direction!

Rules: 

• NERC Ruleset plus some additional rules that will be on the buildersdb page

The Mill Girls of New England are an iconic feature of early American industry. More than being a symbol of industrialization, they were the first industrial workforce in the U.S. These working women contributed to the growth of the American industrial economy, challenged the idea that women couldn’t be “breadwinners” and were actively involved in early workers rights movements and trade unions.

Tour length: 45 minute

It is a FREE TOUR which will explore a limited section of our exhibits.

Should you wish to stay and tour the remainder of the Museum, we ask that you please pay our regular admission

Mill Talk: In Pursuit of a Safer Industrial Workplace – Pemberton to the Present

In conversation:
Professor Robert Forrant, UMASS Lowell
Gabriel Porter, Safety and Health Specialist/Process Safety Management Coordinator OSHA Boston Regional Office

What can a 19th-century mill disaster teach us about workplace safety today?

Join Professor Robert Forrant (UMass Lowell) and Gabriel Porter (Safety and Health Specialist/Process Safety Management Coordinator OSHA Boston Regional Office) for a compelling discussion moderated by Charles River Museum’s Director of Education, Stephen Guerriero. Forrant will delve into the catastrophic Pemberton Mill collapse of 1860—an industrial tragedy that claimed 98 lives, revealed systemic failures, and left questions of accountability unresolved. Porter will explore how OSHA builds on lessons from such events to safeguard workers in today’s industries. Together, they’ll connect history to modern-day practices, offering insights into the ongoing fight for safer workplaces.

Robert Forrant is Distinguished University Professor of History at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. His most recent book, Where Are the Workers: Interpreting Labor and Working-Class History at Museums and Historic Sites, was published in 2022. In early 2024 he published “‘No Avenging Gibet’: The 1860 Pemberton Mill Collapse” in The New England Quarterly. The article forms the basis for his talk.

Links:

Robert Forrant: UMASS Lowell
Where Are the Workers? Labor’s Stories at Museums and Historic Sites (University of Illinois Press)
"'No Avenging Gibbet': The 1860 Pemberton Mill Collapse" The New England Quarterly

Gabriel Porter is a New Hampshire based Safety and Health Specialist/Process Safety Management Coordinator with the US Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Boston Regional Office. A graduate of Northeastern University, he has close to 20 years' experience working in the field of workplace safety and compliance. Porter helps to communicate the role and history of OSHA as a regulatory agency tasked by Congress to ensure worker health and safety are maintained across a broad spectrum of industries and sites.

Links:

Occupational Safety and Health Administration
OSHA at 50: 50 Years of Workplace Safety and Healt

Mill Talks at the Charles River Museum of Industry and Innovation are free and open to the public and are made possible by the generous support of the Lowell Institute.