The Plymouth Tapestry
Lecturers: Donna Curtin
Live Lecture Date: Sunday, September 10, 2023 1PM Eastern
Live Lecture Registration: August 14 – September 8, 2023 1PM Eastern
Format: Live Lecture and Recording
The Plymouth Tapestry is an heirloom embroidery commissioned by Pilgrim Hall Museum for Plymouth’s 400th anniversary commemoration. It is being created by artist Elizabeth Creeden and group of volunteer stitchers in a multi-year undertaking. Consisting of twenty 6-ft. long panels or “chapters,” the Plymouth Tapestry tells the story of early Plymouth, focusing on the experiences of the English settlers who arrived on the Mayflower and the Wampanoag families who inhabited the region for millennia before their arrival. Museum Director Donna Curtin describes how the project came to be, how the Tapestry is being made, and shares images and film clips of this remarkable masterwork-in-the-making, including the ten six-ft. long embroidered panels completed to date.
Donna DeFabio Curtin is Executive Director of the Pilgrim Society and Pilgrim Hall Museum in Plymouth, MA, the oldest continuous Museum in the United States, where she stewards the world’s most significant collection of the possessions of the Mayflower Pilgrims and fosters inclusive understandings of America’s colonial beginnings. Holding a PhD in Early American History from Brown University, Dr. Curtin has been active in the fields of public history and museum education through a varied career, including years of spirited advocacy for inclusive histories. As Director of the women-founded Plymouth Antiquarian Society, she stewarded and exhibited an extensive needlework and textile collection, including Plymouth area samplers. In her current position, she has been involved with the Plymouth Tapestry project from its conceptual stage and oversees exhibition and conservation of the work-in-progress. Dr. Curtin resides with her family on the banks of historic Town Brook, which once provided sweet drinking water for the Wampanoag and Pilgrim families of early Plymouth.
