Special Events
Margaret Fuller Bicentennial, May 21-23, 2010
Two hundred years after her birth, Margaret Fuller still challenges our social, intellectual, political, and spiritual assumptions.
Photo courtesy of Concord Free Public Library
The Transcendentalism Council at First Parish in Concord invites you to celebrate Margaret Fuller’s bicentennial on May 21–23, 2010, in Concord, Massachusetts, center of the Transcendentalist circle of which she was an integral part.
Lecture & Panel Discussion
Friday, May 21, 7:00 pm, Concord Free Public Library, 129 Main St., Concord, MA
Keynote Address by Charles Capper, Professor of History, Boston University: Margaret Fuller in Time, the dramatically changing reputation of Margaret Fuller over the past two centuries and the importance of Fuller's life and work for our own time. A reception and book-signing will follow.
Charles Capper is the author of Margaret Fuller: An American Romantic Life, Volume 1: The Private Years (Oxford University Press, 1992), which won the Bancroft Prize in 1993; and Volume 2: The Public Years (OUP, 2007). He is the coeditor of The American Intellectual Tradition, 2 vols., Sixth Edition (OUP, forthcoming 2011); and Transient and Permanent: The Transcendentalist Movement and Its Contexts (Massachusetts Historical Society, 1999). He is also the coeditor of the journal Modern Intellectual History. He has been the recipient of Guggenheim, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Humanities Center, and Harvard Universityís Warren Center fellowships. He is currently writing a book on the Transcendentalists and the birth of American democratic culture.
This event co-sponsored by the Concord Free Public Library.
Saturday, May 22, 10:00 am, First Parish Meetinghouse, 20 Lexington Rd., Concord, MA
Panel Discussion, with presentations by:
Brigitte Bailey, Associate Professor of English, University of New Hampshire, Past President of the Margaret Fuller Society
Fuller's Travels: Modernity and the City
Fuller reached her broadest audience after she left New England, as a columnist, book reviewer, and foreign correspondent. Fuller was fascinated by New York’s explosive modernity, and with European urban centers of industrialism, political theorizing, and revolution.
Professor Bailey's teaching and research interests focus on 19th-century United States literature and culture (including visual culture), travel writing, cultural productions of nationhood, and representations of urban space. Her articles, on such writers as Fuller, Hawthorne, Stowe, and James, have appeared in such journals as American Literature, American Literary History, and ESQ: A Journal of the American Renaissance, and in collections of essays. She has served as the English Department's Director of Graduate Studies, as the Coordinator of the interdisciplinary American Studies Minor at UNH, and as the President of the Margaret Fuller Society.
Michael Barnett, M. Div., M. Ed., Theologian, educator, and Fuller scholar
Margaret Fuller Shapes the Consciousness of America Through the New York Tribune
As the first woman social and literary critic and foreign correspondent for the New York Tribune, Fuller exposed horrific conditions in hospitals and prisons, vehemently opposed slavery, and revealed the poverty and classism created by the Industrial Revolution.
Michael Barnett works as a theologian, educator, and poet. He earned his Master of Divinity Magna Cum Laude from Moravian Theological Seminary in Bethlehem, PA, and his Master of Education from Gwynedd-Mercy College, where he taught religious studies. For nine years, Michael has spoken and taught on the Transcendentalists in UU and liberal churches in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, and New Mexico. He teaches poetry writing, journaling, and writings of the Transcendentalists at Montgomery County Community College. As a teaching artist in poetry with the Lehigh Valley Arts Council, Michael works with at-risk youth and students in the Lehigh Valley, PA.
Joan von Mehren, President of the Margaret Fuller Society and author of Minerva and the Muse: The Life of Margaret Fuller
Margaret Fuller in Concord
Joan von Mehren is a community activist and independent scholar. During a year in Rome in 1970 she discovered Margaret Fuller just as a new burst of feminism was taking root in Europe and America. In addition to her Fuller biography, she has published essays: “Margaret Fuller, Woman of Letters”; “Margaret Fuller and the Media”; and “Margaret Fuller and the Marchese Giovanni Ossoli, and the Marriage Question: Considering the Research of Dr. Roberto Colzi.”
Moderator: Rev. Jenny Rankin, Minister, First Parish in Concord; scholar of the Transcendentalists
Jenny Rankin is a Unitarian Universalist minister who was ordained in 1988 and has served the First Parish in Concord since 1997. Jenny graduated from Princeton University, where she majored in European Cultural Studies. She received her M.Div. degree from Harvard Divinity School. Jenny has studied the history of First Parish in Concord from its beginnings in 1636, especially the Transcendentalist era. She has taught classes on Emerson, Thoreau, Fuller and has led a group from First Parish to Italy to “trace the steps of Transcendentalists.”
Panel discussion co-sponsored by The Thoreau Society and The Emerson Forum.
Tours
Saturday, May 22, 1:00 pm
Guided Tours of sites Fuller visited in Concord, led by Rev. Jenny Rankin and Mel Bernstein, Convener, Emerson Forum. Advance reservations and payment required. After April 1, 2010, reservations can be made at 978-369-9602.
Tours co-sponsored by The Old Manse and Concord Museum.
Music
Saturday, May 22, 4:00 pm, First Parish Meetinghouse, 20 Lexington Rd., Concord, MA
Chamber Music of the Transcendental Period: Piano Trio in G minor, Op. 17 (1847) by Clara Schumann (1819–1896) performed by Lillian Braden (violin), Joan Esch (cello) and Susan Minor (piano). The preeminent concert pianist of the nineteenth century, Clara Schumann defied the prejudices of the times against women composers to produce a respected body of piano and vocal works. Her Piano Trio, Op. 17, is especially acclaimed for its lyricism, romantic expression, and form. Wine and cheese reception to follow.
Music presented by the Arts Council of First Parish in Concord.
Drama
Saturday, May 22, 8:00 pm, First Parish Meetinghouse, 20 Lexington Rd., Concord, MA
Margaret Fuller's Universe, a dramatic presentation by Agnes Butcher and Sayre Sheldon.
$10 suggested donation. After April 1, 2010, reservations can be made at 978-369-9602. Tickets also available at the door.
Drama presented by the Arts Council of First Parish in Concord.
Exhibits
Saturday, May 22 and Sunday, May 23
First Parish Meetinghouse, 20 Lexington Rd., Concord, MA
Photographs of Transcendentalist sites by the First Parish Photography Club will be on display in the Parish Hall throughout the weekend.
Why Margaret Fuller Matters
This series of text-and-image panels was created by graphic designer and author Bonnie Hurd Smith for the UUA Margaret Fuller Bicentennial Committee. Highlights include a timeline of Fuller's life; sketches of her closest colleagues; and examples of her strongly-held views, on issues such as equality, women’s rights, marriage, education, politics, class, slavery, American Indian rights, religion and Transcendentalism; her world view as a trans-nationalist; and her vision of social justice. Sponsored by the Women's Parish Association of First Parish in Concord.
Exhibits presented by the Photo Club and the Women's Parish Association of First Parish in Concord.
Worship
Sunday, May 23, 9:00 am and 11:00 am
First Parish Meetinghouse, 20 Lexington Rd., Concord, MA
Worship Services to celebrate and reflect on the life of Margaret Fuller, led by Rev. Jenny Rankin. The First Parish Choir, under the direction of Elizabeth Norton, will perform the winner of the Margaret Fuller Hymn Competition. Birthday cake will be served at coffee hour. All are welcome!
Directions to the Margaret Fuller Bicentennial events
From Boston/Cambridge:
Take MA Route 2 West.
After you pass Route 128 (I-95), continue 4 miles west on Route 2 to second traffic light.
At traffic light, Route 2 bears left but you want to go straight,
so get in the far right lane and proceed straight onto Cambridge Turnpike.
Go 1.3 miles on Cambridge Turnpike.
After you pass the Concord Museum on your right, make a slight left onto Lexington Road.
First Parish Meetinghouse (MAP) will be 0.3 mile on your left, #20 Lexington Road.
To reach the Concord Free Public Library (MAP), continue on Lexington Rd. about 100 ft. past First Parish, and go left at the rotary onto Main Street (Mass. Route 62).
Proceed 0.3 mile on Main Street, the Library will be on your left.
From north of Boston:
Take I-95 south to Exit 29B, MA Route 2 West.
Go 4 miles west on Route 2 to second traffic light.
At traffic light, Route 2 bears left but you want to go straight,
so get in the far right lane and proceed straight onto Cambridge Turnpike.
Go 1.3 miles on Cambridge Turnpike.
After you pass the Concord Museum on your right, make a slight left onto Lexington Road.
First Parish Meetinghouse (MAP) will be 0.3 mile on your left, #20 Lexington Road.
To reach the Concord Free Public Library (MAP), continue on Lexington Rd. about 100 ft. past First Parish, and go left at the rotary onto Main Street (Mass. Route 62).
Proceed 0.3 mile on Main Street, the Library will be on your left.
From south of Boston:
Take I-95 north to Exit 29B, MA Route 2 West.
Go 4 miles west on Route 2 to second traffic light.
At traffic light, Route 2 bears left but you want to go straight,
so get in the far right lane and proceed straight onto Cambridge Turnpike.
Go 1.3 miles on Cambridge Turnpike.
After you pass the Concord Museum on your right, make a slight left onto Lexington Road.
First Parish Meetinghouse (MAP) will be 0.3 mile on your left, #20 Lexington Road.
To reach the Concord Free Public Library (MAP), continue on Lexington Rd. about 100 ft. past First Parish, and go left at the rotary onto Main Street (Mass. Route 62).
Proceed 0.3 mile on Main Street, the Library will be on your left.
From locations west of the Boston area:
Take I-90 (Mass Pike) east to Exit 14, I-95 north.
Take I-95 north for 6.2 miles to Exit 29B, MA Route 2 West.
Go 4 miles west on Route 2 to second traffic light.
At traffic light, Route 2 bears left but you want to go straight,
so get in the far right lane and proceed straight onto Cambridge Turnpike.
Go 1.3 miles on Cambridge Turnpike.
After you pass the Concord Museum on your right, make a slight left onto Lexington Road.
First Parish Meetinghouse (MAP) will be 0.3 mile on your left, #20 Lexington Road.
To reach the Concord Free Public Library (MAP), continue on Lexington Rd. about 100 ft. past First Parish, and go left at the rotary onto Main Street (Mass. Route 62).
Proceed 0.3 mile on Main Street, the Library will be on your left.
Visiting Concord, MA
Visit the Concord Chamber of Commerce web site for information about the town's rich cultural life and many sites of natural beauty and historic importance, as well as places to stay, places to eat, and places to shop. Stop by the Concord Visitor Center at 58 Main St., between the First Parish Meetinghouse and the Concord Free Public Library.