Pulitzer Prize-Winner Laurel Ulrich Reflects on “The Age of Homespun” During Women’s History Month

Part of Museum’s Popular “Read the Revolution” Speaker Series

Pulitzer Prize-winning historian of early America and the history of women Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, 300th Anniversary University Professor emerita at Harvard University, will join the Museum of the American Revolution on Thursday, March 28, 2019 at 6 p.m. to reflect on her pioneering work The Age of Homespun: Objects and Stories in the Creation of an American Myth, during Women’s History Month. 

In The Age of Homespun, first published in 2001, Ulrich uses domestic items from preindustrial America–ranging from a linen tablecloth to an unfinished sock–to trace the history of New England and offer profound insights into American life and culture. At the Museum, Ulrich will revisit the Revolutionary era with an emphasis on the power of ordinary objects to enhance our understanding of the past.

The discussion will be followed by a question-and-answer session with the audience. At 7:30 p.m., Ulrich will be available by the Museum store to sign copies of her books.

Tickets are $15 for Museum members, $20 for non-members, and $10 for students (does not include Museum admission). For more information and to purchase tickets, click here.

“Ulrich is a supremely gifted scholar and writer. And with ‘The Age of Homespun’ she has truly outdone herself. Venturing off in a new and highly original direction…an exemplary response to a longstanding historians’ challenge – to treat objects, no less than writings, as documents that speak to us from and about the past.” – The New York Times

Laurel Thatcher Ulrich is 300th Anniversary University Professor emerita at Harvard University, where she specialized in early American history, women’s history, and the study of material life. Her latest book, A House Full of Females: Plural Marriage and Women’s Rights in Early Mormonism, 1835-1870, explores the emergence of female activism within a stigmatized religious minority. She is probably best known for A Midwife’s Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard Based on Her Diary, 1785-1812, which won the Pulitzer Prize for History in 1991. Others know her for a sentence that escaped from one of her scholarly articles to become a popular slogan. She explored that phenomenon in Well-behaved Women Seldom Make History (2007). In The Age of Homespun: Objects and Stories in the Creation of an American Myth(2001), she pioneered in the use of textiles and other common-place artifacts as sources for history, an approach she has developed further in a co-authored work Tangible Things: Making History Through Objects (2015), and in two online courses that will be available this spring on Harvard’s edX platform. Recognized by the National Endowment for the Humanities for her work in public history, she has consulted in museums and historical societies nationwide.

The Museum’s Read the Revolution Speaker Series brings celebrated authors and historians to the Museum for lively discussions of their work. The inaugural 2017-18 season of the series was completely sold out. The series is based on the Museum’s national Read the Revolution bi-monthly e-newsletter, which has nearly 50,000 subscribers and features excerpts from thought-provoking books to inspire learning about the American Revolution.

The final event in this year’s series will feature Virginia DeJohn Anderson discussing The Martyr and The Traitor on Thursday, May 15, 2019.

About Museum of the American Revolution
The Museum of the American Revolution explores the dramatic, surprising story of the American Revolution through its unmatched collection of Revolutionary-era weapons, personal items, documents, and works of art. Immersive galleries, powerful theater experiences, and digital touchscreens bring to life the diverse array of people who created a new nation against incredible odds. Visitors gain a deeper appreciation for how this nation came to be and feel inspired to consider their role in the ongoing promise of the American Revolution. Located just steps away from Independence Hall, the Museum serves as a portal to the region’s many Revolutionary sites, sparking interest, providing context, and encouraging exploration. The Museum, which opened on April 19, 2017, is a private, non-profit, and non-partisan organization. For more information, visit www.AmRevMuseum.org or call 877.740.1776.