Tonight, Thursday, November 10, the Weston Historical Society will present a lecture by Rebecca Midgal, the free-lance curator who created the amazing exhibit now on display at the Josiah Smith Tavern. “Tools, Toys, and Treasures: Getting to Know the Joneses” will focus on three generations of the Jones family, as well as extended family and friends who, at one point or another, called the Tavern “home.”

The program at the Weston Public Library Community Room (don’t show up at the JST) will begin with the WHS annual meeting at 7 pm followed by the lecture at 7:30. Refreshments will be served, and all are welcome.

Rebecca’s lecture will share some of the delightful details from her research into the extensive Weston Historical Society collection of Jones items. These give us a window into the world of the Joneses: what it might have been like to encounter them at work, at play, or at home. Shovels branded with a Jones name, forgotten varnish cans from a carriage-painting business, beautiful paintings done by family members, a small account book, treasured doll furniture, decorative objects, and furniture in a range of styles — each tells part of the story of over a century of Jones ownership.

It is a story of a family home with a mix of tastes, personalities, and activities that bridges the 19th and 20th centuries.  From tools to toys, these artifacts provide not only evidence to support the archival record but also clues to stories we have yet to fully uncover.

Join this lecture to meet the Joneses: Marshall, John Sr, Abigail, Theodore, John Jr, Caroline, Ellen, Alice, and a host of Cutting, Stimpson, and other cousins. 

A graduate of the Winterthur Program in American Material Culture, Rebecca Midgal is a freelance curator and Executive Director of Thoreau Farm, the birthplace of Henry David Thoreau in Concord.