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ASHLAND – The Ashland Public Library is part of a library collaborative hosting a virtual lecture on the Gilded World of Isabella Stewart Gardner on Tuesday, March 21.

This event is hosted by the Cary Memorial Library in Lexington and is a collaboration between the several Massachusetts libraries. 

The life of Boston’s arts patroness typifies the lives of many of the wealthy and cultured Americans who lived during the Gilded Age of American history.

The program will xplore the details of Isabella Stewart Gardner’s life, friends, travels and collections.

“She broke all kinds of rules while setting up her museum but perhaps we can understand this when we read her personal motto “It is my pleasure.” She arranged things the way she wanted with relationships between objects that may at first escape us. What is left for us is to marvel at the space she created and filled with beautiful things,” noted the libraries.

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Mary C. Woodward will present the hour-long lecture.

The Zoom lecture starts at 7 p.m.

Pre-registration is required.

She has spent more than 40 years in the museum and historic home business, having earned her B.A. and M.A. degrees in Art History.  She has worked at large, comprehensive collections such as the Cleveland Museum of Art and tiny properties like the 17th century log cabin that was the birthplace of President James K. Polk.  Each opportunity has been an interesting and memorable experience.

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Since moving to Massachusetts in 2010, Woodward has worked at The Old Manse in Concord, the Concord Museum and now Historic New England, previously as Lead Guide at the Gropius House in Lincoln and currently as Lead Guide at the Winslow Crocker House in Yarmouth Port.  

For six years, she established and managed the Gallery at the Chelmsford Center for the Arts, an exhibition space for local artists.  In the last few years, she’s enjoyed taking art history talks on the road to various libraries and retirement communities.  When she’s not at work, she’s in her yard, pretending to garden. 

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By editor

Susan Petroni is the former editor for SOURCE. She is the founder of the former news site, which as of May 1, 2023, is now a self-publishing community bulletin board. The website no longer has a journalist but a webmaster.