Somerville Museum: Penny Chronicles Curator Talk

Join us for an event with David Guss, curator of the current exhibition, Penny Chronicles and the Stories They Tell. The event will be a talk and tour of the exhibition.

They cost a penny to buy and a penny to send. They were the social media of their day, snippets of news attached to images of local buildings, monuments, and events. Big pictures in a small frame, serving as testimonies to one’s pride of place. Strung together, they tell Somerville’s unique history: a visit from a president, the impact of suffragettes, veterans marching, monuments dedicated, developers building rows of new homes.

Admission: $10; Museum members free

Please note: There are no public restrooms available during our current renovation project.

COVID 19 Update: In an effort to keep our staff, volunteers, and visitors safe we will be requiring everyone to wear a mask while indoors. We will be closely following updates on local and state regulations.

About the curator, David Guss:

David Guss is a member of the Somerville Museum Board of Trustees. He is also Professor Emeritus at Tufts University Department of Anthropology. He is a writer, scholar, researcher, poet, folklorist, organizer, performer, and dancer.

A specialist in Latin America, festivals, rituals, and performances, David has conducted research in many parts of Latin America and the United States.

In 1976, he began a decade-long project with Venezuela’s Yekuana Indians in the headwaters of the Orinoco. His next project explored the ways festive behavior is used to negotiate and constitute identity. This book, The Festive State: Race, Ethnicity, and Nationalism as Cultural Performance established him as one of the world’s leading authorities on festive behavior. In 1994, he extended this research to Bolivia where, in another decade-long study, he looked at intersections of colonialism, placemaking, and festive forms in the largest indigenous celebration in the Americas.

This program is made possible by a grant from Mass Humanities, partnership with the Massachusetts Cultural Council.

This exhibition has been made possible in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities NEH Cares grant. Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this exhibition and programming do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

This program is supported in part by a grant from the Somerville Arts Council, a local agency supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council.