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The Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Museum to Present Ken Turino and a talk on four Centuries of Christmas Traditions in America

The Spirit of Christmas Past: Four Centuries of Christmas in America
Community Room • City Hall • 125 East Ave, Norwalk, CT 06851
December 5, 2024
Click here for tickets

The Spirit of Christmas Past: Four Centuries of Christmas in America

 On Thurs., Dec. 5, at 6 p.m.,the Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Museum will present Kenneth Turino for an illustrated talk titled, “The Spirit of Christmas Past: Four Centuries of Christmas in America.” Mr. Turino, a renowned expert on holiday traditions, will take questions from lecture-goers after his presentation. The talk will be held in the Community Room at City Hall in Norwalk, CT. To reserve tickets, attendees can visit the Events page on the Museum’s website at www.lockwoodmathewsmansion.com. Admission is $15 for members, $20 for non-members. Light refreshments will be offered following the presentation.

Ken Turino to speak at the Lockwood Mathews mansion in Norwalk, Connecticut
Ken Turino

Trustee and Lecture Committee Chair Kathy Olsen said, “We are thrilled to present Ken Turino to our audiences. His talk will be both entertaining and educational as it will shed some light on a holiday that brings so much joy to communities throughout the region and beyond.” 

Woman Decorating Tree
Woman Decorating Tree image via Lockwood Mathews Mansion

This well-illustrated lecture traces the development of the celebration of Christmas from when it was outlawed in 17th Century New England through the mid-21st Century when all the trappings of a traditional Christmas were in place. For many, the celebration of Christmas today is the most important holiday of the year.  However, many of the customs, which we take for granted as part of the current holiday festivities and religious celebrations, are actually a product of more recent history. The presentation will look at how Christmas transformed from a rowdy celebration to a family centered event. Among the topics discussed are how Christmas trees were raised, halls were decked, and Santa Claus came to town. 

Boy-and-Musical-Notes
Boy and Musical Notes

Kenneth Turino is currently a Senior Consultant for Museum Search and Reference, an executive search firm. Previously, he was Manager of Community Partnerships and Resource Development at Historic New England. There he oversaw community engagement projects throughout New England for 24 years and was responsible for exhibition partnerships at Historic New England’s museums. Prior to this, he was Executive Director of the Lynn Museum in Lynn, Massachusetts for 14 years. Ken frequently consults on interpretive planning and community engagement projects at historic sites including Madam John’s Legacy, New Orleans, LA, on best practices of community engagement, James Madison’s Montpellier, Orange, VA, where he was part of a charrette to rethink the visitor experience and more recently with Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater on interpreting LGBTQ history. Ken holds a MA in Teaching, Museum Education, from The George Washington University and is an adjunct professor in the Tufts University Museum Studies Program where he teaches courses on the future of historic houses and exhibition planning. Mr. Turino currently serves on the Board of the American Association for State and Local History and is former President of the Board of Trustees of the House of Seven Gables in Salem, MA. Along with Max van Balgooy he is an instructor for AASLH‘s Reinventing the Historic House workshop and the two have edited, “Reimaging Historic House Museums, New Approaches and Proven Solutions.” Ken frequently speaks on the history of Christmas and his book “Interpreting Christmas at Museums and Historic Sites”was published in September 2024. 

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