Programs
Campus Tours at the Museums (May-Oct)
May 24th – October 18th, 2024
Monday, Tuesday, Friday, Saturday
We also host historical walking tours year round. Click here for the current schedule of historical walking tours.
For special events, see below.
2018 Lecture Series
Richard Thomas, “Why Bob Dylan Matters”
Cultural Center 55 Palmer Avenue, Falmouth, MA, United StatesWhen the Nobel Prize for Literature was awarded to Bob Dylan in 2016, a debate raged. Some celebrated, while many others questioned the choice. How could the world’s most prestigious book prize be awarded to a famously cantankerous singer-songwriter who wouldn’t even deign to attend the medal ceremony? In Why Bob Dylan Matters, Harvard Professor […]
Robertson Dinsmore, “Lightships of Cape Cod”
Cultural Center 55 Palmer Avenue, Falmouth, MA, United StatesIllustrated talk on lightships which were floating lighthouses positioned where land based lighthouses could not be built. They marked the entrance to harbor channels and the navigational routes around reefs and shoals. The first American lightship was in 1820 and the number grew to a maximum of 55 lightships by 1900 compared to 1,460 lighthouses. […]
Dan Kennedy, “The Return of the Moguls”
Cultural Center 55 Palmer Avenue, Falmouth, MA, United StatesHow Jeff Bezos and John Henry are Remaking Newspapers for the 21st Century Over the course of a generation, the story of the daily newspaper has been an unchecked slide from record profitability and readership to plummeting profits, increasing irrelevance, and inevitable obsolescence. The forces killing major dailies, alternative weeklies, and small-town shoppers are well […]
Stormy Mayo, “North Atlantic Right Whales: On the Path to Extinction”
Cultural Center 55 Palmer Avenue, Falmouth, MA, United StatesDr. Charles “Stormy” Mayo senior scientist and director of the Right Whale Ecology Program at the Center for Coastal Studies will discuss the status of the species and its recent decline, the impending seasonal arrival of the right whales, and the critical role that the waters off Cape Cod and the islands play in the species now-uncertain […]
Maureen Boyle, “Shallow Graves: The Hunt for the New Bedford Highway Serial Killer”
Cultural Center 55 Palmer Avenue, Falmouth, MA, United StatesEleven women went missing over the spring and summer of 1988 in New Bedford, Massachusetts, an old fishing port known as the Whaling City, where Moby Dick, Frederick Douglass, textile mills, and heroin-dealing represent just a few of the many threads in the community’s diverse fabric. Investigative reporter Maureen Boyle tells the story of a […]
Liza Mundy, “Code Girls”
Cultural Center 55 Palmer Avenue, Falmouth, MA, United StatesRecruited from small Southern towns and posh New England colleges, ten thousand American women served the U.S. Army and Navy as code breakers during World War II. Under strict vows of secrecy, the women moved to Washington and learned the meticulous work of cryptanalysis. Their code-breaking triumphs shortened the war, saved countless lives, and gave […]
Miguel Moniz, “The Portuguese Migration: How they Shaped Falmouth’s History”
Cultural Center 55 Palmer Avenue, Falmouth, MA, United StatesA history of Falmouth as told through a century of Portuguese migration: Strawberries and Portuguese civic, religious and economic associations. A special and FREE event, open to all! This talk provides a history of Falmouth from the point of view of the Portuguese settlers who began coming to the town in the decades before 1900. […]
Emily Sweeney, “Gangland Boston”
Cultural Center 55 Palmer Avenue, Falmouth, MA, United StatesA Tour Through the Deadly Streets of Organized Crime Organized criminals have played a major role in Greater Boston's history, lurking just around the corner or inside the inconspicuous building. "Gangland Boston" reveals the hidden history of these places, showing how the Italian Mafia and Irish gangs rose to power, how the Winter Hill Gang […]
Jill Farinelli, “The Palatine Wreck: The Legend of the New England Ghost Ship”
Cultural Center 55 Palmer Avenue, Falmouth, MA, United StatesTwo days after Christmas in 1738, a British merchant ship traveling from Rotterdam to Philadelphia grounded in a blizzard on the northern tip of Block Island, twelve miles off the Rhode Island coast. The ship carried emigrants from the Palatinate and its neighboring territories in what is now southwest Germany. The 105 passengers and crew […]
Cape Cod Museum Trail’s “Festival of Museums”
Hyannis Youth Center 141 Basset Lane, Hyannis, MA, United StatesThe Museums on the Green is proud to be a participant in the Cape Cod Museum Trail’s Festival of Museums on April 28th 2018! This event will be held at the Hyannis Youth Center, 141 Basset Lane, Hyannis, MA, from 10 am to 4 pm The Festival of Museums is just that – a FREE one-day celebration […]
Casey Sherman, “Above and Beyond”
Cultural Center 55 Palmer Avenue, Falmouth, MA, United StatesFrom the authors of the bestselling The Finest Hours, the riveting, deeply human story of President John F. Kennedy and two U-2 pilots, Rudy Anderson and Chuck Maultsby, who risked their lives to save America during the Cuban Missile Crisis. During an infamous thirteen-day stretch of October 1962, America faced the prospect of imminent nuclear […]
Tori Telfer, “Lady Killers: Deadly Women Throughout History”
Cultural Center 55 Palmer Avenue, Falmouth, MA, United StatesWhen you think of serial killers throughout history, the names that come to mind are ones like Jack the Ripper, John Wayne Gacy, and Ted Bundy. But what about Tillie Klimek, Moulay Hassan, Kate Bender? The narrative we’re comfortable with is the one where women are the victims of violent crime, not the perpetrators. In […]
George Daughan, “Lexington and Concord”
Cultural Center 55 Palmer Avenue, Falmouth, MA, United StatesThe Battle of Lexington and Concord challenges the prevailing narrative of the American War of Independence. It was, author George Daughan argues, based as much in economic concerns as political ones. When Massachusetts militiamen turned out in overwhelming numbers to fight the British, they believed they were fighting for their farms and livelihoods, as well […]
Glenn Stout, “The Selling of the Babe” (TO BE HELD AT FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, FALMOUTH)
Cultural Center 55 Palmer Avenue, Falmouth, MA, United StatesThe sale of Babe Ruth by the Boston Red Sox to the New York Yankees in 1919 is one of the pivotal moments in baseball history, changing the fortunes of two of baseball's most storied franchises, changing the game forever and helping to create the legend of the greatest player the game has ever known. […]
Will Englund, “March 1917”
Cultural Center 55 Palmer Avenue, Falmouth, MA, United States“We are provincials no longer,” declared Woodrow Wilson on March 5, 1917, at his second inauguration. He spoke on the eve of America’s entrance into World War I, just as Russia teetered between autocracy and democracy. In the face of chaos and turmoil in Europe, Wilson was determined to move America away from the isolationism […]
David Powers, “Puritans and Gun Control”
Cultural Center 55 Palmer Avenue, Falmouth, MA, United StatesPURITANS AND GUN CONTROL Done in conjunction with the Falmouth No Place For Hate alliance and the Falmouth Gun Buyback Program How did guns fit into the culture which the earliest European settlers brought with them to New England, when Massachusetts was the “wild west” frontier on the continent of North America? Is there anything […]
Richard Aldous, “Schlesinger: The Imperial Historian”: THIS EVENT CANCELLED DUE TO AUTHOR ILLNESS
Cultural Center 55 Palmer Avenue, Falmouth, MA, United StatesArthur M. Schlesinger Jr. (1917–2007), known today as the architect of John F. Kennedy’s presidential legacy, blazed an extraordinary path from Harvard University to wartime London to the West Wing. The son of a pioneering historian―and a two-time Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winner in his own right―Schlesinger redefined the art of presidential biography. […]
Larry Loftis, “Into the Lion’s Mouth”
Cultural Center 55 Palmer Avenue, Falmouth, MA, United States“Into the Lion’s Mouth: the True Story of Dusko Popov: World War II Spy, Patriot and the Real Life Inspiration for James Bond” James Bond has nothing on British double agent Dusko Popov. As an operative for the Abwehr, SD, MI5, MI6, and FBI during World War II, Popov seduced countless women―including agents on both […]
Elaine Weiss, “The Woman’s Hour: The Great Fight to Win the Vote”
Cultural Center 55 Palmer Avenue, Falmouth, MA, United StatesThe nail-biting climax of one of the greatest political battles in American history: the ratification of the constitutional amendment that granted women the right to vote. Nashville, August 1920. Thirty-five states have ratified the Nineteenth Amendment, twelve have rejected or refused to vote, and one last state is needed. It all comes down to Tennessee, […]
Dorothy and Thomas Hoobler, “The Monsters: The Creation of Frankenstein”
Cultural Center 55 Palmer Avenue, Falmouth, MA, United StatesAs 2018 is the 200th anniversary of the publishing of Frankenstein, we commemorate it in a special way. Dorothy and Thomas Hoobler are prolific authors of books for adults, teenagers, and children. Their many awards include an Edgar from the Mystery Writers of America for their young-adult novel, In Darkness, Death. After encountering the story of […]
Jessica Shattuck, “The Women in the Castle” (To be held at John Wesley Methodist Church, Falmouth)
Cultural Center 55 Palmer Avenue, Falmouth, MA, United StatesAmid the ashes of Nazi Germany’s defeat, Marianne von Lingenfels returns to the once-grand castle of her husband’s ancestors, an imposing stone fortress now fallen into ruin following years of war. The widow of a resister murdered in the failed July 20, 1944, plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler, Marianne plans to uphold the promise she […]
Howard Blum, “In the Enemy’s House”
Cultural Center 55 Palmer Avenue, Falmouth, MA, United StatesThe New York Times bestselling author of Dark Invasion and The Last Goodnight once again illuminates the lives of little-known individuals who played a significant role in America’s history as he chronicles the incredible true story of a critical, recently declassified counterintelligence mission and two remarkable agents whose story has been called "the greatest secret […]
Peter Eisner, “MacArthur’s Spies”
Cultural Center 55 Palmer Avenue, Falmouth, MA, United StatesThe Soldier, the singer and the spymaster who defied the Japanese during World War II On January 2, 1942, Japanese troops marched into Manila unopposed by U.S. forces. Manila was a strategic port, a romantic American outpost and a jewel of a city. Tokyo saw its conquest of the Philippines as the key in its […]
Anamika Twyman-Ghoshal, “Contemporary Maritime Piracy and the Ocean Environment”
Cultural Center 55 Palmer Avenue, Falmouth, MA, United StatesDr. Twyman-Ghoshal will discuss some of her research on maritime piracy in our globalized world. The talk will explore what maritime piracy is, the nature and trends of contemporary maritime piracy around the world, and an exploration of some of the root causes of Somali piracy. The conversation will delve into the relationship between the […]
Eileen McNamara: “Eunice: The Kennedy Who Changed the World”
Falmouth Academy 7 Highfield Drive, Falmouth, MAA Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist examines the life and times of Eunice Kennedy Shriver, arguing she left behind the Kennedy family’s most profound political legacy. This lecture will be held at Falmouth Academy While Joe Kennedy was grooming his sons for the White House and the Senate, his Stanford-educated daughter Eunice was tapping her father’s fortune […]
Curtis Martin, American Whaling in the Age of Sail
Cultural Center 55 Palmer Avenue, Falmouth, MA, United StatesThis talk is designed to introduce the audience to the subject of the US whale fishery from the 17th to the early 20th century through a survey of the different facets of the industry. Mr. Martin discusses historical development, the purpose of the fishery and its economic importance, risks associated with whaling, the most important […]
Angela Dodson, “Remember the Ladies”
Cultural Center 55 Palmer Avenue, Falmouth, MA, United StatesFrom the birth of our nation to the recent crushing defeat of the first female presidential candidate, this book highlights women's impact on United States politics and government. It documents the fight for women's right to vote, drawing on historic research, biographies of leaders, and such original sources as photos, line art, charts, graphs, documents, […]
Jamie Cat Callan, “Parisian Charm School”
Cultural Center 55 Palmer Avenue, Falmouth, MA, United StatesWe all know that French women don't get fat. But their famous je ne sais quoi comes from more than just body type--something anyone can master: the old-fashioned art cultivating our inner beauty, confidence, and unique personal style, at any age. From savoring the everyday beauty around you to engaging in captivating conversations, playing dress-up, […]
David Kertzer, “The Pope Who Would Be King”
Cultural Center 55 Palmer Avenue, Falmouth, MA, United StatesThe exile of Pope Pius IX and the birth of modern Europe by Pulitzer Prize-winning author David Kertzer Days after the assassination of his prime minister in the middle of Rome in November 1848, Pope Pius IX found himself a virtual prisoner in his own palace. The wave of revolution that had swept through Europe […]
Peter Zheutlin, “Rescue Dogs”
Cultural Center 55 Palmer Avenue, Falmouth, MA, United StatesIn the follow-up to his New York Times bestseller Rescue Road, acclaimed journalist Peter Zheutlin offers a heartwarming and often humorous new look into the world of rescue dogs. Sharing lessons from his own experiences adopting Labs with large personalities as well as stories and advice from dozens of families and rescue advocates, Zheutlin reveals the surprising and […]
William Martin, “Bound for Gold” (To be held at First Congregational Church, Falmouth)
Cultural Center 55 Palmer Avenue, Falmouth, MA, United StatesBound for Gold continues New York Times bestselling author William Martin’s epic of American history with the further adventures of Boston rare-book dealer Peter Fallon and his girlfriend, Evangeline Carrington. They are headed to California, where their search for a lost journal takes them into the history of Gold Rush. The journal follows young James […]
Jamie Sayen, “You Had a Job For Life”
Cultural Center 55 Palmer Avenue, Falmouth, MA, United StatesAbsentee owners. Single-minded concern for the bottom line. Friction between workers and management. Hostile takeovers at the hands of avaricious and unaccountable multinational interests. The story of America’s industrial decline is all too familiar—and yet, somehow, still hard to fathom. Jamie Sayen spent years interviewing residents of Groveton, New Hampshire, about the century-long saga of […]
Keith O’Brien, “Fly Girls”
Cultural Center 55 Palmer Avenue, Falmouth, MA, United StatesHow Five Daring Women Defied All Odds and Made Aviation History Between the world wars, no sport was more popular, or more dangerous, than airplane racing. Thousands of fans flocked to multi‑day events, and cities vied with one another to host them. The pilots themselves were hailed as dashing heroes who cheerfully stared death in […]
Special Event: Christina Laurie, “C is for Cape Cod” book signing
Cultural Center 55 Palmer Avenue, Falmouth, MA, United StatesThis beautiful alphabet book combines playful verse, informative text, and stunning photographs to introduce children to the wonders of Cape Cod. For each letter, a short four-line verse gives younger readers a fun introduction to the subject, and the main text provides information that will appeal to both older children and adults alike. The stunning […]
Jessa Piaia: “Meet Amelia Earhart: First Lady of the Air”
Cultural Center 55 Palmer Avenue, Falmouth, MA, United StatesHISTORIC RE-ENACTOR portrays AMELIA EARHART Historic re-enactor, Jessa Piaia, will present a one-person interpretation of pioneer aviatrix Amelia Earhart entitled “Meet Amelia Earhart (1897-1937): First Lady of the Air”. The program is set in 1936, when Earhart was a popular speaker on the national circuit and preparing for take-off for the around-the-world flight in 1937. […]
Nancy Koehn, “Forged in Crisis”
Cultural Center 55 Palmer Avenue, Falmouth, MA, United StatesAn enthralling historical narrative filled with critical leadership insights that will be of interest to a wide range of readers—including those in government, business, education, and the arts—Forged in Crisis, by celebrated Harvard Business School historian Nancy Koehn, spotlights five masters of crisis: polar explorer Ernest Shackleton; President Abraham Lincoln; legendary abolitionist Frederick Douglass; Nazi-resisting […]
Pirate Night: Eric Jay Dolin, “The Epic History of America’s Most Notorious Pirates” and Marie Kesten Zahn, The Whydah Pirate Museum (to be held at First Congregational Church, Falmouth)
Cultural Center 55 Palmer Avenue, Falmouth, MA, United StatesTHIS PROGRAM WILL BE HELD AT THE FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH OF FALMOUTH Join us for a Buccaneer Duo--Eric Jay Dolin and Marie Kesten Zahn! Eric Jay Dolin, author of "Black Flags, Blue Waters: The Epic History of America's Most Notorious Pirates" Set against the backdrop of the Age of Exploration, Black Flags, Blue Waters reveals […]
Elizabeth Cobbs, “The Hello Girls”
Cultural Center 55 Palmer Avenue, Falmouth, MA, United StatesThis is the story of how America’s first women soldiers helped win World War I, earned the vote, and fought the U.S. Army. In 1918, the U.S. Army Signal Corps sent 223 women to France. They were masters of the latest technology: the telephone switchboard. General John Pershing, commander of the American Expeditionary Forces, demanded […]
Dave Bushy, “The World Looked Away: Vietnam after the War”
Cultural Center 55 Palmer Avenue, Falmouth, MA, United StatesThe Vietnam War ended on April 30, 1975. Millions of Vietnamese on both sides of the conflict were killed. Nearly 60,000 Americans were among those who died. You have all seen or heard about the war in the recent Ken Burns series: "The Vietnam War." But what happened after the country of South Vietnam no […]
Jerry Thornton, “Five Rings: The Super Bowl History of the New England Patriots (So Far)”
Cultural Center 55 Palmer Avenue, Falmouth, MA, United StatesSince 2001 the Patriots have played in eight Super Bowl championships and won five, a run of excellence unparalleled in all of professional sports. In a league designed to ensure that no one franchise can dominate over time, New England won for over a decade and a half. A dynasty that began with an improbable […]
Anne Barrett as Mary Chipman Lawrence: “Life Aboard a Whaling Ship”
Cultural Center 55 Palmer Avenue, Falmouth, MA, United StatesThe morning of November 25th, 1856, Mary Chipman Lawrence set sail aboard the whaling ship Addison bound for the Pacific on a voyage that would last three and a half years. In this performance, Mary will bring forth from her meticulously kept journal, the joys and tribulations of life at sea with her husband, Captain […]
Christian Di Spigna, “Founding Martyr: The Life and Death of Dr. Joseph Warren
Cultural Center 55 Palmer Avenue, Falmouth, MA, United StatesLittle has been known of one of the most important figures in early American history, Dr. Joseph Warren, an architect of the colonial rebellion, and a man who might have led the country as Washington or Jefferson did had he not been martyred at Bunker Hill in 1775. Warren was involved in almost every major […]
Mary Stockwell, “Unlikely General: Mad Anthony Wayne and the Battle for America”
Cultural Center 55 Palmer Avenue, Falmouth, MA, United StatesWhy did the once‑ardent hero of the American Revolution become its most scandalous general? In the spring of 1792, President George Washington chose “Mad” Anthony Wayne to defend America from a potentially devastating threat. Native forces had decimated the standing army and Washington needed a champion to open the country stretching from the Ohio River […]
Pamela Parmal, “Quilts and the American Experience”
Cultural Center 55 Palmer Avenue, Falmouth, MA, United StatesPamela Parmal, the curator of Textile and Fashion Arts at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston will be here to discuss quilts and coverlets from colonial times to the present day.
Glenn Stout and Richard Johnson, “The Pats: A History of the New England Patriots”
Cultural Center 55 Palmer Avenue, Falmouth, MA, United StatesThe definitive narrative history of the New England Patriots. The definitive, lively, and robust history of the New England Patriots, from Billy Sullivan to Bill Belichick and everything in between The New England Patriots have become a dynasty, though it didn’t begin that way. Love ’em, hate ’em, the Pats have captured this country’s attention […]
Casey Sherman and David Wedge, “12: The Inside Story of Tom Brady’s Fight for Redemption”
Cultural Center 55 Palmer Avenue, Falmouth, MA, United StatesThe thrilling behind-the-scenes account of how the most sensational scandal in NFL history culminated in the greatest comeback in sports history, featuring dozens of exclusive interviews with Patriots players--including Tom Brady himself. In January 2015, rumors circulated that the New England Patriots--a team long suspected of abiding by the "if you ain't cheating you ain't […]
