Programs
Campus Tours at the Museums
Open June 5th – October 16th, 2026
Monday 10-2pm, Tuesday 10-2pm, Friday 10-2pm, Saturday 10-4pm
We also host historical walking tours year round. Click here for the current schedule of historical walking tours.
For special events, see below.
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Virtual Talk: “The Fabric of Civilization” with Virginia Postel
The story of humanity is the story of textiles — as old as civilization itself. Since the first thread was spun, the need for textiles has driven technology, business, politics, and culture.
In The Fabric of Civilization, Virginia Postrel synthesizes groundbreaking research from archaeology, economics, and science to reveal a surprising history. From Minoans exporting wool colored with precious purple dye to Egypt, to Romans arrayed in costly Chinese silk, the cloth trade paved the crossroads of the ancient world. Textiles funded the Renaissance and the Mughal Empire; they gave us banks and bookkeeping, Michelangelo’s David and the Taj Mahal. The cloth business spread the alphabet and arithmetic, propelled chemical research, and taught people to think in binary code.
Assiduously researched and deftly narrated, The Fabric of Civilization tells the story of the world’s most influential commodity.
