A humble piece of luggage, timeworn travel chests, and a slightly crumpled cardboard box on display at the Jackson Homestead and Museum are poignant reminders of immigrants’ journeys to the United States, some of which led to settling in Newton.
“Suitcase Stories” highlights the artifacts and stories of five families who moved to the Garden City. It is only one part of Historic Newton’s engaging new exhibit, “Newton: The City We Make.” Opened on March 1, the interactive displays were created during a significant, $400,000 renovation to the 1,000-square-foot first floor.
The homestead itself, at 527 Washington Street, was built in 1809 and remained in the Jackson family until 1949, when its owner gave it to the city, according to Historic Newton.
The past “can be messy, it can be changeable,” and decisions made centuries ago have influenced the way the city is today, said Lisa Dady, director of Historic Newton.
“We’re going to be covering over 400 years of history” in the new displays, she said. “It will be more resonant to people.”
“The new exhibit will shed light on how the choices people make, in response to an array of motivating forces, create the city we know,” according to Historic Newton.
New life to historic tales
Visitor engagement is key to “Newton: The City We Make.”
“We [tried] to create a more immersive experience,” said Dady. In each section “there is something touchable,” which helps to make viewers an integral part of the experience.
According to Historic Newton’s website, the multi-room exhibition is organized around three themes:
- “On This Land” explores how Indigenous stewardship, colonization, industry, transportation, and suburbanization reshaped Newton’s landscape.
- “Making Newton Home” highlights successive waves of immigrants and newcomers who built community, livelihoods, and cultural life.
- “Creating Change” traces how Newtonians engaged in movements for abolition, women’s suffrage, civil rights, labor reform, environmental activism, and peace.
“Suitcase Stories,” which is located in the “Making Newton Home” room, gives visitors a glimpse into the immigration experiences of families from Ireland, Russia, Canada, Italy, and China. Like immigrants of today, some brought practical items including dishware, while others brought more personal belongings, like the delicate baby’s Christening gown that is on view.
“These stories from the past are going to resonate,” said Dady.
In a corner of the same room is a comfortable red chair and a telephone. Visitors are invited to take a seat, pick up the receiver of the increasingly rare landline, and listen to recorded oral histories of Newton residents.
Perhaps the most unusual part of the “Making Newton Home” room is a wall that’s purposely blank – except for the new paint job.
“We’re asking people to co-curate” the display that will be included in that part of the room, said Dady. Visitors can leave feedback on Post-it notes about what they’d like to see there in the future.
Integrated whole
With each room being a section of the entire exhibit, the main floor is now more cohesive, and the flow has improved.
Visitors enter the orientation room to be greeted by a photo gallery that includes a cross-section of Newton residents from different eras and backgrounds.
“We wanted to show a variety of people and time periods,” said curator Sara Lundberg. There is also a framed mirror, inviting people to see themselves in the community.
Displays in the new exhibit also feature indigenous artifacts and sobering facts about devastating death rates in the area caused by an epidemic of European origins in the early 17th century.
Continuing to highlight difficult facts about Newton’s history, the museum created displays about slavery and the abolitionists who fought to end it. One poster asks visitors, “What would you do?” after the Fugitive Slave Act became law in 1850. It includes several examples of abolitionists who lived in the city and fought against slavery as well as information on the Jackson Homestead’s role as a stop on the Underground Railroad.
There is also another exhibit on the stairway gallery called “Confronting Our Legacy: Slavery and Anti-Slavery in the North.”
In the final room on the main floor, “Creating Change,” visitors learn more about Newtonians who fought to right wrongs and expand freedoms.
In one display case sits a small 1914 pin that appears slightly dull from the passage of time. It carries a simple message asking for “Votes for Women.”
Next to the pin is an invitation to a Newton Equal Suffrage League rally. The group “campaigned for a 1915 statewide referendum on votes for women,” according to the museum. Unsurprisingly, the measure did not pass since the 19th Amendment was not ratified until 1920. However, the pin and invitation show that protesting injustice has a long history in Newton.
