Alive with Birds: William Brewster in Concord
A special exhibition opening at the Concord Museum
CONCORD: “To my great surprise, the Farm was simply alive with birds, the entire morning.” William Brewster, April 7, 1893.
The Concord Museum is pleased to collaborate with Mass Audubon on the special exhibition, Alive with Birds: William Brewster in Concord, opening in the Museum’s Wallace Kane Gallery on March 4 through September 5. Alive with Birds is the first and most comprehensive exhibition on William Brewster (1851 -1919), the first president of Mass Audubon and one of the country’s earliest advocates for the protection of birds and their habitats.
The exhibition also showcases 20 paintings and sculptures from Mass Audubon’s Museum of American Bird Art by acclaimed artists, including John James Audubon, Frank Weston Benson, Anthony Elmer Crowell, Charley Harper, David Sibley, Leonard Baskin, and Barry Van Dusen, each of whom depicted birds formerly or currently native to Concord’s landscape. In 2019, Mass Audubon received a gift of 143 acres of the October Farm property, which has been renamed Brewster’s Woods Wildlife Sanctuary.
“This exhibition weaves together art, science, and history to tell the story of a truly fascinating figure,” says Erica Lome, Peggy N. Gerry Curatorial Associate, Concord Museum. “The works of art on display tie everything together, illustrating the diversity of birds species represented by William Brewster in his writings, as well as the artists who, from past to present, have found inspiration in this subject.”
David Wood, Curator, Concord Museum, continued, “For thirty years William Brewster labored to make a few hundred acres on a bend on the Concord River a better place for birds. This collaborative exhibition demonstrates that his singular efforts continue to pay rich dividends.”
A centerpiece of the show is a meditative exploration of Brewster’s Woods in a 10-minute media presentation. William Brewster’s own words, taken from his journal entries, guide the visitors in discovering the wonders of this natural landscape and his own photographs, taken in the late 19th century, are compared side-by-side with scenes today showing how little has changed in the intervening years.
As a youth, William Brewster explored the fields, meadows, and marshes just beyond his home on Brattle Street in Cambridge, Massachusetts, collecting eggs, nests, and specimens to study. Rather than follow his father’s footsteps into banking, Brewster remained devoted to the field of ornithology, of which he was primarily self-taught. After his marriage to Caroline Kettell in 1878, Brewster built a house in Cambridge which included a library and museum to hold his growing collection of mounted birds. He became the curator of mammals and birds at the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University in 1885. In 1890, Brewster bought a tract of woodland on the Concord River with a farmhouse situated on Monument Street dating back to the eighteenth century. The property spanned 300 acres and Brewster renamed it October Farm. Brewster spent the last thirty years of his life exploring October Farm and recording his observations.
Alive with Birds: William Brewster in Concord is a collaboration with Mass Audubon. For a full list of programs visit www.concordmuseum.org.
The Concord Museum is pleased to collaborate with Mass Audubon on the special exhibition, Alive with Birds: William Brewster in Concord, opening in the Museum’s Wallace Kane Gallery on March 4 through September 5. Alive with Birds is the first and most comprehensive exhibition on William Brewster (1851 -1919), the first president of Mass Audubon and one of the country’s earliest advocates for the protection of birds and their habitats.
The exhibition also showcases 20 paintings and sculptures from Mass Audubon’s Museum of American Bird Art by acclaimed artists, including John James Audubon, Frank Weston Benson, Anthony Elmer Crowell, Charley Harper, David Sibley, Leonard Baskin, and Barry Van Dusen, each of whom depicted birds formerly or currently native to Concord’s landscape. In 2019, Mass Audubon received a gift of 143 acres of the October Farm property, which has been renamed Brewster’s Woods Wildlife Sanctuary.
“This exhibition weaves together art, science, and history to tell the story of a truly fascinating figure,” says Erica Lome, Peggy N. Gerry Curatorial Associate, Concord Museum. “The works of art on display tie everything together, illustrating the diversity of birds species represented by William Brewster in his writings, as well as the artists who, from past to present, have found inspiration in this subject.”
David Wood, Curator, Concord Museum, continued, “For thirty years William Brewster labored to make a few hundred acres on a bend on the Concord River a better place for birds. This collaborative exhibition demonstrates that his singular efforts continue to pay rich dividends.”
A centerpiece of the show is a meditative exploration of Brewster’s Woods in a 10-minute media presentation. William Brewster’s own words, taken from his journal entries, guide the visitors in discovering the wonders of this natural landscape and his own photographs, taken in the late 19th century, are compared side-by-side with scenes today showing how little has changed in the intervening years.
As a youth, William Brewster explored the fields, meadows, and marshes just beyond his home on Brattle Street in Cambridge, Massachusetts, collecting eggs, nests, and specimens to study. Rather than follow his father’s footsteps into banking, Brewster remained devoted to the field of ornithology, of which he was primarily self-taught. After his marriage to Caroline Kettell in 1878, Brewster built a house in Cambridge which included a library and museum to hold his growing collection of mounted birds. He became the curator of mammals and birds at the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University in 1885. In 1890, Brewster bought a tract of woodland on the Concord River with a farmhouse situated on Monument Street dating back to the eighteenth century. The property spanned 300 acres and Brewster renamed it October Farm. Brewster spent the last thirty years of his life exploring October Farm and recording his observations.
Alive with Birds: William Brewster in Concord is a collaboration with Mass Audubon. For a full list of programs visit www.concordmuseum.org.