Wayland Museum - Wayland Historical Society

05/30/2026

We are excited for the Wayland Rev250 Splash and Dash this morning! You can register on site! Come celebrate Rev250 and have fun!

05/27/2026

The Wayland Museum & Historical Society will host its 2026 Annual Meeting tonight, May 27.
Following our brief Annual Meeting (7:00 PM – 7:30 PM) dedicated to our organization's year-in-review and votes by members of the WHS, we invite members and the community to join us for an evening with Marilynne Roach at 7:30 pm. Marilynne will give a presentation, called “Samuel Parris: Villain or Victim?”

05/25/2026

Wayland has been honoring its veterans for a long time. These photos come from our Town Crier collection. However you're marking the day, thank you for remembering 🇺🇸 Happy Memorial Day from the Wayland Museum & Historical Society. 🇺🇸

Do you recognize someone in these photos? Have a memory of a Wayland Memorial Day parade? We'd love to hear it in the comments.

Town of Wayland

05/22/2026

Flashback Friday to this Wallace Herbert Folsom photograph of installing the hydrants in Town of Wayland, Wayland DPW. Did you know in celebration of America250 you can use your creativity to work make some public art on a Wayland fire hydrant! Individuals, families, groups, and organizations can register to paint a fire hydrant (or more than one) to celebrate America's 250th anniversary. Paint kits are available, or use your own. Details: https://www.wayland.ma.us/296/Paint-a-Fire-Hydrant

05/21/2026

Congratulations to our friends Russell's Garden Center as they celebrate their big 150! 🌱 We're lucky to hold some remarkable Russell family records in our archives — including freight receipts from the 1890s showing S. Russell receiving shipments, we also hold sales slips going back to 1888, and photographs of the original Samuel Russell Provisions store, established 1876.

We also hold a quilt made by members of the Ladies Benevolent Association of Wayland's TCC Wayland — signed squares include both Sarah I. Russell and a Mary Anna Russell, wife of Samuel Russell himself.

🌱 Wayland's lucky to have them.🌳

05/18/2026

Celebrate Town of Wayland's Rev250 and America250 birthday with this fun, all-ages community Wayland Rev250 Splash and Dash! Join us on Saturday, May 30, 2026, 8:30 A.M.

Race options:
🏊‍♀️ Kids (12 & Under): 100 yd swim + ½ mile run
🏃 Teen/Adult (13+): 250 yd swim + 2 mile run

05/13/2026

Free and open to the public — tonight: "Forgotten Fighters: Chinese Soldiers in the Civil War" — a presentation with Anneliese Meck. Co-presented with Wayland Chinese American Association, Town of WaylandHRDEIC, and Wayland Rev250. Free and open to all. Details: https://forgottenfighters.eventbrite.com

Discover the untold stories of Chinese soldiers who fought bravely in the Civil War—join us in person!

05/12/2026

We are so excited to be joined via Zoom by The Sewphisticate tomorrow. Join us and the Wayland Chinese American Association, Town of Wayland Rev250 and HRDEIC for this great event: https://www.facebook.com/share/1SG81Nq9ji/

Hope you’re having a lovely Sunday afternoon and start to Asian American & Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month! 🌸

May is shaping up to be one of our busiest months yet with a variety of programs covering all of our favorite topics from Chinese American history, to historical fashion, and inclusive living history.
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If you missed our newest, living history pop-up program, “Voices Without Ballots: Chinese Americans in the Suffrage Movement” in NYC last month - you’re in luck this May!

💜 Catch the drop-in ranger table talk version at Women’s Rights National Historical Park rights on May 7, 8, 28, and 29 from 1pm - 3pm each date.

💛 As a living history pop-up at the Cayuga Museum of History & Art on May 30, during their Creative Explorers Family Day: AAPI Month celebration. And yes, we’ll have the free coloring sheets with us again!
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On May 13 at 7pm EST, we’re joining the Wayland Museum & Historical Society for “Forgotten Fighters: Chinese Soldiers in the American Civil War.” 🥁

🗣️ Please note, this is a free, in-person program (with a virtual presenter), hosted at the Wayland Community Center (8 Andrew Avenue, Wayland, MA). I’ll post their event link in my bio!
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On May 16, we’ll be at the Limerick School in Akron, NY, offering “A Century of Fashion: 1776 – 1876” at their Culture Day: Celebrating the American 250th. This living history pop-up will cover the dramatic changes in fashions from 1776 to 1876, complete with an 1870s fashion “touch table” and fun activities. 🪡
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Which May program(s) are you most excited for? Please say hello if you come!

05/10/2026

On this Mother’s Day, we’re sharing a daguerreotype of Susan [Hunt] Wade (1831–1866) with her daughter, Harriet Augusta Wade (1856–1931).

Susan married Capt. Thomas Francis Wade in December 1853. They had two children. T.F. Wade later served as a Lieutenant Commander in the U.S. Navy during the Civil War, including service aboard the USS Richmond and with the West Gulf Squadron. Read about his service and experience in "The town of Wayland in the civil war of 1861-1865, as represented in the army and navy of the American union" book, available on Internet Archive.

Our daguerreotype collection was scanned by the Northeast Document Conservation Center in 2011. You can view more of these images on our CatalogIt online collections: https://hub.catalogit.app/wayland-museum/folder/daguerreotype

05/09/2026

Join us today at Arts Wayland for the 3pm opening reception of “Echoes of Liberty” featuring objects from the museum alongside contemporary art. Come spend a rainy afternoon looking at art and thinking about history. All are welcome.