Lecture three of Seven Lectures at Seven Gables

Robin Woodman, Assistant for Harvard Art Museums Archaeological Exploration of the Sardis, Turkey Expedition, will present a lecture entitled Susannah Ingersoll and Her Role in the Business Community on June 20^th, 2012 at 7:00pm at The House of the Seven Gables as part of their ongoing lecture series, Seven Lectures at Seven Gables: Strong Women of The Gables.

Woodman’s lecture will examine the life of Susannah Ingersoll, who inherited the Turner/Ingersoll mansion (better known as The House of the Seven Gables). Ingersoll, a first cousin to author Nathaniel Hawthorne, became a successful businesswoman during the male-dominated merchant/mariner era of late eighteenth, early-nineteenth century Salem.  

These were extraordinary times for the newly formed United States of America, for the city of Salem, and self-identified “singlewoman,” Susannah Ingersoll, who faced this unprecedented era on her own. Ingersoll profited from, and must have marveled at, mighty merchant ships as they sailed past her window on their way to the Orient and other exotic places during Salem’s Golden Age of Sail.  Although women had not yet won the right to vote, Ingersoll defied many social restrictions during her lifetime and died a very wealthy woman at the age of seventy-two. 

During the upcoming lecture at The Gables, Robin Woodman hopes to illuminate the fascinating connections between the events of the merchant/mariner era and Susannah Ingersoll’s extraordinary life.

Ms. Woodman was born and raised in Salem and reports that as a child she was fortunate enough to have benefited from classes (cooking and dancing) through The Gables and is very happy to be able to present this lecture at such an iconic Salem institution as The House of the Seven Gables.

Woodman earned her master’s degree in Museum Studies at Harvard University and has worked as a Special Projects Librarian at Harvard. She also has done work for the Maine Historical Society, as well as the Adams National Historical Park.

Contact information for ticket purchases or information: (978) 744-0991, ext. 105, or email:  anuncio@7gables.org. Admission:  $10 Members, $15 Non-Members.