Gloucester 400+ Lecture Series at Hammond Castle Museum

Mary Ellen Lepionka of Gloucester is an independent scholar researching the Indigenous history of Essex County from the last Ice Age to around 1700 for a book on the subject. Some chapters have been published on capeannhistory.org. Mary Ellen is a retired college instructor, textbook developer, author, and publisher with a Master’s degree in anthropology from Boston University and post-graduate work at the University of British Columbia. She taught cultural and physical anthropology and world history at Boston University, Vancouver City College, Northeastern University, North Shore Community College, and Salem State College. She participated in salvage archaeology on Great Neck in Ipswich, excavated an Early Iron Age Bantu refuge site in Botswana, and conducted fieldwork in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Mary Ellen also had a career in higher education publishing as a developmental editor of college textbooks. Her book, Writing and Developing Your College Textbook, has been published in a third edition and as an online course by the Text and Academic Authors Association. Articles by Mary Ellen on local Indigenous history appear in the Bulletin of the Massachusetts Archaeological Society, the Journal of the New England Antiquities Research Association, Northeast Anthropology, historicipswich.org, enduringgloucester.com, and capeannslavery.org. Some of her slide lectures on Indigenous peoples of Essex County, Massachusetts, have been posted on YouTube.

Join us for a new lecture series celebrating Gloucester’s rich culture and history.

Weekly on Tuesdays

May 9 through June 13th

6:00pm to 7:00pm.

Doors open at 5:40pm

Each 45 minute presentation will include a Q&A session with light refreshments available for purchase.

Full list of lectures in the series:

• May 9: Indians Who Live Among Us – Presented by Maryellen Lepionka
• May 16: Unboxing Dogtown – Presented by Les Bartlett
• May 23: From Fitz Henry Lane to the Future: a Brief History of the Fine Arts on Cape Ann – Presented by James A. Craig
• May 30: Main Street & Downtown – presented by Beth Welin
• June 6: From Beauport to Fenway Court: Five Houses at the Twilight of Gloucester’s ‘Gold Coast’ Era – Presented by Caleb McMurphy
• June 13: The Folly Cove Designers and the Compelling Language of Pattern

Tickets are $10 per lecture or $50 if you purchase all six lectures in advance.  All Hammond Castle Museum Members  enjoy complimentary admission. 

Reserve Your Tickets for One Or All the Programs.