Groups that Steampunkers Might Care About

Hi everyone,

     I was recently invited to review the Jewelry City Steampunk Festival in Attleboro (5 stars), and as part of thanking them, I took an hour to go through my giant list of New England destinations looking for organizations that either:

  • Might want to have a presence at New England Steampunk events, sending a rep or an exhibit
  • Might want to become a paid sponsor at New England Steampunk events, since your attendees form a target audience that matches what they do
  • Steampunkers might want to just know about

    Below is the list, and you can see more on the Events INSIDER Magazine website, though we are most active on Facebook and Twitter.

    I’m too busy to add website links. Do your own googling. Some of these you’ll find reviews on bostonevents.org.

    Enjoy!

-Johnny

Really Weird and Amazing

  • • New England Falconry, http://www.newenglandfalconry.com/, Hadley MA
  • • Mystic Seaport Museum has a theatre troupe with a love for the 19th century
  • • King Richard’s Faire, wrong era, but they would send some Steampunk costumed performers for a chance to promote their Ren Faire
  • • Same for Connecticut Renaissance Faire
  • • Abbadia Mare Renaissance Festival at Hammond Castle
  • • Gillette Castle, built by a famous actor known for playing Sherlock Holmes on stage.
  • • Rob Velella, he plays Edgar Allan Poe and other 19th century figures, visits New England regularly. http://americanliteraryblog.blogspot.com/p/about-me.html
  • • Newport Mansions, the time period is right, they must have a few gadgets
  • • Old Sturbridge Village, they do have a tin smith, blacksmith, etc., gadgets
  • • Charles River Museum of Industry
  • • Gore Place in Waltham is quite active with creative events
  • • Double Edge Theatre has a historic play set in the 19th century that include W. E. B. DuBois
  • • Mark Twain House and Museum
  • • Harriet Beecher Stowe Center
  • • Harriet Tubman museum in Dorchester, https://visitdorchester.org/harriet-tubman-museum-educational-center/
  • • it’s in New York, but go the extra mile for diversity, the Harriet Tubman National Historical Park (U.S. National Park)
  • • The Boston Tea Party Ships & Museums is the wrong time period, but they have actors interested in history.
  • • The New Repertory Theatre in Watertown is running a production of Oliver! this December
  • • NH Snowmobile Museum, they have antiques, I have been there
  • • The Longfellow House Washington’s Headquarters, and the Asa Waters Mansion can connect you with a Lincoln impersonator
  • • Larz Anderson Auto Museum must have antiques
  • • Cambridge Science Festival, and MIT Museum
  • • Nature’s Art Village, they have an extensive 19th century collection including New England’s largest steam engine
  • • Museum of Printing in Haverhill
  • • Whydah Pirate Museum
  • • Hammond Castle Museum in Gloucester, this guy was basically the Thomas Edison of New England, tons of old gadgets, inventions.
  • • Newport Art House is not actually a house, they are perfomers who are generally up for 19th century arty fun http://newportarthouse.org
  • • Mashantucket Pequot Museum & Research Center is the world’s largest Native American Museum, they have antiques and not just from the 17th century, diversity
  • • History Alive, Salem, this is the theatre troupe that does all the pilgrim stuff in Salem. I wonder if the 19th century interests them.
  • • Interamersive: Interactive Theatre is a 19th century theater troupe that would take to steampunk, http://intramersive.com
  • • New England Pirate Museum
  • • Strawbery Banke Museum, Portsmouth NH, living history, they are set around 1900.
  • • The Telephone Museum, http://www.telephone-museum.org
  • • New England Wireless and Steam Museum
  • • New Hampshire Telephone Museum

Also Interesting

  • • The USS Constitution Museum
  • • Nantucket Whaling Museum
  • • Capron Park Zoo
  • • New England Air Museum, http://www.neam.org
  • • Battleship Cove in Fall River, they’ve gotta have something old-timey there, even though it’s primarily a World War II museum
  • • Submarine Force Museum, same
  • • New Bedford Whaling Museum
  • • Carpenter Museum in Rehoboth, MA near Attleboro
  • • Science museums who cover the 19th century: MIT Museum, Museum of Science Boston, Discovery Museum, ECHO Leahy Center, Woods Hole Science Aquarium
  • • Boott Cotton Mills Museum, Lowell
  • • Children’s Museum of Greater Fall River
  • • Montshire Museum of Science, Norwich, VT
  • • Maine Discovery Museum, Bangor
  • • Worcester EcoTarium
  • • Boston Science Fiction Film Festival & Marathon, they must have recommendations on science films whose topic is the 19th century
  • • Writers on social justice give you a chance to speak on diversity issues: House of the Seven Gables, Louisa May Alcott House, Emerson House, Concord Museum
  • • Essex Shipbuilding Museum
  • • Fuller Museum, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
  • • the RISD museum must have antiques
  • • Hancock Shaker Village, if my memory serves me, these guys are not like the Amish. They are not against technology. They do have old-time gadgets.
  • • Magic Wings Butterfly Conservatory & Gardens and The Butterfly Place (shrug)
  • • Springfield Museums has a science museum, and they’re very active with promoting tourism
  • • Edaville Railroad, it’s mostly a modern theme park, but they must have something historic, right?
  • • The Ladd Observatory at Brown University, is itself antique, a really old observatory that must have 19th century gadgets
  • • Fort Adams in Newport has an old-time printing press
  • • Mystic Aquarium, I don’t know if they’d have old gadgets, maybe, I don’t think so
  • • Blue Hills in Canton, with their old time Trailside Science Center / Nature Museum
  • • Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology is quite steampunk in the sense of, explorers! it’s the same administration as the Harvard Museum of Natural History, which has plenty of old-time science.
  • • Connecticut Trolley Museum and Connecticut Fire Museum
  • • Shore Line Trolley Museum
  • • Essex Steam Train & Riverboat
  • • Spellman Museum of Stamps & Postal History
  • • The Fort at No. 4
  • • President Calvin Coolidge State Historic Site, bit far but they have old-time artisans and sculptors
  • • same with Vermont Marble Museum
  • • Necronomicon, the lovecraft fest in Providence
  • • Nathan Hale Homestead
  • • Mt. Auburn Cemetery can put you in touch with 19th century re-enactors, as can The Old Manse in Concord
  • • American Precision Museum
  • • American Textile History Museum
  • • Connecticut Science Center
  • • Arrowhead, Home of Herman Melville, https://www.mobydick.org/
  • • Canterbury Shakers, http://www.shakers.org
  • • Cape Cod Museum of Natural History, that’s science, right? http://www.ccmnh.org/
  • • Fairbanks Museum & Planetarium, I think it’s a pretty old museum that could have 19th century stuff
  • • Museum of Afro-American History: Boston, diversity!
  • • 19th Century Willowbrook Village
  • • Crane Museum of Papermaking
  • • Ethan Allen Homestead Museum
  • • Hannaway Blacksmith Shop in Lincoln RI
  • • Montshire Museum of Science
  • • Mt. Kearsage Indian Museum
  • • New England Civil War Museum
  • • New England Ski Museum
  • • Old Colony & Fall River Railroad Museum, this one’s local
  • • Porter Thermometer Museum
  • • Porter Music Box Museum
  • • Robbins Museum of Archaeology
  • • Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology – Brown University
  • • Robert Frost Museum, sort of fits your era
  • • Seacoast Science Ctr
  • • Seashore Trolley Museum
  • • SEE Science Center & Millyard Museum
  • • Shelburne Falls Trolley Museum
  • • Shipwreck and Lifesaving Museum
  • • South Shore Natural Science Center
  • • US Naval Shipbuilding Museum & USS Salem
  • • Vermont Toy & Train Museum