Last updated: 10/1/2008
Natick, Massachusetts
Address
58 Eliot Street
Natick, MA 01760
phone: 508-647-4841
fax: 508-647-4841
e-mail: info@natickhistoricalsociety.org
web: www.natickhistoricalsociety.org

Hours

Tuesday 2:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.
Wednesday 2:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Saturday 10:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.

Admissions

Free

Staff

Jennifer Hance
phone: 508-647-4841
Description

The Natick Museum is the place to learn about Natick¹s colorful past. Located downstairs in the Bacon Free Library building the Museum features among its collections the Indian Bible of the 17th century missionary, John Eliot, founder of the Natick Indian Community. The Museum collection also includes artifacts of Archaic and Woodland as well as Christian Indian cultures. The Museum tells the story of Natick’s transformation from Praying Indian village to colonial village and from cottage industry to factory floor through tools and furnishings, textiles, maps and photographs. Distinguished Natick citizens are represented through memorabilia from Harriet Beecher Stowe, Horatio Alger Jr. and former U.S. Vice President Henry Wilson. The Wilson Memorial Shoe Shop stands on the West Central Street, honoring “the Natick Cobbler.” The Museum remains true to its beginnings in natural history with an outstanding collection of Birds of the Americas.

Mission

Organized in 1870 at the very birth of the museum movement in America, the Natick Historical Society has become the central storehouse of Natick’s history. Our mission is to inspire an interest in Natick’s rich and varied history from its unique origins as a Praying Indian Plantation to the present day.

Artifact Collections

Housed on the lower level of the Bacon Free Library building in South Natick, the collection includes artifacts of Archaic, Woodland and Christian Indian cultures of Natick. Among the collections is the Indian Bible of the 17th century missionary, John Eliot, founder of the Natick Indian Community. Students of literature and history will find memorabilia of many of Natick’s distinguished citizens including Harriet Beecher Stowe, Horatio Alger, Jr., and Henry Wilson, 20th Vice-President of the United States. Early maps, photographs, furnishing, tools and costumes are displayed to illustrate the community’s daily life in earlier periods. The Society also holds an outstanding collection of birds of the Americas.

Research Collections

The museum library contains material relating to Natick and surrounding towns, local authors, genealogy, and natural history.

Library
Access: General Public
Appointment required: No
Services
Gift Shop
ADA
Wheelchair Accessible
Exhibitions
Museum Events
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2025 California Association of Museums Conference

February 18 - 22, 2025

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2025 Tennessee Association of Museums Conference: HOPE

March 11 - 14, 2025

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