50 Years of Collecting Excellence:
Treasures of the Willard House and Clock Museum
A Presentation by Robert C. Cheney
Please register for this event.
After a two-year Covid-19 hiatus, Willard House and Clock Museum will be re-launching the Annual Robinson Lecture.
The Robinson Lecture, named in honor of the museum's founders, Imogene and Roger Robinson, is an annual event held now for over twenty years that features lectures on the Willards, from the technical to the historical by leading scholars in the field.
In celebration of Willard's 50th Anniversary, the 2021 Robinson Lecture, hosted by Robert C. Cheney, will be held on Sunday, November 14th 2021 at 2PM. The presentation will be live at the museum and for the first time, streamed live to those interested who can't make it to Grafton.
Our speaker's introduction to the Willard homestead began at age six (images above and right, August, 1959) when he accompanied his dad to the property on his mission to save the original 18th century Willard clock shop from natural destruction, perhaps by moving it to Old Sturbridge Village, the 12-year old outdoor history museum of colonial living and the all-important related trades.
Despite the late Bradford W. Cheney's efforts for several years, he was unable to arrange funding for the project through the NAWCC and several other sources. He finally had an opportunity to introduce the subject to Roger and 'Jean' Robinson, who by a rare coincidence, had just bought their first Simon Willard clock to furnish their own early Grafton home. Thus began the life-long passion of Roger and Jean Robinson to purchase this important property, restore it, and then to collect and furnish the oldest house in Grafton with a very important pedigree.
Fast forward to 2021, the Willard House and Clock Museum is celebrating its 50thAnniversary! Now a 501(c)(3) non-profit museum holding the largest collection of Willard family furnishings and clocks in the world.
The museum holds clocks by all of the original makers, Benjamin, Simon, Ephraim and Aaron during their active time in Grafton, circa 1750-1800, and their extensive later work in Roxbury and Boston into the early 19th century. In addition, the next two generations of Willards, also superb clockmakers, are represented tracing their work to approximately 1850.
The presentation will discuss a selection of these important clocks, family holdings, and the field of clock making in the 18th century. The remarkable life-long passion of Dr. and Mrs. Roger Robinson to preserve this proud national heritage will be the lesson for us all to cherish the lessons of the past.