In early New England, the phases common to all lives — birth, marriage, death — transpired at home, behind closed doors, around the bed. This lecture explores some of those phases as they are revealed by furniture and textiles in the exhibition Behind Closed Doors: Asleep in New England at the Concord Museum in Massachusetts.

In particular, the talk looks at the importance of textiles to the home economy and their reflection of the pace of fashion itself. Presented by David F. Wood, curator, the Concord Museum.