Florence

April 2026

Annual David Ruggles Center Founders Day Symposium: “All are interested in all”: The 1840s Worker-Owned Cooperative at the Center of Florence’s Progressive Past

By |2026-04-05T06:44:12-04:00April 5th, 2026|

April 26 @ 3:30 pm 5:00 pm

“All are interested in all”

THE 1840S WORKER-OWNED COOPERATIVE AT THE CENTER OF FLORENCE’S PROGRESSIVE PAST

David Ruggles Center Presents “All are interested in all” The 1840s Worker-Owned Cooperative at the Center of Florence’s Progressive Past

Organizing businesses into worker-owned cooperatives feels today like an idea whose time has come. A new model is emerging that is productive and profitable and works for everyone, not just a select few.

In fact, this is not a new idea or model, but has deep roots in Valley history. Historian Christopher Clark, author of the Communitarian Moment: The Radical Challenge of the Northampton Association, and local historian Steve Strimer, thirty-year member of Collective Copies and a co-founder of the David Ruggles Center, explore a bold experiment that created a democratic workplace in Florence in 1842. Our conversation is moderated by public historian Tom Goldscheider of the David Ruggles Center. Introducing the panel is Larisa Demos of Green Mountain Spinnery and Flat Iron Café, two Vermont worker-coops, who is the current Board president of the Valley Alliance of Worker Co-operatives.

Tickets- Sliding Scale $5-25

Doors Open at 3, Event begins at 3:30.

Bombyx Center for Arts and Equity

130 Pine St
Florence, MA 01062 United States
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May 2025

DRC Museum Open: Sundays 12-4, May-October

By |2025-05-03T10:25:59-04:00May 3rd, 2025|

May 4, 2025

@ 12:00 pm

October 30, 2025

@ 4:00 pm

 

The DRC is open Sunday afternoons, 12-4. Come learn about the courageous individuals in 1840s and 1850s Florence who challenged slavery and prejudice, and sought to build a community based on principles of race, gender, class and religious equality. Exhibits tells the stories of famous abolitionist icons who lived in Florence like Sojourner Truth and David Ruggles, and ordinary heroes like Basil Dorsey who escaped slavery and built a new life in freedom here while continuing to engage in antislavery work.

 

Current exhibits include: 

 

~David Ruggles: At the Vanguard of Liberty 

 

~“The Spirit Calls Me There”: Sojourner Truth in Florence, 1844-1857 

 

~Lydia Maria Child, Abolitionist 

 

~People, Places, and Paper: The Underground Railroad in Northampton and Florence 

 

 Visitors are also invited to peruse the DRC’s extensive library or make an appointment for the archive. 

 

 Museum tours are also availably by appointment. For inquiries of all types, please email info@davidrugglescenter.org.

 

 

 

Bombyx Center for Arts and Equity

130 Pine St


Florence,

MA

01062

United States

+ Google Map

View Venue Website

 

 

 

 

 

 

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February 2024

Basil Dorsey Day Walking Tour

By |2024-02-07T21:01:15-05:00February 7th, 2024|

February 17, 2024

@ 10:00 am

11:30 am

Please join us in celebrating the life of Basil Dorsey, a freedom seeker from Maryland who began his escape from enslavement in 1836, ultimately settling in Florence, Massachusetts in 1844. DRC Guides Kim Gerould and Kevin McQuillan will start with a short introduction in the museum, and then walk, looking at sites connected to Dorsey, the Underground Railroad, and the abolitionist and reform movements of the 1840s and 1850s.

The walk is free to the public. Donations to the Center are always welcome and appreciated. RSVP is not required but appreciated.

For more information, or to RSVP, email info@davidrugglescenter.org.

Bombyx Center for Arts and Equity

130 Pine St


Florence,

MA

01062

United States

+ Google Map

View Venue Website

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June 2023

Juneteenth Program:  “David Ruggles, Organizer: Meeting of the 1844 “Colored Citizens of Northampton,” & the 1850 Meeting to resist the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850,” by Steve Strimer. Followed by a Walking Tour.

By |2023-06-12T10:29:33-04:00June 10th, 2023|

June 19, 2023 @ 10:00 am 12:00 pm

In honor of Juneteenth, the DRC is proud to present a new slideshow developed and presented by Steve Strimer: “David Ruggles, Organizer: Meeting of the 1844 “Colored Citizens of Northampton,” & the 1850 Meeting to resist the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850.” The presentation will be held at the Ruggles Center and will be followed by a Walking Tour of sites and houses related to Black anti-slavery activists and fugitives from slavery documented in the slideshow. The indoor program is limited to 30 attendees. Masks optional. For more information, please email info@davidrugglescenter.org.

Bombyx Center for Arts and Equity

130 Pine St
Florence, MA 01062 United States
+ Google Map
View Venue Website
Comments Off on Juneteenth Program:  “David Ruggles, Organizer: Meeting of the 1844 “Colored Citizens of Northampton,” & the 1850 Meeting to resist the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850,” by Steve Strimer. Followed by a Walking Tour.
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