Our annual Winter Lecture Series provides introspective insight into the diverse individuals who made the Holley Boarding House a groundbreaking hub of creative expression. Only 100 years after the Declaration of Independence, the Cos Cob area was a true melting pot of people, ideas, and creativity. The unique individuals who found their home in Cos Cob represent the wider cultural diversity of the United States at the turn of the 19th century and their lasting impact on our country’s culture. Explore the people behind the boarding house in this three-part lecture series complementing our newest exhibition in celebration of America 250, The Holley Boarding House: Inspiring American Impressionism, on view through March 8, 2026.
Louisa Brooks and Lucy Davis are two of the many people influenced by the Holley House —they were contract employees who came to the boarding house through the New York Colored Mission’s employment program. Records suggest that one of the women may have migrated from Virginia and the other from the Caribbean which would make them similar to so many Black women heading to New York in the early 20th century. There they rented rooms, found space in boarding houses, and earned their first wages working in kitchen or parlors. In Service and Celebration— with the help of images, recipes, oral histories, and literature— we’ll consider the history that informs their work in hospitality and the service industry; experiences as lodgers; and their cultural contributions to the diverse Black community emerging in early 20th-century New York City.
Exclusive Tour
In conjunction with this lecture, the Historical Society will host a special tour of the newest exhibition, The Holley Boarding House: Inspiring American Impressionism. Held prior to the lecture, the tour is an additional cost and can be purchased as a bundle with the lecture.
