A Perfect Fit: Author talk with Chloe Chapin

Samuel Slater Experience will host an historical talk, "A Perfect Fit:Samuel Slater’s Mills, Daniel Webster’s Wardrobe, and the Fashioning of a Republic" by author Chloe Chapin. The program will be held on Saturday, September 12 at 11 a.m. at the museum, 31 Ray St., Webster.

Samuel Slater and Daniel Webster were towering figures in 19th-century America, united by friendship, a Massachusetts town, and a textile revolution. While Slater is famous for his cotton mill in Rhode Island, he also helped establish America’s first woolen mills in Webster, MA. Slater’s friend Daniel Webster was not a handsome man, but boy did he love to have his portrait painted. Images of Webster show he was a very fashionable dresser, dressing in the most current fashions for suits. In this talk, dress historian and former Broadway costumer Chloe Chapin uses these two men to tell the story of American industry and men’s fashion. She will explore how the rise of factory-produced cottons and woolens allowed American statesmen to project power, civility, and republican equality through the dark, tailored suit. Drawing from her new book, Suitable, Chapin reveals how the mills of New England wove the fabric of the modern man.

This free talk is hosted at the Samuel Slater Experience in Webster, MA. The talk will be approximately one hour, followed by a short Q&A session and opportunity for book signing. Copies of Chapin’s newly published book, Suitable, will be available for purchase at the Samuel Slater Experience shop. Attendees will receive a small discount card to use toward museum admission. To register for this talk, call 508-461-2955, or emailing [email protected].

Fact vs. Fiction: Death by Lightning and the assassination of President James A. Garfield

Paul E. Lambert, Sr., a 31-year member of the History Department at Nichols College in Dudley and a staff member of the Samuel Slater Experience, will give a presentation on Sunday, September 20, entitled Fact vs. Fiction - “Death by Lightning” and the assassination of President James A. Garfield. The talk will begin at 1 p.m. and is free to attend with registration. Samuel Slater Experience is located at 31 Ray St., Webster.

Everyone loves a good story.  Seeing it unfold before your eyes on a theater screen or on TV can really make it come alive and make it something to remember.  When that story is about an actual event from the past, however, the historian wants to be sure that what viewers are getting is both memorable and accurate.    

“Death by Lightning” is a television miniseries that was released by Netflix in November 2025.  It is based on the events historian Candice Millard writes about in her 2011 book Destiny of the Republic:  A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of the President.  This four-part program tells the story of how James A. Garfield rose to the presidency in 1880.  A political reformer and supporter of civil rights for the slaves freed by the U.S. Civil War, he would frequently find himself at odds with many fellow Republican politicians – including his own Vice President Chester A. Arthur.  Only four months into his term, he would be shot by a disgruntled office-seeker, Charles Guiteau; he would suffer a long, agonizing decline in health at the hands of incompetent doctors until he finally died on September 19, 1881. His successor, Chet Arthur, would unexpectedly become the reformer that Garfield had hoped to be.

Garfield is one of our lesser-known presidents; his short term left little time to establish a legacy, and many Americans simply aren’t aware of the facts behind his assassination and death.  Did Hollywood get the story right?

To register for this free event, call 508-461-2955, or email [email protected].