ILLUSTRATED LECTURES FOR GENERAL AUDIENCES

A former Congressional speechwriter, Bob Frishman offers richly-illustrated non-technical lectures, usually at no charge, for service organizations, historical societies, senior centers, museums, public library friends, and other organizations seeking an expert and enthusiastic speaker.  Each talk is specifically tailored and updated for the host group, runs no more than one hour, and can be followed by an informal "road-show" session when attendee clocks can be identified and evaluated.  He brings hands-on displays of ticking clock movements, reference books, and auction catalogues.            TELLING TIME - The first and still most popular lecture presents an overview of clock and watch history, styles, makers, values, collecting, repairing and cultural importance.  More than 100 projected images will illustrate familiar and unusual timekeepers from his own and museum collections and from the more than seven thousand clocks he has serviced.TIMEKEEPING AND TIMEKEEPERS IN EARLY NEW ENGLAND - This talk originally was presented as a paper at the 2009 Dublin Seminar in Old Deerfield Village, but has since been expanded with much additional information including Henry David Thoreau's banjo clock and his thoughts on the regularly scheduled trains passing the cabin on Walden Pond.   With more than 100 digital images, the lecture offers a history of clocks and watches in New England beginning with the arrival of the Mayflower up to the adoption of standard time by the railroads in the late 19th century.EDWARD DUFFIELD: PHILADELPHIA CLOCKMAKER, CITIZEN, GENTLEMAN, 1730-1803 -  Edward Duffield was far more than a leather-apron clockmaker in 18th-century Philadelphia.  A wealthy property-owner and an active civic and Anglican Church leader, he nonetheless made, repaired, and sold elegant clocks that today are in world-class museums and private collections. He was a life-long friend of Benjamin Franklin, serving as an executor of the grant man's will.  In 2024, Bob's comprehensive 256-page Duffield biography and catalogue of 71 Duffield-signed clocks and instruments was published by the American Philosophical Society Press.  This presentation provides an overview of the book and an important artisan's life during crucial years in American history.  Signed copies may be purchased at the event.THE CLOCK IN THE PAINTING - During the past several years, Bob has been collecting fine art images which have a clock somewhere in the picture.    From Van Gogh to Dali, Titian, Homer, Magritte, Hopper and Rockwell, these artworks often are familiar to art lovers but have not often been joined together in this way.  Digital images of more than one hundred paintings from more than five centuries are projected and described in an educational and entertaining combination of art and clock histories.  Additional more-focused presentations also are available, including "Horology in American Folk Art", "Horology in Renaissance and Baroque Art", and "Horology in Photography".HOROLOGY & RELIGION - A groundbreaking exhibit was created and curated by Bob at Gordon College in Wenham, MA.  More than eighty artworks, vintage prints and photographs, rare books, and important early American clocks were featured to tell the story of the centuries-long close connections between timekeeping and Christianity in Western Europe and America.  From Renaissance prints with the earliest clocks, to Hogarth and Nutting prints showing timekeeping and timepieces, this richly illustrated lecture tells a story never before explored in this way in an exhibit and presentation.  CLOCKWORK IN THE KITCHEN - Based on 2014 presentations to the Culinary Historians of Boston and the Roger Smith Food Technology Conference in New York City, this lushly illustrated lecture tells the story of kitchen timers, clocks, and 'roasting jacks' designed to steadily turn meat grilling in open-hearth fireplaces.   For centuries, clocks in kitchens regulated meal times, timers became increasingly important as cookbook recipes designated more precise cooking times, and wind-up roasting jacks performed the hot, tiresome and dangerous work of evenly cooking meat over open flames.  This presentation appeals to everyone interested in the history of food preparation as well as in culinary timekeeping.RUFUS PORTER: YANKEE ARTIST, INVENTOR, PUBLISHER - Rufus Porter (1792-1884) is best known for the scenic wall murals and individual watercolor portraits he produced as an itinerant New England artist.  However, he also published best-selling instructional books and was the founder in 1845 of Scientific American magazine.  He was granted more than twenty patents for innovative mechanical inventions, anticipating the future of dirigibles, revolver firearms, agricultural machinery, and more.  His only known signed clock is in Bob Frishman's collection.HOROLOGY IN PHOTOGRAPHY:  CLOCKS AND WATCHES IN VINTAGE PHOTOGRAPHS - Since the earliest days of photography, clocks and watches have appeared in images for many reasons. Sometimes, as in 700 years of fine-art paintings that show clocks and watches, they are present for symbolic and metaphorical purposes — mortality, time’s passage, affluence, modernity, technological sophistication, etc. Other times they form a key element in a humorous or descriptive narrative offered in the picture, or are ‘occupational’ views of craftsmen. And from another angle, timepieces have been an important component of the photographic process, determining critical exposure and development times to ensure acceptable finished products. Using dozens of photographic images to illustrate these issues, Bob presents an in-depth program on the many links between horology — the science of timekeeping — and photography. HISTORY OF HOROLOGICAL ILLUSTRATION - Prepared for the 2022 NAWCC Symposium in New York City, this presentation tells the story, with dozens of impressive images, of artistic and technical drawings of clocks, watches, movements, tools, and hand-powered machines from the 15th to 19th centuries.  Thomas Reid's 1826 clockmaking book, for example, includes engraved drawings by William Home Lizars of Edinburgh who engraved the first of Audubon's iconic American bird portraits.                 Suggestions for customized clock-related presentations will be gladly considered.
UPCOMING LECTURES:   May 17 - NAWCC Maine Chapter May 20 - Winterthur Museum   May 22 - Colonial Williamsburg   June 1 - NAWCC Atlanta Chapter August 8 - Eastern States Regional, Cortland NY October 24 - American Museum, Bath UK October 26 - West Dean College, Chichester UK   October 28 - Dingwall-Beloe Lecture, British Museum, London UK
PREVIOUS LECTURES: Osterville (MA) Public Library  St. Albans Clock Club (UK)  Sotheby's New York  Arader Galleries New York  Historic Deerfield  Antiquarian Horological Society, Midlands Section (UK), Birmingham University  Benjamin Franklin House, London UK   Sturbridge MA, NAWCC Educational Symposium  Provincetown Public Library  American Philosophical Society  Historic Annapolis  Philadelphia Club  All Saints' Torresdale Episcopal Church  Christ Church, Philadelphia  Wyck Historic House  Andover Bookstore  American Antiquarian Society  NAWCC 2024 National Convention, Chattanooga (Keynote)  Antiquarian Horological Society (UK), Midlands Section  Hamilton (MA) Council on Aging  Memorial Hall Library, Andover MA  Robb Senior Center, Andover MA  NAWCC Connecticut Chapter  NAWCC Atlanta Chapter  Rogers Memorial Library, Hudson, NH  Provincetown (MA) Book Festival  NAWCC Atlanta Chapter 24     NAWCC Time Symposium, Lancaster PA, James Arthur Lecture   Ashland (MA) Historical Society  Massachusetts Watchmakers Association  Washington Street Art Center (Somerville)  Bedford (MA) Historical Society  Salem (MA) Athenaeum  Gordon College Museum Studies Class  "Horology's Great Collectors" NAWCC Symposium website  Raynam (MA) Historical Society  New Bedford Whaling Museum Local History Guild  Farmington (CT) Public Library  Historic Beverly (MA)  Nichols Village (Groveland MA)  Horological Society of New York  NAWCC New England Chapter 8  Andover (MA) Elder Services  NAWCC Chapter 141  "Horology in Art" Exhibit Opening, Horological Society of New York  Preview of Edward Duffield Book, NAWCC Time Symposium, Philadelphia PA  Brooksby Village Women's Forum, Peabody MA  Spellman Museum of Stamps and Postal History      NAWCC National Convention, Hampton VA  New Mexico Zia Sundials NAWCC Chapter #106  Custom House Maritime Museum, Newburyport MA  Philadelphia Club  Daguerreian Society  Library Company of Philadelphia  Bowdoin College Museum of Art  Sharon (MA) Adult Center  NAWCC Mid-Eastern Regional, York PA  New Bedford Whaling Museum  U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary Constitution Flotilla, Base Boston  Fall River (MA) Second Half Lifelong Learning  NAWCC 2019 Symposium "Time Made in Germany", Nuremberg  Gibson House Museum, Boston  NAWCC Chapter 182, Canberra, Australia  NAWCC Chapter 72, Sydney, Australia  Raynham (MA) Historical Society  Henry Ford Museum, NAWCC "Cars, Clocks, and Watches" Symposium  Dartmouth (MA) Historical & Arts Society  Chelsea Jewish Foundation, Peabody MA  NAWCC Madison, WI Chapter  NAWCC New Hampshire Chapter  NAWCC Vermont Chapter  Dighton (MA) Historical Society  Lynnfield Senior Center  Society for Industrial Archeology "New England Clock and Watch Factories"  Boston Athenaeum, "Horology at the Athenaeum"  West Dean College, West Sussex, UK  "Horology in Art"    Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, "Horology in Art" NAWCC Symposium  Bamberg, Germany, Deutsche Gesellschaft fuer Chronometrie  Salem State University Lifelong Learning Institute  Rufus Porter Museum  (Bridgton, Maine)  Braintree (MA) Department of Elder Affairs  Mass. Watch/Clock Makers Association  NAWCC Maine Chapter  89  North Reading (MA) Historical Society  Stonington (CT) Historical Society  Queens College, Department of Anthropology  Massachusetts College of Art and Design  NAWCC Webinar  "Riggs Archive at Winterthur"  Bullard Memorial Farm (Holliston MA)  Clinton (CT) Historical Society  Winterthur Museum, NAWCC "Clocks at Winterthur" Symposium  New York Horological Society (New York City)  Leach Library (Londonderry NH)  Old Colony History Museum (Taunton MA)  Townsend (MA) Historical Society  Burlington (MA) Historical Society   Horological Art Chapter, NAWCC National Convention, Louisville, KY  NAWCC Old Dominion Chapter, Williamsburg, VA  NAWCC Pacific Northwest Regional, Tacoma, WA  NAWCC Connecticut Chapter 148  Lawrence Heritage State Park, White Fund Lecture, Lawrence, MA  Greater Boston Watch & Clock Collectors  Billerica (MA) Historical Society  NAWCC Webinar "Horology in Art"  American Clock & Watch Museum, Bristol, CT  North Andover Historical Society  Retired Men's Association, Sudbury, MA  Newton (Mass.) Rotary Club  Historical Society of Cheshire County, Keene, NH  The Roger Smith Food Tech Conference, New York City  Medford (MA) Historical Society  Culinary Historians of Boston, Radcliffe College   Time For Everyone Symposium, Santa Barbara, CA  International Society for the Study of Time, Conference in Crete, Greece  NAWCC Maine Chapter  Wellesley Historical Society  North Reading Historical Society  Victorian Society in America, New England Chapter, at Gibson House  Cape Ann Museum, Gloucester MA  Collector Roundtable: Boston Book, Print & Ephemera Show  Martha's Vineyard Museum  Wellfleet Historical Society  Middleton Historical Society  Topsfield Historical Society  Edgewood Retirement Community, North Andover      Annual NAWCC Convention, Overland Park, KS  Merrimac Valley Masonic Fellowship  Waring School (Beverly MA) "It's About Time" special end-of year project  Tewksbury Public Library  Reading (MA) Antiquarian Society  Memorial Hall Library, Andover MA  Spellman Museum of Stamps & Postal History, Weston MA  Willard House & Clock Museum, Grafton MA  Northeastern University NU@Noon Alumni Program  Boston College Physics Department, "Vibrations and Waves" Course  The Dublin Seminar in American & New England Studies  New England Chapter 8, National Association of Watch & Clock Collectors  Rockport MA Public Library  Massachusetts Watchmakers-Clockmakers Association  Senior Citizens Club, Epping, NH  Nashua NH Public Library  Salem NH Public Library  Flint Memorial Library, North Reading MA  Reading MA College Club  Boston Antiques Weekend  Winchester MA Historical Society  Andover Historical Society  Whelden Memorial Library, West Barnstable MA  Amherst, NH Town Library  Wilmington MA Memorial Library  Kiwanis Club, Andover MA  Rotary Club, Andover MA  Lions Club, Lawrence MA  Senior Center, Methuen MA  Senior Center, Andover MA  Town of Andover MA Department of Community Services  Cambridge Center for Adult Education  Gibson House Museum, Boston
CLICK ON TITLE IMAGES BELOW FOR LINKS TO VIDEO-RECORDINGS OF THESE LECTURES.