Chinese Scholars Fill in Historical Gaps at Forbes House

Last October, Forbes House Museum Executive Director Robin Tagliaferri stood in front of a group of scholars at Nanchang University in southeastern China and showed slides depicting Captain Robert Bennet Forbes, Adams Street and other local points of interest.

"You were completely just awestruck by the distance and the culture," Tagliaferri said.

Tagliaferri's 10-day trip last fall focused on the 19th century history of the Forbes family as China Trade merchants and collectors of Chinese export art. It was followed this spring by a visit to Milton by members of a Chinese museum group. They toured the Forbes House and several other sites in the Northeast related to the China Trade.

As China eased travel restrictions over the years, scholars there have sought out places like the Forbes House to recreate slices of their nation's history that were blocked out during the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s and 1970s, Tagliaferri said. They can see porcelain and other items at the Forbes house that left China in the 19th century and never returned.

"Much of their history was lost," Tagliaferri said. "They came [in April] and were just awestruck."

The Forbes House contains hundreds of artifacts from the China Trade, including paintings, furniture, and other unique items brought back from China by Captain Forbes and his family.

This September, a group of 20 visitors from the Fujian Tea Delegation, of Fujian, China, will visit New York and Boston. They will stop by the Forbes House on Sept. 21.

The group will be accompanied by Patrick Lui, an accomplished filmmaker, who will document their activities, Assistant Director Rebecca Wright said in an email.

Lui, who studied filmmaking in the United Kingdom, started the Hong Kong Film Festival and in the 1980s was granted permission to document life in China. His "Heart of the Dragon" series was previewed by NBC in America and won an International Emmy Award in 1985. 

"The Delegation is especially interested in the museum’s portrait of Howqua, a leading Hong merchant in Canton," Wright said. "The Forbes family formed close bonds with Howqua in the early 19th century. Howqua’s family originated Fujian, China, where they were known for having profitable tea plantations."

The September visit comes as the Forbes House is cataloging its thousands of artifacts, working with University College Cork in Ireland on an exchange program, opening new rooms for tours and developing a plan to rebuild its porches.

"We are slowly trying to brand ourselves as the Jewel of Milton," Tagliaferri said.

The goal is to expand the Forbes House's reach beyond Milton students to schools and groups throughout the region.

After all, Tagliaferri said, if Chinese scholars can visit from halfway around the world, then people can surely make a trip down the road to see Milton's very own Greek Revival mansion.

Go to http://www.forbeshousemuseum.org for more information.