AUGUSTA — The Maine State Museum will conclude its spring lecture series on Tuesday, April 27, with a talk by Nancy Carlisle, a noted curator and author with Massachusetts-based Historic New England. She will speak about her recent book and traveling exhibition, “America’s Kitchens.”

Carlisle will discuss how the American kitchen has evolved from the 1600s to the present. Drawing on her new book, co-authored with Melinda Narardinov, she will tell the story of the nation’s kitchens from New England hearths, to Victorian kitchens isolated at the back of the house, to open-plan kitchens of 1950s suburbs.

“America’s Kitchens” provides insights into the technological and social changes that have taken place in this room and suggests how these innovations have transformed kitchen work and changed women’s lives.

Carlisle has been a curator for more than 20 years at Historic New England, where she works with some of the most important historic kitchens in the country, including those at Historic New England’s Maine properties: Castle Tucker and Nickels-Sortwell House in Wiscasset; Hamilton House and Sarah Orne Jewett House in South Berwick; Marrett House in Standish; and Sayward-Wheeler House in York Harbor.

In her work at Historic New England, Carlisle also authored “Cherished Possessions: A New England Legacy,” and has written and lectured widely on the material culture of domestic life from the 17th to the 21st century.

Carlisle’s free lecture will begin at 6:30 p.m.  A book signing will follow.

The Maine State Museum is in the State House Complex off State Street. For more information, call 287-2301 or visit  www.mainestatemuseum.org.

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