Haverhill, Mass.’s Historic New England—founded in 1910 as the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities, with a collection to rival the Smithsonian—has welcomed its inaugural artist-in-residence: Ruben Toledo.

The beloved artist and fashion illustrator led a master class that launched four days of public programming and the unveiling of a major new immersive community mural he created with the support of the local community. The master class began with community members participating in coloring the mural, which, Toledo said, “depicts a few choice pieces from Historic New England’s wondrous collection.”

“I love being at the beginning of something,” he added. “Historic New England is opening the doors to an extraordinary collection, and I wanted to approach it like a visual dictionary—an A-to-Z of design. Every object tells a story, and together they speak a timeless language of design, innovation, and the joy these bring to our everyday lives.”

Toledo reimagined Historic New England’s collection of more than one million objects that tell the story of New England’s history through illustration and fashion—a visual encyclopedia of New England design.

Toledo, who immersed himself in the institution’s collections, worked closely with curators Nora Ellen Carleson and Michelle Tolini Finamore to explore New England’s design history, from furniture and textiles to clothing, wallpaper, decorative arts, photographs, and everyday artifacts. He interpreted them through the lens of fashion illustration.

Haverhill residents were invited to contribute to the mural, making it a true collective work of the local community.

The residency was shaped in collaboration with Dr. Finamore and local artists Jennifer Arndt and Mark Hayden.

“Ruben’s mural transforms our collection into something dynamic and participatory, inviting visitors to see the extraordinary design stories embedded in everyday objects while adding their own voices to that conversation,” said Dr. Finamore.

The artist-in-residence program was supported in part by a $55,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.

As Toledo put it, “My hope is that this mural becomes the beginning of a conversation the community continues to engage in long after I’ve put down my brush.”