Revolutionary Collectibles: Acton notables on trading cards
Can we trade you a Reuben Brown for a Martha Moulton?
What do Babe Ruth, Mr. Spock, Pikachu, and Louise May Alcott have in common?
They’re all on trading cards.
Alcott’s is one of a new set of 18 cards highlighting Acton’s historical figures. Revolutionary Concordian Trading Cards are an official Concord250 program developed by Thoreau Farm, a non-profit that works to preserve the birthplace of the poet and philosopher Henry David Thoreau. The project was supported by a 2025 Partnership Grant from Freedom’s Way National Heritage Area.
“Our devoted Thoreau fan and idea fairy Eric Miller” had the original idea for the cards, says Rebecca Migdal, Thoreau Farm’s executive director. Inspired by Thoreau, Miller, a U.S. Air Force commander, lived in a tent in the woods at Hanscom FamCamp for several months in 2023, writing a book.
Thoreau Farm developed content and designed the cards in-house, Migdal says, “with help from experts near and far,” which included Joe Palumbo, a member of Acton’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Commission; Sandra Petrulionis, professor emerita of English and American Studies at Penn State University; and Beth van Duzer, owner of Acton Walking Tours and the clerk for the Concord250 History & Education Subcommittee.
Collecting the cards is meant to be “a townwide promotional activity designed to encourage visits to businesses and cultural organizations in Acton while introducing participants to notable figures from the town’s history,” Migdal adds. She says the cards could be available in late March.
‘Meaningful’ exploration
The set celebrates figures including Martha Moulton, who records say saved Acton from being burned by the British, and Reuben Brown, a militia courier during the American War for Independence, as the Revolution is also called. They are all “revolutionary Concordians” in some way, Migdal says.
One can get certain cards only at particular locations. It’s a plan that she hopes “will get tourists and residents out and exploring more of what the town has to offer.”
Players can collect the cards by completing activities at participating locations. That may mean making a purchase, taking a free tour (such as at Thoreau Farm on Virginia Road), or tagging the business on social media. “We don’t want this to be like trick-or-treating,” Migdal says, in that you pick up a card and leave. “We want there to be an interaction or action that is meaningful to the locations.”
For a list of participating locations, go to discoverconcordma.com/trading cards. Local businesses and cultural locations interested in handing out cards can contact Migdal at [email protected].
