MHS Videos on C-SPAN

C-SPAN has just announced that a whopping 160,000 hours of video from 1987 to the present is now available free through the C-SPAN Video Library website. These include many MHS-related events from 1999 through 2009, among them:

- Woody Holton's 9 November 2009 talk on his recent biography, Abigail Adams. Video.

- Two panels from the Charlottesville portion of last summer's Adams/Jefferson libraries conference: Jefferson, Adams and Religion (Video) and Jefferson, Adams and Their Legacy (Video).

- A 1999 vignette on the Thomas Jefferson collections at MHS with our librarian, Peter Drummey. Video.

- Joseph Ellis's 16 December 2004 talk on his biography of George Washington, His Excellency. Video.

- A 29 January 2009 lunch talk by Ken Burns on his documentary series "The National Parks: America's Best Idea." Video.

- The dramatic reading of letters between John and Abigail Adams, held at Faneuil Hall on 19 November 2007, featuring Gov. Deval and Diane Patrick, Gov. Mike and Kitty Dukakis, and Sen. Edward and Victoria Kennedy. Video.

To find other MHS-related events (there are many more), just search for "Massachusetts HIstorical Society" in the search bar at the top of the C-SPAN Video Library homepage.

JQA, Lead-Water, & Lindsey Vonn

John Quincy Adams' tweet for today, 15 March, has generated lots of questions from his followers. He writes "Rode out. attempted to write. Instead of lead-water use fresh butter. Inflammation increased. Evening Chess." He expands on this slightly in his long diary entry: "I ceased this day using lead-water to disperse the inflammation of my leg, finding it altogether insufficient to check its progress; and substituted in its stead an application of fresh butter."

What's lead-water, why replace it with butter, and what's Lindsey Vonn got to do with this?

The OED defines lead-water as "dilute solution of acetate of lead." At the time this liquid was used as a treatment for inflammation (Benjamin Rush suggests a poultice of "bread moistened with lead water" to treat sore legs); in other cases it seems to have been used directly on inflamed areas. It is, of course, extremely poisonous - don't try this at home!

The lead-water having proven ineffective, JQA switched to butter, another commonly-suggested remedy for drawing down inflammation (along with various other things, like oil). And that's where Lindsey Vonn comes in: as treatment for her pre-Olymipics shin injury she told Sports Illustrated that her physical therapist prescribed an unusual remedy: "He's been wrapping cheese on it, and I know that sounds funny, but it seems to work. He's been rubbing castor oil on it." She even tweeted about it.

JQA's St. Petersburg Reading List (January-March 1810)

John Quincy Adams' busy social season, ministerial duties, and illnesses in St. Petersburg have continued to keep him away from the books, but he's mentioned a few of his recent reads. For previous reading lists, see the August, September, October, and November/December posts.

1/28/1810: "Read a sermon of Massillon." See entry for 8/6. In his long diary entry, JQA adds that the Massillon sermon was "on the immutability of the divine Law." He adds that he "resumed also the Russian Grammar, and learnt something further of the Characters of the Alphabet."

2/4/1810: "Read a sermon of Massilon, use of time." See entry for 8/6. In his long diary entry, JQA adds that the sermon "suggested to me some reflections, and ought to have suggested more."

2/18/1810: "Read 2 sermons of Massilon." See entry for 8/6. In his long diary entry, JQA adds that the two sermons were "upon the mortifications of the righteous in this life; and the other upon the character of the Woman which was a sinner. The former of which is one of the most instructive I have yet read. With its principal doctrines I fully agree.

3/2/1810: JQA writes in his long diary entry that he had planned to go to the "Book Store of the Academy of Sciences" today, but was feeling too ill to go.

3/3/1810: "Mysteries of Udolpho." We learn more about this in Adams' long diary entry: being ill in bed, JQA had his sister-in-law Catherine read him "the remainder of the Mysteries of Udolpho, the fourth volume of which I had left unfinished." Obviously he'd been reading it before, but had not mentioned it in his diary. This is the gothic novel by Ann Radcliffe, The Mysteries of Udolpho, first published at London in 1794. We don't know which edition JQA was reading, but an 1806 edition is available via Google Books (Volume 1, Volume 2, Volume 3, Volume 4).

3/10/1810: In his long diary entry, JQA notes "I read a small astronomical treatise in German by Bode, lent me by Mr. Six. I read also some pages in the first volume of Robison's Elements of mechanical philosophy." There are several possible titles for the astronomical tract; the Robison is John Robison's Elements of mechanical philosophy (Edinburgh: Printed for Archibald Constable & Co., 1804). The first volume is available online via the Internet Archive, here.

Coming Attractions

We've got a full calendar of special events over the next month or so, which I thought I'd just highlight so you can mark your calendars. We hope to see you often!

On Monday, 22 March our new exhibit opens: "'A More Interior Revolution': Elizabeth Peabody, Margaret Fuller, and the Women of the American Renaissance" will be available for viewing Monday through Saturday from 1-4 p.m., and will be up through 30 June. Guest curator Megan Marshall has selected letters and journals written by Fuller and Peabody, together with writings and works of art created by other women who participated in the literary renaissance in New England between 1830 and Fuller's death in 1850. The exhibition draws upon the collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society and the Concord Free Public Library. You can find more information on the exhibit here.

Some events associated with the show include a special preview of the show for MHS members and fellows (more info here), and two public gallery talks: "The Lost Letters of Margaret Fuller" by Stephen T. Riley Librarian Peter Drummey will be held on Saturday, 27 March, at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. as part of the MHS Annual Open House.  On Friday, 23 April, at 2 p.m., Leslie Perrin Wilson, Curator of the William Munroe Special Collections at the Concord Free Public Library, will give a talk entitled "'No Worthless Books'": Elizabeth Peabody's Foreign Library and Bookstore, 1840-1852." The MHS also will sponsor a three-day conference, Margaret Fuller and Her Circles, 8-10 April 2010.  For information on the conference program, please visit the conference webpage. The opening keynote for the Fuller conference, "'The Measure of my Footprint': Margaret Fuller's Unfinished Revolution" will be delivered by Mary Kelley at 6 p.m. on Thursday, 8 April, and is free and open to the public.

I mentioned the Open House above: we do hope you'll join us on Saturday, 27 March from 10 a.m. - 3 p.m. for the exhibit talks (11 a.m. and 1 p.m.) or for guided tours of the MHS building (10 a.m., 12 p.m., 2 p.m.). You can learn more about MHS programs and events, become a member, and enjoy some special refreshments.

And if you've been following along with John Quincy Adams' tweets from Russia (or even if you haven't) we hope you'll join us for a talk by author Michael O'Brien on Wednesday, 31 March. Mr. O'Brien's new book is Mrs. Adams in Winter: A Journey in the Last Days of Napoleon (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2010) about Louisa Catherine Adams' trek across Europe in early 1815. Refreshments will be served at 5:30 p.m., and the talk will start at 6 p.m. Reservations for this event are requested; please go here for more information or to submit a reservation.