Object of the Month

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newer objects

February 2010

"I wish the British would stop this 'We who are about to die, salute thee' attitude": Letter from Franklin D. Roosevelt to Roger Merriman

Letter, 1939

January 2010

The Birth Announcement of the Massachusetts Historical Society: The 1791 Circular Letter, of Historical Society

Printed pamphlet, 1791

December 2009

Abigail Adams' Pocket

Dimity fabric, late 18th century

November 2009

High Adventure: James Norman Hall's Final Combat during the First World War

Photograph, 1918

October 2009

A Daughter of the Revolution: Rachel Walker Revere Writes to Her Husband, Paul Revere, in the Aftermath of His Famous Ride

Letter, 1775

September 2009

A Commission in John Brown's Provisional Army

Printed form completed in manuscript, 1859

August 2009

The Party before the Boston Tea Party

Porcelain bowl, circa 1760-1773

July 2009

Celebrating the Fourth in a Time of National Distress

Broadside, 1881

June 2009

"Mr. Wythes books &c are packed up ..."

Manuscript letter, 1806

May 2009

"This I cannot but regard as perhaps most the important corps to be organized during the whole war..."

Manuscript letter, 1863

April 2009

Prospect Hill. Bunker's Hill. Pyschological Warfare During the Siege of Boston

Handbill, 1775

March 2009

Frederick Douglass corrects an "injustice" done to Robert C. Winthrop

Manuscript letter, 1882

February 2009

"He is very homely, but I looked on him with great interest and should like to see more of him." Abraham Lincoln visits the camp of the 1st Massachusetts Infantry Regiment.

Manuscript letter, 1863

January 2009

The Boston Roots of Edgar Allan Poe

Newspaper advertisement, 1808

December 2008

Rufus Putnam's Manuscript Map of Worcester County

Manuscript map, 1785

November 2008

"That Most Fragrant Plant, the Mind": A Young Margaret Fuller Writes to Mary Peabody

Manuscript letter from the Nitzsche Unitariana collection

October 2008

"Bedazzling the Eyes...Like an Angel of the Sun:" Shem Drowne's Indian Archer Weathervane

Weathervane, 1716

September 2008

The Birth of the Gerrymander

Broadside, [1812]

August 2008

Sons and Daughters of Liberty Unite to Boycott William Jackson

Broadside, [between 1768-1770]

July 2008

The Reading of the Declaration of Independence in Boston, 18 July 1776

Letter from Henry Alline to his brother and sister, 1776

June 2008

"Cash Given for Handsome and Healthy Live Teeth"

Broadside about one of the first American dentists, 1796

May 2008

Governors William Bradford and John Winthrop discuss Anne Hutchinson, the "American Jezebel," and the Quaker martyr, Mary Dyer

Manuscript letter and memorandum of reply, 1638

April 2008

Thwarting the Slave-Hunters: Henry Ingersoll Bowditch and the Boston Anti-Man-Hunting League

Manuscript diagram, circa 1854-1859

March 2008

John Adams and his "Dearest Friend": A Life in Letters

Portrait, circa 1766

February 2008

"Grown gray in your service": the 225th Anniversary of George Washington's Newburgh Address

Manuscript, 1783

January 2008

Moses Greenleaf's Map of West Point, 1779

Manuscript map, 1779

October 2007

General Washington's Terrible Dilemma

Letter from George Washington to Benjamin Lincoln, 1782

September 2007

"I am here too soon": Francis Dana's Failed Attempt to Establish Diplomatic Relations with Russia During the American Revolution

Letter from Francis Dana to John Adams, 1781

August 2007

A Ribald Acrostic in the Eliot Indian Bible

Manuscript verse (incomplete)

July 2007

A Fourth of July Feast, 1844 Style

Printed menu

June 2007

The Education of John Adams

Letter from John Adams to William Dawes, 28 July 1821

May 2007

"The Other Emersons": The Correspondence of William, Ralph Waldo, Edward Bliss, and Charles Chauncy Emerson

Miniature portrait of William Emerson, circa 1833

April 2007

The "literary leather dresser": Thomas Dowse and his Library

Engraving of the Dowse Library at the Massachusetts Historical Society, circa 1856

March 2007

Eliza Susan Quincy: The Education of an Artist in the Early Republic

Watercolor drawing of Presidential birthplaces, 1822

February 2007

The Education of Henry Adams: One Hundred Years Later

Photograph of Henry Adams, 1858

January 2007

"All are gone who desire to do so": Robert E. Lee and Slavery

Manuscript letter from Robert E. Lee to George W. C. Lee, 1863

December 2006

Boston Burning: the Fire of 1787

Manuscript map of Boston drawn by Jeremy Belknap, 1787

November 2006

"She had always aspired to something noble": Caroline Dall and Her Extraordinary Diary

Daguerreoptype of Caroline Wells Healey Dall

October 2006

Meet the Ochterlonys

Miniature portrait of Major General Sir David Ochterlony

September 2006

Indian deed for Boston, 19 March 1685

Quitclaim deed for the peninsula of Boston, 19 March 1685

August 2006

Sally Putnam visits the Aquarial Gardens

Sarah Gooll Putnam diary 2, 22-23 February 1862

July 2006

Will Bradley and the Art of the Bicycle

Catalog of the Overman Wheel Co., designed by Will Bradley

June 2006

Orphans of the Revolution: caring for the children of Dr. Joseph Warren

caring for the children of Dr. Joseph Warren

May 2006

The Diary of a Black Civil War Sailor

William B. Gould diary, 15 April 1865

April 2006

The Massachusetts Pine Tree penny

Copper pattern coin designed and engraved by Paul Revere, 1776

March 2006

The last days of the telegram

Telegram from Dean Rusk to Leverett Saltonstall, 24 September 1963.

February 2006

"Boston Harbor a tea-pot tonight"

Tea leaves in glass bottle collected on the shore of Dorchester Neck the morning of 17 December 1773.

January 2006

Benjamin Franklin recalls Boston, the place of his birth

Letter from Benjamin Franklin to Samuel Mather, 12 May 1784

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