By Dan Hinchen

It is a quiet week here at the Society as we approach the holiday. Here’s what’s happening:

– Wednesday, 29 June, 6:00PM : “A New Perspective on the 19th Century Rivalry Between New York and Boston” is a talk about how changing technology introduces tools that can change the way we see and understand history. Join Dr. Michael Wheeler who will talk about the use of Historical Geographic Information Systems (HGIS) in the development of three-dimensional animated maps for studying historical events, placing New York and Boston in the limelight. This talk is open to the public free of charge, registraiton required. A recption precedes the talk at 5:30PM and the event begins at 6:00PM. 

– Saturday, 2 July, 10:00AM : The History and Collections of the MHS is a 90-minute docent-led walk through our public rooms. The tour is free, open to the public, with no need for reservations. If you would like to bring a larger party (8 or more), please contact Curator of Art Anne Bentley at 617-646-0508 or abentley@masshist.org.

While you’re here you will also have the opportunity to view our current exhibition: Turning Points in American History.

Please note that the Society is CLOSED on Monday, 4 July, in observance of Independence Day. Normal hours resume on Tuesday, 5 July.

By Dan Hinchen

It’s time for our programs round-up. On the slate this week, we have : 

– Monday, 20 June, 6:00PM : “The Defender: How the Legendary Black Newspaper Changed America.” Drawing on dozens of interviews and extensive archival research, author Ethan Michaeli constructs a revelatory narrative of race in America and brings to life the reproters who braved lynch mobs and policemen’s clubs to do their jobs, from the age of Teddy Roosevelt to the age of Barack Obama. This talk is open to the public, registration required with a fee of $10 (no charge for MHS Members or Fellows). Reception begins at 5:30PM and the talk begins at 6:00PM.

– Wednesday, 22 June, 5:00PM : MHS Fellows Annual Meeting & Reception. MHS Fellows are invited to the Society’s annual business meeting. RSVP required. The meeting begins at 5:00PM

N.B.: The library closes early at 4:00PM on Wednesday, 22 June, in preparation for the annual meeting.

– Saturday, 25 June, 10:00AM : The History and Collections of the MHS is a 90-minute docent-led walk through our public rooms. The tour is free, open to the public, with no need for reservations. If you would like to bring a larger party (8 or more), please contact Curator of Art Anne Bentley at 617-646-0508 or abentley@masshist.org.

While you’re here you will also have the opportunity to view our current exhibition.

By Dan Hinchen

It’s time again for the weekly round-up of events coming your way. Here’s what’s on tap at the Society this week:

– Wednesday, 15 June, 12:00PM : The first of two Brown Bag lunch talks this week is given by Zach Hutchins of Colorado State University and is titled “Briton Hammon in the Archives” and traces the circum-Atlantic journey of Massachusetts resident Briton Hammon. The enslaved Hammon published a narrative of his travels in 1760, an account many have described as the first slave narrative. This talk is free and open to the public. Please join us!

– Wednesday, 15 June, 6:00PM : Also on Wednesday is an author talk with Daniel R. Coquillette and Bruce A. Kimball who will discuss their book On the Battlefield of Merit: Harvard Law School, the First Century. Currently working on the second volume that will bring the story to the present, the authors will also relate this history to recent challenges faced by the school including questions of the relation of its seal to a fortune made on the backs of slaves. This talk is open to the public for a fee of $20 (no charge for MHS Members and Fellows). A pre-talk reception begins at 5:30PM and the program begins at 6:00PM. 

– Friday, 17 June, 12:00PM : The second Brown Bag of the week features Ben Davidson of New York University who presents “Freedom’s Generation: Coming of Age in the Era of Emancipation.” Davidson’s research traces the lives of the generation of black and white children, in the North, South, and West, who grew up during the Civil War era and were the first generation to come of age after the end of slavery. This talk is free and open to the public. Pack a lunch and come on in!

– Saturday, 18 June, 10:00AM : The History and Collections of the MHS is a 90-minute docent-led walk through our public rooms. The tour is free, open to the public, with no need for reservations. If you would like to bring a larger party (8 or more), please contact Curator of Art Anne Bentley at 617-646-0508 or abentley@masshist.org.

While you’re here you will also have the opportunity to view our current exhibition.

By Dan Hinchen

There is a new exhibit on the way this week, as well as a couple of public programs for you. Here is what’s lined up:

– Monday, 6 June, 6:00PM : When Mount Auburn Cemetery was founded in 1831 it revolutionized the way Americans mourned the dead by offering a peaceful space for contemplation. Join us to hear author Stephen Kendrick tell the story of Mount Auburn’s founding, its legacy, and the many influential Americans interred there. This story is captured in Kendrick’s latest book The Lively Place: Mount Auburn, America’s First Garden Cemetery, and Its Revolutionary and Literary Residents. This author talk is open the public and registration is required at a cost of $20 (no charge for MHS Members or Fellows). A reception begins at 5:30PM and the talk begins at 6:00PM.

– Friday, 10 June, 10:00AM : The Private Jefferson has left the building and we are happy to present our next exhibition, “Turning Points in American History.” This presentation examines 15 decisive moments when everything suddenly changed or a process began that would change what followed, described in eyewitness accounts and personal records, or commemorated by “dumb witnesses” — artifacts found in the Society’s collections. The exhibitions galleries are open to the public free of charge Monday-Saturday, 10:00AM-4:00PM. 

– Friday, 10 June, 12:00PM : Also on Friday is a Brown Bag lunch talk given by Gregory Michna of West Virginia University. “A Communion of Churches: Indian Christians, English Ministers, and Congregations in New England, 1600-1775” explores Puritan and Native American efforts to build religious communities throughout the span of colonial New England. This talk is free and open to the public. Pack a lunch and stop by!

– Saturday 11 June, 10:00AM : After a multi-week hiatus, our public tour is back! Come by on Saturday for The History and Collections of the MHS, a 90-minute docent-led walk through our public spaces. The tour is open to the public free of charge with no need for reservations for individuals or small groups. Larger parties of 8 or more should contact Curator of Art Anne Bentleh in advance at 617-646-0508 or abentley@masshist.org. 

– Saturday, 11 June, 5:00PM : The American President: From Teddy Roosevelt to Bill Clinton charts the enormous growth of presidential power from its lowly state in the nineteenth century to the imperial presidency of the twentieth. Join author and presidential historian William Leuchtenburg as he talks about his news book. Registration is required for this event at a cost of $20 (no charge for MHS Members or Fellows). A pre-talk reception begins at 4:30PM and the talk begins at 5:00PM

By Dan Hinchen

Reminder: The Society is CLOSED on Monday, 30 May, in observance of Memorial Day.

As we slide into the summer months here at the MHS, our programming slows down just a little bit compared to the past few weeks. But don’t let yourself think that there is nothing going on! Here is what we have on tap for our holiday-shortened week:

– Wednesday, 1 June, 12:00PM : The first Brown Bag talk of the month features Kevin Waite of the University of Pennsylvania. His project tracks proslavery activity in California and Southerners’ attempts to capture the Pacific trade, highlighting the centrality of the Far West in the nation’s road to disunion. His talk, titled “The Slave South in the Far West: California, the Pacific, and Proslavery Visions of Empire, 1800-1865,” is open to the public free of charge. Pack a lunch and check it out!

– Thursday, 2 June, 6:00PM : Join us for “The Road to Concord and Stamp Act Stamp Unveiling.” This combined author talk/public program features author and MHS Fellow J.L. Bell, proprietor of Boston1775.net, sharing highlights from his recent book The Road to Concord: How Four Stolen Cannon Ignited the Revolutionary War, and how the Society’s collections provided vital clues to this untold story. As a special treat, the U.S. Postal Service will join us for the Massachusetts unveiling of a new stamp commemorating the 250th anniversary of the end of the Stamp Act crisis, the first act of the American Revolution. This talk is free and open to the public but registration is required. A pre-talk reception begins at 5:30PM.

– Friday, 3 June, 12:00PM : The second Brown Bag talk this week is “‘A Just and Honest Valuation’: Money and Value in Colonial American, 1690-1750.” Come in and listen to Katie Moore, Boston University, whose project argues that colonists mediated economic change within existing moral and social frameworks by re-imagining the origins and nature of value as extrinsic, a conceptual shift reflected in their use of paper money. This talk is free and open to the public. Won’t you join us?

Note: The Library closes early on Friday, 3 June, at 3:00PM.

By Dan Hinchen

It’s tough to be believe that we are almost at the end of the month, but here we are hurtling toward Memorial Day. Before the summer unofficially begins, come by the MHS for some history! Once again, we have a week that is heavy with Brown Bag talks, along with a couple other items of note. 

– Monday, 23 May, 12:00PM : Karen Weyler, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, kicks off the week with her Brown Bag entitled “Serendipity and Literary History: The Problem of ‘Firstness’ in Histories of the American Novel.” Weyler discusses how some of her findings here at the MHS might challenge traditional inception points for literary histories of fiction in British Ameria and the early United States. As always, Brown Bag talks are free and open to the public. 

– Tuesday, 24 May, 6:00PM : Join us for a conversation with Joseph Bagley, Boston Archaeologist and Author, who will talk about “A History of Boston in 50 Artifacts.” As a result of the Big Dig and the artifacts it unearthed, Bagley uncovers a fascinating hodgepodge of history that will surprise and delight even longtime residents. This talk is open to the public free of charge, though registration is required. A pre-talk reception begins at 5:30PM and the program starts at 6:00PM. 

– Wednesday, 25 May, 12:00PM : The second Brown Bag talk of the week is “‘For the Good of the Country’: Captive Trade Networks in the Colonial Northeast, 1630-1763.” Join Joanne Jahnke Wegner, University of Minnesota, as she discusses her project which examines the commodification of captive peoples who were trafficked in the colonies, across imperial borders, and into the Atlantic world. This talk is free and open to the public. 

– Thursday, 26 May : This is your last chance to view The Private Jefferson, our current exhibition. The exhibit will close for good at 4:00PM on Thursday. Be sure to come in for a look before it’s gone!

– Friday, 27 May, 12:00PM : To round out the trifecta of Brown Bag talks this week, stop by on Friday for “From the Partisan Press to the Political Procedural.” This talk features Mary Hale of the University of Illinois – Chicago, whose project considers the development of a new post-Civil War genre of political novels specifically by looking at Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner’s The Gilded Age and Henry Adams’ Democracy.  

The Society is CLOSED on Saturday, 28 May, and Monday, 30 May, in observance of Memorial Day. Normal hours resume on Tuesday, 31 May

By Dan Hinchen

It feels like spring finally arrived here in Boston. Why not get outside and take a walk to the MHS for some public programs? This week we are heavy on our lunchtime Brown Bag talks, but there are also a couple other public programs to balance things out. Here’s what’s coming:

– Monday, 16 May, 12:00PM : The first Brown Bag talk of the week is titled “Valuing the Body of the Enslaved: From the Cradle to the Grave.” Pack a lunch and come listen to short-term research fellow Daina Ramey Berry of the University of Texas at Austin. Berry presents her framework for understanding the valuation of enslaved peoples from birth to beyond death, based on 10 years of research in northern and southern archives. This talk is free and open to the public. 

– Monday, 16 May, 6:00PM : “Jefferson the Architect” is the final public program from the Jefferson Series, which centers around our current exhibition. In this talk, Henry Adams of Case Western Reserve University explores the impact of Jefferson in American architecture and the legacy he has left on our country’s built environment. This talk is open to the public, though registration is required with a fee of $20 (no charge for MHS Fellows and Members). There is a pre-talk reception at 5:30PM and the talk begins at 6:00PM. 

 – Wednesday, 18 May, 12:00PM : Brown Bag talk number two this week is presented by Sarah Templier of Johns Hopkins University, and is called “The Lives of Textiles: Trading and Consuming Clothing, Fabrics, and Apparel Accessories in French and British North America, 1720s-1770s.” The progam presents an overview of Templier’s dissertation research. This talk is free and open to the public. 

– Thursday, 19 May, 6:00PM : POSTPONED: “Mass Momentum: Highlighting the Innovation Hub.”

– Friday, 20 May, 12:00PM : The third and final Brown Bag talk this week features Travis Jacquess, University of Mississippi. In his talk, “‘My Principles for Government…Are Fixed,’ Declarations of Independence between Fathers and Sons in the Age of Revolution,” Jacquess argues that the spirit of of independence – the spirit of ’76 – gave rise to the spirit of individualism, which was passed from father to son as a natural product of their experience in the Revolution and their engagement in the new American Republic. This talk is free and open to the public. 

– Saturday, 21 May, 1:00PM : Join us for the final instalment of this season’s discussion of primary readings, Begin at the Beginning, led by Dr. Abby Chandler. “John Gyles’ Odd Adventure : A Different Captivity Narrative” tells a story of his upbringing among the Micmac and Maliseet peoples: a story of understanding and respect, unlike most Puritan captivity narratives that tell tales of horror and fear. This program is open to the public and registration is required at no cost; Please RSVP. 

Finally, if you have not yet come in to see the Private Jefferson, your time is running out. The exhibition remains on view to the public through Wednesday, May 26. Don’t miss it!

There is no Saturday tour this week

By Dan Hinchen

May is arrived! With it comes a full month of programs taking place here at the Society for public consumption. Kicking off the month, we have

– Tuesday, 3 May, 5:15PM : “‘They bid me speak what I thought he would give’: The Commodification of Captive People During King Phillip’s War” is an Early American History seminar event presented by Joanne Jahnke Wegner from the University of Minnesota. Wegner’s essay addresses the systems of human trafficking that circulated both Native American and English captives during King Phillip’s War. Kate Grandjean of Wellesley College provides comment. Seminars are free and open to the public; RSVP required. Subscribe to receive advance copies of the seminar papers.

– Wednesday, 4 May, 12:00PM : Join us at noon for our next Brown Bag lunch talk, this time featuring Michael Zakim of Tel Aviv University and the Charles Warren Center. “Fear and Loathing at the Crystal Palace: the Failure of America’s First World’s Fair” examines how an enthusiastic group of New Yorkers, hoping to repeat the success of London’s 1851 Exhibition, ended up stoking ongoing American debate over the changing meaning of industry in these years of the Industrial Revolution. This talk is free and open to the public. 

– Saturday, 7 May, 10:00AM : Stop by for The History and Collections of the MHS, a docent-led walk through our public rooms. The tour is free, open to the public, with no need for reservations. If you would like to bring a larger party (8 or more), please contact Curator of Art Anne Bentley at 617-646-0508 or abentley@masshist.org. While you’re here you will also have the opportunity to view our current exhibition.

– Satuday, 7 May, 5:00PM : “Mad for Glory: The True Story of Two Americans and the Fate of the Pacific World” is an author talk with Robert Booth. This book tells a story set amidst the confusion of the War of 1812 in which two charismatic Americans played out an astonishing drama of nation-building and imperialism in the Pacific. This talk is open to the public, registration required for $10 (no charge for MHS Members and Fellows). A pre-talk reception begins at 4:30PM. 

By Dan Hinchen

Here are the public programs on-tap for this ultimate week of April:

– Tuesday, 26 April, 5:15PM : The next installment in the Immigration and Urban History seminar series, featuring Rebecca Marchiel of the University of Mississippi, is called “Communities Must Be Vigilant: The Financial Turn in National Urban Policy.” This chapter from Marchiel’s book project explores the mixed results of 1970s efforts to revitalize neighborhoods through community-bank partnerships. Davarian Baldwin, Trinity College, provides comment. Seminars are free and open to the public; RSVP required. Subscribe to receive advance copies of the seminar papers.

– Wednesday, 27 April, 12:00PM : Pack a lunch and stopy by on Wednesday for another Brown Bag lunch talk. This time, short-term fellow Christina Carrick, Boston University, presents “Among Strangers in a Distant Climate: Loyalist Exiles Define Empire and Nation, 1775-1783.” Carrick’s project uses Loyalist correspondence networks to examine how exiles crafted and empowered new identities and in the process helped to reshape the British Empire and the United States. This talk is free and open to the public. All are welcome!

– Wednesday, 27 April, 6:00PM : Also on Wednesday is a special author talk titled “‘Most Blessed of the Patriarchs’ Thomas Jefferson and the Empire of the Imagination.” This talk features Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Annette Gordon-Reed of Harvard Law School and University of Virginia’s Peter S. Onuf, the country’s leading Jefferson scholar, as they discuss their absorbing and revealing character study which clarifies the philosophy of Thomas Jefferson. This event is sold out. 

– Saturday, 30 April, 10:00AM : The History and Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society Tour is a docent-led walk through our public rooms. The tour is free, open to the public, with no need for reservations. If you would like to bring a larger party (8 or more), please contact Curator of Art Anne Bentley at 617-646-0508 or abentley@masshist.org.

While you’re here you will also have the opportunity to view our current exhibition.

By Dan Hinchen

The Society is CLOSED on Monday, 18 April, in observance of Patriot’s Day. But despite a shortened week, we still have these programs on tap:

– Tuesday, 19 April, 1:00PM : Looking for something fun to do during school vacation week? Look no further! Join us for “Comic History – Making Your Own Comic Explaining the Stamp Act.” This family program features noted historian J.L. Bell and the Boston Comics Roundtable who will engage participants in the history of the Stamp Act through stories of 18th century children and then assist and inspire young historians to create their own comic based on the events. The workshops are free, although space is limited and prior registration is required, please RSVP. The program and the comic book have been made possible through the support of the Society of the Cincinnati and the Massachusetts Historical Society. 

– Wednesday 20 April, 9:00AM : “Teaching Thomas Jefferson” is an interdisiplinary workshop which introduces participants to the Society’s collection of Jeffeson manuscripts. This program is open to educators and history enthusiasts for a fee of $25 per person (to cover materials and lunch). Educators can earn 22.5 PDPs or one graduate credit (for an additional fee). To Register / For more information: complete this registration form, or contact the education department ateducation@masshist.org or 617-646-0557.

– Wednesday, 20 April, 6:00PM : “The Citizen Poets of Boston: A Collection of Forgotten Poems, 1789-1820” is a public author talk featuring Paul Lewis of Boston College. Lewis and his research team completed a 3-year project at Boston College to review about 4,500 poems published in 59 different literary magazines. These mostly forgotten works have been brought back to light in this publication. Mr. Lewis and members of the research team will discuss the project and read from the book. This talk is open to the public, registration required. There is a pre-talk reception at 5:30PM and the talk begins at 6:00PM.

– Saturday, 23 April, 10:00AM : Our Saturday tour returns! After a few weeks off, we are back with The History and Collections of the MHS, a docent-led tour through the public spaces in our building on Boylston St. This tour is free and open to the public, no reservations required for small groups or individuals. Larger parties of 8 or more should contact Curator of Art Anne Bentley in advance at abentley@masshist.org or 617-646-0508.