By Elaine Grublin

While the Monday holiday leaves plenty of time for you to look over Paul Revere’s deposition recounting the events of 19 April 1775, it also means we have less time for public programs this week.  We are offering two great programs, providing excellent opportunities for folks to visit the MHS.  And be sure to check out our online calendar for other upcoming events. 

On Thursday, 21 April, at 5:30 PM the Boston Seminar on the History of Women and Gender brings Dayo Gore of the University of Massachusetts – Amherst to the MHS to discuss the paper “Engendering and Internationalizing the Long Black Freedom Struggle.”  Ruth Feldstein of Rutgers University at Newark will give the comment.  This program is free and open to all.  Advance copies of the seminar paper are available, for a small subscription fee, through the MHS website. 

On Saturday, 23 April, at 10.00 AM our weekly building tour, The History and Collections of the MHS, departs our front lobby for a ninety minute tour of the building’s public spaces.  

By Elaine Grublin

As the weather warms up, plan a trip to Boston and stop in at 1154 Boylston Street for one of our exciting events this week.

On Tuesday, 12 April 2011 we have two events that are free and open to the public.  Our lunchtime program, A Crisis in Leadership: Massachusetts on the Eve of Civil War, is at look at John A. Andrew’s early months as governor of Massachusetts as he balances his personal beliefs, his political allies & foes, and the best interests of the country in the tumultous time between his inauguration in January 1861 and the attack on Fort Sumter in April 1861.  This one hour program starts at 12:00 and is presented by MHS staff members Jayne Gordon, Kathleen Barker, and Elaine Grublin.  Tuesday evening at 5:15 PM the Boston Environmental History Seminar brings James C. O’Connell of the National Park Service to the MHS to discuss his paper “Smart Growth In Massachusetts.”  This paper includes material from O’Connell’s book project on Boston’s suburban development, 1800-2010, and focuses on the history of smart growth in metropolitan Boston. Sam Bass Warner of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology will give the comment.

On Thursday evening at 5:15 PM, Sarah Pearsall, Oxford Brookes University, presents her paper  “‘To give up having many wives’: The Politics of Polygamy in Colonial North America”
as part of the Boston Early American History Seminar series.  Lisa Wilson of Connecticut College will give the comment. 

As always advanced copies of the seminar papers are available for a small subscription fee. 

And on Saturday 16 April the weekly building tour, The History and Collections of the MHS, returns.  This 90 minute tour starts in the MHS lobby at 10:00 AM. 

By Elaine Grublin

It is another week filled with exciting programs at the MHS.  There is a little something for everyone this week, so plan to stop in for at least one event.

On Wednesday, 6 April we have two events.  At noon current MHS/NEH long-term fellow Dr. Linford Fisher presents  “The Land of the Unfree: Africans, Indians, and the Varieties of Slavery and Servitude in Colonial New England,” a brown-bag lunch program centered on the research he has conducted while in residence at the MHS.  For those new to the MHS brown-bag series, the program is typically a 25 minute presentation followed by a question and answer session.  Attendees can bring their lunch and we provide the beverages.  The program is free an open to the public. 

Between lunch and dinner on Wednesday we make the long jump from Colonial America to the 20th & 21st centuries with the next installment in our “Dangers and Denials” Conversation Series.  James Kloppenberg of Harvard University will be discussing his latest book, Reading Obama: Dreams, Hope, and the American Political Tradition.  The conversation, facilitated by Steve Marini of Wellesley College begins at 6:00 PM. There will be a brief reception prior to the program beginning at 5:30. This program is also free and open to the public.

Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, 7 – 9 April, the MHS hosts the conference What’s New about the New Immigration to the U.S.? Traditions and Transformations since 1965, presented with the generous support of The Lowell Institute.  The conference begins with the keynote address “U.S. Refugee Policy in the Post-Cold War Era: Balancing Humanitarian Obligations and Security Concerns” delivered by Professor Maria Cristina Garcia, Cornell University, on Thursday at 6:00 PM and continues with full days of programming on Friday & Saturday.  Registration is required for conference attendance.

There is no Saturday tour this week.  The tour will return on Saturday, 16 April.

By Elaine Grublin

Join us on Thursday, 31 March @ 12:15 at the Old South Meeting House for the final installment in the A Nation Born: The Battles of Lexington and Concord series.  In this session filmmaker Bestor Cram shares clips from his award-winning documentary Unfinished Symphony, as well as his experiences as part of the events on Memorial Day 1971 when nearly 500 Vietnam Veterans and townspeople were arrested for camping on Lexington Green, the very spot where the American Revolution began .

And on Saturday, 2 April, our weekly building tour begins in the front lobby at 10:00AM.  This 90 minute tour offers an opportunity to learn about the history and collections of the MHS. 

By Elaine Grublin

We have another week of exciting events happening both at the MHS and at Old South Meeting House. 

Tuesday, 22 March, at 6:00 PM, Walt Woodward, State Historian of Connecticut presents a talk focused on his recent publication Prospero’s America: John Winthrop, Jr., Alchemy, and the Creation of New England Culture, 1606-1676. A pre-event reception begins at 5:30 PM.

And again on Thursday, 24 March, we have two events.  The daytime event, which begins at 12:15 PM, takes place at Old South Meeting House.  This lunchtime lecture features Jayne Gordon and Kathleen Barker of the Massachusetts Historical Society presenting Grandfathers; Grandsons: Parkers, Emersons and the Legacy of Revolution.  This lecture is the fourth installment of the A Nation Born: The Battles of Lexington and Concord series co-sponsered by Old South Meeting House. 

On Thursday evening at 5:15, you can join us back at 1154 Boylston Street as Mary Anne A. Trasciatti, Hofstra University, presenting her paper “Athens or Anarchy? Soapbox Oratory and the Early Twentieth-Century American City” as part of the Boston Immigration and Urban History Seminar.  Michael Willrich, Brandeis University, will give the comment. 

By Elaine Grublin

If you are looking for some midday excitement, plan on joining us for one of our lunchtime programs this week. And do not forget that Saturday, we have a full day of events planned for the MHS open house.

Tuesday, 15 March  at 12:00 PM, the Collection Services Department presents the next installment in our mini-course series. Bring your lunch and learn “What does Massachusetts have to do with … Tahiti, Pirates, and Graham Crackers?” Beverages will be provided.  

Wednesday, 16 March at 12:00 PM Twentieth-Century History Fellowship recipient Brian Gratton, Arizona State University, presents his research “Henry Cabot Lodge and the Politics of Immigration Restriction” at a brown bag lunch program. 

We have another offsite program on Thursday, March 17th.  At 12:15,  J.L. Bell, author of the blog Boston 1775, moderates the panel discussion “Where Did It Begin?” a look at the question of whether the Revolution began in Lexington or Concord.  This programs is part of the A Nation Born: The Battles of Lexington and Concord series co-sponsered by the Old South Meeting House, and will take place at Old South.

And on Saturday, bring the family, the neighbors, and all other history lovers you know to 1154 Boylston Street for the annual MHS Spring Open House: the Coming of the Civil War.  The building will be open to the public from 10:00 AM to 3:00PM, with tours, discussion panels, and lectures planned throughout the day.  See a schedule of the day’s events here.

By Elaine Grublin

This week we have a two events at our 1154 Boylston Street home, and two co-sponsored events at alternate locations. Please note where events are happening as you plan to attend.

Thursday, 10 March, we have two public events. At 12:15 PM join us for a co-sponsored event at Old South Meeting House. Come listen as Jim Hollister, Minute Man National Historical Park, and Emily Murphy, Salem Maritime National Historic Site, present
“Let Us Wait No Longer!” Salem and the Lexington Alarm. And at 5:30 PM Annette Gordon-Reed, author of Pulitzer Prize winning The Hemingses of Monticello, will present her paper “The Hemings Family in the Nineteenth Century” as part of the Boston Seminar on the History of Women and Gender. Nell Irvin Painter, Princeton University, will give the comment. This event will take place at the Schlesinger Library at Harvard University.

Friday, 11 March, we kick off our spring exhibition History Drawn with Light: Early Photographs from the Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society. The exhibition will be open to the public Monday through Saturday, 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM, from March 11th to June 3rd.

And last but not least, our 90 minute Saturday building tour will begin at 10:00 AM in the front lobby on 12 March.

By Elaine Grublin

With at least one event happening each day from 1 March to 5 March, everyone should be able to make it in to the MHS for an event this week:

Tuesday, 1 March at 12:00 PM the next installment of the lunchtime mini-course series offers “What does Massachusetts have to do with … the French Revolution?”presented by
Sara Martin and Sara Sikes of the Adams Papers Editorial Project.

Wednesday, 2 March there are two programs. At noon Andrew W. Mellon fellow Rachel Herrmann, University of Texas at Austin, will present her research on “Food and War: Indians, Slaves, and the American Revolution” at a brown bag lunch program. And at 6:00, there will be a screening of Hit and Run History a film by Andrew Buckley tracing the voyage of the ship Columbia. Refreshments will be served at 5:30 PM.

Thursday, 3 March there is one event in the building, and another MHS co-sponsered event at Old South Meeting House. At noon Lou Sideris, Chief of Planning and Communications, Minute Man National Historical Park will present a lecture at Old South Meeting House (directions) on “Landscape of Memory — A Sense of Place.” And back at 1154 Boylston at 5:15, the Boston Early American History Seminar continues with MHS/NEH longterm fellow Rachel T. Van presenting the paper “The Woman Pigeon: Sociability, Sexuality, and the Anglo-American Community in Canton and Macao”. Robert P. Forbes, University of Connecticut – Torrington will give the comment.

Friday, 4 March at 12:00 PM, Malcolm and Mildred Freiberg Fellowship recipient Mary Kelley, University of Michigan, will present a brown-bag lunch program on her research “‘What Are You Reading, What Are You Saying’: American Reading and Writing Practices, 1760-1860.”

Finally on Saturday, 5 March we again have two programs. Our 90 minute Saturday building tour starts in the front lobby at 10:00 AM. And at 2:00 PM the next installment in the “Dangers and Denials” Conversation Series brings Bruce Ackerman, Yale Law School, to the MHS for a conversation about “The Decline and Fall of the American Republic.”

We hope to see lots of new and familiar faces at the many events this week.

By Elaine Grublin

Another busy week for programs at the MHS:  

Wednesday, 23 February at 12:00 PM, Paine Publication Fund fellow Edward W. Hanson presents his brown-bag lunch, “Crime in the Early Republic: Robert Treat Paine as Massachusetts Attorney General.”  Bring a lunch and join in the conversation.

Thursday, 24 February at 5:15 PM, The Boston Immigration and Urban History Seminar continues with Christopher Capozzola, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, presenting his paper “How Filipino Veterans Joined the Greatest Generation: Transnational Politics and Postcolonial Citizenship, 1945 – 2009.”  Margot Canady of Princeton University will give the comment.   

Friday, 25 February at 12:00 PM, Alan Hoffman, president of the Massachusetts Lafayette Society, will present a lunchtime program Lafayette and the Farewell Tour: Odyssey of an American Idol.  

And finally, our Saturday building tour starts at 10:00 AM.  

By Elaine Grublin

Mark you calendars and prepare to join us at one or more of this week’s events.

We have two events happening on Wednesday, February 2. At noon, in the Dowse library, Marc-William Palen of University of Texas at Austin will present a brown bag lunch talk: The Cleveland “Conspiracy”: Mugwumpery, Free Trade Ideology, and Foreign Policy in Gilded Age America. And at 5:30 PM producer Andrew Buckley will present a screening of Hit & Run History, a series of documentary shorts about the Columbia Expedition. 

On Thursday, February 3, the Boston Early American History Seminar continues with Jason T. Sharples of American Academy of Arts and Sciences & Catholic University of America
presenting his paper “The Politics of Fear: Slave Conspiracy Panics, Community Mobilization, and the Coming of the American Revolution.”  Benjamin Carp of Tufts University will give the comment. 

And on Saturday, February 5, our weekly building tour will begin at 10:00 AM. 

If the weather is poor please call our front desk (617-536-1608) or check our webpage to confirm that events are happening as scheduled.