By Jeremy Dibbell

Tonight, Tuesday 13 October, our Boston Environmental History Seminar series gets underway, with a 5:15 p.m. talk by Joyce Chaplin of Harvard University, “Earthsick: The Circumnavigator’s Malady.” Harriet Ritvo of MIT will give a comment after the paper.

On Thursday, 15 October, the Boston Seminar on the History of Women and Gender begins its 2009 run with a 5:15 p.m. talk by Felicia Kornbluh of the University of Vermont, “Disability, Gender, and Politics: The National Confederation of the Blind Confronts the Post-W.W. II U.S. Welfare State.” Laura Frader of Northeastern University will give the comment.

Please read the Seminars @ MHS blog post for more information on attending seminars, including how to make reservations and receive the papers in advance.

And, our John Brown exhibit (“John Brown: Martyr to Freedom or American Terrorist – or Both?”) is now open to the public for viewing, Monday-Saturday from 1-4 p.m.

By Jeremy Dibbell

Please join us on Wednesday, 7 October at 12 noon for a Brown-bag lunch with Crystal Feimster, current NEH long-term research fellow here at MHS. Crystal will discuss her project, “Sexual Warfare: Rape and the American Civil War.”

On Monday, 12 October, the MHS library will be closed in observance of the Columbus Day holiday, but we hope you’ll stop by nonetheless for our Open House, part of the Fenway Alliance’s Opening Our Doors festival. The building will be open from 11 a.m. through 4 p.m., and we’ll debut our fall exhibit, “John Brown: Martyr to Freedom or American Terrorist–or Both?”

By Jeremy Dibbell

The MHS seminar series kicks off on Thursday, 1 October. Join us at 5:15 p.m. for a talk by MIT’s Pauline Maier, “What Did It Take To Get the Constitution Ratified? A New Look at the Massachusetts Convention, January 9-February 6, 1788.” Richard Brown of the University of Connecticut will give a comment after the paper.

Please read the Seminars @ MHS blog post for more information on attending seminars.

By Jeremy Dibbell

It’s a busy week at 1154 Boylston as we officially kick off our fall events lineup. Here’s what’s happening:

Today, Monday 14 September, join us at 12 noon for a brown-bag lunch with research fellow Deborah McNally of the University of Washington. She’ll discuss her project, “Within Patriarchy: Puritan Women in Massachusetts’s Congregational Churches, 1630-1715.”

On Wednesday, 16 September, another brown-bag lunch (also at 12 noon), with research fellow Elizabeth Kelly Gray of Towson University. Elizabeth will speak on “Worlds of Pain: Opium and Early America.”

And also on Wednesday 16 September, we’ll host author Ray Raphael at 6 p.m. for a lecture and booksigning related to his new book, Founders: The People Who Brought You a Nation. Refreshments will be served at 5:30 p.m. More info here.

By Jeremy Dibbell

Please join us on Wednesday, 9 September at noon for a brown-bag lunch with the MHS’ current NEH long-term research fellow, April Haynes. April’s discussion is titled “Riotous Flesh: Gender, Physiology, and the Solitary Vice, 1830-1860.”

By Jeremy Dibbell

Please join us on Wednesday, 2 September at 12 noon in the Dowse Library for a brown-bag lunch with short-term research fellow Matthew Hale, assistant professor of history at Goucher College. Hale will speak on “The French Revolution and American National Identity.”

By Jeremy Dibbell

Please join us this week for another pair of brown-bag lunches:

On Wednesday, 5 August, research fellow Lindsay DiCuirci (Ohio State University) will discuss her current project, “History’s Imprint: The Colonial Book and the Writing of American History in the Nineteenth Century.”

On Friday, 7 August, research fellow John Wong (Harvard University) will discuss his current project, “Global Positioning: China Trade and the Hong Merchants of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries.”

Both events will be held from 12-1 in the Dowse Library.

By Jeremy Dibbell

It’s a brown-bag lunch bonanza this week at 1154 Boylston!

On Monday, 27 July, research fellow Sara Lampert (University of Michigan) will discuss her current project, “The Public Woman: Taking to the Stage in Nineteenth-Century America.”

On Wednesday, 29 July, research fellow Jeffrey Kosiorek (Hendrix College) will discuss his current project, “The Power of Our Patriot Fathers: Memory, Commemoration, and the American Revolution in the Nineteenth Century.”

And on Friday, 31 July, our own Hobson Woodward will discuss his newly-released book, A Brave Vessel: The True Tale of the Castaways Who Rescued Jamestown and Inspired Shakespeare’s ‘The Tempest.'” A short interview with Hobson appeared in Sunday’s Boston Globe, and A Brave Vessel has been reviewed in the Washington Post, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Kirkus Reviews and Publisher’s Weekly (among other outlets). Copies will be available for purchase and signing.

All three events will be held from 12-1 (in the Dowse Library on Monday and Wednesday, and in the Red Room on Friday).

By Jeremy Dibbell

We have two exciting brown-bag lunches scheduled this week:

On Wednesday, 22 July, research fellow Katy Meier will discuss her project, “‘Under the Surge of the Blue’: Environmental Effects on Civil War Soldiers’ Mental and Physical Health in Virginia, 1862.” The brown-bag will run from 12-1 in the Dowse Library.

On Friday, 24 July, former MHS staff member and current Historic New England site manager Julie Arrison will discuss her new book, Franklin Park, part of the Images of America series. The brown-bag will run from 12-1 in the Red Room.

By Jeremy Dibbell

Join us today (Wednesday) at 12 noon in the Dowse Library for a brown-bag lunch with Allison Mann of the University of New Hampshire and research fellow at MHS. Mann will discuss her current project: “Slavery Exacts an Impossible Price: John Quincy Adams and the Dorcas Allen Case, 1837.”

This event is free and open to the public.