This Week @ MHS

By Elaine Grublin

The fall calendar is full of engaging programs and exhibitions for folks with a wide range of interests.  This week we offer four programs and gallery hours, so be sure to stop in and enjoy at least one of the following.

At noon on Wednesday, 21 September, come to hear Andrew W. Mellon Fellow Kerima Lewis, University of California, Berkeley, presents her project Atlantic Fires Burning: Arson as a Strategy of Slave Resistance in the British American Colonies ata brown-bag lunch.

Area graduate students and faculty at graduate programs are invited to join us on Thursday, 22 September, at 6:00 PM for our Second Annual Graduate Student Reception. Registration is required for this program. To register, email Kate Viens or phone 617-646-0568 by 21 September with your name, affiliation, and major academic interest.

On Saturday, 24 September, we are pleased to offer a special event just for MHS Fellows and Members, a tour of the Arnold Arboretum. The program begins at 9:30 AM at the Hunnewell Building at the Arnold Arboretum. Registration is required.

Also on Saturday, 24 September, our weekly building tour, The History and Collections of the MHS, departs the MHS lobby at 10:00 AM. This 90 minute tour is guided by an MHS docent. 

All visitors to the MHS are also encouraged to visit our newest exhibition space. The newly installed exhibition “Like a Wolf for the Prey”: The Massachusetts Historical Society Collection Begins, installed in our recently renovated 2nd floor lobby, is open to the public Monday through Saturday, 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM. 

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Celebrating the Star-Spangled Banner

By Elaine Grublin

1860s single page printing of the Star-Spangled BannerOn 14 September 1814, Francis Scott Key penned the first lines of the poem that would become the American national anthem.  “The Defence of Fort McHenry” was written and popularized in the days immediately following the American’s success in fending off an attack by the British on the city of Baltimore during the War of 1812. 

Key, a lawyer from Georgetown, and John S. Skinner, a government agent, had been sent by the federal government to arrange the release of Dr. William Beanes.  Beanes had been arrested by the British and was being held prisoner aboard a British ship.  After securing Dr. Beanes release, Key and Skinner were informed that they would not be allowed to leave the fleet until after the British launched their attack on Baltimore.  Perhaps it was feared that Key and Skinner knew too much about the size and force of the fleet and the British attack. After spending several days aboard the HMS Surprise, on 13 September Key and company returned to their own vessel but were required to remain at anchor until after the attack. From the deck of this vessel on the Patapsco River, Key had a clear view of the flag atop Fort McHenry. The battle lasted well into the night,. When the bombardment ended shortly before the break of day on 14 September, Key and Skinner were not certain if the British had taken the fort or if the Americans had repulsed the attack.  As daylight broke, the anxious men looked to the fort and saw that “the flag was still there” and the fort was still in American hands. Shortly after the group was allowed to lift anchor and head back to their homes.  

The Star-Spangled Banner was written as a multi-stanza poem, illustrated in the broadside (published in the 1860s) shown above, to be sung to the tune of “The Anacreontic Song”. Key claimed to have begun writing the poem in the dark hours aboard ship before he knew the outcome of the battle.  He completed writing as he sailed back to Baltimore. The finished version was penned in a Baltimore hotel room and was almost immediately distributed as a hand-bill and published in Baltimore area news papers.  

 

 

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Stephen Greenleaf Bulfinch, Post 5

By Elaine Grublin

The following excerpt is from the diary of Stephen Greenleaf Bulfinch.

Wednesday, May 8th, 1861

The awaking of the country after the Fort Sumter affair has been one of the noblest spectacles of the age. For a few days Washington was considered in danger, but regiment after regiment poured in from the north for its defense, – Massachusetts doing her part among the first, and with a remarkable exhibition of the ability of her soldiers to meet every emergency. The sixth regiment was attacked by a mob in Baltimore; but forced their way through, though with the loss of three lives. The bodies of the martyred soldiers have since been received and reverently buried. This occurrence led to the selection of the route through Annapolis, – the discontinuance of travel through Baltimore, – much talk in Maryland and much wrath both in and against it. But the state and city seem to succumb to the necessity of the case. Meantime Washington is safe; the armory at Harper’s Ferry and the Navy Yard at Norfolk have been destroyed to baffle the approaching enemy, – 80,000 more soldiers and sailors, for a longer term, have been called out, – the administration is firm, and our hopes of an eventually happy if not a bloodless solution of the difficulty are increasing.

Our ladies have been working to make clothing for the soldiers. A few of our Dorchester youths have joined a Roxbury company, now expecting to march; and two companies are nearly formed in this town. A large subscription by individuals, & a liberal appropriation ($20,000) by the Town, have been made to encourage them.

My nephew C. F. B. has volunteered, but I do not yet know whether he will be ordered off.

Next week look for SGB’s June 1861 entry.  He discusses early troop movements and skirmishes, the economic impact of the war, and his hopes for a quick end to the conflict.

 

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This Week @ MHS

By Elaine Grublin

Please join us at noon on Wednesday, 14 September, as Anthony Antonucci, University of Connecticut, presents his project “Americans and the Mezzogiorno: United States Relations with the Regno delle Due Sicilie from Thomas Jefferson to Herman Melville, 1783-1861” at a brown-bag lunch program. 

On Saturday, 17 September take the family to George’s Island to hear MHS staff members present a lecture on The Trent Affair.  This event is part of the Boston Harbor Islands Civil War History Series and is co-sponsered by the MHS. The lecture starts a 1:45 PM on Georges Island. For directions to the Island, please visit http://bostonharborislands.org/.

It is the final week to view the current exhibition History Drawn With Light.  Visit the exhibition Monday through Saturday, 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM. The exhibition closes forever on Saturday, 17 September to allow the staff to install our next major show. The Purchase by Blood: Massachusetts in the Civil War, 1861-1862, opens on 7 October.  Stay tuned for more information on that exhibtion.  

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Stephen Greenleaf Bulfinch Diary, Post 4

By Elaine Grublin

The following excerpt is from the diary of Stephen Greenleaf Bulfinch.

Tuesday, 16 April 1861

Our country is engaged in civil war. I have made no entry for three months past; but during that time the evil has been growing to a head. By the criminal neglect of the late administration, the secessionists have been encouraged, and the government handed over to the present ruler in an almost powerless condition. It is but justice however to exempt from this blame, Secretaries Holt and Dix, and to say that Mr. Buchanan seems at last to have tried to do something like his duty.

Mr. Lincoln’s prudence and conciliatory demeanor, – his unexpected passage through Baltimore, disappointing those who were preparing insults if not assassination, – his inauguration, with his excellent address, – the formation meantime of a provisional gov’t at the South, – the much talk & little done in the ‘Peace Convention’ and various other conventions, – the many rumors about Fort Sumter, – the desertion of Gen. Twiggs & other officers, – are now all matters of history. Last week brought on the crisis. On Saturday, Fort Sumter surrendered to the overwhelming force of the Southerners, – its battered ruins alone left; and Yesterday morning appeared President Lincoln’s proclamation, calling on the states for their quotas of troops, to the number of 75000 men, and convening Congress on the 4th of July next. The country is already responding nobly to the call. New York passed the necessary bill the same day; & two regiments, it is stated, of Mass. militia leave Boston for Washington to-day. Pennsylvania troops are probably already there, or on their way. The Democratic and ‘Bell & Everett’ papers are falling in with the national feeling.

I understand that I displeased some friends by a sermon Sunday before last, being the Sunday after the state fast. I regret their displeasure, but do not feel that I did wrong. The main sentiment for us all to feel now is to stand by the flag and the government of our country. God defend the right!

 

Next week look for SGB’s 8 May 1861 entry.  He discusses Massachuetts’ quick response to Lincoln’s call for troops, the attack on the Sixth Massachusetts in Baltimore, Maryland, and the organization of companies of soldiers from Dorchester.

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Authorizing Labor Day

By Elaine Grublin

Did you know that the first Labor Day celebration was held in New York City on 5 September 1882?  The event was called for by the Central Labor Union (CLU).  After a successful first holiday, the CLU organized a second Labor Day celebration the following year.  In 1884 the CLU marked the first Monday of September as the day to observe the holiday, and encouraged cities around the country to join New York City in celebrating. 

Three years later Massachusetts became one of the first states to declare the first Monday of September an official state holiday. Oregon had been the first, passing legislation in February 1887.

Below is a detail image from Acts and Resolves Passed by the General Court of Massachusetts in the Year 1887 (Boston: Wright & Potter Printing Co., 1887) showing the approval of the act to make “Labor’s Holiday” a legal holiday. 

Detail of page from Acts & Resolves Passed by the General Court of Massachusetts featuring the text of the law making Labor Day a holiday.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In 1897 Congress passed an act making Labor Day a federal holiday.  

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Stephen Greenleaf Bulfinch Diary, Post 3

By Elaine Grublin

The following excerpt is from the diary of Stephen Greenleaf Bulfinch.

Monday, 14 January 1861

Instead of three of the cabinet, one alone, Mr. Floyd of Virginia, Sec. of War, resigned just previous to my last date; Mr. Cass having honorably retired before. Mr. Floyd lies under heavy suspicions of having betrayed to the secessionists the national forts and arms. Since then, Mississippi, Florida, & I think Alabama have passed secession ordinances; – a collision has been with difficulty avoided at Charleston by the prudence & manliness of Major Anderson, the state forces having fired on a steamer with troops & provisions for his relief. His conduct in protecting instead of fighting seems to have showed the violence of the rebels; and they appear to be negotiating. Meanwhile, Senator Seward, the destined Secretary of State of the next President, has made a noble, conciliatory speech, and brought forward a proposition which I hope may relieve the distracted country. The President appears to act more energetically, and another secessionist has left the cabinet, – Mr. Thoussour, Sec. of the Interior. This makes the fourth of that board who has left his place; – three of them, Cobb, Floyd, and Thompson, “for their country’s good.”

Next week look for SGB’s entry, dated 16 April 1861.  There he declares “Our country is engaged in civil war” and summarizes the events that had transpired over the course of this three month absence from his diary. 

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An Educational Summer @ MHS

By Kathleen Barker

More than 500 teachers from across the United States (and Dubai!) will return to school this fall equipped with classroom resources obtained through various workshops at the Massachusetts Historical Society. Educators, as well as a few curious adults, took part in fourteen different workshops offered at the MHS this summer. These lucky participants investigated documents related to a vast array of intriguing characters, events, and issues. Topics on offer included the dilemmas of colonial governor Thomas Hutchinson, daily life during the Siege of Boston, the ratification of the United States Constitution in Massachusetts, women in colonial Boston, and Irish American and African American participation in the Union Army during the Civil War. 

Photograph of educators participating in an MHS workshop at the Forbes House MuseumWhenever possible, education programs at MHS provide educators with opportunities to explore landscapes related to the Society’s documents and artifacts. We were fortunate to take several field trips this summer to locales in Boston and beyond. Participants in our Thomas Hutchinson workshop spent a beautiful summer day exploring the Forbes House Museum and other Hutchinson memorabilia in Milton. (Pictured on left.) While learning about the Siege of Boston, other educators took a tour of Loyalist Cambridge with J.L. Bell that included a stop at Longfellow House – Washington’s Headquarters. Where better to see the Constitution in action than at a courthouse? Photograph of educators participating in an MHS workshop at the John Adams Courthouse in Boston MAOur Constitution workshop participants were able to discuss the ratification process in the elegant surroundings of Boston’s John Adams Courthouse, home of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts. (Pictured on right.) Of course, not all of our excursions were land-based. In early August, twenty teachers from the Boston area participated in a workshop at Fort Warren on Georges Island, part of Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area.

Although the majority of our teacher workshops take place in the summer months, the MHS offers occasional workshops throughout the academic year. For a list of upcoming programs specifically for teachers, visit our events calendar or contact the Education Department.

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This Week @ MHS

By Elaine Grublin

The final week before Labor Day looks like a quiet one at the MHS. There are no scheduled programs this week, but there are a couple of noteworthy items.

Please note that the library will be closed Saturday, 3 September through Monday, 5 September in observance of the Labor Day holiday. 

Also, Thursday, 1 August is the last Thursday evening that the library will be open until 7:45 PM. Starting on 6 September the library’s “late night” moves to Tuesday evening. The library will be open 9:00 AM to 7:45 PM on Tuesdays, and will close at 4:45 PM on all other weekdays and at 4:00 PM on Saturdays.  This is a permanent change.   

Finally, there are only three weeks left to view the exhibition History Drawn with Light: Early Photographs from the Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society.  The exhibition is open Monday through Saturday, 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM. 

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