This Week @ MHS

By Elaine Grublin

Looking for something to do while on vacation this week?  Plan on visiting the MHS to attend one of the following events:

In partnership with The Forbes House Museum in Milton, the MHS is offering a three day workshop on July 12, 13, & 14.  The workshop, Three days, Three Viewpoints: The Worlds of Thomas Hutchinson, offers participants the opportunity to delve deep into the life of Thomas Hutchinson, the last civilian colonial governor of Massachusetts.  The workshop takes place at both the MHS and the Forbes House Mueseum on alternating days.  Learn more here.  The workshop is open to the public but registration and payment of the registration fee are required.  K-12 educators can earn 18 PDPs by attending the special classroom session from 2:30 to 3:30 each day. 

For those with less than three days to spare, on Wednesday, July 13, current research fellow Sean Patrick Adams, University of Florida, will present his research at a brown-bag lunch program.  Sean’s project Home Fires Burning: Keeping Warm in the Industrial North explores the shifts in home heating from the rise of coal in the 1810s and 1820s, through the rise of steam and gas heating systems in the 1870s and 1880s. 

On Saturday, July 16 our ninety-minute building tour, The History and Collections of the MHS, departs the front lobby at 10:00 AM. 

And did you know that due to popular demand our exhibition History Drawn with Light: Early Photographs from the Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society will remain open through September 17.  Gather the family together and stop by the MHS to check out the exhibition.  The gallery is open Monday through Saturday, 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM. 

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Reader Services By the Numbers

By Elaine Grublin

As the fiscal year comes to a close it is time to examine the statistics the reader services staff compiles over the course of the year.  Here is a quick rundown of what FY2011 brought to the MHS library. 

 The library was open 287 days with an average daily attendance of 9.6 researchers.      

 We were visited by 1353 individual researchers for a total of 2766 research visits.

 718 of our researchers were using the MHS library for the first time.          

 Of those first time visitors, 314 were Massachusetts residents, 357 were out-of-state visitors, and 47 were foreign nationals.  In all we had visitors from 40 different states and more than 20 countries.

The reader services staff paged 2888 manuscripts requests and 1900 printed materials requests.  Considering that most requests require multiple boxes or volumes, that is a lot of material paged.

 Because not every researcher that uses MHS resources can visit us in person the reader services staff also answered 1335 reference emails, 70 mailed reference letters, and 1260 reference phone calls.  

The library has been experiencing a steady increase in both total readers and new readers over the past few years.  Here is hoping that trend continues into FY2012     

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This Week @ MHS

By Elaine Grublin

Please join us this week for one of our scheduled programs:

On Wednesday, 6 July at noon current Andrew W. Mellon fellow Andrew Lipman, Syracuse University, will present his research
The Saltwater Frontier: Algonquians and the Transformation of Long Island Sound in the Seventeenth Century at a brown-bag lunch program.  You bring the lunch, we provide the beverages. 

And on Saturday, 9 July, our ninety-minute building tour The History & Collections of the MHS starts in our front lobby at 10:00 AM. 

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July 2nd … Come Celebrate Independence @ the MHS

By Elaine Grublin

Writing to his wife Abigail on 3 July 1776 John Adams noted:

The Second Day of July 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America.—I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival.  It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty.  It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires, and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.

Many would argue that Adams had it right, and we — celebrating on the 4th — have it wrong.  The Second Continental Congress actually voted to declare our independence from Britain on July 2nd, making Saturday the anniversary of our true Independence Day. 

If you are in Boston on Saturday and are looking for something special to do, plan on stopping by the MHS to see John Adams’ letter and a number of other special documents relating to America’s independence on display in our exhibition hall.

In addition to Adams’ letter visitors to the MHS can view a manuscript copy of the Declaration of Independence in the hand of Thomas Jefferson and a twentieth-century facsimile of John Dunlap’s printing — the first printing — of the Declaration of Independence by the Lakeside Press.  The original broadside was completed by Dunlap, the official printer for the Congress, in the early morning of 5 July 1776, after which it was immediately disseminated throughout the colonies.

The exhibition halls will be open from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM on Saturday and are free and open to the public.  Call the MHS at 617-536-1608 if you have questions about planning your visit.

If you cannot visit the MHS in person on Saturday, be sure to explore the online display of many of your Indepedence Day related holdings. 

 

 

 

 

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Beverly Wilson Palmer and Charles Sumner on C-SPAN

By Kathleen Barker

On 17 February, Beverly Wilson Palmer spoke at the MHS in honor of the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Sumner. Palmer, the editor of the Charles Sumner Papers, highlighted the lifelong efforts and achievements of this prominent abolitionist and U.S. Senator from Massachusetts. Thanks to our friends at C-SPAN, Palmer’s lecture will air on C-SPAN 3 this weekend! You can view the lecture on Saturday, 25 June at 6:00 PM and 10:00 PM, and again on Sunday, 26 June at 11:00 AM. Visit the C-Span website for a preview of Palmer’s remarks or to check your local listings.

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A Description of One Letter John Quincy Adams Sent to his Father in June 1811

By Nancy Heywood

In recognition of Father’s Day we’d like to share one example of a letter that a noteworthy son (John Quincy Adams) sent to his noteworthy father (John Adams).

                                                                             

In June 1811, John Quincy Adams (JQA), his wife, Louisa Catherine, and their youngest son, Charles Francis Adams, were all living in St. Petersburg, where JQA was serving as the U. S. Minister to Russia.  JQA, the oldest son of John and Abigail Adams, wrote letters fairly often to his parents.  One letter (dated 30 May and 7 June because it was written on two days in 1811) offers an example of the thoughtfulness, eloquence, and respect JQA displayed towards his father. 

The long letter, written when JQA was 43 years old, mainly focuses on his decision to decline an appointment to the U. S. Supreme Court and to remain at his diplomatic post in Russia.  For more details and context about this opportunity presented to JQA, please consult one of the biographies listed below.  The intention of this blog post is to share a few sentences written by JQA to his father, who was a former diplomat, former President of the United States, and a notable letter writer himself. 

In the letter, JQA states how honored he felt to be nominated by President Madison for the Supreme Court and also expresses his surprise at the Senate’s unanimous approval.  JQA appreciates the encouragement of his parents, who urged him to accept the position and return home to his country after nearly two years abroad; however he cites several reasons why he decided not to accept the position.  A key reason related to “a simple and very natural circumstance in the condition of my family….”  He is referring to his wife’s pregnancy, although he doesn’t use that exact word.  He states that he is not tempted to make a long ocean voyage and “to expose the lives of a wife and infant to the dangers inseparable from such a passage ….”  

The letter conveys JQA’s concern with how his parents will regard his decision and actions.  He clearly cares about the opinions of his parents, “…in the whole course of my life I scarcely ever did a responsible act, of which I was proud or ashamed, without feeling my soul soothed or galled with the reflection of how it would affect the sensibility of my Parents….” He also writes that he looks to his father’s life and past actions for guidance:  “As a direction for my conduct upon every occurrence involving public principle, I know of no human law more unerring than your example.”  JQA clearly hopes that he has explained his reasoning convincingly and that his father will understand and support his decision.  Towards the end of the letter, he writes, “I feel … a cheerful confidence that after fully weighing the difficulties of my situation, you will approve the grounds upon which I have rested.”

A published version of most of the letter (the long section he wrote on 7 June 1811) can be found in The Writings of John Quincy Adams, volume 4, 1811-1813. Edited by Worthington C. Ford. New York: Macmillan Company, 1914. See pages 98-102.  This is available online through GoogleBooks.

The manuscript (Letter from John Quincy Adams to John Adams, 30 May – 7 June 1811) is a four-page letter, and is part of the Adams Family Papers at the Massachusetts Historical Society. This manuscript collection has been microfilmed and this letter appears on reel 411.

Three biographies that provide more detailed information about JQA’s nomination to the U. S. Supreme Court:

 Hecht, Marie B.  John Quincy Adams: A Personal History of an Independent Man. (NY: Macmillan Company, 1972).

 Nagel, Paul C.  John Quincy Adams: A Public Life, A Private Life.  (NY: Alfred A. Knopf, 1997).

 Remini, Robert V.  John Quincy Adams.  (NY: Times Books, 2002).

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Happy Bunker Hill Day!

By Elaine Grublin

Today, 17 June 2011, marks the 236th anniversary of the Battle of Bunker Hill.  The battle that occurred on that “decisive day” has taken on an almost mythical quality in telling the story of the American Revolution and is still being studied and interpreted by scholars and history enthusiasts here in Boston and around the globe. The MHS holds a number of original documents, maps, and artifacts that help tell the story of the early days of the American Revolution, including the Battle of Bunker HIll.  As you mark this day please visit our website and check out a few of those Bunker HIll related items.

View a high resolution image of this manuscript map, drawn by a British soldier several months after the battle, here.

Read a letter written by Colonel William Prescott, a leader of the rebel troops at Bunker HIll, to John Adams, attending the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia, describing the events of Bunker Hill here.

Also, this month our Object of the Month web display features an important MHS artifact related to the battle. The swords of Colonel Prescott and Captain John Linzee, of the Royal Navy, were brought together when William Hickling Prescott, a grandson of Colonel Prescott, married Susan Amory, a Linzee descendant, in the 19th century.  You can read the full story, and view a high resolution image of the swords here. 

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This Week @ MHS

By Elaine Grublin

We have a busy week coming up.  Whether you are in the neighborhood at lunchtime or after work, there is something for everyone at the MHS this week.  All events are free and open to the public. 

Monday, 13 June, at noon current Massachusetts Society of the Cincinnati fellow David Preston, The Citadel, will present his research “Braddock’s Veterans: Paths of Loyalty in the British Empire, 1755-1775.”

On Tuesday, 14 June, also at noon, historian and author Julie Winch, University of Massachusetts-Boston, will be at the MHS to talk about her newest book, The Clamorgans: One Family’s History of Race in America.  Copies of the book will be available for purchase at the event.  

On Thursday, 16 June — the eve of the anniversary of the Batlle of Bunker HIll — at 6:00 PM, historian and author Paul Lockhart offers a program centered on his latest book The Whites of Their Eyes: Bunker Hill, the First American Army, and the Emergence of George Washington.  This event is co-sponsored by Longfellow House – Washington’s Headquarters National Historic Site.  Light refreshments will served at 5:30 PM.  RSVP’s are encouraged for this event.

And on Saturday, 18 June, join us at 10:00 AM for our weekly building tour.  Spend 90 minutes with an MHS docent learning about the HIstory and Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society. 

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Brown-Bag Lunch Talk: “Drops of Grace and Mercy”

By Anna J. Cook

On Wednesday, 1 June, past and present fellow Rachel Cope of Brigham Young University gave a brown-bag lunch talk on her current book-length project “Drops of Grace and Mercy: How Women Cultivated Personal Change Through Conversion Processes.” Much of the existing scholarship on the Second Great Awakening of religion in American life focuses on what Cope identifies as external forces. Scholars ask what socioeconomic forces, such as industrialization and migration, precipitated the culture of religious revival life during the first half of the nineteenth century. Cope argues that this emphasis on externalities has lead to an inordinate focus on male participants, since men were most often the visible preachers and organizers. When women appear in the existing scholarship, it is most often in the aggregate, as a demographic very likely to participate in the revivals. In part because of the equation of femininity with spirituality, women’s participation in religious movements has been understood as natural rather than worthy of particular note. Thus, there has been a dearth of critical historical analysis of women’s involvement in revival activities.

Seeking to address this gap in the scholarship, Cope focuses on women’s spiritual experience as religious seekers, asking how and why they came to religious conversion and what women did after they chose a certain spiritual course. Recently, Cope has begun to think about the concept of “agency,” an idea that has a lot of currency in present historical scholarship. When historians speak and write of agency, they are trying to understand the degree of freedom individuals and populations had, within a certain historical context, to make meaningful choices and pursue their desired life course. Because of the emphasis on personal freedom, discussion of agency has often emphasized people whose life choices are radical, people who are obviously pushing the boundaries of what is expected of individuals in their situation. Cope would like to consider not only the agency of exceptional women, but also the agency of women whose spiritual experiences and choices “fit the mold,” or supported (rather than resisted) existing structures. As she says of these women, often “working within the box is [just as] meaningful” as working outside of it.

Discussion following the presentation revolved around how Cope will situate her subjects within broader contexts, even as she focuses on their internal experiences and women’s interpretations of their spiritual lives in diaries, letters, and other forms of autobiographical writing. Those who attended the brown bag asked questions about comparing the female subjects’ writing to the voices of male counterparts; about socioeconomic commonalities among the women who left a spiritual record; about comparisons between religious and non-religious women; and about the possibility of change across time from the early 1800s to the 1850s, when Cope’s research ends.

As Rachel Cope continues her fellowship here, and moves forward with her project thereafter, we wish her the best in forming this valuable contribution to the fields of religious and women’s history.

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