Announcing 2018-2019 Research Fellowships

By Alexis Buckley, Research

Each year the MHS grants a number of research fellowships to scholars from around the country. Our four fellowship programs bring a wide variety of researchers to the MHS. See the list of incoming 2018-2019 fellows and their project titles below. You can learn more about each fellow’s research at their MHS brown bag lunch talk—keep an eye on the calendar to find out when they’ll present!

This year we offered 23 short-term fellowships to scholars whose research brings them to the MHS, including a new fellowship for a project on American religious history, the C. Conrad and Elizabeth H. Wright Fellowship. (See page 8 of our last newsletter for details!)

We talked about our collaboration with the National Endowment for the Humanities in our last blog post. This collaboration allows us to offer long-term fellowships, where the researchers spend 4-12 months as part of the MHS community. We also partner with the Boston Athenaeum to offer a Loring fellowship for a researcher studying the Civil War, its causes and consequences. The Athenaeum’s Civil War collections are anchored by its holdings of Confederate states imprints, the largest in the nation. The Society’s manuscript holdings on the Civil War include diaries, photographs, correspondence from the battlefield and the home front, papers of political leaders, and materials on black regiments raised in Massachusetts.

The MHS is also proud to be a founding member of the New England Regional Fellowship Consortium, a collaboration of over two dozen major cultural institutions across New England. Each year, the Consortium offers fellowships to researchers whose projects bring them to NERFC member archives. This year, 11 of the 2018-2019 NERFC fellows will be researching at the MHS.

We are looking forward to welcoming all our 2018-2019 research fellows, and learning more about their work on 20th-century reform movements, 17th-century mercantilism, and all points in between!

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Suzanne and Caleb Loring Fellows on the Civil War, Its Origins, and Consequences

Jean Franzino

Beloit College

Dis-Union: Disability Cultures and the American Civil War

 

MHS Short-term Fellowships

African-American Studies Fellow

Crystal Webster

University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Beyond the Boundaries of Childhood: Nineteenth Century Black Children’s Cultural and Political Resistance

 

Andrew Oliver Fellow

Ann Daly

Brown University

Hard Money: The Making of a Specie Currency, 1828-1860

 

Andrew W. Mellon Fellows

Nicholas Ames

University of Notre Dame

Communities of Difference in 19th Century Irish-America

 

Caroline Culp

Stanford University

The Memory of Copley: Afterlives of the American Portrait, 1774-1920

 

Timothy Fosbury

University of California, Los Angeles

Persistent Archives and the Early Americas, 1600-1830

 

Madeline Kearin

Brown University

Sensory Experiences of Daily Life at New England Hospitals for the Insane

 

Andrew Kettler

University of Toronto

Odor and Power in the Americas

 

Molly Laas

University Medical Center Göttingen

Moral Measurements: Wilbur Olin Atwater and the Making of the American Diet

 

Kirsten Macfarlane

Cambridge University

The Reception of European Biblical Scholarship in Early North America

 

Adam Mestyan

Duke University

American Travelers in the Middle East, 1830s-1930s

 

Molly Reed

Cornell University

Ecology of Utopia: Environmental Discourse and Practice in Antebellum Communal Settlements

 

Benjamin F. Stevens Fellow

Dexter Gabriel

University of Connecticut

A West Indian Jubilee in America: Mapping August First in New England

 

C. Conrad & Elizabeth H. Wright Fellow

Jennifer Rose

Claremont Graduate University

The World Becomes Round: Early Encounters between Bombay Parsis & Yankee Merchants, 1771-1861

 

Louis Leonard Tucker Alumni Fellows

Nicole Breault

University of Connecticut

The Night Watch of Early Boston, 1662-1776

 

Matthew Fernandez

Columbia University

Images Abroad: Henry Adams and the Picturing of Modernism

 

Xiangyun Xu

Pennsylvania State University

The American Debate over the China Relief Expedition of 1900

 

Malcolm and Mildred Freiberg Fellow

Diego Pirillo

University of California, Berkeley

Renaissance Books in Early America: John Winthrop Jr. and Italian Occultism

 

Marc Friedlaender Fellow

Nicole Williams

Yale University

The Shade of Private Life: The Right to Privacy and the Press in American Art, 1875-1900

 

Massachusetts Society of the Cincinnati Fellow

Roberto Flores de Apodaca

University of South Carolina

“Alas my Backsliding Hart!”: Religious Worldview and Culture of New England Continentals 1775-1783

 

Ruth R. & Alyson R. Miller Fellows

Shealeen Meaney

Russell Sage College

Boston meets Brahmin: Massachusetts Women in Gandhi’s India

 

Christopher Stampone

Southern Methodist University

“[A]s if she were born to empire”: Isabella, the Bildungsroman, and the Establishment of a New American Society Identity in Catharine Maria Sedgwick’s The Linwoods

 

W. B. H. Dowse Fellows

Taylor Kirsch

University of California, Santa Cruz

Indigenous Land Ownership in the Praying Towns of the New England Borderlands: Indigenous Lives Lands and Legacies of Seventeenth Century Massachusetts

 

Ian Saxine

Alfred University

The End of War: Indians, Empires, and Identity in the American Northeast, 1713-1727

 

MHS-NEH Long-term Fellowships

Mara Caden

Yale University

Mint Conditions: The Politics and Geography of Money in Britain and Its Empire, 1650-1760

 

Brent Sirota

North Carolina State University

Things Set Apart: An Alternative History of the Separation of Church and State

 

New England Regional Fellowship Consortium Fellows

Doris Brossard

Rutgers University

The “‘right’ to indulge in the act of sexual intercourse”: Unmarried People, Sex, and the Laws on Contraception in Massachusetts (1960- 1972)

 

Daniel Burge

University of Alabama

A Struggle Against Fate: The Opponents of Manifest Destiny and the Collapse of the Continental Dream, 1846-1871

 

Christina Casey

Cornell University

Lady Governors of the British Empire

 

Donna Drucker

Technische Universität Darmstadt

The Study of Human Sex Problems: A History of American Sexual Science, 1895–1945

 

Susan Eberhard

University of California, Berkeley

American Silver, Chinese Silverwares, and the Global Circulation of Value

 

David Faflik

University of Rhode Island

Passing Transcendental: Harvard, Heresy, and the Modern American Origins of Unbelief

 

Alexey Krichtal (MHS)

Johns Hopkins University

Liverpool, Slavery, and the Atlantic Cotton Frontier, c. 1763-1833

 

Katherine McIntyre (MHS)

Columbia University

Maroon Ecologies: Albery Allson Whitman and the Place of Poetry

 

Gwenn Miller (MHS)

College of the Holy Cross

“You Will Bring Opium to Canton”: John Perkins Cushing and Boston’s Early China Trade

 

Joshua Morrison (MHS)

University of Virginia

Cut from the Same Cloth: Salem, Zanzibar, and American-Omani Trade (1820-1870)

 

Peter Olsen-Harbich (MHS)

College of William and Mary

A Meaningful Subjection: Coercive Inequality and Indigenous Political Economy in the Colonial American Northeast

 

Camille Owens (MHS)

Yale University

Blackness and the Human Child: Race, Prodigy, and the Logic of American Childhood

 

Traci Parker

University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Workers, Consumers, and Civil Rights

 

Fabricio Prado

College of William and Mary

Inter-American Connections: North-South American Networks in the Age of Atlantic Revolutions

 

Kimberly Probolus

George Washington University

Separate and Unequal: The Rise of Special-Selection Programs in Boston, 1950–2000

 

Wendy Roberts

State University of New York, Albany

Itinerant Politics: Settler Colonialism and the Evangelical Long Poem

 

Josh Schwartz

Columbia University

Pictures: Charles Dana Gibson, John Sloan, and the Making of Modern Americans

 

C. Ian Stevenson (MHS)

Boston University

“Army Tales Told While the Pot Boiled”: The Civil War Vacation in Architecture and Landscape, 1880-1910

 

Hannah Tucker (MHS)

University of Virginia

Masters of the Market: Mercantile Ship Captaincy in the Colonial British Atlantic, 1607-1774

 

Thomas Whitaker (MHS)

Harvard University

The Missionary Republic: The Rise of Evangelical Missions in the United States, 1789-1819

 

Rhaisa Williams

Washington University in St. Louis

Shuffling, Shouting, and Wearing Down: Rethinking the Techniques of Protest in Welfare Rights Organizations

 

Nathaniel Windon (MHS)

Pennsylvania State University

Gilded Old Age: Inheritance and American Literature, 1877-1918

 

Kari Winter

State University of New York, Buffalo

Fourteenth: Vermont’s Struggle For and Against Democracy, 1775-1875

 

Colonial Society of Massachusetts Fellowship

Andrew Rutledge (MHS)

University of Michigan

“We have no need of Virginia Trade”: New England Tobacco in the Atlantic World

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Welcome to Our 2018-2019 MHS-NEH Fellows!

By Lex Buckley, Research Dept.

The Massachusetts Historical Society’s Research Department is pleased to announce our two 2018-2019 MHS-NEH Long-Term Fellows, Mara Caden and Brent Sirota. Mara Caden will be researching the mint and early economic conditions in New England, and revising her book manuscript, which comes out of her Yale University dissertation, “Mint Conditions: The Politics and Geography of Money in Britain and Its Empire, 1650-1750.” Brent Sirota is an associate professor at North Carolina State University, and will be researching and writing his second monograph, Things Set Apart: An Alternate History of the Separation of Church and State, examining how people in the 18th– and 19th-century British Atlantic maintained their religion separate from the state after 1689.

Caden and Sirota join a renowned group of current and former MHS-NEH fellows. The long-term fellowship began in 2002, and the National Endowment for the Humanities has helped to support long-term fellows every year since. NEH support has allowed the MHS to have fellows spend four to twelve months as not only researchers, but as part of the scholarly and collegial fabric of the Massachusetts Historical Society. Our 2017-2018 fellows have presented at MHS seminars and brown bag lunches, and prior fellows have presented at MHS conferences and elsewhere in the city of Boston during their tenure here, and often return to the MHS to serve on committees for seminars, conferences, and future fellowship selections. As well as taking the opportunity to share their research and historical expertise in these formal settings, our MHS-NEH fellows—many of whom are established scholars in their fields—also foster an intellectual atmosphere at the Society by taking local graduate students and short-term fellows under their wing. They attend other researchers’ presentations, invite them for coffee, and offer advice on archives to visit, collections to search, and ways to read documents, artifacts, and silences. Our long-term fellows come from History, English, Political Science, Drama, and other fields, and their innovative methods and deep understandings of their field have broadened research horizons for younger fellows and students for over a decade.

Of course, such erudite scholars also use their long-term fellowships to research and write, and have published impressive works on a wide variety of subjects. From the fellowship’s first year in 2002-2003, we had Walter Woodward, who was working on Prospero’s America: John Winthrop, Jr., Alchemy, and the Creation of New England Culture, 1606-1676. There is 2003-2004 fellow Woody Holton’s research project, “Minds Afire,” now the book, Unruly Americans and the Origins of the Constitution; Lisa Wilson’s A History of Stepfamilies in Early America; Lisa Tetrault’s The Myth of Seneca Falls: Memory and the Women’s Suffrage Movement, 1848-1898; Vincent Carretta’s biography of Phyllis Wheatley; Martha Hodes’s Mourning Lincoln; Linford Fisher’s The Indian Great Awakening; and many, many more stellar works produced and forthcoming. (Keep an eye on our fellows’ publications page to read what comes out next!)

In sum, we couldn’t be more excited to have Caden and Sirota join an already prestigious array of long-term fellows in enriching the field with the scholarship they’ll produce here, and enriching the MHS with the expertise that they’ll share with young fellows and researchers during their stay. And we couldn’t offer any of this without the generous support and encouragement from the National Endowment for the Humanities!

(For more on the National Endowment for the Humanities, see their webpage. For more on our long-term MHS-NEH fellowships and past recipients, please visit http://www.masshist.org/2012/research/fellowships/long-term.)

 

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MHS Programs Explore Aspects of African American History

By Gavin Kleespies, Public Programs

This past November, Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Maria Tatar spoke at the MHS about their new book The Annotated African American Folktales. This publication presents nearly 150 African American stories, among them familiar Brer Rabbit classics, but also stories like “The Talking Skull” and “Witches Who Ride,” as well as out-of-print tales from the 1890s’ Southern Workman. Professor Gates’ reflections on how folktales weaved into his own personal history made the power of these stories very real, while professor Tatar helped place these stories in historical context and as a part of the American literary tradition.

Both Gates and Tatar are faculty members at Harvard University. Professor Tatar is the John L. Loeb Professor of Germanic Languages and Literatures. She chairs the Program in Folklore and Mythology, where she teaches courses in German Studies, Folklore, and Children’s Literature. Henry Louis Gates, Jr., is the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and Director of the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research. He is an Emmy Award-winning filmmaker, a literary scholar, a journalist, a cultural critic, and an Overseer and long term friend to the MHS.

For the audience, it was a captivating opportunity to hear new tales and revisit some familiar stories. These folktales are so full of wisdom, humor, whimsy, and intelligence that anyone who reads or hears them must understand that they should hold a prominent place in the Western literary canon. However, the personal stories of when these tales were first heard or memories of them being shared made the evening truly special.

Kicking off African American History Month, we have made this program available to all on our website. Over the course of the month we are hosting several programs that explore aspects of African American history.

 

February 8 – 6:00 pm

Thunder at the Gates: The Black Civil War Regiments that Redeemed America with Douglas Edgarton (Le Moyne College)

One of the most treasured objects belonging to the Society’s collection is the battle sword of Robert Gould Shaw, the leader of the courageous 54th Massachusetts infantry, the first black regiment in the north. The prominent Shaw family of Boston and New York had long been involved in reform, from antislavery to feminism, and their son, Robert, took up the mantle of his family’s progressive stances, though perhaps more reluctantly. In this lecture, historian Douglas R. Egerton focuses on the entire Shaw family during the war years and how preceding generations have dealt with their legacy.

$10 (free for MHS members)

 

February 20 – 6:00 pm

Growing Up with the Country with Kendra Field (Tufts University)

Following the lead of her own ancestors, Kendra Field’s epic family history chronicles the westward migration of freedom’s first generation in the fifty years after emancipation. Field traces their journey out of the South to Indian Territory, where they participated in the development of black towns and settlements. When statehood, oil speculation, and segregation imperiled their lives, some launched a back-to-Africa movement, while others moved on to Canada and Mexico. Interweaving black, white, and Indian histories, Field’s narrative explores how ideas about race and color powerfully shaped the pursuit of freedom.

$10 (free for MHS members)

 

February 26 – 6:00 pm

Supreme Injustice: Slavery in the Nation’s Highest Court with Paul Finkelman (Gratz College)

The three most important Supreme Court Justices before the Civil War—Chief Justices John Marshall and Roger B. Taney and Associate Justice Joseph Story—upheld the institution of slavery in ruling after ruling. These opinions cast a shadow over the Court and the legacies of these men, but historians have rarely delved deeply into the personal and political ideas and motivations they held. In Supreme Injustice Paul Finkelman establishes an authoritative account of each justice’s proslavery position, the reasoning behind his opposition to black freedom, and the incentives created by his private life.

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Bring Your Students to MHS!

By Kate Melchior, Center for the Teaching of History

December is knockingon the door which means that the Center for the Teaching of History at the MHS is wrapping-up its inaugural semester of class visits! This fall, the MHS hosted a number of programs for middle school, high school, and college students who want to learn about primary sources and experience the work of historians first-hand.

Students getting up close and personal with MHS documents.


Our collection of Revolutionary War-era material is popular with middle and high school classes who come to MHS to learn about the real people behind Boston’s Freedom Trail. For example, Cohasset-based Chris Luvisi’s AP US History class examined artifacts and documents related to the Boston boycott of British goods in the 1760s and 1770s, including the 1767 “Address to the Ladies” which encouraged Boston women to forgo imported British luxuries in order to appear “Fair, charming, true, lovely, and cleaver” to young men. After taking on identities of Boston craft workers, merchants, shopkeepers, and domestic housewives, students voted on whether to support or ignore the nonimportation agreement. While most students supported the boycott in theory, a number of them admitted that they would likely keep buying their imported tea under the table!

Students were excited to get a close look at a bottle of tea leaves collected from Dorchester Neck the morning after the Boston Tea Party in 1773.


Vincent Bradley’s AP US History class from Catholic Memorial School also engaged with the history of the Revolution, this time through the perspective of John Adams. Students explored how Adams’ views on protest and dissent changed over time by looking at his opinions on the Boston Tea Party, the Boston Massacre, Shay’s Rebellion, and the Alien and Sedition Acts. Bradley’s class also saw historians in action while participating in one of MHS’ Brown Bag Lunches, where they heard Kabria Baumgartner from the University of New Hampshire speak about her current research on Black girlhood and the desegregation of Massachusetts public schools. Catholic Memorial students asked Professor Baumgartner questions about her work and listened as she workshopped her research with other local historians and visitors.

Students deciphered John Adams’s notes from the Boston Massacre trials to learn about his motivation for defending British soldiers. 


As the state coordinators for Massachusetts History Day, the Center for the Teaching of History (CTH) also helps many students learn research strategies for their upcoming projects. Megan Brady’s eighth grade history club from the John F. Kennedy School in Somerville came in on a Saturday so that they could learn about the collections at MHS and practice working with primary sources. Her students, whose National History Day interests range from early Pilgrim-Wampanoag relations to LGBTQ History in the 1920s, posed thoughtful questions to Stephen T. Riley Librarian Peter Drummey while looking at Sarah Gooll Putnam’s Civil War-era childhood diary and a daguerreotype of author and reformer Annie Fields, who lived in a “Boston marriage” with her partner Sarah Orne Jewett for decades. You can learn more about National History Day and find inspiration for your own projects at the Massachusetts History Day website, the National History Day site, or at our own Center webpage.

Sarah Gooll Putnam’s diary entry on 14 April 1865. The young artist drew her own expression at hearing of President Lincoln’s asssassination to illustrate how she felt at the news.


The Center sometimes partners with Library Reader Services to help host college visits as well, which gives the perfect excuse to explore more specific and unusual themes in the MHS collections. Erika Boeckeler brought two of her Northeastern University classes this fall to explore Children’s Literature and Shakespeare in America, leading to rediscovery of gems in our stacks such as a homemade morality tale titled “Adventures of a ruffle” that was written by Anne Harrod Adams, John and Abigail’s daughter-in-law! On another day, Cathy McCarron’s class joined us from Middlesex Community College to explore Elizabeth Freeman and Quock Walker’s court petitions for manumission and their leadership in ending slavery in Massachusetts. We discussed the different types of primary sources that illustrate the lives of individuals who previously lacked a voice in traditional historical narratives.

If you would like to bring students to visit us, or have the Center for the Teaching of History come to you, please contact the Center for the Teaching of History at kmelchior@masshist.org. All of our student programs are free of charge, and we would love to work with you to create a memorable program with your class!  For more information on our programming, visit the Center at http://www.masshist.org/teaching-history. 

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Meet Your Archivists!

By Rakashi Chand, Reader Services

October is Archives Month, and to celebrate our wonderful archivists, we would like to introduce them to you! Every day the very talented and skilled archivists of the MHS work tirelessly behind the scenes to ensure that theSociety’s collections are safe, properly preserved, well-organized, and accessible for use today and for future generations.

To introduce them to you, we asked our archivists a few fun questions, and here are their answers:

 

Collection Services:

Katherine H. Griffin, Nora Saltonstall Preservation Librarian

What is your favorite collection or your favorite item in the collection?

Kathy: William Sturgis papers.

Why did you become an Archivist?

Kathy: I was in a “public history” master’s degree program at Northeastern University, thinking I wanted to work in museums, and I had an adjunct professor from the MHS.  We had a tour of the MHS for one of the classes, and I was completely captivated by manuscripts and paper conservation.

Several years later, a position came open at the MHS and Anne Bentley called me and told me to apply, which I did, and Voila!

What is a fun fact about you?

Kathy: I never wanted to live in a city, but now it’s hard to imagine living anywhere else.

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Peter Steinberg, Digital Projects Production Specialist 

What is your favorite collection or your favorite item in the collection?

Peter: The Wilder Dwight letter he wrote as he lay dying.

Why did you become an Archivist?

Peter: For the benefits.

What is a fun fact about you?

Peter: I like All Bran.

*****

 

Reader Services:

Alexandra Bush, Library Assistant

What is your favorite collection or your favorite item in the collection?

Alex: It’s hard to choose a favorite, but one item from our collections that I really love is Christopher P. Cranch’s 1839 journal (part of the Christopher P. Cranch papers). It includes some great cartoons and rough doodles representing Cranch’s interest in the Transcendentalist movement. Perhaps the most noteworthy of these is an early sketch of Cranch’s famous “transparent eyeball” cartoon, which is based on a passage from Emerson’s Nature. (Here’s a link to the digitized version of the journal -> http://www.masshist.org/database/viewer.php?item_id=3279&mode=large&img_step=12#page12)

Why did you become an Archivist?

Alex: I chose to become an archivist because I wanted an outlet for my love of history that allowed me to do my own research as well as help other people who also love history. I’m also really into organizing things!

What is a fun fact about you?

Alex: I’m an aspiring artist and also a dweeb who secretly loves video games.

Favorite archival tool?

Alex: The microspatula!

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Brendan Kieran, Library Assistant

What is your favorite collection or your favorite item in the collection?

Brendan: One item I enjoyed working with, and writing about, this year is the volume of Cigar Factory Tobacco Strippers’ Union records, 1899-1904, that is included in the Society’s collection of Boston Central Labor Union (Mass.) records. It was exciting to read about some ways in which women in Boston organized and responded to their working conditions during that period. Eventually, I’d like to look through other items in this collection and learn more about union activities in late 19th– and early 20th-century Boston.

Why did you become an Archivist?

Brendan: I gained my initial exposure to the field as an archives volunteer during my junior year of college. After I graduated, I sought out more opportunities in libraries and archives, and, as I gained more experience, I came to the conclusion that this was what I wanted to do long-term. Now I’m in library school, and I’m definitely happy that I chose this field!

What is a fun fact about you?

Brendan: My go-to fun fact is that I’m an identical twin!

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 Erin Weinman, Library Assistant

What is your favorite collection or your favorite item in the collection?

Erin: It is really hard to pick just one item, but I absolutely love our collection of Powder Horns from the American Revolution. The designs on the horns are so interesting to look at and make each one very unique. They always give such a unique perspective on the soldiers who fought during the war. They also show who can and cannot draw, which I think we can all relate to today!

Why did you become an Archivist?

Erin: I absolutely love history, and I was very active in gaining experience in museums and archives growing up. I was introduced to public history in college which put a lot of emphasis on the importance archives had in the field. I knew right away that I wanted to be the person who assisted researchers in gaining access to archival records, create exhibits, and educate future historians. It has been very rewarding to work first-hand with materials and provide reference to such a diverse group of researchers. To me, there is nothing more important than having full access to our historical past!

What is a fun fact about you?

Erin: It is my goal to visit all of the National Parks in our country! I have been slowly making my way through the parks in the North East, but there are over 450 to visit!

*****

 

Dan Hinchen, Reference Librarian

What is your favorite collection or your favorite item in the collection?

Dan: I can’t say that I have a single favorite. Usually, it is whatever collection/item I am currently working with. Recently, while working on a reference question, I did some digging through a small collection of Smith family papers. Included are some logbooks and account books kept by Capt. William Smith – apparently, the first ship captain to pilot a U. S. ship to Siam (Thailand), in 1818. Inside the volumes are several pencil drawings of various vessels, including a couple that depict the U. S. S. Constitution engaged in battle with the H. M. S. Gurriere, an event that was part of the War of 1812.

Why did you become an Archivist?

Dan: After college I was working a few part-time jobs and not pursuing a career in biology. Library school is something that was suggested by a couple of people near and dear to me, and I liked the sound of working in archives as a profession. Ten years later and here I am!

What is a fun fact about you?

Dan: In the summertime I have a second life, my weekends lived in the kitchen of a small clam shack on Cape Cod. Fry or die!

*****

 

Now that you have had the chance to meet some of our archivists, come visit the MHS to meet more of our fascinating staff. We welcome questions about the MHS collections as well as the archival profession, and would be happy to tell you more! Email us at Library@masshist.org or call us with any questions at 617-646-0532. 

 

Happy Archives Month from all of us at the MHS!

 

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George Washington: John Quincy Adams’s “great Patron”

By Gwen Fries, Adams Papers

For as long as teenagers have had bedrooms, they’ve been pinning their role models up on the wall—a favorite singer, a beloved actor, the best ball player. When John Quincy Adams was fifteen, his bedroom at The Hague held a gilded framed picture of General George Washington. Like many of his contemporaries, John Quincy had the deepest respect for the “truly great and illustrious” Washington, a respect that endured throughout his life.

John Quincy’s portrait was likely a copy of John Trumbull’s 1780 portrait of Washington. 

[Accessed on 29 August 2017 at: http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/24.109.88/]

Twelve years after the portrait of Washington was removed from the wall, John Quincy Adams discovered he would be returning to The Hague thanks to the general’s orders. On May 27, 1794, John Adams wrote to his wife that, “the President has it in contemplation to Send your son to Holland.” When he wrote to his son, he discussed the appointment at The Hague in vague terms, calling the nomination “the Result of the Presidents own Observations and Reflections.” The next day, John Adams penned, “The Senate have this Day unanimously advised and consent to the Appointment of John Quincy Adams to the Hague.”

Just at the beginning of his law career in Boston, John Quincy felt too young and inexperienced to deserve the honor. Nevertheless, he did not believe his father would have suggested it to the president. When he next met his father in Quincy, John Adams confirmed his hunch. “I found that my nomination had been as unexpected to him as to myself,” JQA recorded in his diary. “His satisfaction at the appointment is much greater than mine,” he confessed, writing, “I wish I could have been consulted before it was irrevocably made. I rather wish it had not been made at all.”

Despite his hesitation at being separated from his family and sent halfway across the world for a then-undisclosed purpose, the day before his 28th birthday, JQA was in Philadelphia being introduced to President Washington. “He said little or nothing to me upon the subject of the business on which I am to be sent,” JQA noted. That night JQA was invited to dine with the president, and he paid his respects to Martha Washington, delivering her a letter from his mother. Abigail wanted to acknowledge “the honor done him by the unsolicited appointment conferd upon him by the President.” She continued, “I hope from his Prudence honour integrity & fidelity that he will never discredit the Character so honorably conferd upon him. painfull as the circumstance of a Seperation from him will be to me Madam I derive a satisfaction from the hope of his becomeing eminently usefull to his Country whether destined to publick, or to Private Life.”

A week after receiving Abigail’s letter from John Quincy’s hand, Martha responded. “The prudence, good sence and high estamation in which he stands, leaves you nothing to apprehend on his account from the want of these traits in his character;—whilst abilities, exerted in the road in which he is now placed, affords him the fairest prospect rendering eminent services to his country; and of being, in time, among the fore most in her councils.— This I know is the opinion of my Husband, from whom I have imbided the idea.”

Washington may have felt confident in John Quincy’s diplomatic abilities, but the young man was less sure. As he waited for Alexander Hamilton to return to Philadelphia to deliver instructions relevant to his mission, JQA wrote to his father, expressing doubt about his unfolding career: “I have abandoned the profession upon which I have hitherto depended, for a future subsistence . . . At this critical moment, when all the materials for a valuable reputation at the bar were collected, and had just began to operate favourably for me, I have stopped short in my career; forsaken the path which would have led me to independence and security in private life; and stepped into a totally different direction.” John Quincy ended his letter by telling his father that he determined to return home and to private life in no more than three years, if Washington had not already recalled him by then. John Adams replied urging patience and flexibility. “As every Thing is uncertain and Scænes are constantly changing I would not advise you to fix any unalterable Resolutions except in favour of Virtue and integrity and an unchangeable Love to your Country.”

In 1796 John Quincy learned that his father had been elected to succeed Washington. He wrote to his mother, assuring her that he would never solicit an office from his father. He discussed the devotion he felt to his country and his plans for a private life back in Massachusetts. John Adams was so touched by the letter that he shared it with Washington. Washington communicated his reflections on the private letter to John Adams: “if my wishes would be of any avail, they shd go to you in a strong hope, that you will not withhold merited promotion from Mr Jno. Adams because he is your son.” Washington declared it his “decided opinion” that John Quincy was “the most valuable public character we have abroad,” a man who would “prove himself to be the ablest, of all our diplomatic Corps.”

When George Washington died on December 14, 1799, John Quincy received many letters offering condolences from his family, closest friends, and foreign dignitaries. Poignantly, his father, though overworked in the office of president, sent him a short note on February 28, 1800, acknowledging that John Quincy was mourning the loss of his “great Patron.” Just over a year later, John Quincy welcomed his first son, George Washington Adams.

Posted in From Our Collections Tagged ,

Announcing 2017-2018 Research Fellowships

By Dan Hinchen, Reader Services

Each year, the MHS sponsors various fellowship programs which bring a wide variety of researchers working on a full range of topics into the MHS library. The Reader Services staff enjoys getting to know the fellows, many of whom become career-long friends of the Society, returning to our reading room year after year. 

The Society is excited to receive the list of the incoming research fellows for the 2017-2018 cycle. If any of the research topics below are particularly interesting to you, keep an eye on our events calendar over the course of the upcoming year, as all research fellows present their reearch at Brown Bag lunch programs as part of their commitment to the MHS. 

For more information about the different fellowship types, click the headings below. 

*****

Suzanne and Caleb Loring Fellows on the Civil War, Its Origins, and Consequences

Kathleen Hilliard

Iowa State University

Bonds Burst Asunder: The Revolutionary Politics of Getting By in Civil War and Emancipation, 1860-1867

 

MHS Short-term Fellowships

Judith Harford

University College Dublin

The Power of Social and Professional Networks to Promote Agency and Negotiate Access: The Role of the Women’s Educational Association, Boston, in Advancing the Cause of Women’s Admission to Harvard

 

African-American Studies Fellow

 

Natalie Joy

Northern Illinois University

Abolitionists and Indians in the Antebellum Era

 

Andrew Oliver Fellow

Susan Eberhard

University of California – Berkeley

Artisanal Currencies: Silver Circulations of the US-China Trade, 1784-1876

 

Andrew W. Mellon Fellows

Daniel Burge

University of Alabama

A Struggle Against Fate: The Opponents of Manifest Destiny and the Collapse of the Continental Dream, 1846-1871

 

Angela Hudson

Texas A&M University

The Rise and Fall of the Indian Doctress: Race, Labor, and Medicine in the 19th-century United States

 

Lindsay Keiter

Colonial Williamsburg Foundation

Uniting Interests: Love, Wealth, and the Law in American Marriage, 1750-1860

 

Kimberly Killion

University of California – Berkeley

From Farms to Kitchens to “the Body Laboratory”: Nutritional Science and the Politics of Food in the United States

 

Sunmin Kim

University of California – Berkeley

A Laboratory for the American National Identity: The Re-Invention of Whiteness in the Dillingham Commission (1907-1911)

 

Aaron Moulton

University of Arkansas

Caribbean Blood Pact: Dictators, Exiles, and the CIA in the Caribbean Basin, 1944-1955

 

Heather Sanford

Brown University

Palatable Slavery

 

Jaclyn Schultz

University of California – Santa Cruz

Learning the Value of a Dollar: Children and Commerce in the U.S., 1830-1900

 

Christopher Pastore

University at Albany

American Beach: Law, Culture, and Ecology along the Ocean’s Edge

 

Benjamin F. Stevens Fellow

Gretchen Murphy

University of Texas – Austin

Disestablishing Virtue: Federalism, Religion, and New England Women Writers

 

Louis Leonard Tucker Alumni Fellows

Alexandra Montgomery

University of Pennsylvania

Projecting Power in the Dawnland: Colonization Schemes, Imperial Failure and Competing Visions of the Gulf of Maine World, 1710-1800

 

Ittai Orr

Yale University

Intellectual Power: Print Culture and Intelligence in the United States, 1781-1908

 

Michael Williams

Carnegie Mellon University

Impolite Science: Print and Performance in the Eighteenth-Century Atlantic

 

Malcolm and Mildred Freiberg Fellow

Derek O’Leary

University of California – Berkeley

Building the American Archives

 

Marc Friedlaender Fellow

Nina Sankovitch

Independent Scholar

The Rebels of Braintree: Exploring Collaboration, Conflict, and Conciliation Between Colonial Families Prior to the American Revolution

 

Massachusetts Society of the Cincinnati Fellow

John McCurdy

Eastern Michigan University

Quarters: Billets, Barracks, and Place in Revolutionary America

 

Ruth R. & Alyson R. Miller Fellows

Kabria Baumgartner

University of New Hampshire

A Right to Learn: African American Women and Educational Activism in Early America

 

Caylin Carbonell

The College of William and Mary

Women and Household Authority in Colonial New England

 

W. B. H. Dowse Fellows

David Ciepley

University of Denver

The Tug-of-War between Trust and Corporation as Models for Colonial New England Government

 

George O’Brien

University of South Carolina

“What an expecting and troublesome being a New England Refugee is”: The Struggles of Early New England Emigrants in Nova Scotia, 1755-1783

 

MHS-NEH Long-term Fellowships

Kimberly Blockett

Penn State University – Brandywine

Race, Religion, and Rebellion: Recovering the Antebellum Writing and Itinerant Ministry of Zilpha Elaw

 

Laurel Daen

The College of William and Mary

The Constitution of Disability in the Early United States

 

Adrian Weimer

Providence College

Godly Petitions: Puritanism and the Crisis of the Restoration in America

 

New England Regional Fellowship Consortium Fellows

Christopher Babits

University of Texas – Austin

To Cure a Sinful Nation: A Cultural History of Conversion Therapy and the Making of Modern America, 1930 to the Present Day

 

Renzo Baldasso

Arizona State University

The Emergence of the Visuality of the Printed Page from Gutenberg to Ratdolt: Case Studies in the Collections of the New England Consortium of Libraries

 

Kathrinne Duffy (MHS)

Brown University

Doctrine of the Skull: Phrenology, Public Culture, and the Self in Antebellum America

 

Craig Gallagher

Boston College

Covenants and Commerce: Religious Refugees and the Making  of the British Atlantic World

 

J. Ritchie Garrison (MHS)

University of Delaware

Matter and Mind in the Early Modern Atlantic World

 

Karen Harker

University of Birmingham

Shakespeare’s 19th-Century Soundscape: Reconstructing, Reconsidering, and Preserving Shakespearean Incidental Music written for Victorian and Edwardian Theatres

 

Hina Hirayama

Independent Scholar

Edward Sylvester Morse (1838-1925): his American Life & Times

 

Alexander Jacobs

Vanderbilt University

Pessimism and Progress: Left Conservatism in Modern American Political Thought

 

Shira Lurie (MHS)

University of Virginia

Politics at the Poles: Liberty Poles and the Popular Struggle for the New Republic

 

Jen Manion

Amherst College

Born in the Wrong Time: Transgender Archives and the History of Possibility, 1750-1900

 

Laura McCoy (MHS)

Northwestern University

In Distress: Family and a Marketplace of Feeling in the Early American Republic

 

Brianna Nofil

Columbia University

Gender, Community Policing, and Crime Control in the Late 20th C.

 

Heather Sanford

Brown University

Palatable Slavery

 

Nancy Siegel (MHS)

Towson University

Political Appetites: Revolution, Taste, and Culinary Activism in the Early Republic

 

Daniel Soucier

University of Maine

Navigating Wilderness and Borderland: Environment and Culture in the Northeastern Americas during the American Revolution, 1775-1779

 

Tyler Sperrazza (MHS)

Penn State University

Defiant: African American Cultural Responses to Northern White Supremacy, 1865-1915

 

Amy Voorhees

Independent Scholar

Christian Science Identity and New England Cultures, 1820-1920

 

Peter Walker

McNeil Center – University of Pennsylvania

The Church Militant: Anglicanism, Loyalism, and Counterrevolution in the British Empire, 1720-1820

 

Donald Yacovone (MHS)

Harvard University

The Liberator’s Legacy: Memory, Abolitionism, and the Struggle for Civil Rights, 1865-1965

 

Colonial Society of Massachusetts Fellowship

Hannah Anderson (MHS)

University of Pennsylvania

Lived Botany: Households, Ecological Adaptation and the Origins of Settler Colonialism in Early British North America

 

 

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The Significance of Strawberries

By Rakashi Chand, Reader Services

In New England, the arrival of summer is synonymous with strawberries. Strawberry plants (fields) can be found throughout the region, and the strawberry harvest in late May and early June goes hand-in-hand with the most beautiful part of the year. The lovely, fragrant evenings and the final sigh of relief as New Englanders pack their coats away for the summer inevitably lead to the sudden desire to celebrate the arrival of the long-awaited warm months of summer. So, naturally, spring fetes were often “Strawberry Festivals.” The delicious berry was a welcome addition to the kitchen after months of cooking and consuming dried fruit. Every dish on the table was augmented, filled, or garnished with the beautiful, vibrant, and sweet berry.

In the nineteenth century Strawberry Festivals or parties were very popular. The strawberry was the first crop of the summer, and the region was dotted with strawberry farms. Strawberry festivals were popular events celebrated in many New England towns. Here at the Historical Society we have a few examples of broadside advertisements for local strawberry festivals from the late nineteenth century.

 

Harvard’s Hasty Pudding Club (yes, they were up to the same silliness all those years ago!) produced an annual show called “Strawberry Night” in June. 

 

But for us at the Massachusetts Historical Society, such festivals have a very special significance as our annual strawberry festival may have indeed led to the bequest of our biggest benefactor. According to Robert C. Winthrop, MHS President from 1855-1885, it was the invitation to the Massachusetts Historical Society’s Strawberry Festival that led Thomas Dowse to donate his prized library to the MHS, and to that end, Winthrop says, “the regeneration of our Society may thus be fairly dated.”

“SPECIAL MEETING, JUNE, 1886. A Social Meeting of the Society was held at the house of Mr. Charles Deane, in Cambridge, on Friday, the 18th instant, at five o’clock, P.M.

The Hon. Robert C. Winthrop then spoke as follows :

 “Passing from this topic, let me say how glad I am to find myself at another social meeting of our old society at Cambridge…

…But another of these Cambridge meetings was still more memorable, and can never be forgotten in the history of our Society. I refer, as I need hardly say, to the meeting at good George Livermore’s in 1856, just thirty years ago. From that meeting came the library and large endowment of our great benefactor, Thomas Dowse. Mr. Dowse was a neighbor and friend of Mr. Livermore, and had been specially invited by him to come over to our strawberry festival. Age and infirmities prevented his acceptance of the invitation; but the occasion induced him to inquire into the composition and character of our Society, and he forthwith resolved to place his precious books, the costly collections of a long life, under our guardianship, and to make them our property forever. From that meeting the regeneration of our Society may thus be fairly dated. Cambridge strawberries have ever since had a peculiar flavor for us, – not Hovey’s Seedling, though that too was a Cambridge product, but what I might almost call the Livermore Seedling or the Dowse Graft, which were the immediate fruits of our social meeting at Mr. Livermore’s.”*

Read more about Thomas Dowse and the Dowse Library here! (http://www.masshist.org/database/210)

 

 

Ten years ago, The Librarian of the Massachusetts Historical Society, Peter Drummey, suggested the library staff resurrect the age-old tradition; one hundred and fifty years later, a Strawberry Festival was once again held by the Massachusetts Historical Society.

The Library Staff of the Massachusetts Historical Society holds a Strawberry Festival every year in late May or early June for the staff, friends, volunteers, researchers and patrons of the Massachusetts Historical Society. We will be hosting our 2017 Strawberry Festival on Friday, June 2nd.

 

*Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society, Second Series, Vol. 3, [Vol. 23 of continuous numbering] (1886 – 1887), pp. 53-54

 

Posted in From Our Collections, This Week @MHS Tagged

October is American Archives Month!

By Rakashi Chand, Reader Services

The archive of the Massachusetts Historical Society is not only home to an invaluable and incredible collection of American history, but it is also staffed by amazing people. Get to know your local archivists in Reader Services! We are here to assist you with all your research needs in the library of the Massachusetts Historical Society.

To find out more about the wonderful archivists you meet when you visit the MHS, I asked a few fun questions:

Why did you choose to become an Archivist?

What is your favorite archival tool?

And what is your favorite MHS collection(s)?

 

From Alex Bush,

Library Assistant in Reader Services

Why did you choose to be an archivist?

I stumbled into the field unexpectedly after my third year of American Studies at Smith—all I knew was that I wanted to surround myself with history and always have a use for all those dates and eras I’d spent so long studying. I also happened to have some experience working in libraries. I was lucky enough to get a short summer internship at the Massachusetts Historical Society, which ended up completely cementing my love for all things archival and sent me straight from Smith to Simmons College to start my career in library science/archives. Upon returning to Boston, I was also able to return as a staff member (not a lowly intern!) at Mass Historical. The moral of the story is that you should never listen to people who tell you that your undergrad major is useless, because you might end up accidentally tripping into your dream career.

Your favorite archival tool?

I love those little white cotton gloves. They make me feel super fancy.

Your favorite MHS collection?

 I could spend hours reading through John Quincy Adams’ diaries—nearly 70 years of daily entries, all digitized and available on the Mass Historical website. Included is everything from line-a-day quips to long musings on American politics to marginal doodles. I find it especially impressive that he managed to include the hour he awoke every morning (usually between 3 and 6 a.m.).

 

From Brendan Kieran,

Library Assistant in Reader Services

Why did you choose to become an Archivist?

I first took interest in the field as an undergraduate history major looking for a career path involving history. I was initially drawn to the idea of working with historical materials. However, a desire to help preserve and make accessible marginalized histories plays in important role in keeping me motivated and excited about this type of work.

Your favorite archival tool?

I really enjoy looking through our collection guides when working on reference questions here at the MHS. Each guide is different, and I like coming across various names and subjects – some expected, some unexpected – while searching them.

Your favorite MHS collection?

The Walter Channing Papers, 1810-1921, which I highlighted in a recent post on The Beehive, is one collection that really interests me. It was exciting to explore the ways in which MHS collections are relevant to the study of anarchism in the United States.

 

From Grace Wagner,

Library Assistant in Reader Services

Why you choose to be an Archivist?

I majored in history in undergrad and I’ve always been interested in material culture, particularly fashion and textiles. Archives unite both interests.

Your favorite archival tool? 

Searchable finding aids are incredibly useful in that they provide information about an entire collection rather than a basic overview.

And your favorite MHS collection(s)?

I am constantly surprised by the diverse materials housed in our small broadsides collection and, in particular, enjoy looking through the Theater broadsides.

 

From Rakashi Chand, 

Senior Library Assistant in Reader Services

Why you choose to be an Archivist?

I have always loved history, even as a child. I looked for ways to immerse myself in that which I loved, and the Library of the Massachusetts Historical Society is a history-lovers dream come true! Not only am I surrounded by history, as a member of the Readers Services Staff, I am a guardian of history! We ensure that the manuscripts are safe every step of the way; from the moment they leave the stacks, while in transport, then consulted in our Reading Room, until they are safely returned to the stack shelves. It’s like being on the frontlines of historical research and protection!

Your favorite archival tool?

My favorite tool is Abigail, our online catalog. We depend heavily on our catalog and consult it continually throughout the day. Our catalog is fully searchable from home and readily accessible through our website at www.masshist.org. In Reference Services, Abigail is certainly my best friend.

A close second are Hollinger Archival boxes; seeing rows of neatly organized Hollinger boxes full of documents is simply thrilling!

And your favorite MHS collection(s)?

There are too many collections to name! The fact that we have the equivalent of three presidential libraries always astounds me! The Papers of President John Adams, President John Quincy Adams and the second largest collection of President Thomas Jefferson Papers outside of Monticello! But that’s not all, we have more Presidential Papers! I also love so many of the intimate pieces of history housed in our collection, such as the dying letter of Wilder Dwight, in my opinion one of the most touching and poignant items in our collection. We also house 53 pieces of mourning jewelry in our artifact collection.

 

From Shelby Wolfe,

Library Assistant in Reader Services

Why you choose to be an Archivist?

Helping others access archival material is a great way to learn unexpected things while I work.

Your favorite archival tool?

Since ABIGAIL has led me to countless reference question answers, research interests, and blog post topics, I would have to say our online catalog is my favorite tool.

And your favorite MHS collection(s)?

I’m a big fan of the numerous travel diaries in our collections – anytime I need to take a mini vacation, they’re always there for me!

 

 

Please feel free to ask us more about our field, our library and our collections!

 

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Implementing Technology in Current Jefferson Exhibition was a TAG Team Effort

By Nancy Heywood, Collections Services

Last fall, as the Massachusetts Historical Society planned its current exhibition, The Private Jefferson, an interdepartmental team of staff members successfully pursued a wonderful opportunity to incorporate technology into the galleries.  Thanks to the efforts of Gavin Kleespies, Director of Programs at MHS, and Ryan Gaspar, Director of Strategic Partnerships, Microsoft, MHS staff members were able to showcase MHS digital content in an interactive content management system for exhibitions, Touch Art Gallery (TAG).  Numerous high resolution digital images, short videos, and interactive features are available on a variety of touchscreen devices within the Jefferson exhibition.

TAG was developed by a team of programmers (mostly undergraduate computer science students) at Brown University led by Professor Andries van Dam, the Thomas J. Watson Jr. Professor of Technology and Education.  Carolyn Gress, Marketing Project Manager, Microsoft, coordinated a meeting in October between some staff from the MHS and Professor van Dam and some of his students.  During the visit to Providence, Rhode Island, MHS staff saw and interacted with the digital museum experience they created using TAG for the Nobel Foundation.

Notable features of the TAG system include: the display and delivery of high resolution images of exhibition items and their associated metadata in various sets (“collections”); management of related material including audio and video clips; and interactive segments on topics (“tours”).  Gallery visitors can browse the items, “grab” and zoom in to closely examine the high resolution digital images, select, start (and interrupt) the interactive tours to closely examine the featured images.

Due to several previous grant-funded digitization projects, MHS has many existing high resolution digital images of documents within the Coolidge Collection of Thomas Jefferson Manuscripts.  These digital assets and the existing metadata were good starting points for the implementation of TAG within the Jefferson exhibition, but it took intensive work and effort by many staff members to ready the digital features by the opening date of the Jefferson exhibition.

The digital team (Laura Wulf, Peter Steinberg and I) had to work efficiently to assemble over a hundred images and descriptions.  Bill Beck, MHS’s web developer, worked with Trent Green (the Brown University student who our main contact for TAG server and software issues) on the batch ingest and overall configuration of the system.  Several staff members (Gavin, Sara Sikes, Sara Georgini, Peter Drummey and I) focused on the content for six interactive features and developed outlines and scripts to tell specific stories about the Jefferson materials.  The production of those interactive tours was truly a team effort with Gavin and Bill taking the lead on many sequencing and editing tasks; the digital team assembling more images; Sara, Sara and Peter providing narration for some tours; and Jim Connolly and Hobson Woodward recording additional audio clips.  Three staff members, Chris Coveney, Carol Knauff and Laura Lowell, provided excellent feedback regarding the multimedia overviews (the “tours”).

The digital content and the touch screens of various sizes–ranging from one large (65″) screen to two Dell All-in-Ones and one Microsoft Surface tablets–had to be physically incorporated into the exhibition. Gavin worked with exhibition designer Will Twombly and MHS’s Chris Coveney to ensure that the screens were accessible and functional in the gallery spaces.

The result of so many people’s efforts with the planning meetings, the configurations, the production tasks and deployment steps is an exhibition celebrating MHS’s 225th anniversary with significant historical manuscripts (the core of the collections) as well as value-added digital content on current touch-screen devices.  We strived to make the digital content as informative and user-friendly as possible. 

Please visit the Jefferson exhibition to examine both the original manuscripts on display as well as the digital components on the touch screen devices in the galleries.  Professor van Dam and some of his students will be giving a gallery talk about the development of the Touch Art Gallery system on Friday, May 13, at 2PM.

 

Image:  Screenshot of a tweet Liz Loveland sent during the Jefferson exhibition opening with an image of a manuscript page from the Farm Book delivered on a touch screen device.

 

 

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