Events
The MHS offers an engaging roster of programming to foster historical knowledge and we welcome everyone to attend, question, and contribute. We provide a forum for debate; host a variety of events that delve into the complexities of history; and encourage people to share their observations, interpretations, and ideas.
We are pleased to participate in the Card to Culture program, a collaboration between Mass Cultural Council and the Department of Transitional Assistance, Massachusetts Health Connector, and Women, Infants & Children (WIC) Nutrition Program by extending discounts to EBT, WIC, and ConnectorCare cardholders. Cardholders are eligible for free or discounted entry at our public program events, including both virtual and in-person programs. There are no restrictions on the number of times an individual can present a card for admission and no restrictions on the number of tickets held per event (except for fundraising and cultivation events). See the full list of participating organizations offering EBT, WIC, and ConnectorCare discounts.
Upcoming Events
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Tue, October 03, 2023, -
This is an online event.
Venture Smith was born in West Africa, sold as a young boy into slavery in New England, and survived to tell his extraordinary story in a Narrative published in 1798. He described how, in early 1754, as a…
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Wed, October 04, 2023, -
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Mon, October 09, 2023, -
The MHS library is closed Monday, 9 October. The galleries are open.
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Mon, October 09, 2023, -
Register below for either the 11:00 AM or 2:00 PM Walking Tour of the Fenway neighborhood, the MHS building will be open for self-guided tours of the galleries from 10:00 AM to 3:30 PM.
…
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Tue, October 10, 2023, -
This is an online event.
El Teatro Campesino created dramatic performances engaging their fellow farmworkers in fields and orchards, on picket lines and in union halls, to highlight the crisis of toxic poisoning in their…
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Wed, October 11, 2023, -
This is a hybrid event. FREE for MHS Members. $10 per person fee (in person). No charge for virtual attendees or Card to Culture participants (EBT, WIC, and ConnectorCare). The in-person reception starts at 5:30 and the program will begin at 6:00.…
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Thu, October 12, 2023, -
This is an online event.
This essay examines how U.S. soldiers, believing that the U.S. government violated its promise of rapid demobilization, rose up to protest the War Department’s demobilization reduction in early January 1946.…
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Tue, October 17, 2023, -
This is a hybrid event. The in-person reception will begin at 4:30 pm.
Roy’s paper introduces his forthcoming book American Dark Age: Racial Feudalism and the Rise of Black Liberalism. It sets the stage for three questions: (1)…
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Tue, October 17, 2023, -
A signed copy of the book is included with the registration fee of $45.
In this special Writing History event produced in partnership with Massachusetts…
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Tue, October 24, 2023, -
This is a hybrid event. The in-person reception will begin at 4:30 pm.
In this paper, Dan Joslyn argues that in the 1830s, Garrisonian abolitionists and Finneyite Evangelicals worked together to militate against alternative formations of…
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Wed, October 25, 2023, -
This is a hybrid event. FREE. The in-person reception starts at 5:30 and the program will begin at 6:00.
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Thu, October 26, 2023, -
This is a hybrid event. The in-person reception will begin at 4:30 pm.
Back in 2020 at the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, when communal spaces and community itself seemed under threat, biographers Wade and Doherty published books long in…
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Mon, October 30, 2023, -
This is a hybrid event. FREE for MHS Members. $10 per person fee (in person). No charge for virtual attendees or Card to Culture participants (EBT, WIC, and ConnectorCare). The in-person reception starts at 5:30 and the program will begin at 6:00.…
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Thu, November 02, 2023, -
This is an online event.
Southern secession was a disaster for American nationalists with a proslavery vision of the Union’s past and future. Few were as virulent as John Van Evrie. Born in Canada and educated as a physician, Van Evrie…
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Sat, November 04, 2023, -
Fee Structure: $25
On the night of December 16, 1773, a crowd of colonists led by the Sons of Liberty…
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Mon, November 06, 2023, -
This is a virtual event.
Registration link coming soon.
Does democracy die in darkness, as the saying suggests? Katlyn Carter’s book reveals that modern democracy was born in secrecy, despite the widespread conviction that…
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Wed, November 08, 2023, -
This is a hybrid event. FREE. The in-person reception starts at 5:30 and the program will begin at 6:00.
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Thu, November 09, 2023, -
This is a hybrid event. The in-person reception will begin at 4:30 pm.
Creating data models that can take advantage of the affordances of the web of data is a collaborative endeavor. For over a decade, Tomasek has been collaborating with…
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Fri, November 10, 2023, -
The MHS is closed Friday, 10 November.
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Sat, November 11, 2023, -
The MHS is closed Saturday, 11 November.
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Mon, November 13, 2023, -
This is a hybrid event. FREE for MHS Members. $10 per person fee (in person). No charge for virtual attendees or Card to Culture participants (EBT, WIC, and ConnectorCare). The in-person reception starts at 5:30 and the program will begin at 6:00.…
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Tue, November 14, 2023, -
This is a hybrid event. The in-person reception will begin at 4:30 pm.
For seventeenth-century Susquehannock and Piscataway people, small rivers, creeks, and streams were nonhuman kin. For English settlers, these same…
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Thu, November 16, 2023, -
This is an online event.
This paper tells the story of childhood friends—Mollie Wilson, Lillian Igasaki, and Sandie Saito—who grew up in the multiracial neighborhood of Boyle Heights, just east of downtown Los Angeles. After President…
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Thu, November 23, 2023, -
The MHS is closed Thursday, 23 November through Saturday, 25 November.
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Fri, November 24, 2023, -
The MHS is closed Thursday, 23 November through Saturday, 25 November.
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Sat, November 25, 2023, -
The MHS is closed Thursday, 23 November through Saturday, 25 November.
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Tue, November 28, 2023, -
This is a hybrid event. The in-person reception will begin at 4:30 pm.
This paper uncovers a multi-generational history of domestic workers’ fight for dignity and economic justice. The problem household employees tackled in Greater Boston…
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Wed, November 29, 2023, -
This is a hybrid event. FREE. The in-person reception starts at 5:30 and the program will begin at 6:00.
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Fri, December 01, 2023, -
The MHS library is closed Friday, December 1. The galleries are open.
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Fri, December 01, 2023, -
This conference, hosted by the David Center for the American Revolution at the American Philosophical Society and the Massachusetts Historical Society, is part of…
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Sat, December 02, 2023, -
The MHS library is closed Saturday, December 2. The galleries are open.
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Sat, December 02, 2023, -
This conference, hosted by the David Center for the American Revolution at the American Philosophical Society and the Massachusetts Historical Society, is part of…
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Mon, December 04, 2023, -
This is a virtual event.
Registration link coming soon.
In A Constitutional Culture, Adrian Chastain Weimer uncovers the story of how, more than 100 years before the American Revolution, colonists pledged their lives and…
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Wed, December 06, 2023, -
This is a hybrid event. The in-person reception will begin at 4:30 pm.
This paper explores the lives of working actresses and theatre managers in Boston through the early republic, contextualizing their places in the developing cultural…
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Fri, December 22, 2023, -
The MHS is closed Friday, 22 December through Monday, 1 January.
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Sat, December 23, 2023, -
The MHS is closed Friday, 22 December through Monday, 1 January.
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Mon, December 25, 2023, -
The MHS is closed Friday, 22 December through Monday, 1 January.
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Tue, December 26, 2023, -
The MHS is closed Friday, 22 December through Monday, 1 January.
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Wed, December 27, 2023, -
The MHS is closed Friday, 22 December through Monday, 1 January.
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Thu, December 28, 2023, -
The MHS is closed Friday, 22 December through Monday, 1 January.
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Fri, December 29, 2023, -
The MHS is closed Friday, 22 December through Monday, 1 January.
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Sat, December 30, 2023, -
The MHS is closed Friday, 22 December through Monday, 1 January.
Event Categories
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Results include past events
The MHS hosts events throughout the year to thank our various donor groups. Members receive special invitations to exclusive events.
The MHS keeps abreast of emerging trends in American history. Throughout the year, we host authors to speak on a variety of topics related to American and Massachusetts history. (Past event recordings available.)
The MHS offers a range of programs including lectures, panel discussions, gallery tours, and special events led by notable speakers, public figures, and scholars.
The MHS organizes seven seminar series that bring together a diverse group of scholars and members of the public to workshop a pre-circulated academic paper.
The MHS offers more than two dozen brown-bag lunch programs each year. These programs are free of charge and open to all.
The MHS develops and implements educator workshops on a variety of American history topics.