Of Myths and Men

MHS Exhibitions Explore Lives and Legacies of two very different Americans

BOSTON, October 19, 2009—This fall the Massachusetts Historical Society, the oldest historical society in the nation, is mounting two exhibitions that explore the lives and legacies of two very different Americans who had far-reaching effects on different aspects of American culture—controversial abolitionist John Brown and notable Atlantic Monthly editor Ellery Sedgwick.

John Brown: Martyr to Freedom or American Terrorist—or Both?
Abolitionist John Brown’s raid on the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry on October 17, 1859, was one of the major events leading up to the Civil War and remains one of the most controversial episodes in American history. The exhibition John Brown: Martyr to Freedom or American Terrorist—or Both? consists of personal papers, photographs, broadsides, engravings, weapons, and artifacts that illuminate Brown’s life together with evidence of the continuing arguments about the morality and meaning of his actions.

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Well-behaved Woman Makes History

Historical Society Presents Kennedy Medal to Noted Harvard Scholar

BOSTON, October 15, 2009—Approximately 100 guests were in attendance this evening as Prof. Laurel Thatcher Ulrich was honored as the 10th recipient of the John F. Kennedy Medal of the Massachusetts Historical Society at the Harvard Club of Boston. Ulrich, a Corresponding Fellow of the MHS since 1991 and 300th Anniversary University Professor at Harvard University, was presented with the medal as part of the Society’s 60th Annual Dinner. She addressed the Fellows and Members of the nation’s oldest historical society with a talk entitled “A Mormon Apostle in Boston: Sightseeing, Riot, and Martyrdom.”

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Was John Quincy Adams a Tweeter?

OLDEST HISTORICAL SOCIETY IN THE NATION LAUNCHES TWITTER PROJECT

BOSTON, August 3, 2009—Starting on August 5, 2009, the Massachusetts Historical Society will begin posting daily entries on the “micro-blog” site Twitter on behalf of John Quincy Adams, the sixth president of the United States and son of John Adams, the second president. The project, which can be viewed at www.twitter.com/JQAdams_MHS, is being launched in conjunction with the bicentennial of Adams’s trip to Russia as the first US minister. 

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