Edith Gelles, a senior scholar with the Clayman Institute for Gender Research at Stanford University, is an award-winning historian and author of Abigail & John: Portrait of a Marriage and Portia: The World of Abigail Adams. Gelles will discuss her current research on Abigail’s thoughts and experiences with slavery and race.

“The Earth is putting on a new Suit,” Abigail Adams wrote, savoring the arrival of spring amid the tumult of national politics in 1800. Tending her kitchen garden and nurturing the new republic with equal care, Abigail delighted in learning about the natural landscape and sharing that knowledge with her family and friends.

The History and Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society Tour is a 90-minute docent-led walk through our public rooms. The tour is free, open to the public, with no need for reservations. If you would like to bring a larger party (8 or more), please contact Curator of Art Anne Bentley at 617-646-0508 or abentley@masshist.org.

Join guest curator, Allison Lange, Wentworth Institute of Technology professor, for a guided tour and highlights from our current exhibition.

Isaac Allerton, a tailor born in 1586, went from Suffolk to London, Leiden to America. Through the Mayflower Compact, his service as Plymouth’s first Assistant to the Governor, and the Remonstrance of the Eight Men of Manhattan, Allerton wove representative government, popular elections, law, and commerce into the fabric of American society. David Furlow, editor of the Texas Supreme Court Historical Society Journal, and Lisa Pennington, a descendant, tell Allerton’s story.

The History and Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society Tour is a 90-minute docent-led walk through our public rooms. The tour is free, open to the public, with no need for reservations. If you would like to bring a larger party (8 or more), please contact Curator of Art Anne Bentley at 617-646-0508 or abentley@masshist.org.

Paintings, documents, decorative arts, and objects can weave together a more complete story of early America’s relationship with China in the 18th and 19th centuries. The intersections found in prominent collecting institutions in Massachusetts will be the subject of this discussion, which will feature highlights from the holdings of the MHS, MFA, and Peabody Essex Museum, and will describe the journey of these important objects and manuscripts from private hands to public collections.

This program will investigate the history of education access in Massachusetts and the United States, with a particular focus on access to education for African American students. Participants will learn more about Massachusetts residents who influenced national education policies, Massachusetts court cases that changed the course of national education policy, and the legacy of segregation and desegregation practices that impact Massachusetts schools to this day.

The workshop runs from 9:00 AM-4:00 PM each day.  This workshop is open to all K-12 educators. Teachers can earn 45 Professional Development Points and 2 graduate credits (for an additional fee).

Help the MHS celebrate John Quincy Adams’s birthday by joining our annual transcribe-a-thon. Immerse yourself in JQA’s diary and help the Adams Papers Editorial Project make more of his 15,000-page diary available online. Lunch and light refreshments will be provided.

Colonial society generally considered sworn promises binding in any circumstance, even if made under duress. This lecture describes the ethical and social values which underwrote this assumption and how they were weaponized during the Imperial Crisis to transfer power from loyalist elites to the patriot “crowd”.

There is no “Boston Historical Society,” but the metro area does have a wealth of history organizations. Boston and surrounding towns are steeped in local history and the inhabitants are proud of their local identity. The MHS is pleased to hold the fifth annual reception for history buffs and representatives of local organizations to mingle, share recent accomplishments, and talk about the great projects on which they are working.

Join us for an introductory workshop that will provide you with tools and strategies for implementing the National History Day curriculum in your classroom.

Looking for a new way to make history come alive for your students? Eager to equip them with the research and writing skills they’ll need in college and beyond? National History Day in Massachusetts checks all of the boxes: it’s a year-long interdisciplinary program for Grades 6-12 that blends historical research, analysis, and creative expression. National History Day is the nation's leading program for history education and engages more than half a million students across the country each year. Students research history topics of their choice related to an annual theme and create exhibits, documentaries, performances, papers, and documentary films, which they may then enter in competitions at the regional, state, and national levels.

With generous support from Mass Humanities, we will be offering educators a $150 stipend and 22.5 PDPs upon completion of this workshop. (We ask for a $50 deposit, which will be refunded to you at the workshop. If this will be an obstacle for attendance, please email us at education@masshist.org.)

MHS staff are happy to provide an optional 1-day follow-up session in the fall for any teacher or district who wants additional mentorship. Teachers will also be required to judge at one of the regional or state NHD competitions, which will take place in March and April 2020. In order to take part in this workshop, you must be currently working as a Grade 6-12 educator. If you have any questions, please contact us at education@masshist.org or 617-646-0576.

This program is funded in part by Mass Humanities, which receives support from the Massachusetts Cultural Council and is an affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this program do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Never “an uninterested Spectator” when it came to the American political landscape, Abigail Adams leveraged a wide network of correspondents to discuss her vision of the emerging nation.

The History and Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society Tour is a 90-minute docent-led walk through our public rooms. The tour is free, open to the public, with no need for reservations. If you would like to bring a larger party (8 or more), please contact Curator of Art Anne Bentley at 617-646-0508 or abentley@masshist.org.

Trade with China began in earnest in the peaceful years following the Revolution, with ports in Salem and Boston emerging as some of the most dynamic sites of economic activity in the early American landscape. This cross-cultural exposure and influence helped cast Boston’s strong regional identity and marked the city as an international force in its own right. This discussion will explore the breadth of Boston’s early global reach and how reflections of this past are still felt today.

This teacher workshop explores LGBTQ+ rights through pivotal U.S. court cases, with a particular focus on the 2003 Lawrence v. Texas case that decriminalized homosexuality. The program is offered in partnership with History UnErased, an organization that helps teachers incorporate LGBTQ+ history in their classroom and curriculum.

The workshop runs from 9:00 AM-4:00 PM each day. This workshop is open to all K-12 educators. Teachers can earn 45 Professional Development Points and 2 graduate credits (for an additional fee).

The History and Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society Tour is a 90-minute docent-led walk through our public rooms. The tour is free, open to the public, with no need for reservations. If you would like to bring a larger party (8 or more), please contact Curator of Art Anne Bentley at 617-646-0508 or abentley@masshist.org.

We live in a society where Chinese-made commodities are a part of everyday life. But dependence on foreign goods is not a modern American phenomenon. The economic, political, and social dimensions of early trade with China were felt on the domestic and individual levels, as reliance on tea, silks, and other materials sourced from China became staples in early American households. Massachusetts merchant families were able to capitalize on a hunger for these goods to shape the city as well as their own fortunes.

The History and Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society Tour is a 90-minute docent-led walk through our public rooms. The tour is free, open to the public, with no need for reservations. If you would like to bring a larger party (8 or more), please contact Curator of Art Anne Bentley at 617-646-0508 or abentley@masshist.org.

This workshop will explore the era and legacy of Reconstruction in American history and society, from the aftermath of the war to the role it plays in current issues today. We will discuss the effects of Reconstruction on African American and Native American communities, its civic and legal legacies, memory of the period and of the violence that followed, and local heroes who fought for civil rights in the wake of the Civil War.

The workshop runs from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM each day. This program is open to all K–12 educators. Teachers can earn 67.5 Professional Development Points and 2 graduate credits (for an additional fee).

The History and Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society Tour is a 90-minute docent-led walk through our public rooms. The tour is free, open to the public, with no need for reservations. If you would like to bring a larger party (8 or more), please contact Curator of Art Anne Bentley at 617-646-0508 or abentley@masshist.org.

Join us for an introductory workshop that will provide you with tools and strategies for implementing the National History Day curriculum in your classroom.

Looking for a new way to make history come alive for your students? Eager to equip them with the research and writing skills they’ll need in college and beyond? National History Day in Massachusetts checks all of the boxes: it’s a year-long interdisciplinary program for Grades 6-12 that blends historical research, analysis, and creative expression. National History Day is the nation's leading program for history education and engages more than half a million students across the country each year. Students research history topics of their choice related to an annual theme and create exhibits, documentaries, performances, papers, and documentary films, which they may then enter in competitions at the regional, state, and national levels.

With generous support from Mass Humanities, we will be offering educators a $150 stipend and 22.5 PDPs upon completion of this workshop. (We ask for a $50 deposit, which will be refunded to you at the workshop. If this will be an obstacle for attendance, please email us at education@masshist.org.)

MHS staff are happy to provide an optional 1-day follow-up session in the fall for any teacher or district who wants additional mentorship. Teachers will also be required to judge at one of the regional or state NHD competitions, which will take place in March and April 2020. In order to take part in this workshop, you must be currently working as a Grade 6-12 educator. If you have any questions, please contact us at education@masshist.org or 617-646-0576.

This program is funded in part by Mass Humanities, which receives support from the Massachusetts Cultural Council and is an affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this program do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

The History and Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society Tour is a 90-minute docent-led walk through our public rooms. The tour is free, open to the public, with no need for reservations. If you would like to bring a larger party (8 or more), please contact Curator of Art Anne Bentley at 617-646-0508 or abentley@masshist.org.

This workshop will explore the long history of immigration policy in the United States and its legacy in politics today. Our discussions will cover the wave of Irish immigration to Boston in the mid 19th century, along with the parallel Know-Nothing anti-immigration movement, and debates over immigration restriction in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, as well Progressive Era efforts to “Americanize” immigrants. This workshop will draw on items from the Society’s rich holdings to help put contemporary debates in context.

This workshop will run from 9:00 to 4:00 each day. This program is open to all who work with K-12 students. Teachers can earn 45 Professional Development Points or 2 graduate credits (for an additional fee).

The History and Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society Tour is a 90-minute docent-led walk through our public rooms. The tour is free, open to the public, with no need for reservations. If you would like to bring a larger party (8 or more), please contact Curator of Art Anne Bentley at 617-646-0508 or abentley@masshist.org.

Never “an uninterested Spectator” when it came to the American political landscape, Abigail Adams leveraged a wide network of correspondents to discuss her vision of the emerging nation.

Colorful political cartoons, engaging campaign materials, and visual propaganda illustrate the passion of those who argued for and against women’s suffrage.

Commemorating 100 years since Massachusetts ratified the 19th Amendment, this exhibition at the Massachusetts Historical Society (MHS) explores the activism and debate around women’s suffrage in Massachusetts. Featuring dynamic imagery from the collection of the MHS, “Can She Do It?” Massachusetts Debates a Woman’s Right to Vote illustrates the passion on each side of the suffrage question. The exhibition is open at the MHS April 26 through September 21, 2019, Monday through Saturday, from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM.