By Jeremy Dibbell
We’ve got a full calendar of special events over the next month or so, which I thought I’d just highlight so you can mark your calendars. We hope to see you often!
On Monday, 22 March our new exhibit opens: “‘A More Interior Revolution’: Elizabeth Peabody, Margaret Fuller, and the Women of the American Renaissance” will be available for viewing Monday through Saturday from 1-4 p.m., and will be up through 30 June. Guest curator Megan Marshall has selected letters and journals written by Fuller and Peabody, together with writings and works of art created by other women who participated in the literary renaissance in New England between 1830 and Fuller’s death in 1850. The exhibition draws upon the collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society and the Concord Free Public Library. You can find more information on the exhibit here.
Some events associated with the show include a special preview of the show for MHS members and fellows (more info here), and two public gallery talks: “The Lost Letters of Margaret Fuller” by Stephen T. Riley Librarian Peter Drummey will be held on Saturday, 27 March, at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. as part of the MHS Annual Open House. On Friday, 23 April, at 2 p.m., Leslie Perrin Wilson, Curator of the William Munroe Special Collections at the Concord Free Public Library, will give a talk entitled “‘No Worthless Books'”: Elizabeth Peabody’s Foreign Library and Bookstore, 1840-1852.” The MHS also will sponsor a three-day conference, Margaret Fuller and Her Circles, 8-10 April 2010. For information on the conference program, please visit the conference webpage. The opening keynote for the Fuller conference, “‘The Measure of my Footprint’: Margaret Fuller’s Unfinished Revolution” will be delivered by Mary Kelley at 6 p.m. on Thursday, 8 April, and is free and open to the public.
I mentioned the Open House above: we do hope you’ll join us on Saturday, 27 March from 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. for the exhibit talks (11 a.m. and 1 p.m.) or for guided tours of the MHS building (10 a.m., 12 p.m., 2 p.m.). You can learn more about MHS programs and events, become a member, and enjoy some special refreshments.
And if you’ve been following along with John Quincy Adams’ tweets from Russia (or even if you haven’t) we hope you’ll join us for a talk by author Michael O’Brien on Wednesday, 31 March. Mr. O’Brien’s new book is Mrs. Adams in Winter: A Journey in the Last Days of Napoleon (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2010) about Louisa Catherine Adams’ trek across Europe in early 1815. Refreshments will be served at 5:30 p.m., and the talk will start at 6 p.m. Reservations for this event are requested; please go here for more information or to submit a reservation.