By Dan Hinchen
It is another busy week here at the MHS now that public program season is in full swing. On Friday, 4 October, our new exhibition opened to the public. Be sure to come in soon to see “The Cabinetmaker & the Carver: Boston Furniture from Private Collections,” on display six days per week, Monday-Saturday, 10:00AM – 4:00PM.
On Tuesday, 8 October, the Society presents its first Environmental History Seminar of the season. Starting at 5:15PM, John Lauritz Larson of Purdue University will present “From Wilderness Environments to Well-Ordered Plantations: The Gifts of God Perfected by Industry.” Comment provided by Joyce Chaplin, Harvard University. Be sure to RSVP for this program by emailing seminars@masshist.org or phoning 617-646-0568. Subscribe to received advance copies of the seminar papers.
Then, on Wednesday, 9 October, come by at noon for “An Empire of Fakes: Counterfeit Goods in Eighteenth-Century America.” This project by Catherine Cangany of the University of Notre Dame investigates the market, commodities, producers, suppliers, vendors, and consumers of spurious merchandise in early Anglo-America. The work reclaims forgotten commercial actors and networks and downplays the primacy of mercantilism to emphasize individualism. This individualism may have been the more important commercial doctrine, given that the underground economy constituted half of all economic transactions in this period. Brown Bag Lunch talks are free and open to the public.
And on Wednesday evening, join us at 6:00PM for “Behind the Scenes at the Museum: The Curator’s View of ‘Boston Furniture from Private Collections.'” This presentation will offer an opportunity to learn about and tour this loan exhibition of more than 40 rarely seen examples of Boston furniture from ca. 1690 to ca. 1900 with guest curator Gerald W.R. Ward, the Katherine Lane Weems Senior Curator of American Decorative Arts and Sculpture, Art of the Americas, at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. There will be a pre-talk reception at 5:30PM. Registration is required for this event. Tickets are $10 per person (no charge for Fellows and Members). Please call 617-646-0560 or register online.
On Thursday, 10 October, the MHS will sponsor another seminar, this time from the History of Women and Gender series. Beginning at 5:30PM and taking place at the Schlesinger Library at Harvard University, Kate Dossett of the University of Leeds presents “‘Qualified Women’: Women, Performance and Political Labor in the New Deal,” with comment provided by Susan Ware, General Editor of American National Biography. Seminars are free and open to the public; RSVP required. Subscribe to received advance copies of the seminar papers. To RSVP for this program, email seminars@masshist.org or phone 617-646-0568.
Finally, on Saturday, 12 October, visit the Society for The History and Collections of the MHS, a 90-minute docent-led tour that explores all of the public rooms in the building will touching on the art, architecture, history, and collections of the Society. The tour is free and open to the public. No reservation is required for individuals or small groups. Parties of 8 or more should contact the MHS prior to attending a tour. For more information please contact Curator of Art Anne Bentley at 617-646-0508 or abentley@masshist.org.