By Dan Hinchen

**Please note that the Society is closed on Monday, 1 September, in observance of Labor Day.**

September is upon us and it makes its appearance quietly as we begin the month with a holiday closure. The only main item of note this week on the calendar is a Brown Bag lunch talk on Wednesday, 3 September. Come by the MHS at noon for “Unspeakable Loss: North America’s Invisible Throat Distemper Epidemic of 1735-1765,” presented by Nicholad Bonneau, University of Notre Dame. While the New England throat distemper epidemic never achieved the notoriety acquired by other more notorious diseases of the colonial era, no single epidemic of that period proved more deadly to European settlers. This project asks why this epidemic escaped comment by contemporaries and past historians while raising interpretive questions informing our larger views of change, the priority of documentation, and the role of memory. This talk is free and open to the public so pack a lunch and come on by! 

And remember that on most Saturdays, including 6 September, you can visit the Society for a free tour. The History and Collections of the MHS is a 90-minute docent-led tour that explores all of the public spaces in the Society’s home.. This event is free and open to the public and begins at 10:00AM. And while you are here for the tour you can also view our current exhibition, “Letters and Photographs from the Battle Country: Massachusetts Women in World War I,” open Monday-Saturday, 10:00AM-4:00PM.

**Library Hours Changing! Effective 1 September, the library is no longer open late on Tuesday evenings. New hours for the library are Mon-Fri, 9:00AM-4:45PM, and Saturday, 9:00AM-4:00PM.**