By Dan Hinchen

Here is what’s on tap at the MHS as we enter a new month:

– Monday, 27 February, 6:00PM : Self-Evident Truths: Contesting Equal Rights from the Revolution to the Civil War is a new book by Richard Brown of University of Connecticut. This book offers a much-needed exploration of the way revolutionary political ideas penetrated popular thinking and everyday practice. In this talk, Brown discusses how the ideal that “all men are created equal” was tested in struggles over race and ethnicity, religious freedom, gender and social class, voiting rights and citizenship. He shows how high principles fared in criminal trials and divorce cases when minorities, women, and people from different social classes faced judgment. This talk is open to the public and registration is required with a fee of $10 (no charge for MHS Members and Fellows). Pre-talk reception begins at 5:30PM, followed by the program at 6:00PM. 

– Tuesday, 28 February, 5:15PM : “Vietnamese Political Prisoners and the Politics of Family, 1975-1996” is a seminar featuring Amanda C. Demmer of the University of New Hampshire and is part of the Modern American Society and Culture series. This project dispels the myths that American involvement in Vietnam ended abruptly after the fall of Saigon and that U.S. servicemen listed as prisoner of war/missing in action were the only exception to American disengagement. Arissa Oh of Boston College provides comment. Seminars are free and open to the public; RSVP required. Subscribe to receive advance copies of the seminar papers.

– Wednesday, 1 March, 12:00PM : Bring a lunch and join us for “Ask Carol Lane!: Imaginaries of Safe Travel in the 1950s.” As post-war traffic fatalities rose, so did the concern to create safe communities and roads. Some of the work done by organizations involved creating imaginary personas, mostly of women, to perpetuate the rules of safe travel and normalize traffic and travel safety during a period of increased vehicle use, recreational travel, and fatality risk on the roads. This talk examines these personas and their place in the larger safety context of the 1950s. Renee Blackburn of MIT presents this Brown Bag talk which is free and open to the public. 

Thursday, 2 March, 6:00PM : In 2014, the Brookline Historical Society received a tiny photo album with postage stamp-sized photos of 48 Brookline and Boston children. In this presentation titled “A Children’s Photo Album,” Ken Liss of Boston University Libraries tells the tale of this ablum and the people inside it. This event is open to the public and registration is required with a fee of $10 (no charge for MHS Fellows or Members). Pre-talk reception starts at 5:30PM followed by the speaking program at 6:00PM.