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The Society is CLOSED on Monday, 28 May, for Memorial Day.

As we return to the building after a long holiday weekend, we are looking at a fairly quiet week before the activity increases in June. Here are the events on the schedule this week:

– Wednesday, 30 May,12:00PM : This week’s Brown Bag talk is with short-term research fellow Abigail Cooper of Brandeis University. “Conjuring Emancipation: Making Freedom in the U. S. Civil War’s Refugee Camps”  examines the political work of revival in wartime refugee camps and envisions emancipation as a religious event. It reckons with religion as a mediating force between the enslaved and the state, asking “Who belongs and how?” for those negotiating statelessness and peoplehood in the midst of self-emancipation.

This talk is free and open to the public.

– Wednesday, 30 May, 6:00PM : “Apostles of Revolution: Jefferson, Paine, Monroe, & the Struggle against the Old Order in America & Europe” is an author talk with John Ferling of University of West Georgia who discusses his newest book of the same name. As Founding Fathers, Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine, and James Monroe risked their lives and their liberty for  American independence, and as reformers, each rejoiced at the opportunity to be part of the French Revolution, praying that it in turn would inspire others to sweep away Europe’s monarchies and titled nobilities. But as the 18th century unfolded, these three embarked on different routes to revolution. As writers, soldiers,and statesmen, these three men reshaped their country and the Western world.

This talk is open to the public, registration required with a fee of $10 (no charge for MHS Members and Fellows, or EBT cardholders). Pre-talk reception begins at 5:30PM followed by the speaking program at 6:00PM.

– Saturday, 2 June, 10:00AM : The History and Collections of the MHS 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.

While you’re here you will also have the opportunity to view our current exhibition: Entrepreneurship & Classical Design in Boston’s South End: The Furniture of Isaac Vose & Thomas Seymour, 1815 to 1825.