Here is a look at the programs we have planned for the first week of June:
On Monday, 3 June, at 12:00 PM: Tour of Fenway Park. Join Gordon Edes for a private tour of Fenway Park with opportunities to take photos on the field and see team artifacts. This event is sold out.
On Wednesday, 5 June at 12:00 PM: “Things are not invariably so here”: Sheriffs, Capitalism, & the Formation of Legal Authority in 19th-century America with Chad Holmes, West Virginia University. This project focuses on the sheriff as an upper class representative whose authority and responsibility were altered by the democratic and capitalistic transformations of nineteenth-century America. The sheriff was not the gun-slinging officer of the American Wild West. The sheriff’s image—once grounded in pomp and regal status—evolved into one of market regulator and his own individual success. Increased responsibility for collecting debts and conducting sheriff sales redefined how Americans understood law and order in commercial terms. This is part of our brown-bag lunch program. Brown-bags are free and open to the public.
On Wednesday, 5 June at 6:00 PM: Making History Gala featuring David McCullough in conversation with NPR’s Meghna Chakrabarti. David McCullough has been acclaimed as a “master of the art of narrative history.” He is twice winner of both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award, and has received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian award. David’s new book,The Pioneers: The Heroic Story of the Settlers Who Brought the American Ideal West, will be released in May 2019. The event will take place at the Fairmont Copley Plaza, 138 St. James Avenue, Boston. General admission tickets are $500 per person. Purchase tickets here.
On Saturday, 8 June at 10:00 AM: The History & Collections of the MHS. This is a 90-minute docent-led walk through of our public rooms. The tour is free and open to the public. 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.
“Can She Do It?”: Massachusetts Debates a Woman’s Right to Vote is open Monday and Wednesday through Saturday from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM, and Tuesday from 10:00 AM to 7:00 PM. Featuring dynamic imagery from the collection of the MHS, the exhibition illustrates the passion on each side of the suffrage question. For over a century, Americans debated whether women should vote. The materials on display demonstrate the arguments made by suffragists and their opponents. While women at the polls may seem unremarkable today, these contentious campaigns formed the foundations for modern debates about gender and politics.
Please note that the library will close at 3:00 PM on Friday, 7 June. Take a look at our calendar page for information about upcoming programs.