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Thanksgiving is nearly upon us, which means a shortened week here at the Society. 

– Monday, 20 November, 6:00PM : Join us for a conversation with author Richard Aldous of Bard College, with Fredrik Logevall of Harvard University, as they discuss Aldous’s recent work Schlesinger: The Imperial Historian. Drawing on oral histories, rarely seen archival documents, and the official Schlesinger papers, this biography crafts an invaluable portrait of a brilliant and controversial historian who framed America’s rise to global empire. Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., the architect of John F. Kennedy’s legacy, redefined the art of presidential biography. A Thousand Days, his best selling record of the Kennedy administration, remains immensely influential and cemented his place as one of the nation’s greatest political image makers.This talk is open to the public and registration is required with a fee of $10 (no charge for MHS Members or Fellows). Pre-talk reception begins at 5:30PM, followed by the speaking program at 6:00PM.

The Society closes early at 3:00PM on Wednesday, 22 November.

The Society is CLOSED on Thursday, 23 November, for Thanksgiving.

The Library remains CLOSED on Friday, 24 November and Saturday, 25 November.

The Exhibition Galleries are OPEN on Friday, 24 November and Saturday, 25 November.

– Saturday, 25 November, 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: Yankees in the West.

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We are back from a long weekend for the only full November week this year. Here are the programs coming in the week ahead:

– Tuesday, 14 November, 5:15PM : The next installment of the Environemental History Seminar series is with Jacqueline Gonzales of Historical Research Associates. “Drafting the Cape Cod Formula” examines how citizens articulated their concerns when the National Park Service wanted to create a federal park on Cape Cod, and how their responses helped the NPS and Senators John F. Kennedy and Leverett Saltonstall to create a new acquisiiton and land management policy that would then be applied to other living landscapes. Steven Moga of Smith College is on-hand to provide comment. To RSVP: email seminars@masshist.org or call 617-646-0579.

Seminars are free and open to the public; RSVP required. Subscribe to receive advance copies of the seminar papers.

– Wednesday, 15 November, 12:00PM : The Brown Bag talk this week is presented by Adrian Weimer of Providence College and is titled “The Roasting of Hugh Peter: Satire and Politics in Early America.” Accused regicide and former pastor of Salem, Massachusetts, Hugh Peter was the target of colorful satirical ballads and mock-sermons in the mid-seventeenth century. This presentation will explore the ways Royalists attacked Peter as a way of mocking the culture of puritanism, expressing anxieties about the very existence of puritan colonies. This event is free and open to the public. 

– Thursday, 16 November, 6:00PM : Jefferson: Architect of American Liberty is the new work by John Boles of Rice University. This biography does not ignore aspects of Thomas Jefferson that trouble us today but strives to see him in full and understand him amid the sweeping upheaval of his times. From his inspiring defenses of political and religious liberty to his heterodox abridgment of Christian belief, this book explores Jefferson’s expansive intellectual life and the profound impact of his ideas on the world. This author talk is open to the public, registration required with a fee of $10 (no charge for MHS Members or Fellows). Pre-talk reception starts at 5:30PM followed by the speaking program at 6:00PM. 

– Saturday, 18 November, 10:00AM: The History and Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society Tour 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: Yankees in the West.

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It is a short week here at the Society as we approach the Veteran’s Day holiday. But there are still a few opportunities for quenching your thirst for history. Here is what is on the calendar for the week ahead:

– Tuesday, 7 November, 5:30PM : The next installment of the Early American History seminar series is with Craig Gallagher of Boston College, and is titled “British Caledonia: English America and the Scottish Darien Project, 1675-1702.” Beginning in 1695, Scots at home and abroad flocked to support their country’s nascent colony on the Darien isthmus in Panama. This paper argues that Scots’ enthusiasm for the Darien project stemmed not from national impulses, but from a desire to define their status in a liberal, Protestant British Atlantic World alongside their colonial American allies and patrons. Hannah Muller of Brandeis University will be on-hand to provide comment. Seminars are free and open to the public; RSVP required, just click the link or call 617-646-0579. Subscribe to receive advance copies of the seminar papers. Please note that unlike other sessions in this series, this program begins at 5:30PM.

– Wednesday, 8 November, 12:00PM : Pack your lunch and stop by for a Brown Bag talk with Shira Lurie of the University of Virginia. “Politics at the Poles: Liberty Poles and the Popular Struggle for the New Republic” examines conflicts over liberty poles in the 1790s. Liberty poles offered grassroots partisans a tangible symbol through which to channel debates about political participation, popular sovereignty, and dissent under the new Constitution. This event is free and open to the public. 

– Wednesday, 8 November, 6:00PM : The Weeping Angel: Letters and Poems from World War I France is a new work edited by Mary Kelley, and the title of this author talk. Working as a soldier on the railroads in France during World War I, Hubert Williams Kelley found his vocation as a poet and writer through vivid letters to family. In this talk, Mary Kelley describes her efforts to retrace the forgotten history of a perceptive observer of the war’s destruction. Christopher Capozzola of MIT will be on-hand to comment on the letters’ contribution to new historical understandings that have emerged during the war’s centennial. This talk is open to the public, though registration is required with a fee of $10 (no charge for MHS Members and Fellows). A pre-talk reception kicks-off at 5:30PM, followed by the speaking program at 6:00PM. 

Please note that the Society is CLOSED on Friday and Saturday, 10-11 November, for Veteran’s Day. Normal hours resume on Monday, 13 November. 

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Here we are, once again, with the weekly round-up of events to come.

– Monday, 30 October, 6:00PM : Friends Divided: John Adams and Thomas Jefferson is the latest work by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Gordon S. Wood of Brown University, who will speak about his book and the relationship between these two founding fathers. A reception precedes the talk at 5:30PM and the speaking program begins at 6:00PM. THIS TALK IS SOLD OUT!

– Wednesday, 1 November, 12:00PM : Start off the new month right with a lunchtime Brown Bag talk. Join us as Kabria Baumgartner of University of New Hampshire presents “Equal School Rights: Black Girlhood and School Desegregation in Antebellum Massachusetts.” This project looks at some of the integral players in the fight to desegregate public schools in Massachusetts before the Civil War. They authored anti-descrimination pamphlets, helped to organize boycotts, and wrote missives against racial prejudice. As the campaign grew, so did the activist network that bound together African American women, men, and children, as well as their allies across the state. This talk is free and open to the public. 

– Saturday, 4 November, 10:00AM : The History and Collections of the MHS tour 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: Yankees in the West.

– Saturday, 4 November, 11:00AM : Experience revolutionary politics “indoors” and “out-of-doors” as it would have happened 250 years ago. Participate in a live reenactment at Faneuil Hall of a Boston town meeting; join the discussion as local citizens argue over whether or not to stop importing British goods; and join a rowdy procession of laboring-class Bostonians from Faneuil Hall to the Old State House as they express their disapproval of British trade policies in a rather colorful and intimidating way. The Devil and the Crown is being offered as a joint program of Boston National Historical Park, Minute Man National Historical Park, The Bostonian Society, and Revolution 250, a program of the MHS. Admission is free to all! For more information, please contact Jim Hollister at 978-318-7829 or jim_hollister@nps.gov. 

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It’s another busy week here at the Society with a nice selection of public programs happening. Here’s what is coming up;

– Monday 23 October, 12:00PM : Pack your lunch and stop by for a Brown Bag talk with Laura McCoy of Northwestern University. “‘Let it be your resolution to be happy’: Women’s Emotion Work in the Early Republic” explores the everyday realities of expressing and managing emotions as a foundation of daily labors – emotion work – and helps us understand women’s actions and self-perceptions in the early republic. This talk is free and open to the public. 

– Monday, 23 October, 6:00PM : “Advise & Dissent?” is a conversation that examines the role of public history in modern life. This compelling panel discussion is open to the public and registration is required with a fee of $10 (no charge for MHS Members or Fellows). Pre-talk reception takes place at 5:30PM followed by the speaking program at 6:00PM. 

– Tuesday, 24 October, 5:15PM : Join us for the next installment of the Modern American Society and Culture seminar series. Led by Jennifer Way of the University of North Texas, “Allaying Terror: Domesticating Artisan Refugees in South Vietnam, 1956” explores the publication of photographs of North Vietnam refugee artisans in English-language mass print media. They aimed at resettling and domesticating the refugees while diminishing white American middle-class anxieties about the potential spread of communism in South Vietnam, a place Sen. John F. Kennedy pronounced “the cornerstone of the Free World in Southeast Asia.” Commen is provided by Robert Lee of Brown University. Seminars are free and open to the public; RSVP required. Subscribe to receive advance copies of the seminar papers. THIS EVENT IS CANCELED DUE TO ILLNESS.

– Wednesday, 25 October, 12:00PM : The second Brown Bag talk this week is given by Nancy Siegel of Towson University, and is called “Political Appetites: Revolution, Taste, and Culinary Activism in the Early Republic.” Culinary activists furthered republican values in the revolutionary era as part of a political and cultural ideology. They developed a culinary vocabulary expressed in words and actions such as the refusal to consume politically charged comestibles, like imported tea, and the celebration of a national horticulture. Through these choices, they established a culinary discourse involving food, political culture, and national identity from the Stamp Act to the early republic. This talk is free and open to the public. 

– Wednesday, 25 October, 6:00PM : “Weird and Worrisome” is a special walking tour of Jamaica Plain. All neigborhoods have secrets but some are stranger than others. In this event, participants will stop at sites of anarchist robberies, stuffed elephants, and a nervine asylum and hear tales of trainwrecks and things that lurk beneath the surfact of Jamaica Pond. The tour is hosted in collaboration with the Emerald Necklace Conservancy and Jamaics Plain Historical Society. THIS TOUR IS SOLD OUT!

– Saturday, 28 October, 10:00AM : The History and Collections of the MHS is a 90-minute, docent-led walk through the public spaces of the Society’s home at 1154 Boylston St. The tour is free and open to the public with no need for reservations for individuals or small groups. 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, Yankees in the West. 

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It’s a busy week here at the Society with programs galore for your enjoyment! Here is what’s coming in the week ahead:

– Monday, 16 October, 12:00PM : The first Brown Bag talk this week features Hannah Anderson of the University of Pennsylvania and is called “‘Lived Botany’ : Settler Colonialism and Natural History in British North America.” Anderson contends that natural historians in early America frequently benefited from information and plants provided by non-elite colonists who relied upon a form of knowledge that she calls “lived botany.” Using methods inspired by material culture, household production, and more, “lived botany” shaped early American natural history, and facilitated settler colonialism by allowing colonists to adapt to new environments in the Atlantic world. This talk is free and open to the public. 

– Tuesday, 17 October, 5:30PM : The first seminar this week is part of the History of Women and Gender series. “Gender, Sexuality, and the New Labor History” is a panel discussion with Anne G. Balay of Haverford College, Aimee Loiselle of the University of Connecticut, and Traci L. Parker of Umass-Amherst, and moderated by Seth Rockman of Brown University. The “New Labor History” is highly gendered, global, and often situated in spaces that are transitory or obscured. This session will consider the new directions that the path-breaking work of these three scholars indicates. Please note that there are no pre-circulated essays for this session which takes place at Fay House, Radcliffe Institute. To RSVP, e-mail seminars@masshist.org or call 617-646-0579.

– Wednesday, 18 October, 12:00PM : The second Brown Bag talk of the week is about a project by Heather Sanford of Brown University. “Palatable Slavery: Food, Race, and Freedom in the British Atlantic, 1620-1838” uses food in the British Atlantic to understand ideas about the body, race, and freedom. This talk is free and open to the public. 

– Thursday, 19 October, 5:30PM : “Chasing Your Subject: Traveling Biographers, Traveling Subjects,” part of the New England Biography series of seminars, is another panel discussion. This session features a discussion with Paul Fisher of Wellesley College, Charlotte Gordon of Endicott College, and author Sue Quinn, moderated by Civil War biographer Carol Bundy. What do biographers learn when they travel to distant parts and foreign countries in pursuit of their subjects? Is travel a necessary component to writing biography? And what challenges does a traveling subject present to a biographer? Come listen to these biographers talk about their experiences with such questions. To RSVP, e-mail seminars@masshist.org or call 617-646-0579.

– Friday, 20 October, 2:00PM : “Looking West from the East” is a biographical sketch of Chiang Yee, artist, poet, lecturer, and best-selling author best known for his Silent Traveler books. Chiang was also good friends with historian, author, and Boston Athenaeum librarian Walt Whitehil, whose papers are at the MHS. This program offers a unique perspective on America and the immigrant experience as well as a glimpse into the life of the Silent Traveler through one of his closest friendships. Registration is required for this program at no cost. 

– Saturday, 21 October, 9:00AM : K-12 educators are invited “The Material Culture of Death.” In this workshop, participants will use documents and photographs from the Society’s collections to investigate spirit photography, the spiritualist movement, and other fascinating intersections of technology, faith, and grief. Registration is required for this event with a fee of $25.

– Saturday, 21 October, 2:00PM : Join us for a talk with Peter Manseau, author of The Apparitionists: A Tale of Phantoms, Fraud, Photography, & the Man Who Captured Lincoln’s Ghost. The stories recounted by Manseau offer a view of our nation’s obsession with the afterlife and our reluctance to choose science over fantasy. This talk is open to the public free of charge, though registration is required. 

Finally, don’t forget to come in and check out our current exhibition! Yankees in the West is open to the public, free of charge. 

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We start this week with a holiday but then begin rolling through programs for the rest of the month. Here is what the coming week holds:

– Monday, 9 October, 10:00AM-3:00PM :  MHS Open House. Visit the MHS and view Yankees in the West, an exhibition of letters, diaries, photographs, drawings, and artifacts that explores the ways New Englanders experienced the trans-Mississippi west in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Free and open to the public, the open house is part of the Opening Our Doors celebration in the Fenway Cultural District.

The Library is CLOSED on Monday, 9 October. Normal hours resume on Tuesday, 10 October.

– Tuesday, 10 October, 5:15PM : Come on in for an Environmental History Seminar with James Rice of Tufts University, and commentor Christopher Parsons of Northeastern University. “Early American Environmental Histories” speaks to questions raised in a recent workshop at the Huntington on early American environmental history. How do timespan and scale change our understanding of historical relationships between people and their environments? What new light does environmental history shed on topics such as race, gender, or law? What can early Americanists contribute to the field of environmental history as a whole? Seminars are free and open to the public; RSVP required. Subscribe to receive advance copies of the seminar papers. To RSVP, click the link or call 617-646-0579.

– Thursday, 12 October, 6:00PM : Steam Titans: Cunard, Collins and the Epic Battle for Commerce on the North Atlantic is the title of a recent work by William M. Fowler, Jr., of Northeastern University, as well as this author talk with Mr. Fowler. Steam Titans tells the story of a transatlantic fight to seize control of the globe’s most lucrative trade route. Two men—Samuel Cunard and Edward Knight Collins—and two nations wielded the tools of technology, finance, and politics to compete for control of a commercial lifeline that spanned the North Atlantic. This talk is open to the public and registration is required with a fee of $20 (no charge for MHS Members or Fellows). Reception begins at 5:30PM, followed by the speaking program at 6:00PM. 

– Friday, 13 October, 12:00PM : Pack up a lunch and come by at noon for a Brown Bag talk with Caylin Carbonell of the College of William and Mary. “Women and Household Authority in Colonial New England” interrogates women’s vertical and horizontal relationships with other members of their household, as well as their involvement in the daily operation of their homes, to show colonial households as contested spaces wherein authority was negotiated rather than assumed. This talk is free and open to the public. 

– Saturday, 14 October, 10:00AM : The History and Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society Tour 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: Yankees in the West.

By

Here’s the skinny on the public programs, events, and other happenings at the Society this week. 

– Tuesday, 3 October, 5:15PM : Join us for an Early American History seminar with Paul Finkelman of the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, and commentor R. Kent Newmyer of the University of Connecticut. “John Marshall, Slaveowner and Jurist” is a chapter from Finkelman’s forthcoming book and examines the personal and professional life of Chief Justice John Marshall in the context of his relationship to slavery. Finkelman argues that Marshall as a Supreme Court justice always favored slavery over freedom, and that this reflected his emotional and economic investment in slavery. Seminars are free and open to the public; RSVP required. Subscribe to receive advance copies of the seminar papers. To RSVP, click the link or call 617-646-0579. 

– Wednesday, 4 October, 12:00PM : “Commerce and the Material Culture of the Maritime Atlantic World” is a Brown Bag talk which focuses on the infrastructure of commercial exchanges as port cities adapted to larger ships, increased consumer goods, and productivity challenges in environments that included bays, rivers, and estuaries. J. Ritchie Garrison, University of Delaware, grounds his argument with historical documents, maps, objects, and archaeological fieldwork to show that people sought to stabilize local variables to accommodate rapid market shifts. This talk is free and open to the public. 

– Thursday, 5 October, 6:00PM : “Yankees in the West: Fellows & Members Preview & Reception.” MHS Fellows and Members are invited to join us as we celebrate the arrival of Catherine Allgor, incoming president of the MHS, and open Yankees in the West. Following remarks by Sara Martin, enjoy a reception, meet our new president, and preview the exhibition. Registration is required at no cost.

– Friday, 6 October, 10:00AM : The Society’s new exhibition, Yankees in the West, opens to the public! As with all others, this exhibit is open to all free of charge, Monday-Saturday, 10:00AM-4:00PM. Be sure to keep an eye on the online calendar for various events and talks centered around this show which remains on display until 6 April 2018. 

– Saturday, 7 October, 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: Yankees in the West.

Please note that the library is CLOSED on Monday, 9 October. The galleries remain open, 10:00AM-4:00PM, as part of the Fenway Alliance “Opening Our Doors” event. 

By Dan Hinchen

The Irish Atlantic has set sail to make way for our next exhibit, Yankees in the West, which opens to the public on Friday, 6 October. In the meantime, there are plenty of events on the agenda at the Society, including a return of our several seminar series. Here is what to expect in the coming week:

– Tuesday, 26 September, 5:15PM : The first Modern American Society and Culture seminar of the season is titled “Lost Cities of Chicago’s South Side.” This essay comes from a book-in-progress about Chicago’s South Shore neighborhood by Carlo Rotella of Boston College. Over the past half-century, the area has gradually shifted toward a class system of haves and have-nots separated by an increasing divide. Samuel Zipp of Brown University provides comment for the discussion. Seminars are free and open to the public; RSVP required. Subscribe to receive advance copies of the seminar papers. To RSVP, click the link or call (617)-646-0579.

– Wednesday, 27 September, 12:00PM : Pack a lunch and stop by for a Brown Bag lunch talk with Laurel Daen, MHS-NEH Fellow, as she talks about “The Constitution of Disability in the Early United States.” This project examines the development of disability as a meaningful bureaucratic, legal, institutional, and cultural category in the Early Republic, rooted in ideas about work, social worth, and economic independence, and increasinly determined by the expert discourse of medicine. This talk is free and open to the public. 

– Wednesday, 27 September, 6:00PM : Donna Lucey of the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities discusses her recently published work Sargent’s Women: Four Lives Behind the Canvas in this author talk of the same name. This biography illuminates four extraordinary women painted by the iconic high-society portraitist John Singer Sargent. These compelling stories of female courage connect our past with our present and remind us that while women live differently now, they still face obstacles to attaining full equality. This talk is open to the public, registration required with a fee of $10 (no charge for MHS Members or Fellows). Pre-talk reception begins at 5:30PM, followed by the speaking program at 6:00PM. 

– Thursday, 28 September, 6:00PM : Area gradute students and faculty are invited to attend our annual Graduate Student Reception. Enjoy complimentary drinks and hors d’oeuvres as you meet students and professors from other universities working in your field. In addition to networking is the opportunity learn more about the Society and its collections as well as the resources available to support your scholarship, from research fellowships to our five different seminar series. This reception is free but we ask that you RSVP by September 27 by e-mailing seminars@masshist.org or calling (617) 646-0579.

– Saturday, 30 September, 1:00PM : “Begin at the Beginning – Violence, Disease, and Public Medicine during the Pequot and King Philip’s Wars.” This interactive talk by Kevin McBride, director of research at the Pequot Museum, and Ashley Bissonnette, Pequot Museum senior researcher, reveals how New England’s landscapes were far more heavily contested than previously thought, exploring the reality of the Pequot and King Philip’s Wars. In addition, they will discuss the beginning of public health in the colonies. RSVP required for this event at no cost. 

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Here is the weekly round-up of events at the MHS in the week to come. 

– Wednesday, 20 September, 12:00PM : Pack a lunch and stop by at noon for a Brown Bag talk with independent researcher Nina Sankovitch. “Exploring Conflict, Collaboration, and Conciliation in Colonial Families before the American Revolution” considers how the Quincy, Adams, and Hancock families – all living in Braintree, MA but of varying social classes – interacted, especially in their attitudes towards England in the late colonial era, and the roles the families played in fomenting agitation against English rule. This talk is open to the public free of charge. 

– Wednesday, 20 September, 6:00PM : Join us for a public conversation with Garrison Nelson of the University of Vermont, Michael Dukakis of Northeastern University, and Peter Drummey of the MHS. “John McCormack and David K. Niles: How Two Reinvented Bostonians Altered American Politics and Foreign Policy” explores the lives of two Boston politicians who came from large poor families within religious minority communities and rose to the levels of Speaker of House and White House advisor, and how both became central to the shaping of modern American political parties and politics. This talk is open to the public and registration is required with a fee of $20 (no charge for MHS Members or Fellows). The talk begins at 6:00PM and is preceded by a reception at 5:30PM. 

– Thursday, 21 September, 6:00PM : “An Extraordinary Life: An Evening with John Quincy Adams” is a fun and festive evening celebrating the life of one of America’s most fascinating statesmen. Enjoy a reception, learn about moments from Adams’s life—as told through his diary and correspondence—from incoming MHS President Catherine Allgor and the staff of the Adams Papers editorial project, and explore a pop-up exhibit of the artifacts and documents that tell his story and that of our nation’s history. This program is SOLD OUT.

– Friday, 22 September, 10:00AM-4:00PM : This is your last chance to view our current exhibition, The Irish Atlantic, which ends on Friday. 

– Saturday, 23 September, 9:00AM : “John Quincy Adams and American Diplomacy” is a teacher workshop open to all K-12 educators. Participants will learn more about JQA’s achievements as Secretary of State; analyze documents from the Adams family papers, including JQA’s diary; discuss his role in westward expansion; and meet Adams papers editors and learn how they make the family’s work accessible to audiences of all ages. Registration is required for this event with a fee of $25.