By Anna J. Cook, Assistant Reference Librarian

This week the MHS welcomes Dr. Mary Kelley, Ruth Bordin Collegiate Professor of History and American Culture at the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, MI). Dr. Kelley is a long-time friend of the MHS, having been elected as a Massachusetts Historical Society Fellow in 1994 and, among other programs, last spoke at the MHS in April 2010, delivering the keynote address at the conference “Margaret Fuller and Her Circles.”

Dr. Kelley has been awarded the Malcolm and Mildred Freiberg Fellowship at the MHS to conduct research for her book-length project, “What are you reading and what are you saying?”, a quotation drawn from a letter written in the 1820s by Mary Telfair of Savannah, Georgia, to her friend Mary Few of New York City. As a scholar of 18th and 19th century intellectual and cultural history, Kelley plans to explore the way in which reading and writing between family members are “cultural acts [that] generate and articulate meaning within a specific historical context.” She asks what might happen if books, texts, authors, and readers were understood as “cultural practices,” part of the “cultural labor individuals deploy in making meaning of daily existence.” To investigate this question, Kelley will utilize the myriad family papers, rich with correspondence, which the society holds.

The MHS staff welcomes Dr. Kelley back to the Society and wishes her a fruitful research visit.

By Elaine Grublin

The year 2011 marks the beginning of the sesquicentennial of the American Civil War. Over the course of the next five years the MHS will mark this milestone with a number of public events, exhibitions, publication projects, and web displays. The first of these efforts, Looking at the Civil War: Massachusetts Finds Her Voice launched on the MHS website today.

Over the course of the next 52 months, January 2011 through April 2015, we will post one Civil War related item per month to our website. The selected item will be something either written in or related to an event that occurred in that month 150 years ago. The majority of these materials will be manuscript items — letters, diaries, and other personal papers — discussing some aspect of the war. We will highlight materials to represent the many voices of the citizens of Massachusetts: soldiers, statesmen, women, politicians, and children.
Each month the display will feature a digitized version of the document, available as a screen-sized image and in high-resolution, a full transcription of the document, and a short contextual essay.

To kick off the online exhibition we feature a draft letter from the John A. Andrew Papers, (collection guide available) in which Andrew, the newly inaugurated governor of Massachusetts, writes to Winfield Scott, general-in-chief of the U.S. Army, that Massachusetts will respond with “an alacrity & force” to any call for troops issued by the federal government. Andrew was the first governor to promise troops to the federal government, and when war broke out in April 1861, Massachusetts was one of the first states to answer Lincoln’s call for troops to defend the nation’s capital.

Be sure to visit our website each month to view the new object. In February, we will feature a letter written by Edward Everett in which he discusses the peace conference that met in Virginia and gives his opinion of the secession crisis. And plan to visit the library to view the larger manuscript collections from which these items are drawn.

Fans of our established Object of the Month can rest assured that the Civil War feature will run in addition to, not in place of the Object of the Month. So continue to look to that feature as well.

By Kimberly Kennedy

During my senior year at college, I finally reached a point where I had to decide what I was going to do with my B.A. in history. Then, my mom offered a suggestion I’d never thought of before: what about being a librarian?  As I began to explore this career possibility, I learned more about archives, and, through a tip from a Tufts University archivist, wound up with an internship at the Massachusetts Historical Society. I enjoyed my time in the collections services department and decided to get my masters degree in library science at Simmons College. Last year, I was lucky enough to get another internship in the collections services department as part of one of my Simmons classes, and this semester, I came back for more! This time, I worked in the reader services department answering researchers’ reference questions. 

Getting a taste of public services in an archives has been extremely valuable and a great complement to my behind-the-scenes experiences. It’s rewarding to help people directly and see the immediate results of one’s work. However, being in direct contact with researchers has its added pressures. For example, I received one question about how slavery ended in Massachusetts that I spent half a day on but still could not find the answer. Despite the frustration, the search for the answer was educational for me because I learned a ton about the end of slavery in Massachusetts. As a plug, an especially great resource was the Massachusetts Historical Society’s online exhibit: http://www.masshist.org/endofslavery/. 

This internship also reinforced for me the importance of building connections between different cultural institutions, such as museums, archives and libraries, and knowing other institutions’ collection strengths. Researchers asked me several questions this semester that our library didn’t have the right resources to answer, so I sent people to other repositories. For example, since genealogy is not a collecting focus of the MHS I referred several people to the New England Historic Genealogical Society and the Massachusetts State Archives. However, I did have one genealogical victory. A researcher wanted information on an ancestor that lived in Charlestown during the 17^th century, and I was surprised to discover several mentions of him in our ready reference collection, as well as an autobiography on Google Books!

Overall, this internship gave me a greater appreciation of reference librarians. There is so much information, not only in the physical collections but also on the web, that knowing which sources to check takes trial and error, experience, and a great memory. I was lucky to pick up a few tips in my time here.

By Jeremy Dibbell

Please note that the MHS, including the library, will be closed Thursday-Saturday, 25-27 November, in observance of Thanksgiving. Regular hours will resume on Monday, 29 November.

By Jeremy Dibbell

Please note, the MHS will be closed on Thursday, 11 November in observance of the Veterans’ Day holiday. Regular hours will resume on Friday.

By Jeremy Dibbell

In case you don’t receive @MHS, the Society’s e-newsletter (and if you don’t, you can sign up here), I wanted to highlight an important announcement in the new issue: some new membership plans and rates. By popular demand, we have extended the special one-year introductory membership rate of $75 for new members. In addition, we are introducing two new categories this fall: associate memberships for those age 40 and under and educator memberships for those who teach grades K-12. The student membership, now set at $35 per year, will also include access to a special annual “student members” event. To learn more or join today, visit www.masshist.org/join.

By Jeremy Dibbell

“Collecting History: The Massachusetts Historical Society Graduate Symposium”

“I must study Politicks and War that my Sons may have liberty to study Mathematicks and Philosophy. my Sons ought to study Mathematicks and Philosophy, Geography, natural History Naval Architecture, navigation, Commerce and Agriculture, in order to give their Children a right to study Painting Poetry Musick, Architecture, Statuary, Tapestry and Porcelaine.” – John Adams, Letter to Abigail Adams, post 12 May 1780.

Inspired by John Adams’ educational blueprint and continuing a long tradition of support for emerging scholars, the Massachusetts Historical Society will host “Collecting History: The Massachusetts Historical Society Graduate Symposium,” an interdisciplinary conference for graduate students, on Saturday, 4 June 2011. Researchers are encouraged to make use of the Historical Society’s extensive collections, which offer an unparalleled resource for the study of American history from the colonial period through the twentieth century. Focusing on American history and related aspects of world history, the program will consist of several themed panels and a keynote address from a distinguished scholar. Papers will be substantial, pre-circulated essays and will be accessible online for attendees. Conference registration is free. Proposals from various disciplines welcome. Please key proposals to one of these topics:

–The Personal Papers of Three Presidents (John Adams, John Quincy Adams, Thomas Jefferson)

–Politics & War & Philosophy

–History of Women and Gender

— Navigation, Commerce, & the Natural World

–Immigration and Urban History

–Painting, Poetry, & Architecture

Please email abstract (300-500 words) and biography (150-300 words) to conference coordinators Sara Georgini (sgeorgini@masshist.org) and Kathleen Barker (kbarker@masshist.org) by Tuesday, 18 January 2011. Presenters will be notified by Tuesday, 1 February 2011.

By Jeremy Dibbell

Please note: the MHS library will be closed on Monday, 11 October in observance of the Columbus Day holiday. The building will be open from 11 a.m. through 2 p.m. for the Fenway Alliance’s “Opening Our Doors” open house (your last chance to see the current exhibit, “Precious Metals: From Au to Zn”). More info here.

By Jeremy Dibbell

You can now connect with the MHS through Facebook, at http://www.facebook.com/MassachusettsHistoricalSociety. As the official announcement in this month’s @MHS puts it, “The page will host news updates, project stories, interesting facts about the Society, links to articles, pictures, and event information. Our fans are encouraged to post comments, upload photos, contribute to discussions, and invite others to join. The MHS Facebook page is accessible for viewing by anyone, but if you wish to receive updates, post messages, or interact with other users, you must have a Facebook account.”

We hope this will provide an active forum for our members, visitors and friends to interact with each other and with the Society.

By Jeremy Dibbell

The Massachusetts Historical Society sponsors four seminar series, each addressing a diverse range of topics including: Early American History, Environmental History, Immigration & Urban History, and the History of Women & Gender. Seminars are open to everyone. Click on the title of the seminar series for information on this season’s speakers and topics.

Seminar meetings usually revolve around the discussion of a pre-circulated paper. Sessions open with remarks from the essayist and an assigned commentator, after which the discussion is opened to the floor. After each session, the Society serves a light buffet supper. We request that those wishing to stay for supper make reservations in advance by calling 617-646-0540.

We are now offering seminar papers in PDF format at a password-protected web page. Subscribers will receive instructions for accessing the essays when we receive their payment. Annual fees for seminar subscriptions are as follows:

Boston Early American History Seminar: $25 (online)
Environmental History Seminar: $25 (online)
Immigration & Urban History Seminar: $25 (online)

Visit our website to purchase an on-line subscription: http://www.masshist.org/events/attend.cfm

(Visit the Schlesinger Library to subscribe to the History of Women & Gender seminar: http://www.radcliffe.edu/events/calendar.aspx)

For questions or registration assistance, contact the Research Department: seminars@masshist.org or 617-646-0557.

The fall seminar season begins on 16 September, and all seminars appear in the MHS Events Calendar as well as in each week’s This Week @ MHS blog post.