FEBRUARY CALENDAR
2022
Our mission is to promote understanding of the history of Massachusetts and the nation by collecting and communicating materials and resources that foster historical knowledge.
LOCATION 1154 Boylston Street Boston, MA 02215 CONTACT Tel: 617.536.1608 Fax: 617.859.0074 VISITOR INFORMATION MHS galleries are open Monday through Friday, from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM. Learn more about our virtual and in-person offerings at www.masshist.org/visit. The library is open by appointment only Monday through Friday, from 10:00 AM to 4:45 PM. Learn more about our library policies and how to make an appointment at www.masshist.org/library.
SOCIAL AND WEB @MHS1791 @MassachusettsHistoricalSociety www.masshist.org 2
Cover Image: Letter from Hannah Winthrop to Mercy Otis Warren, 17 January 1780, expressing appreciation for Warren’s friendship, wishing long life and happiness to her and her husband, and discussing the current weather conditions.
RSVP Information
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February Programs at a Glance
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Program Descriptions
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A Look Ahead: March and April Programs
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WINTER PROGRAMS
The MHS offers an engaging roster of events, author talks, panel discussions, brown-bag lunches, and seminars. For a complete schedule and up-to-date information, visit www.masshist.org/events.
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Generous support provided by
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RSVP Information
Past Programs
Visit www.masshist.org/events for additional event information, updates, cancellations, and registration.
If you missed a program, would like to revisit the material presented, or are interested in viewing past programs, visit www.masshist.org/video. A selection of past programs is just a click away.
Hybrid programs and seminars will occur in person and virtually, so be sure to register how you will attend. Please note that events listed as “hybrid program” will have a reception that begins thirty minutes prior to the program start time. To attend events in person, the MHS requires proof of vaccination to be presented at time of entry. Face masks are required inside the building. Please visit www.masshist.org/COVID-protocols to find the most up-to-date information. EVENTS, AUTHOR TALKS, AND SERIES For more information or to register visit www.masshist.org/events. WORKSHOPS Visit www.masshist.org/teaching-history for more information. Register online at www.masshist.org/events. BROWN-BAG LUNCH PROGRAMS Brown-bags provide an informal opportunity for visiting researchers to discuss their work, field questions, and receive new ideas. Please visit www.masshist.org/events for more information or to register for an online brown-bag. SEMINARS Seminars bring together a diverse group of scholars and members of the public to workshop a pre-circulated paper. After brief remarks from the author and an assigned commentator, the discussion is opened to the floor. There is a subscription fee for advance access to supporting materials. For more information, please visit www.masshist.org/research/seminars; register online at www.masshist.org/events.
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Join with a Gift The MHS Fund is your gateway to Membership at the MHS with its vast intellectual and social opportunities. Join the community of history lovers to enjoy free or discounted admission to public programs, exclusive invitations to special events, an annual Members Week, popup perks, and more! Give now to help tell the stories at www.masshist.org/support.
Please check the website for updates and, once registered, your e-mail before attending the program.
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TUESDAY |
5:15 |
VIRTUAL SEMINAR
The American Funding Katie Moore, University of California, Santa Barbara, and Ann Daly, Mississippi State University Comment: Simon Middleton, The College of William & Mary
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TUESDAY |
6:00 | VIRTUAL PROGRAM
Poor Richard’s Women: Deborah Read Franklin & the Other Women Behind the Founding Father Nancy Stuart
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WEDNESDAY |
6:00 | VIRTUAL PROGRAM
Challenging Assumptions in Telling Underrepresented History Cynthia Cowan, Historic Newton; Stacen Goldman, Framingham History Center; Kyera Singleton, Royall House and Slave Quarters; and Barbara Brown, Hidden Brookline
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THURSDAY |
6:00 | VIRTUAL PROGRAM
Film Club: Amistad Sara Martin, current Editor in Chief of the Adams Papers, and Jim Taylor, former Editor in Chief of the Adams Papers
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THURSDAY |
6:00 | HYBRID
PROGRAM
“Twas not long since I left my native shore”: Phillis Wheatley’s Celestial Cartography William Decker, Oklahoma State University
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TUESDAY |
5:15 | VIRTUAL SEMINAR
Back on the Clock: Labor Control in the Cold War Military’s New Workforce A. Junn Murphy, Brandeis University Comment: Lauren Hirshberg, Regis University
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WEDNESDAY |
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THURSDAY |
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MONDAY |
6:00 | HYBRID PROGRAM
The Combat Zone: Murder, Race & Boston’s Struggle for Justice Jan Brogan
5:15 | VIRTUAL SEMINAR
Talking Headstones: What Biographers Learn From Visiting Their Subjects’ Graves Julie Dubrow, Tufts University; Natalie Dykstra, Hope College; Megan Marshall, Emerson College
6:00 | HYBRID PROGRAM
The First Kennedys: The Humble Roots of an American Dynasty Neal Thompson
FEBRUARY PROGRAMS AT A GLANCE
February
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Founded in 1791, the MHS is an invaluable resource for American history, life, and culture. Our extraordinary collections tell the story of America through millions of rare and unique documents, artifacts, and irreplaceable national treasures. Please check the website for updates and, once registered, your e-mail before attending the program. FEBRUARY
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TUESDAY |
5:15 | VIRTUAL SEMINAR
Pauline Maier Early American History Seminar
The American Funding Katie Moore, University of California, Santa Barbara, and Ann Daly, Mississippi State University Comment by Simon Middleton, The College of William & Mary This panel discussion will consider two papers on the history of money from the mid-18th through the early 19th centuries. Katie Moore’s essay will examine the political, economic, and monetary preconditions that informed the colonial Massachusetts land bank “controversy.” While previous scholars have linked the land bank to parallel events such as the Great Awakening or to the coming of the American Revolution, this paper reappraises it as a solution to the full demand for labor that shaped Massachusetts’ economic decline after Queen Anne’s War and imperial restrictions that prohibited the colony from issuing its own currency after 1741. Ann Daly’s essay will then consider the cultural construction of monetary value in the antebellum US through two approaches to valuing individual coins. Known as the ‘science of real money,’ the first was a system of scientific analysis developed by federal scientists at the US Mint for elite capitalists. At the same time, lower-class Americans developed a competing sensory approach to assessing coinage. Whether they deployed scientific assessment or embodied inquiry, all Americans needed to gather knowledge to protect themselves from bad money. To reserve: This is an online program. Please register at www.masshist.org/events.
FEBRUARY
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TUESDAY |
6:00 | VIRTUAL PROGRAM
Poor Richard’s Women: Deborah Read Franklin & the Other Women Behind the Founding Father Nancy Stuart Everyone knows Benjamin Franklin—the thrifty inventorstatesman of the Revolutionary era—but not about his love life. Poor Richard’s Women reveals the longneglected voices of the women Ben loved and lost during his lifelong struggle between passion and prudence. The most prominent among them was Deborah Read Franklin, his common-law wife and partner for 6
To reserve: This is an online program. Please register at www.masshist.org/events.
FEBRUARY
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WEDNESDAY |
6:00 | VIRTUAL EVENT
Challenging Assumptions in Telling Underrepresented History Cynthia Cowan, Historic Newton; Stacen Goldman, Framingham History Center; Kyera Singleton, Royall House and Slave Quarters; and Barbara Brown, Hidden Brookline Too often public history organizations have believed that there were not enough records to give voice to enslaved people and other underrepresented voices from America’s past. This program will feature three projects at historical organizations that have been able to tell the stories of enslaved people. These projects show that with research and persistence, the stories of all of Massachusetts’s residents can be shared. To reserve: This is an online program. Please register at www.masshist.org/events.
FEBRUARY
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THURSDAY |
6:00 | VIRTUAL EVENT
Film Club: Amistad Sara Martin, current Editor in Chief of the Adams Papers, and Jim Taylor, former Editor in Chief of the Adams Papers Join the current and former Editor in Chief of the Adams Papers to discuss the 1997 film Amistad. The film explores the history of the slave ship Amistad, which set sail from Cuba to America in 1839. During the trip the enslaved people on board held an uprising. They were then held in Connecticut, and their fate became subject of heated debate, eventually leading to the US Supreme Court where John Quincy Adams helped to argue for their freedom.
FEBRUARY PROGRAM DESCRIPTIONS
forty-four years. Long dismissed by historians, she was an independent, politically savvy woman and devoted wife who raised their children, managed his finances, and fought off angry mobs at gunpoint while he traipsed about England. Nancy Stuart offers a colorful and poignant portrait of women in the age of the Revolution. Set two centuries before the rise of feminism, Poor Richard’s Women depicts the feisty, often-forgotten women dear to Ben’s heart who, despite obstacles, achieved an independence rarely enjoyed by their peers in that era.
To reserve: This is an online program. Please register at www.masshist.org/events.
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FEBRUARY
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THURSDAY |
6:00 | VIRTUAL PROGRAM
“Twas not long since I left my native shore”: Phillis Wheatley’s Celestial Cartography William Decker, Oklahoma State University Against the enduring mystery of Phillis Wheatley’s African origin, this talk will address how the poet established bearings in a world far from her natal landscape. A Christian convert whose poems celebrate a spiritual journey from darkness to light, from perdition to salvation, she nevertheless found ways to evoke the Middle Passage and to build a testimony against the slave trade that set her on what she dutifully represents as a redemptive path. The poems develop a cartography that unites her Old World and her New World as well as the world that her faith assures her awaits at the end of her long journey. The final, celestial “transport” is a recurring theme in her poetry, an ascent that she admonishes her white readership that they, too, must prepare to make. To reserve: This is an online program. Please register at www.masshist.org/events.
FEBRUARY
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TUESDAY |
5:15 | VIRTUAL SEMINAR
Malgeri Modern American Society & Culture Seminar
Back on the Clock: Labor Control in the Cold War Military’s New Workforce A. Junn Murphy, Brandeis University Comment by Lauren Hirshberg, Regis University In 1911, civilian workers at the Army’s Watertown Arsenal struck against the arrival of management engineers with stopwatches, leading Congress to ban certain Taylorist methods in military and other federal workplaces. After three decades, however, the ban was lifted. What explains the military’s return to scientific management? As the Cold War defense establishment took shape, it recruited hundreds of thousands of women, minorities, and foreign nationals to work as civilian employees of the Department of Defense. It was for this feminized and otherwise marginalized new population of workers that the military resurrected a suite of management engineering methods that had previously been deemed too degrading for the government to employ. To reserve: This is an online program. Please register at www.masshist.org/events.
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Objects that Fascinate, Interest & Inspire
Visit in Person
FEBRUARY PROGRAM DESCRIPTIONS
Our Favorite Things
Monday through Friday, from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM
Explore the virtual exhibition at
www.masshist.org/ourfavoritethings 9
FEBRUARY
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WEDNESDAY |
6:00 | HYBRID PROGRAM
The Combat Zone: Murder, Race & Boston’s Struggle for Justice Jan Brogan At the end of the 1976 football season, more than forty Harvard athletes went to Boston’s red light district to celebrate. In the city’s adult entertainment district, drugs and prostitution ran rampant, violent crime was commonplace, and corrupt police turned the other way. At the end of the night, Italian American star athlete Andy Puopolo, raised in the city’s North End, was murdered in a stabbing. Three African American men were accused of the crime. His murder made national news and led to the eventual demise of the city’s red light district. Starting with this brutal murder, The Combat Zone tells the story of the Puopolo family’s struggle with both a devastating loss and a criminal justice system that produced two trials with nearly opposing verdicts, all within the context of a racially divided Boston. To reserve: This is a hybrid program. The in-person reception starts at 5:30 PM and the program will begin at 6:00 PM. Please register at www.masshist.org/events.
FEBRUARY
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THURSDAY |
5:15 | VIRTUAL SEMINAR
New England Biography Series Seminar
Talking Headstones: What Biographers Learn From Visiting Their Subjects’ Graves Julie Dubrow, Tufts University; Natalie Dykstra, Hope College; Megan Marshall, Emerson College Confession time: this idea came about last October. Why not talk about the curious and creepy, eerie and inspiring enterprise of hunting up one’s subject’s final resting place? The NEBS steering committee members, Dobrow, Dykstra, and Marshall, all have stories to tell—one will admit to having peeked into her subject’s coffin! Final chapters can be the most fun to research and write, full of both poignance and relief (for the writer) and revelation (about the subject). There will hopefully be time for audience members to offer their own stories in brief as well. Join if you dare! To reserve: This is an online program. Please register at www.masshist.org/events.
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Underrepresented Voices of the American Revolution
FEBRUARY PROGRAM DESCRIPTIONS
Conrad E. Wright Research Conference
Save the date!
July 14 and 15, 2022 Visit www.masshist.org/conferences for more info. 11
FEBRUARY
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MONDAY |
6:00 | HYBRID PROGRAM
The First Kennedys: The Humble Roots of an American Dynasty Neal Thompson Today, we remember this iconic American family as the vanguard of wealth, power, and style rather than as descendants of poor immigrants. Neal Thompson introduces us to the first American Kennedys, Patrick and Bridget, who arrived as thousands of others did following the Great Famine—penniless and hungry. Less than a decade after their marriage in Boston, Patrick’s sudden death left Bridget to raise their children single-handedly. Her rise from housemaid to shop owner in the face of rampant poverty and discrimination kept her family intact, allowing her only son P. J. to become the first American Kennedy elected to public office—the first of many. Written by the grandson of an Irish immigrant couple and based on the first-ever access to P. J. Kennedy’s private papers, The First Kennedys is a story of sacrifice and survival, resistance and reinvention. To reserve: This is a hybrid program. The in-person reception starts at 5:30 PM and the program will begin at 6:00 PM. Please register at www.masshist.org/events.
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Thursday, March 10, at 6:00 PM: Reflecting on Repercussions of COVID-19: Frontline Workers, with Dr. John Santiago, Boston Medical Center ER Physician and State Representative; Jasmine Laietmark, Funeral Director at Stanetsky Memorial Chapels; and Emily Donahue, K-12 Educator. Thursday, March 24, at 6:00 PM: Reflecting on Repercussions of COVID-19: Cultural Institutions, with Vikki Spruill, CEO of the New England Aquarium; Catherine Allgor, President of the MHS; and Matthew Teitelbaum, Director of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Wednesday, March 30, at 5:30 PM: Reflecting on Repercussions of COVID-19: Policy Makers and Policy Advisors, with Marylou Sudders, Massachusetts Secretary of Health and Human Services; Dr. Paul Biddinger, Director of the Center for Disaster Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, advisor to Governor Charlie Baker, and leader of the Vaccine Advisory Board; and Dr. Sandra Bliss Nelson, doctor in the Infectious Diseases Division at Massachusetts General Hospital, and lead doctor on Governor Charlie Baker’s school reopening panel.
FEBRUARY PROGRAM DESCRIPTIONS
Reflecting on Repercussions of COVID-19
Please register at www.masshist.org/events. 13
Take a look at our upcoming slate of online author talks, panel discussions, workshops, seminars, and brown-bag lunch programs. Please visit www.masshist.org/events for updates and to register. March Thursday, March 3, at 5:15 PM: African American History Seminar, Let Me Be Somebody: Fabian Bridges & Quarantine Proposals During the HIV & AIDS Crisis in America, with Andrew Pope, Harvard University, and comment by Wesley Phelps, University of North Texas. Tuesday, March 8, at 5:15 PM: Environtmental History Seminar, Targeting Reform: CERCLA, Industri-Plex & Pollution Remediation in the United States, with Johnathan Williams, Boston University, and comment by Elizabeth Grennan Browning, Indiana University. Wednesday, March 9, at 6:00 PM: Ways & Means: Lincoln & His Cabinet on the Financing of the Civil War, with Roger Lowenstein. Thursday, March 10, at 6:00 PM: Reflecting on Repercussions of COVID-19: Frontline Workers, with Dr. John Santiago, Boston Medical Center ER Physician and State Representative; Jasmine Laietmark, Funeral Director at Stanetsky Memorial Chapels; and Emily Donahue, K-12 Educator. Tuesday, March 15, at 5:15 PM: History of Women, Gender & Sexuality Seminar, The Translations of Our Bodies, Ourselves: Comparing Feminist Self-Help Handbooks in the 1970s West Germany and the United States, with Claudia Roesch, German Historical Institute, and comment by Jennifer Nelson, University of Redlands. Wednesday, March 16, at 6:00 PM: Film Club: Little Women, with Jan Turnquist, Executive Director of Louisa May Alcott’s Orchard House, and Heather Rockwood, MHS. Thursday, March 21, at 6:00 PM: George Washington’s Hair, with Keith Beutler. Tuesday, March 22, at 5:15 PM: Digital History Seminar, Playing in Peoria: Patterns of Mass Culture in Progressive America, with Samuel Backer, Johns Hopkins University, and comment by Derek Miller, Harvard University. Thursday, March 24, at 6:00 PM: Reflecting on Repercussions of COVID-19: Cultural Institutions, with Vikki Spruill, CEO of the New England Aquarium, Catherine Allgor, MHS President, and Matthew Teitelbaum, Director of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Tuesday, March 29, at 5:15 PM: Malgeri Modern American Society & Culture Seminar, Medical Racism & Political Death: The Case of Juliette Derricotte, with Chana Lee, Harvard University, and comment by Kate Clifford Larson, Brandeis University WSRC Scholar. Wednesday, March 30, at 6:00 PM: Reflecting on Repercussions of COVID-19: Policy Makers & Policy Advisors, with Marylou Sudders, Massachusetts Secretary of Health and Human Services; Dr. Paul Biddinger, Director of the Center for Disaster Medicine at 14
April Wednesday, April 6, at 6:00 PM: Female Genius: Eliza Harriot & George Washington at the Dawn of the Constitution, with Mary Bilder, Boston College Law School. Thursday, April 7, at 5:15 PM: African American History Seminar, Black Abolitionists & the Meaning of Higher Learning, with Michael Jirik, Carleton College, and comment by Steven Wilder, MIT Tuesday, April 12, at 5:15 PM: Environtmental History Seminar, Pipe Dreams: The Pursuit of Desalination & the Promise of a Water-Abundant Future in the 1950s and 1960s, with Elizabeth Hameeteman, Boston University, and comment by Megan Black, MIT. Wednesday, April 13, at 6:00 PM: Ill-Fated Frontier: Peril & Possiblities in the Early American West, with Samuel Foreman, MD. Thursday, April 14, at 5:15 PM: History of Women, Gender & Sexuality Seminar, Queer Abby: Newspaper Advice Columnists as Allies for Gays and Lesbians, 1960–1980, with David Ferrara, University of Alabama, and comment by Lauren Gutterman, University of Texas at Austin. Wednesday, April 20, at 6:00 PM: 54th Unmarked Dead in Olustee, Florida, with Barbara Gannon, University of Central Florida. Thursday, April 21, at 6:00 PM: Narrative History, with John Demos in conversation with Catherine Allgor, MHS. Monday, April 25, at 6:00 PM: Benjamin’s Last Bet: The Favorite Founder’s Divisive Death, Enduring Afterlife & Blueprint for American Prosperity, with Michael Myer. Tuesday, April 26, at 5:15 PM: Malgeri Modern American Society & Culture Seminar, A Decent Home: The 1950s Suburban Boom in Long Island, with Michael Glass, Boston College, and comment by Rebecca K. Marchiel, University of Mississippi.
A LOOK AHEAD WINTER PROGRAMS
Massachusetts General Hospital, advisor to Governor Charlie Baker, and leader of the Vaccine Advisory Board; and Dr. Sandra Bliss Nelson, doctor in the Infectious Diseases Division at Massachusetts General Hospital, and lead doctor on Governor Charlie Baker’s school reopening panel.
Wednesday, April 27, at 6:00 PM: Film Club: The Bostonians, with Jim Vrabel and Susan Wilson. Thursday, April 28, at 5:15 PM: Digital History Seminar, The Dartmouth Digital History Initiative: Digital Humanities, Data Visualization & Oral History Archives, with Edward Miller & Bryan Winston, Dartmouth College, and comment by Janneken Smucker, West Chester University. Thursday, April 28, at 6:00 PM: Confronting Racial Injustice: Asian Americans, moderated by Margaret Woo, Northeastern University School of Law, other speakers TBA.
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