WINTER-SPRING CALENDAR
2020
Massachusetts
Historical Society
May 5, 2020 5: 30 p m S p o n s o r R e c e p t i o n 6: 00 p m C o c k t a i l s & D i n n e r Fairmont Copley Plaza 138 St. James Ave. | Boston
featuring Jon Meacham Pulitzer Prize-winning presidential historian, contributing writer to The New York Times Book Review,and contributing editor at TIME Tickets and sponsorships available at www.masshist.org/gala
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Cover: Winter Quarters, by George Davidson, circa 1790.
RSVP Information
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Winter-Spring Programs at a Glance
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Program Descriptions, Month by Month
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Hours Exhibition Galleries
WINTER-SPRING Programs
Each season, the MHS offers an engaging roster of special events, brown-bag lunches, seminars, author talks, and Members-only programs. For a complete schedule, visit www.masshist.org/events.
Mon., Wed., Thu., Fri., and Sat.: 10:00 am to 4:00 pm Tue.: 10:00 am to 7:00 pm Library Mon., Wed., Thu., and Fri.: 9:00 am to 4:45 pm Tue.: 9:00 am to 7:45 pm Sat.: 9:00 am to 4:00 pm Please visit www.masshist.org for building closings. Generous support provided by
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RSVP Information Visit www.masshist.org/events for additional event information, updates, and cancellations. Special Events, Author Talks, & Series For more information or to register for a program, visit www.masshist.org/events or call 617-646-0578. Workshops Visit www.masshist.org/teaching-history for more information and 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. These programs are free of charge and no RSVP is required. Feel free to bring a lunch. Seminars Seminars are free and open to the public; there is a subscription charge for advance access to any supporting materials. Many sessions consider a pre-circulated paper. Visit www.masshist.org/research/seminars for more information and register online at www.masshist.org/events. EBT Card to Culture The MHS is part of the EBT Card to Culture program offered by the Massachusetts Cultural Council. EBT cardholders receive free admission to public programs with a registration fee as indicated in this calendar. Admission to the library and exhibitions is always free and open to the public.
January 5:15 7 TUESDAY |
| SEMINAR
Supplying Slavery: Jamaica & British Imperial Trade, 1752–1769 Peter Pellizzari, Harvard University Comment: Richard Dunn, American Philosophical Society
8
WedneSDAY |
12:00
| Brown-bag
“Thus Much for Politicks”: American Women, Diplomacy, & the Aftermath of the American Revolution Miriam Liebman, City University of New York
10
Friday |
14
TUESDAY |
2:00
| Gallery Talk
Fire! Voices from the Boston Massacre Peter Drummey, MHS
5:15
| SEMINAR
“Wealth and Beauty in Trees”: State Forestry & the Rehabilitation of Massachusetts’s Economy, Landscape, & Culture, 1898–1919 Aaron Ahlstrom, Boston University Comment: Brian Donahue, Brandeis University
15
WEdneSDAY |
5:30/6:00
| RECEPTION/Talk
Deborah Sampson: A Revolution of Her Own Judith Kalaora, History at Play There is a $10 per person fee (no charge for MHS Fellows and Members or EBT cardholders).
16
ThurSDAY |
5:15
| SEMINAR
“Increasing her Stock”: Two Harriets & the Louisiana Borderlands Rashauna Johnson, Dartmouth College Comment: Jen Manion, Amherst College
Become a Member The MHS welcomes Members from near and far to join its community of history lovers. Members enjoy invitations to Members-only events, free admission to select programs, and subscriptions to Miscellany. Join today or give the gift of membership to the history enthusiast, amateur historian, or history professional in your life. Join at www.masshist.org/support.
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21
TUESDAY |
5:15
| SEMINAR
“For I’d Rather Be Dead Than Not to Dream of a Better World”: Mae Gadpaille’s Vision of the Montessori Family Centre Community Mary McNeil, Harvard University Comment: Ashley Farmer, University of Texas at Austin
WedneSDAY |
5:30/6:00
| RECEPTION/Talk
The Puritans: A Transatlantic History David Hall, Harvard University There is a $10 per person fee (no charge for MHS Fellows and Members or EBT cardholders).
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TUESDAY |
5:15
| SEMINAR
The Art of Family History: Visual Imagery, Family Narrative, & Native American Modernism Philip Deloria, Harvard University, in conversation with Julie Dobrow, Tufts University
27
MonDAY |
5:30/6:00
| RECEPTION/Talk
Animal City: The Domestication of America Andrew A. Robichaud, Boston University There is a $10 per person fee (no charge for MHS Fellows and Members or EBT cardholders).
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TUESDAY |
5:15
| SEMINAR
Genetown: The Urbanization of the Boston Area Biotechnology Industry Robin Wolfe Scheffler, MIT Comment: Lizabeth Cohen, Harvard University
30
ThursDAY |
5:30/6:00
| RECEPTION/PAnel
Historical Perspectives on Today’s World Stephen Fried and guests
5
WedneSDAY |
5:30/6:00
| RECEPTION/Talk
Stolen: Five Free Boys Kidnapped into Slavery & Their Astonishing Odyssey Home Richard Bell, University of Maryland There is a $10 per person fee (no charge for MHS Fellows and Members or EBT cardholders).
10
MonDAY |
5:30/6:00
| RECEPTION/Talk
Civil War Monuments & the Militarization of America Thomas J. Brown, University of South Carolina There is a $10 per person fee (no charge for MHS Fellows and Members or EBT cardholders).
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TUESDAY |
5:15
| SEMINAR
Northern Exposure: American Military Engineering in the Arctic Circle Gretchen Heefner, Northeastern University Comment: Christopher Capozzola, MIT
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TUESDAY |
5:15
| SEMINAR
“What the Women Can Do:” Doctors’ Wives & the American Medical Association’s Crusade Against Socialized Medicine Kelly O’Donnell, Thomas Jefferson University Comment: Oliva Weisser, University of Massachusetts Boston
Location: Edward M. Kennedy Institute
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February 5:30/6:00 3
There is a $10 per person fee (no charge for MHS Fellows and Members or EBT cardholders).
MonDAY |
| RECEPTION/Talk
Peter J. Gomes Memorial Book Prize Cermony Christine M. DeLucia, Williams College, in conversation with Rae Gould, Brown University
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TUESDAY |
5:15
| SEMINAR
Historical Datasets as Arguments: 21stCentury Curations of 17th-Century Records Talya Housman, Digital Historian
WedneSDAY |
5:30/6:00
| RECEPTION/Talk
Mother is a Verb: A Unconventional History Sarah Knott, Indiana University Bloomington
20
Thursday |
5:15
| SEMINAR
Emancipation in America, Seen Through One Man’s Dreadlocks Abigail Cooper, Brandeis University Comment: Kellie Carter Jackson, Wellesley College
21
Friday |
2:00
WINTER-SPRING Programs AT A GLANCE
22
| Gallery Talk
John Adams & the Boston Massacre Trials Amanda Norton, MHS 5
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5:15
TUESDAY |
| SEMINAR
The Difference the 19th Amendment Made: Southern Black Women & the Reconstruction of American Politics Liette Gidlow, Wayne State University
10
5:15
TUESDAY |
| SEMINAR
The Metabolism of Military Forces in the War of Independence: Environmental Contexts & Consequences David Hsiung, Juniata College
Comment: Susan Ware, Schlesinger Library
Comment: James Rice, Tufts University
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11
ThurSDAY |
5:30/6:00
| RECEPTION/Talk
WEdnesDAY |
5:30/6:00
| RECEPTION/Talk
We the People: The 500-Year Battle Over City on a Hill: A History of American Who Is American Exceptionalism Benjamin Railton, Fitchburg State Univeristy Abram C. Van Engen, Washington There is a $10 per person fee (no charge for MHS University in St. Louis Fellows and Members or EBT cardholders).
There is a $10 per person fee (no charge for MHS Fellows and Members or EBT cardholders).
March 5:30/6:00 2
12
MonDAY |
| RECEPTION/Talk
John Adams Under Fire: The Founding Father’s Fight for Justice in the Boston Massacre Murder Trial Dan Abrams and David Fisher There is a $20 per person fee (no charge for MHS Fellows and Members or EBT cardholders).
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TUESDAY |
5:15
| SEMINAR
The 1621 Massasoit-Plymouth Agreement & the Genesis of American Indian Constitutionalism Daniel R. Mandell, Truman State University
5:15
| SEMINAR
Fashioning a Life: How Style Matters in Biography Caroline Weber, Barnard College, and Channing Joesph, University of Southern California Comment: Natalie Dykstra, Hope College
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TUESDAY |
5:15
| SEMINAR
Contesting Domesticity—a Panel Discussion Kwelina Thompson, Cornell University; Shoniqua Roach, Brandeis University; and Laura Puaca, Christopher Newport University
Comment: Linford Fisher, Brown University
Comment: Micki McElya, University of Connecticut
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19
WEdnesDAY |
5:30/6:00
| RECEPTION/Talk
The Boston Massacre: A Family History Serena Zabin, Carleton College There is a $10 per person fee (no charge for MHS Fellows and Members or EBT cardholders).
9
MonDAY |
5:30/6:00
| RECEPTION/Talk
Inventing Boston: Design, Production, & Consumption, 1680–1720 Edward S. Cooke, Jr., Yale University There is a $10 per person fee (no charge for MHS Fellows and Members or EBT cardholders).
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ThurSDAY |
ThurSDAY |
5:15
| SEMINAR
“Fighting the Dogs”: Fugitivity, Canine Hunters, & Slave Resistance in the Rural South Tyler D. Parry, University of Nevada, Las Vegas Comment: TBD
20
Friday |
2:00
| Gallery Talk
Fire! Voices from the Boston Massacre Peter Drummey, MHS
TuesDAY |
5:30/6:00
| RECEPTION/Talk
Jefferson: Then & Now Peter Onuf, University of Virginia, and Annette Gordon-Reed, Harvard Law School There is a $20 per person fee (no charge for MHS Fellows and Members or EBT cardholders).
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TueSDAY |
5:15
| SEMINAR
The Pacific Railroads & the Pacific Ocean: American Expansion, Asian Trade, & Terraqueous Mobility, 1869–1914 Sean Fraga, Princeton University Comment: David Armitage, Harvard University
WednesDAY |
5:30/6:00
| RECEPTION/Talk
There is a $10 per person fee (no charge for MHS Fellows and Members or EBT cardholders).
5:30/6:00
| RECEPTION/Talk
When It Was Grand: The Radical Republican History of the Civil War LeeAnna Keith There is a $10 per person fee (no charge for MHS Fellows and Members or EBT cardholders).
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TUESDAY |
5:15
| SEMINAR
Our Turn Next”: Slavery & Freedom on French & American Stages, 1789–1799 Heather S. Nathans, Tufts University Comment: Jeffrey Ravel, MIT
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5:30/6:00
| RECEPTION/Talk
There is a $10 per person fee (no charge for MHS Fellows and Members or EBT cardholders).
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Friday |
21
TUESDAY |
2:00
| Gallery Talk
John Adams & the Boston Massacre Trials Amanda Norton, MHS
5:15
| SEMINAR
Comment: Elizabeth Lunbeck, Harvard University
The Hunt for History: On the Trail of the World’s Lost Treasures—from the Letters of Lincoln, Churchill, & Einstein to the Secret Recordings Onboard JFK’s Air Force One Nathan Raab
MonDAY |
ThursDAY |
Kooks & Degenerates on Ice: Bobby Orr, the Big Bad Bruins, & the Stanley Cup Championship That Transformed Hockey Thomas J. Whalen, Boston University
Boston Feminists on Drugs, 1970–1990 Trysh Travis, University of Florida
April 1
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16
ThurSDAY |
5:15
| SEMINAR
“Contrary to the Rules & Maxims of the Law and Nation”: The Destruction of Colonial New England’s River Fisheries Zachary Bennett, Connecticut College Comment: Matthew McKenzie, University of Connecticut
22
WEdnesDAY |
5:30/6:00
| RECEPTION/Talk
Bringing Back the Pilgrims: Living History at Plimoth Plantation Catherine Allgor, MHS; Richard Pickering, Plimoth Plantation; Len Travers, UMass Dartmouth; and moderator William Martin There is a $10 per person fee (no charge for MHS Fellows and Members or EBT cardholders).
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ThurSDAY |
5:15
| SEMINAR
From Jobs & Freedom to Jobs & Opportunity: Andrew Young, Growth, & the Illusion of Job Creation Danielle Wiggins, California Institution of Technology Comment: Brenna Greer, Wellesley College
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TUESDAY |
5:15 |
SEMINAR
The Sidewalks of New York: Tin Pan Alley & the Birth of a Manhattan Mass Culture Samuel Backer, Johns Hopkins University Comment: Jeff Melnick, University of Massachusetts Boston
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WEdnesDAY |
5:30/6:00
| RECEPTION/Talk
WINTER-SPRING Programs AT A GLANCE
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The Cabinet: George Washington & the Creation of an American Institution Lindsay Chervinsky There is a $10 per person fee (no charge for MHS Fellows and Members or EBT cardholders). 7
The MHS is a center of learning dedicated to a deeper understanding of the American experience. Through its essential collections, scholarly pursuits, and public programs, the Society seeks to nurture a greater appreciation for American history and for the ideas, values, successes, and failures that bind us together as a nation. January
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Tuesday |
5:15
| Pauline Maier Early American History Seminar
Supplying Slavery: Jamaica & British Imperial Trade, 1752–1769 Peter Pellizzari, Harvard University Comment: Richard Dunn, American Philosophical Society Historians have long understood the economic importance of Jamaica to the 18th-century British empire, but the vast profits that the island’s sugar-slave complexes produced could only have existed with the supplies and provisions provided by mainland colonists in North America. Newly collected data from nearly 10,000 British naval office shipping lists for Kingston, Jamaica provide a reassessment of the size, nature, and value of this trade. The shipping lists reveal not only how deeply committed the mainland was to supplying Jamaican slavery, but also suggests that we reconsider the island as a powerful regional hub within the larger British Atlantic economy, one in which North America figured as an important hinterland. To reserve: Please register online at www.masshist.org/events.
January
8
Wednesday |
12:00
| Brown-bag
“Thus Much for Politicks”: American Women, Diplomacy, & the Aftermath of the American Revolution Miriam Liebman, City University of New York This talk looks at the ways women used non-republican methods of politicking on behalf of the United States while abroad in Europe, focusing on Abigail Adams’s time in London and Paris. Situating Adams in an international and diplomatic context highlights the ways she influenced American foreign and domestic policy while abroad. Using five different themes—letters, politics and political intrigue, money and economic diplomacy, social networks, and republicanism and aristocracy abroad—this work analyzes her politicking in Europe.
January
10
Friday |
2:00
| Gallery Talk
Fire! Voices from the Boston Massacre Peter Drummey, MHS
Walk through Fire! Voices from the Boston Massacre with Peter Drummey. He will highlight some of the archival material found in the MHS collection. 8
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Tuesday |
5:15
| Boston Seminar on Environmental History
“Wealth and Beauty in Trees”: State Forestry & the Rehabilitation of Massachusetts’s Economy, Landscape, & Culture, 1898–1919 Aaron Ahlstrom, Boston University Comment: Brian Donahue, Brandeis University Massachusetts currently stewards 311,000 acres of state forests and parks. This public land system originated in late 19th- and early 20th-century efforts to strengthen the Commonwealth’s economy, rehabilitate its unproductive landscapes, and revitalize its rural communities through scientific forestry. This paper offers new perspectives on Progressive Era conservation by analyzing how state foresters sought to improve rural landscapes’ profitability and aesthetics by educating private woodlot owners, suppressing forest fires and pests, and reforesting newly-acquired public lands. To reserve: Please register online at www.masshist.org/events.
January
15
Wednesday |
5:30/6:00
| Reception/REenactment
Deborah Sampson: A Revolution of Her Own Judith Kalaora, History at Play Deborah Sampson was the first woman to fight in and be honorably discharged from the American military. An indentured servant by age five, Sampson grew up in a man’s world, where women were naught but second-class citizens. As a self-educated masterless woman, she felt a higher calling, and in the final years of the American Revolution, Sampson bound her chest, tied back her hair, and enlisted in the 4th Massachusetts Regiment of the Continental Army as “Robert Shurtlieff.” Judith Kalaora reimagines Sampson’s remarkable story through a living history performance chronicling her life. To reserve: There is a $10 per person fee (no charge for MHS Fellows and Members or EBT cardholders). Please register online at www.masshist.org/events. January
16
Thursday |
5:15
| Boston Seminar on African American History
“Increasing her Stock”: Two Harriets & the Louisiana Borderlands Rashauna Johnson, Dartmouth College Comment: Jen Manion, Amherst College This paper uses the sexual biographies of two enslaved women, both named Harriet, in Louisiana’s Florida Parishes to explore the workings of intimacy and empire in the plantation South during its transition from borderlands to hub of King Cotton.
WINTER-SPRING Program Descriptions
January
To reserve: Please register online at www.masshist.org/events.
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January
21
Tuesday |
5:15
| History of Women, Gender, & Sexuality Seminar
“For I’d Rather Be Dead Than Not to Dream of a Better World”: Mae Gadpaille’s Vision of the Montessori Family Centre Community Mary McNeil, Harvard University Comment: Ashley Farmer, University of Texas at Austin In 1967, Mae Gadpaille, the director of a black Montessori preschool in Roxbury, faced displacement; the church that housed her school was slated to be cleared for an urban renewal project. In response, Gadpaille launched a campaign to build the Montessori Family Centre Community, a living community for approximately 150 families with a pre-K–12 Montessori school in the center. This talk traces Gadpaille’s efforts to realize her vision, paying attention to how she thought Montessori methods could help advance a black nationalist project of self-determination, while also considering the limitations of such a vision—namely, who could “belong” to this community and who might be left at the margins. To reserve: Please register online at www.masshist.org/events. January
22
Wednesday |
5:30/6:00
| Reception/Talk
The Puritans: A Transatlantic History David Hall, Harvard University David Hall presents a sweeping transatlantic history of Puritanism from its emergence out of the religious tumult of Elizabethan England to its founding role in the story of America. Shedding new light on the diverse forms of Puritan belief and practice in England, Scotland, and New England, Hall provides a multifaceted account of a cultural movement that judged the Protestant reforms of Elizabeth’s reign to be unfinished. Hall describes the movement’s deeply ambiguous triumph under Oliver Cromwell, its political demise with the Restoration of the English monarchy in 1660, and its perilous migration across the Atlantic to establish a “perfect reformation” in the New World. To reserve: There is a $10 per person fee (no charge for MHS Fellows and Members or EBT cardholders). Please register online at www.masshist.org/events. January
23
Thursday |
5:15
| New England Biography Seminar
The Art of Family History: Visual Imagery, Family Narrative, & Native American Modernism Philip Deloria, Harvard University, with Julie Dobrow, Tufts University Decades ago, historian Philip Deloria found some drawings in the basement. These prints turned out to be the iconic work of his great aunt, Mary Sully. Deloria will speak about his new book, Becoming Mary Sully: Toward an American Indian Aesthetic, with Julie Dobrow, author of After Emily: Two Remarkable Women and the Legacy of America’s Greatest Poet. They will focus on how an intensely personal story interweaves Sully’s life and works with the “richness of their historical situation” in Native studies and art history. To reserve: Please register online at www.masshist.org/events. 10
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Monday |
5:30/6:00
| Reception/Talk
Animal City: The Domestication of America Andrew A. Robichaud, Boston University American cities were once full of animal life: cattle driven through city streets; pigs feeding on trash in public alleys and basements; cows crammed into urban feedlots; horses worked to death in the harness; dogs pulling carts and powering small machines; and wild animals peering out at human spectators from behind bars. In his new book, Andrew Robichaud reconstructs this evolving world of nineteenth-century urban animal life—from San Francisco to Boston to New York—and reveals its importance, both then and now. To reserve: There is a $10 per person fee (no charge for MHS Fellows and Members or EBT cardholders). Please register online at www.masshist.org/events. January
28
Tuesday |
5:15
| Modern American Society and Culture Seminar
Genetown: The Urbanization of the Boston Area Biotechnology Industry Robin Wolfe Scheffler, MIT Comment: Lizabeth Cohen, Harvard University Today, the Boston area hosts the densest cluster of biotechnology firms anywhere in the world. Yet in the 1980s, the rapid concentration of the industry within Boston’s urban neighborhoods was a striking contrast to the suburbanization of high technology research and development a generation before. This remarkable urbanization represented the confluence of the labor and financial challenges faced by biotechnology start-ups with decisions regarding municipal governance and redevelopment in the aftermath of deindustrialization. To reserve: Please register online at www.masshist.org/events. January
30
Thursday |
6:00
| Panel
Historical Perspectives on Today’s World Stephen Fried and guests Location: Edward M. Kennedy Institute Our Founding Fathers were progressive for their time in establishing a new nation. Many of them grappled with the same issues that we face today, including political polarization, voicing new ideas, and approaches to health care. Stephen Fried, author of Rush: Revolution, Madness & the Visionary Doctor Who Became a Founding Father, will explore the life and legacy of Benjamin Rush—one of the least known Founding Fathers. Fried and guests will discuss how many of our nation’s founders persevered during this time—and the lessons that we can learn by reflecting on our past.
WINTER-SPRING Program Descriptions
January
To reserve: Please register online at www.masshist.org/events.
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Voices from the Boston Massacre At the MHS through June 30, 2020 On the evening of March 5, 1770, soldiers occupying the town of Boston shot into a crowd, killing or fatally wounding five civilians. In the aftermath of what became known as the Boston Massacre, questions about the command to “Fire!” became crucial. The evidence, often contradictory, drew upon testimony from dozens of witnesses. Come learn about the Boston Massacre and “hear” for yourself— through a selection of artifacts, eyewitness accounts, and trial testimony—the voices of ordinary men and women, and discover how this flashpoint changed American history.
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Image: Details from The Bloody Massacre perpetrated in King Street, Boston on March 5th 1770 by a party of the 29th Regiment, by Paul Revere, 1770.
March 2, at 6:00 pm, John Adams Under Fire: The Founding Father’s Fight for Justice in the Boston Massacre Murder Trial with Dan Abrams and David Fisher (see page 17 for more information)
March 4, at 6:00 pm, The Boston Massacre: A Family History with Serena Zabin, Carleton College (see page 19 for more information)
Gallery talks will take place on: January 10, at 2:00 pm, with Peter Drummey, MHS March 20, at 2:00 pm, with Peter Drummey, MHS February 21, at 2:00 pm, with Amanda Norton, MHS Adams Papers April 17, at 2:00 pm, with Amanda Norton, MHS Adams Papers
WINTER-SPRING Program Descriptions
Learn more about the Boston Massacre by attending these programs:
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February
3
Monday |
5:30/6:00
| Reception/Talk
Peter J. Gomes Memorial Book Prize Ceremony Christine M. DeLucia, Williams College, with Rae Gould, Brown University Please join us for a special evening in which Christine M. DeLucia will receive the 2019 Gomes Prize for Memory Lands: King Philip’s War and the Place of Violence in the Northeast. DeLucia will join Rae Gould in a conversation about the war’s effects on the everyday lives and collective mentalities of the region’s diverse Native and EuroAmerican communities over the course of several centuries, focusing on persistent struggles over land and water, sovereignty, resistance, cultural memory, and intercultural interactions. To reserve: Please register online at www.masshist.org/events.
February
4
Tuesday |
5:15 | Boston-Area Seminar on Digital History Projects
Historical Datasets as Arguments: 21st-Century Curations of 17th-Century Records Talya Housman, Digital Historian Using her experience of curating a relational database on cases of sexual crime and gendered violence in England between 1642 and 1660 as a point of entry, Talya Housman looks at some implicit editorial arguments we make in our historical research. This talk outlines the process of data collection, designing, and building the database (including software selection and database design choices) and discusses some of the issues posed by historical data itself, including standardization of spelling and how to document uncertainty. To reserve: Please register online at www.masshist.org/events.
February
5
Wednesday |
5:30/6:00
| Reception/Talk
Stolen: Five Free Boys Kidnapped into Slavery & Their Astonishing Odyssey Home Richard Bell, University of Maryland Philadelphia, 1825: five young, free black boys fall into the clutches of the most fearsome gang of kidnappers and slavers in the United States. Determined to resist, the boys form a tight brotherhood as they struggle to free themselves and find their way home. Their ordeal shines a glaring spotlight on the Reverse Underground Railroad, a black market network of human traffickers and slave traders who stole away thousands of free African Americans from their families in order to fuel slavery’s rapid expansion in the decades before the Civil War. To reserve: There is a $10 per person fee (no charge for MHS Fellows and Members or EBT cardholders). Please register online at www.masshist.org/events. 14
10
Monday |
5:30/6:00
| Reception/Talk
Civil War Monuments & the Militarization of America Thomas J. Brown, University of South Carolina The new assessment of Civil War monuments unveiled in the United States between the 1860s and 1930s argues that they were pivotal to a national embrace of military values. Americans’ wariness of standing armies limited construction of war memorials in the early republic and continued to influence commemoration after the Civil War. Thomas Brown provides a comprehensive overview of the American war memorial as a cultural form and reframes the national debate over Civil War monuments that remain potent presences on the civic landscape. To reserve: There is a $10 per person fee (no charge for MHS Fellows and Members or EBT cardholders). Please register online at www.masshist.org/events.
February
11
Tuesday |
5:15
| Boston Seminar on Environmental History
Northern Exposure: American Military Engineering in the Arctic Circle Gretchen Heefner, Northeastern University Comment: Christopher Capozzola, MIT From the late 1940s through the 1960s, U.S. military engineers constructed and maintained a vast, though largely unknown, infrastructure of military facilities throughout the Far North. This paper examines how these engineers explored the Arctic regions, what sorts of information they accumulated about it, and what ultimately happened to that information once it was released from military constraints. To reserve: Please register online at www.masshist.org/events. February
18
Tuesday |
5:15
| History of Women, Gender, & Sexuality Seminar
“What the Women Can Do”: Doctors’ Wives & the American Medical Association’s Crusade Against Socialized Medicine Kelly O’Donnell, Thomas Jefferson University Comment: Oliva Weisser, University of Massachusetts Boston In the mid-20th century, the American Medical Association opposed attempts to create a national health program in this country through lobbying and public outreach about the dangers of socialized medicine. Their most powerful weapon in this fight was a less conventional medical instrument: their wives. This paper examines the mobilization of the AMA Woman’s Auxiliary as the main “public relations firm” of organized medicine during these debates and its lingering influence on American health politics.
WINTER-SPRING Program Descriptions
February
To reserve: Please register online at www.masshist.org/events.
15
February
19
Wednesday |
5:30/6:00
| Reception/Talk
Mother is a Verb: A Unconventional History Sarah Knott, Indiana University Bloomington Pregnancy, birth, and the encounter with an infant: how have these experiences changed over time and cultures? Blending memoir and history, feminist Sarah Knott draws on the terrain of Britain and North America from the 17th century to the close of the 20th. Knott searches among a range of past societies, pores over archives, and documents her own experiences to craft a new historical interpretation of maternity for our changing times. To reserve: There is a $10 per person fee (no charge for MHS Fellows and Members or EBT cardholders). Please register online at www.masshist.org/events. February
20
Thursday |
5:15
| Boston Seminar on African American History
Emancipation in America, Seen Through One Man’s Dreadlocks Abigail Cooper, Brandeis University Comment: Kellie Carter Jackson, Wellesley College In 1864, a ship leaves its New England port carrying a USCT regiment to fight Confederates on the Louisiana front. But on the way, a showdown takes place when Pvt. John Green refuses his commanding officer’s order to cut his hair, protesting that it was contrary to his religion. In the events that follow, a revealing picture of black self-assertion in the making of freedom emerges, one too often hidden by a Civil War master narrative. This paper tells John Green’s story, and asks how we might look at emancipation differently when we view it through his dreadlocks. To reserve: Please register online at www.masshist.org/events. February
21
Friday |
2:00
| Gallery Talk
John Adams & the Boston Massacre Trials Amanda Norton, MHS
Join Adams Papers editor Amanda Norton to learn more about why John Adams, a noted Patriot, defended the British soldiers involved in the Boston Massacre and how he won acquittals for all but two of them. February
25
Tuesday |
5:15
| Modern American Society and Culture Seminar
The Difference the 19th Amendment Made: Southern Black Women & the Reconstruction of American Politics Liette Gidlow, Wayne State University Comment: Susan Ware, Schlesinger Library
16
To reserve: Please register online at www.masshist.org/events.
February
27
Thursday |
5:30/6:00
| Reception/Talk
We the People: The 500-Year Battle Over Who Is American Benjamin Railton, Fitchburg State Univeristy Benjamin Railton argues that throughout our history two competing yet interconnected concepts have battled to define our national identity and community: exclusionary and inclusive visions of who gets to be an American. From the earliest moments of European contact with indigenous peoples, through the Revolutionary period’s debates on African American slavery, 19th century conflicts over Indian Removal, Mexican landowners, Chinese immigrants, 20th century controversies around Filipino Americans and Japanese internment, and 21st century fears of Muslim Americans, time and again this defining battle has shaped our society and culture. To reserve: There is a $10 per person fee (no charge for MHS Fellows and Members or EBT cardholders). Please register online at www.masshist.org/events.
March
2
Monday |
5:30/6:00
| Reception/Talk
John Adams Under Fire: The Founding Father’s Fight for Justice in the Boston Massacre Murder Trial Dan Abrams and David Fisher
History remembers John Adams as a Founding Father and our country’s second president. But in the tense years before the American Revolution, he was a lawyer, fighting for justice in one of the most explosive murder trials of the era. On the night of March 5, 1770, shots were fired by British soldiers on the streets of Boston, killing five civilians. The Boston Massacre has often been called the first shots of the American Revolution. As John Adams would later remember, “On that night the formation of American independence was born.” Yet when the British soldiers faced trial, the young Adams was determined that they receive a fair one. He volunteered to represent them, keeping the peace in a powder keg of a colony, and in the process created some of the foundations of what would become United States law.
WINTER-SPRING Program Descriptions
Many scholars have argued that though the enfranchisement of women was laudable, not much changed after women got the vote: the suffrage coalition splintered, women’s voter turnout was low, and the progressive reforms promised by suffragists failed to materialize. This interpretation, however, does not fully account for the activities of aspiring African American women voters in the Jim Crow South at the time or more broadly across the U.S. in the decades since. This paper argues that southern Black women’s efforts to vote, successful and otherwise, transformed not only the mid-century Black freedom struggle but political parties, election procedures, and social movements on the right and the left.
To reserve: There is a $20 per person fee (no charge for MHS Fellows and Members or EBT cardholders). Please register online at www.masshist.org/events.
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Proud state sponsor of National History Day© in Massachusetts National History Day (NHD) is an interdisciplinary research project for students in grades 6–12. Students choose a topic related to an annual theme, conduct extensive research, and present their work through a documentary film, website, performance, paper, or exhibit.
Calling all history lovers! Be a judge at one of our upcoming Massachusetts competitions (dates below). Judging is key to the success of the program and a fantastic way to connect with students, support your community, and learn about history. Judges work in teams to review entries in a specific category, interview students, provide written feedback, and select which projects will advance from the regional to state competition. No prior experience is necessary! Saturday, March 7 • South Shore Regional Competition at Foxborough High School • Central West Regional Competition at Quabbin Regional High School Sunday, March 8 • Greater Boston Regional Competition at Stoneham Middle School • North Shore Regional Competition at Beverly High School Saturday, April 4 • NHD Massachusetts State Competition at Winchester High School Each competition begins at 8:00 am and lasts until 3:00 pm. Meals and training are provided. For more information and to register as a judge: e-mail: education@masshist.org visit: www.masshistoryday.com
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Image: National History Day, photograph by Kate Melchior, 2019.
National History Day
Massachusetts
3
Tuesday |
5:15
| Pauline Maier Early American History Seminar
The 1621 Massasoit-Plymouth Agreement & the Genesis of American Indian Constitutionalism 2018–2019 Daniel R. Mandell, Truman State University Comment: Linford Fisher, Brown University On March 22, 1621, Wampanoag sachem Massasoit agreed to a pact of mutual sovereignty and defense with Plymouth. At the same time, Massasoit promised to send his people who injured Englishmen to stand trial in their courts. While apparently contradictory, Plymouth’s acknowledgment of Wampanoag sovereignty and claim of the right to judge such conflicts reflected emerging international law and English legal norms, and created a constitution for Native-English relations that held for decades. Although King Philip’s War destroyed this agreement, similar political and jurisdictional arrangements continued to dominate British America and were reflected in U.S. Indian policy through the 1820s. To reserve: Please register online at www.masshist.org/events. March
4
Wednesday |
5:30/6:00
| Reception/Talk
The Boston Massacre: A Family History Serena Zabin, Carleton College
The story of the Boston Massacre is familiar to generations. But from the very beginning, most accounts have obscured a fascinating truth: the Massacre arose from conflicts that were as personal as they were political. Serena Zabin draws on original sources and lively stories to follow British troops as they are dispatched from Ireland to Boston in 1768 to subdue the increasingly rebellious colonists. She reveals a forgotten world hidden in plain sight: the many regimental wives and children who accompanied the armies. We see these families jostling with Bostonians for living space, finding common cause in the search for a lost child, trading barbs, and sharing baptisms. Becoming, in other words, neighbors. When soldiers shot unarmed citizens in the street, it was these intensely human and now broken bonds that fueled what quickly became a bitterly fought American Revolution. To reserve: There is a $10 per person fee (no charge for MHS Fellows and Members or EBT cardholders). Please register online at www.masshist.org/events. March
9
Monday |
5:30/6:00
| Reception/Talk
Inventing Boston: Design, Production, & Consumption, 1680–1720 Edward S. Cooke, Jr., Yale University During the late 17th and early 18th centuries, Boston was both a colonial capital and the third most important port in the British empire. Boston was also an independent entity that articulated its own identity while appropriating British culture and fashion. Edward Cooke examines period dwellings, gravestones, furniture, textiles, ceramics, and silver, and reveals through material culture how the inhabitants of Boston were colonial, provincial, metropolitan, and global, all at the same time. This detailed account demonstrates how
WINTER-SPRING Program Descriptions
March
19
Bostonians constructed a distinct sense of local identity, a process of hybridization that exhibited a desire to shape a culture as a means to resist a distant power. To reserve: There is a $10 per person fee (no charge for MHS Fellows and Members or EBT cardholders). Please register online at www.masshist.org/events. March
10
Tuesday |
5:15
| Co-hosted Seminar
The Metabolism of Military Forces in the War of Independence: Environmental Contexts & Consequences David Hsiung, Juniata College Comment: James Rice, Tufts University In order to function during the War of Independence, armies and navies needed multiple sources of energy—food, firewood, work animals (which also needed food), ammunition, and more. How did specific natural environments, both proximate and distant, fuel those military metabolisms? How did such actions affect those environments in the decades and centuries that followed? This paper is the seed of a book proposal that, when watered by your feedback, will germinate come summertime. Co-hosted by the Boston Seminar on Environmental History and the Pauline Maier Early American History Seminar. To reserve: Please register online at www.masshist.org/events. March
11
Wednesday |
5:30/6:00
| Reception/Talk
City on a Hill: A History of American Exceptionalism Abram C. Van Engen, Washington University in St. Louis Abram Van Engen shows how the phrase “City on a Hill,” from a 1630 sermon by Massachusetts Bay governor John Winthrop, shaped the story of American exceptionalism in the 20th century. By tracing the strange history of Winthrop’s speech, from total obscurity in its own day to pervasive use in modern politics, Van Engen reveals the way national stories take shape and shows us how those tales continue to influence competing visions of the country—the many different meanings of America that emerge from a preservation of its literary past. To reserve: There is a $10 per person fee (no charge for MHS Fellows and Members or EBT cardholders). Please register online at www.masshist.org/events. March
12
Thursday |
5:15
| New England Biography Seminar
Fashioning a Life: How Style Matters in Biography Caroline Weber, Barnard College, and Channing Joesph, University of Southern California Comment: Natalie Dykstra, Hope College Is fashion art or industry? Is it evidence? This panel brings together Caroline Weber, author of Queen of Fashion: What Marie-Antoinette Wore to the Revolution and Proust’s 20
To reserve: Please register online at www.masshist.org/events. March
17
Tuesday |
5:15
| History of Women, Gender, & Sexuality Seminar
Contesting Domesticity—a Panel Discussion Kwelina Thompson, Cornell University; Shoniqua Roach, Brandeis University; and Laura Puaca, Christopher Newport University Comment: Micki McElya, University of Connecticut The domestic realm has long captivated feminist scholars who have sought to understand the lives of women and the workings of gender. How have women experienced, challenged, leveraged, and shaped the domestic? This panel will consider these questions and discuss the domestic as a contested site of constraint and possibility. Shoniqua Roach theorizes the meanings of black domesticity as a deeply fraught space marked by anti-black sentiment and yet full of insurgent potential. Kwelina Thompson explores the history of the La Leche League—a Catholic mothers group that organized to support breastfeeding mothers in the mid-20th century. Laura Puaca tells the story of the expansion of post-WWII vocational rehabilitation programs in the U.S. to include disabled homemakers. To reserve: Please register online at www.masshist.org/events.
March
19
Thursday |
5:15
| Boston Seminar on African American History
“Fighting the Dogs”: Fugitivity, Canine Hunters, & Slave Resistance in the Rural South Tyler D. Parry, University of Nevada, Las Vegas Comment: TBD As slavery expanded in the Americas, canine attacks were used as a particularly sadistic aspect of racist dehumanization. Through linked processes of breeding and training, slave hunters believed they had developed “natural” enemies between black people and the canines trained to hunt them. This paper investigates how fugitives responded to this interspecies violence by using various techniques of environmental resistance outside the plantation’s confines. By analyzing how fugitives used herbal combinations, waterways, and offensive weapons to subvert the canine’s sensory advantage, this paper argues that enslaved communities should be understood as knowledge producers who studied their environments and used scientific awareness in their resistance.
WINTER-SPRING Program Descriptions
Duchess, and Channing Joseph, whose forthcoming book recovers the untold story of formerly enslaved William Dorsey Swann, who became, in the 1880s, a progenitor of ballroom and drag culture. They will join moderator Natalie Dykstra, biographer of Clover Adams and now at work on a biography of Isabella Stewart Gardner, in a conversation about the ways biographers use fashion to decode lives and historical contexts.
To reserve: Please register online at www.masshist.org/events.
21
March 24 5:30 reception / 6:00 talk
Jefferson: Then & Now Peter Onuf, University of Virginia and Annette Gordon-Reed, Harvard Law School The reputations of all of the founders have changed dramatically over the course of American history, none more than that of Thomas Jefferson. Historians Annette Gordon-Reed and Peter Onuf will discuss the implications of recent political and social developments for our image of the slave-owning author of the Declaration of Independence, emphasizing the importance of situating Jefferson in his own historical context for a better understanding of the history and future prospects of democracy in America. There is a $20 per person fee (no charge for MHS Fellows and Members or EBT cardholders). Please register online at www.masshist.org/events. Image: Thomas Jefferson, engraving by Dequevauvillier after a drawing by Desnoyers. Printed by Bettoni.
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20
2:00
Friday |
| Gallery Talk
Fire! Voices from the Boston Massacre Peter Drummey, MHS
Walk through Fire! Voices from the Boston Massacre with Peter Drummey. He will highlight some of the archival material found in the MHS collection. March
24
Tuesday |
5:30/6:00
| Reception/Talk
Jefferson: Then & Now Peter Onuf, University of Virginia, and Annette Gordon-Reed, Harvard Law School Please see page 22 for program description and reservation details.
March
31
Tuesday |
5:15
| Modern American Society and Culture Seminar
The Pacific Railroads & the Pacific Ocean: American Expansion, Asian Trade, & Terraqueous Mobility, 1869–1914 Sean Fraga, Princeton University Comment: David Armitage, Harvard University The transcontinental railroads reshaped the United States—its politics, economy, culture and environment. This talk argues that late-19th century Americans also saw these railroads in global terms, as commercial infrastructure that could link the United States with Asia and the Pacific World. This paper recovers the excitement many 19th-century white Americans felt about trade with Asia and shows how interest in Asian trade was woven into the transcontinental railroads from their very beginnings. To reserve: Please register online at www.masshist.org/events.
April
1
Wednesday |
5:30/6:00
| Reception/Talk
The Hunt for History: On the Trail of the World’s Lost Treasures—from the Letters of Lincoln, Churchill, & Einstein to the Secret Recordings Onboard JFK’s Air Force One Nathan Raab Nathan Raab, America’s preeminent rare documents dealer, describes his years as the Sherlock Holmes of historical artifacts and shows what the past can tell us about the present. Raab will share fascinating stories: spotting a letter from British officials that secured the Rosetta Stone; discovering a piece of the first electric cable laid by Edison; restoring a fragmented letter from Andrew Jackson that led to the infamous Trail of Tears; and locating copies of missing audio that had been recorded on Air Force One as
WINTER-SPRING Program Descriptions
March
23
the plane brought JFK’s body back to Washington. Every document and artifact uncovers a story—and offers new insights into a life we thought we knew. To reserve: There is a $10 per person fee (no charge for MHS Fellows and Members or EBT cardholders). Please register online at www.masshist.org/events. April
6
Monday |
5:30/6:00
| Reception/Talk
When It Was Grand: The Radical Republican History of the Civil War LeeAnna Keith In 1862, abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison summarized the Civil War: “There is a war because there was a Republican Party. There was a Republican Party because there was an Abolition Party. There was an Abolition Party because there was Slavery.” Garrison’s statement expresses the essential truths at the heart of LeeAnna Keith’s narrative, which introduces us to the idealistic Massachusetts preachers and philanthropists, rugged Midwestern politicians, and African American activists who collaborated to protect escaped slaves from their captors, create and defend black military regiments, and win the contest for the soul of their party. In the 1850s and 1860s, the Republican Party stood for a demanding ideal of racial justice—and insisted that the nation live up to it. To reserve: There is a $10 per person fee (no charge for MHS Fellows and Members or EBT cardholders). Please register online at www.masshist.org/events. April
7
Tuesday |
5:15
| Pauline Maier Early American History Seminar
Our Turn Next”: Slavery & Freedom on French & American Stages, 1789–1799 Heather S. Nathans, Tufts University Comment: Jeffrey Ravel, MIT As the French abolitionist movement gathered momentum alongside the Revolution, Parisians could have seen hundreds of theatrical performances on themes related to race and slavery. By contrast, the American stage grappled with the choice to perpetuate a slave system within a democracy. Some performances hinted at slavery’s cruelty, some depicted newly-freed black characters living happily alongside whites, and others proposed returning blacks to the continent as the solution for a dilemma Thomas Jefferson described as holding “a wolf by the ears.” This paper explores the black revolutionary figure on the U.S. and French stages during the last decade of the 18th century, as both nations struggled to put their principles of universal freedom into practice. To reserve: Please register online at www.masshist.org/events.
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9
Thursday |
5:15
| Boston Seminar on Environmental History
“Contrary to the Rules & Maxims of the Law and Nation”: The Destruction of Colonial New England’s River Fisheries Zachary Bennett, Connecticut College Comment: Matthew McKenzie, University of Connecticut Long before industrialization, New Englanders dammed their rivers. The dams that powered saw and grist mills saved farmers days of backbreaking labor, but they also blocked fish migrations which generations of colonists and Indians depended on for food. Although laws protected people’s right to fish, New England colonies refused to enforce them. This inaction destroyed herring and salmon runs, triggering a cascade of ecological changes that ultimately dragged the region into the market economy. To reserve: Please register online at www.masshist.org/events. April
16
Thursday |
5:30/6:00
| Reception/Talk
Kooks & Degenerates on Ice: Bobby Orr, the Big Bad Bruins, & the Stanley Cup Championship That Transformed Hockey Thomas J. Whalen, Boston University During the 1969–1970 season, the “Big, Bad Bruins,” led by the legendary Bobby Orr, brushed off their perennial losing ways to defeat the St. Louis Blues in the Stanley Cup Finals for their first championship in 29 years. Thomas J. Whalen brings to life all the colorful personalities and iconic players from this Stanley Cup-raising team. Whalen situates this winning season into its historical context as the United States struggled with issues of war, race, politics, and class, making his book a must-read for sports enthusiasts, hockey fans, and those interested in twentieth-century American history. To reserve: There is a $10 per person fee (no charge for MHS Fellows and Members or EBT cardholders). Please register online at www.masshist.org/events. April
17
Friday |
2:00
| Gallery Talk
John Adams & the Boston Massacre Trials Amanda Norton, MHS
Join Adams Papers editor Amanda Norton to learn more about why John Adams, a noted Patriot, defended the British soldiers involved in the Boston Massacre and how he won acquittals for all but two of them.
WINTER-SPRING Program Descriptions
April
25
April
21
Tuesday |
5:15
| History of Women, Gender, & Sexuality Seminar
Boston Feminists on Drugs, 1970–1990 Trysh Travis, University of Florida Comment: Elizabeth Lunbeck, Harvard University With the current opioid crisis as a backdrop, this paper examines the role various groups of Boston feminists played in the development of women’s substance abuse treatment in the 1980s and 1990s. Organizations such as Women, Inc. (Roxbury), The Dorchester Green Lite Network, and the Cambridge and Somerville Program for Addiction Recovery had roots in and connections to well-known feminist collectives across the city. These historical connections between radical women’s organizing and the development of “behavioral health” services for women sheds light not only on the evolution of late-20th century public policy and medicine, but also of popular feminist culture. To reserve: Please register online at www.masshist.org/events. April
22
Wednesday |
5:30/6:00
| Reception/Talk
Bringing Back the Pilgrims: Living History at Plimoth Plantation Catherine Allgor, MHS; Richard Pickering, Plimoth Plantation; Len Travers, UMass Dartmouth; and moderator William Martin How do historians create authentic public history? How do they tell their story to a wide and diverse audience? Living history makes the past accessible, but like all popular history, it must balance accessibility with an accurate depiction of the human past. Theatrical techniques like dialogue, costuming, setting, and character development can bring a historical moment to life, but the story that’s told must be rooted in serious scholarship and careful research. How do ‘Living Historians’ meet this challenge? Join us for a lively panel discussion among historians who have grappled with these questions. To reserve: There is a $10 per person fee (no charge for MHS Fellows and Members or EBT cardholders). Please register online at www.masshist.org/events. April
23
Thursday |
5:15
| Boston Seminar on African American History
From Jobs & Freedom to Jobs & Opportunity: Andrew Young, Growth, & the Illusion of Job Creation Danielle Wiggins, California Institution of Technology Comment: Brenna Greer, Wellesley College This paper considers Atlanta mayor Andrew Young’s shifting ideas about job creation and economic opportunity to investigate how Democrats abandoned their 1970s goal of full employment in favor of policies that promoted private sector job creation via economic growth in the 1980s. By conflating growth with opportunity, Andrew Young sought to stake a middle path between development interests and anti-poverty coalitions, white and black voters, and civil rights liberalism and supply-side liberalism. However, economic 26
To reserve: Please register online at www.masshist.org/events. April
28
Tuesday |
5:15
| Modern American Society and Culture Seminar
The Sidewalks of New York: Tin Pan Alley & the Birth of a Manhattan Mass Culture Samuel Backer, Johns Hopkins University Comment: Jeff Melnick, University of Massachusetts Boston During late 19th century, the upstart firms of Tin Pan Alley developed a revolutionary approach to publishing, constructing a system able to sell sheet-music at a previously unimaginable rate. Relying heavily on New York’s importance in national performance networks to disseminate their songs, the publishers of Tin Pan Alley fought to create universally accessible commodities while embedded in the fast-moving, alcohol-drenched urban environments in which their products were required to thrive. To reserve: Please register online at www.masshist.org/events. April
29
Wednesday |
5:30/6:00
| Reception/Talk
The Cabinet: George Washington & the Creation of an American Institution Lindsay M. Chervinsky On November 26, 1791, George Washington convened his department secretaries— Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, Henry Knox, and Edmund Randolph—for the first cabinet meeting. Faced with diplomatic crises, domestic insurrections, and constitutional challenges, Washington decided he needed a group of advisors he could turn to. He modeled his new cabinet on the councils of war he had led as commander of the Continental Army. Lindsay M. Chervinsky reveals the far-reaching consequences of Washington’s choice to create what has become one of the most powerful bodies in the federal government: the presidential cabinet. To reserve: There is a $10 per person fee (no charge for MHS Fellows and Members or EBT cardholders). Please register online at www.masshist.org/events. Save the date
May 5 Making History Gala featuring Jon Meacham 5:30 sponsor reception / 6:00 cocktails and dinner Fairmont Copley Plaza, Boston Tickets are $500 per person
WINTER-SPRING Program Descriptions
growth and its promise of opportunity proved to be an inadequate solution for the range of issues its proponents intended it to address.
2020
Visit www.masshist.org/gala for tickets and sponsorship information. 27
1154 Boylston Street Boston MA 02215
