Massachusetts Historical Society

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MHS Features

front of the Massachusetts historical society building

Making the Past Last

Founded in 1791, the Massachusetts Historical Society is an invaluable resource for American history, life, and culture. Its extraordinary collections tell the story of America through millions of rare and unique documents, artifacts, and irreplaceable national treasures. etc.

Who We Are

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LIVE CHAT

Communicate with the MHS library staff through a live chat session. To initiate, click on the "Ask a librarian" link, submit your question in the chat box, and the first available librarian will respond. The service is available Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays from 10 AM to 4 PM; Tuesdays from 1 PM to 7 PM; and Fridays from 10 AM to 1 PM.

Ask a librarian

Chat With a Reference Librarian

collections

ACCESSIBLE TO ALL

The extraordinary collection of the MHS provides an unparalleled record of American history and is enjoyed by scholars and the public alike. There are millions of rare and unique documents, artifacts, and irreplaceable national treasures. Along with many famous documents such as Paul Revere's own account of his famous ride, the collection contains accounts of the lives of thousands of ordinary Americans.

Explore our collections

Collections

1776 coin

GIVE A GIFT

Support the MHS to promote the study of American history and deepen our understanding of the diverse stories that define our nation's past. Help make the MHS a place where history happens.

Support The MHS

kids at a conference

National History Day

National History Day (NHD) in Massachusetts is a year-long interdisciplinary program focused on historical research, interpretation, and creative expression for students in grades 6-12.

National History Day

revolution 250, 1776 - 2026

THE REVOLUTION IS COMING

Revolution 250 is a collaborative effort aimed at commemorating the 250th anniversaries of events leading up to America’s independence from Great Britain. More than 40 Massachusetts non-profit organizations, businesses, and government agencies are working together to explore the history of the American Revolution and the ways that this story still resonates 250 years later.

Revolution 250

covid-19 post-it notes

WITNESS TO HISTORY

Years from now historians will research the impact of the COVID-19 virus. In order to have first-person accounts of daily life during this extraordinary time, the MHS invites you to contribute your experience(s) to our collection.

Your Covid-19 Experiences

presidential signatures

Presidential Papers

The MHS holds the largest collection of Thomas Jefferson’s private papers including more than 400 architectural drawings as well as many other valuable presidential papers and artifacts from throughout United States history. This includes hundreds of letters written by every U.S. president through George H.W. Bush.

Explore our presidential papers

Presidential Papers

a letter from the adams family papers collection

ILLUMINATING THE ADAMS FAMILY STORY

The Adams Family Papers are the most comprehensive and historically complete family collection held by an American cultural institution, public or private. In addition to illuminating the family story, the documents offer valuable insights to the political, social, and cultural fabric of American society.

Adams Family Papers

making history gala

Making History Gala

Featuring Heather Cox Richardson in conversation with GBH's Jared Bowen.

Learn more and purchase tickets

our favorite things

Our Favorite Things

Connecting a selection of compelling, captivating, and amusing items from our collection to the backgrounds, interests, and memories of the MHS staff. View now

Making History Gala

[ Event ]

Our Favorite Things

[ Online Exhibition ]

We promote understanding of the history of Massachusetts and the nation by collecting and communicating materials and resources that foster historical knowledge.

A world where historical understanding is the cornerstone of a healthy democracy.

Our Vision | Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

The Latest

MHS Blog Feed

The “Overflowing Riches” of Cora H. Clarke

20 hours 25 minutes ago

by Susan Martin, Senior Processing Archivist I’m returning today to one of my favorite collections here at the MHS, the Perry-Clarke additions. One of the reasons I enjoyed processing this collection so much was because of all the fascinating people it introduced me to. One of them was Cora Huidekoper Clarke (1851-1916). Cora was a […]

Heather Rockwood

Wo̲banaki kimzowi awighigan or “Wabanaki learning book”

1 day 13 hours ago

By Alexandra Moleski, NHD Program Coordinator Kwaï! Welcome to National History Day in MA 2025! Here at the Massachusetts Historical Society, the NHD in MA team is getting excited for contest season. In preparation, we have been brainstorming topic ideas that relate to this year’s NHD theme, Rights and Responsibilities, to share with students as […]

Heather Rockwood

Adams Book Club: John’s Pick

6 days 20 hours ago

by Gwen Fries, Adams Papers Dear Reader, How did you enjoy the “rich mental feast” of Anne MacVicar Grant’s Letters from the Mountains? (Not ringing a bell? You have a bonus blog post to read!) I so enjoyed getting to know Mrs. Grant. It’s easy to fall in love with someone through their letters—what merits […]

Heather Rockwood

Dialogues of the Dead

2 weeks ago

by Heather Rockwood, Communications Manager On 22 April 1790, John Adams and Congress learned of Benjamin Franklin’s death due to pleurisy, a lung condition. Upon learning of his friend’s death, Adams wrote an imagined conversation between four historical figures, as they waited for Franklin’s arrival in the afterlife. Adams then filed it away and more […]

Heather Rockwood

Long Day’s (and Day’s and Day’s) Journey Into History

2 weeks 3 days ago

by Susan Martin, Senior Processing Archivist In honor of Election Day tomorrow, I searched the MHS stacks for material related to elections. Unsurprisingly we have a lot! One collection I discovered tells the fascinating story of Charles N. Richards of Quincy, Massachusetts, who, in November 1864, traveled all the way home from Washington, D.C. to […]

Heather Rockwood

Archival Wanderings at the MHS

3 weeks 1 day ago

by Jordan T. Watkins, Associate Professor, Brigham Young University The archive inevitably opens unseen roads of research, luring even the most focused historical travelers from their set paths of inquiry. In April of this year, when I again entered the Massachusetts Historical Society, and passed those columns that feel like portals to the past, I […]

Heather Rockwood

The Story in a Photograph

1 month ago

by Elaine Heavey, Director of the Library The MHS houses hundreds of photograph collections, mostly family photographs containing posed portraits and candid photos like this one. In some cases, a family member meticulously labeled every photo, letting us know whose images have been captured for future generations to see. Other collections are not so well […]

Heather Rockwood

Part 3: Conservation Treatments

1 month 1 week ago

by Samantha Couture, MHS Nora Saltonstall Conservator & Preservation Librarian Welcome to Part 3 of our series on conservation at the MHS. Here, we will discuss a few of the conservation treatments that Samantha performs in our lab. The purpose of any conservation work is to reverse or repair damage to extend the useability and […]

Heather Rockwood

Mourning Iconography: An Exploration of Death through Symbolism

1 month 1 week ago

by Heather Rockwood, Communications Manager I sometimes say, “my art history degree did not teach me the history of art, it taught me how to look.” And by “look,” I mean that I have a background knowledge in symbolism, period, style, medium, subject, color, and composition. When I visit museums with friends, I try not […]

Heather Rockwood

Alice Clarke and the Boston Female Asylum

1 month 1 week ago

by Susan Martin, Senior Processing Archivist Since July, I’ve been introducing you to individual members of the remarkable Clarke family of Boston, whose papers I recently processed. Next up is Alice de Vermandois (Sohier) Clarke. Alice was the daughter of lawyer William Sohier and Susan Cabot (Lowell) Sohier. In 1878, she married Eliot Channing Clarke, […]

Heather Rockwood

“We are not this hemisphere’s only experts”: Gerry Studds on War and Peace

1 month 2 weeks ago

by Meg Szydlik, Visitor Services Coordinator In my previous blog posts here and here, I examined Massachusetts Congressman Gerry E. Studds as a gay man and environmental activist. In this post, I want to look at his antiwar stance, which focused on the violence in Vietnam, and later in South and Central America. While there […]

Heather Rockwood

A Revolutionary President

1 month 3 weeks ago

by Sara Georgini, Series Editor, The Papers of John Adams John Adams was nervous. Readying for his 4 March 1797 presidential inauguration, Adams flashed back to his days as a suburban schoolteacher, revolutionary lawyer, and self-taught statesman. The United States, born in the “Minds and Hearts of the People,” did not exist when Adams started […]

Heather Rockwood

Count Rumford, Rumford Baking Powder, Rumford, NH, Rumford, RI, and the Rumford Professor at Harvard University, Part 3: This Collection Keeps Drawing Me In

1 month 3 weeks ago

by Heather Rockwood, Communications Manager While perusing the MHS’s Rumford collection for juicy nuggets about the count’s ill-fated, later-life love story (described in Part 2), as well as connecting the dots between a Bavarian Count and baking powder manufactured in Rhode Island (Part 1), I also felt the love a person can feel for the […]

Heather Rockwood

Pirate Talk

2 months ago

by Rakashi Chand, Reading Room Supervisor Today is ‘Talk like a Pirate Day’ which I adore because my kids and I are big fans of the ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ film franchise as well as any pirate-themed movie, restaurant, or minigolf course. But, as a historian, I feel an impulse to find pirate speak in […]

Heather Rockwood

Count Rumford, Rumford Baking Powder, Rumford, NH, Rumford, RI, and the Rumford Professor at Harvard University, Part 2: He Loves Her, He Hates Her

2 months ago

by Heather Rockwood, Communications Manager In Part 1: How did a middle-class Massachusetts boy become Count Rumford? I described how Count Rumford received his title and how he was connected to Rumford Baking Powder. Now, in Part 2, let’s look Count Rumford’s items in the MHS’s George E. Ellis Papers. The Count Rumford papers in […]

Heather Rockwood

“Every Patient Is Your Sister”: Lilian Freeman Clarke

2 months ago

by Susan Martin, Senior Processing Archivist Today I’d like to continue my series on the Clarke family by telling you about Lilian Freeman Clarke (1842-1921), whose papers can be found here at the MHS in the Perry-Clarke collection and additions, as well as two smaller collections of correspondence and Sturgis-Hooper family papers. Lilian has made […]

Heather Rockwood

Checked

5 hours 21 minutes ago

URL

https://www.masshist.org/beehiveblog

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the lowly hotdog

Season 1

Episode 5: Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. and the "Lowly Hotdog"

Object of the Month

photo of benjamin sewall blake's son jumping

November

“At once an art and a science”: Francis Blake Photographs His Son Benjamin