The Beehive: the official blog of the Massachusetts Historical Society

Stephen Greenleaf Bulfinch Diary, Post 42

Series: Civil War  , From Our Collections
By Elaine Grublin
The following excerpt is from the diary of Stephen Greenleaf Bulfinch. Thursday, March 2d. Thank God for the triumphant progress of the Union arms, the occupation of Savannah, Columbia, Charleston, and Wilmington.   [...] read more

comments: 0 | permalink | Published: Tuesday, 31 March, 2015, 12:00 AM

This Week @ MHS

Series: Today @MHS
By Dan Hinchen
On Tuesday, 31 March, come in at 5:15PM for an Early American History Seminar called "Frontiers and Geopolitics of Early America." This installment is presented by Patrick Spero of Williams College with Kate Grandjean, Wellesley College, providing comment. The seminar is [...] read more

comments: 0 | permalink | Published: Sunday, 29 March, 2015, 12:00 AM

The Unstoppable Anna Maria Mead Chalmers

By Susan Martin, Collection Services
As a manuscript processor here at the MHS, I have the opportunity to meet new people every day. Well, okay, most of them died a long time ago, but that doesn't make them any less interesting! One of the best parts of processing and cataloging a new collection is getting [...] read more

comments: 0 | permalink | Published: Wednesday, 25 March, 2015, 1:00 AM

This Week @ MHS

Series: Today @MHS
By Dan Hinchen
On Tuesday, 24 March, come in at 5:15PM for a seminar from the Immigration and Urban History series. Come listen as Thomas Chen from Brown University discusses "Remaking Boston's Chinatown: Race, Place, and Redevelopment after World War II." Jim Vrabel, author of A People's [...] read more

comments: 0 | permalink | Published: Saturday, 21 March, 2015, 5:00 PM

Newly Digitized Photograph Collection

Series: Civil War  , Collections News , From Our Collections
By Peter K. Steinberg, Collection Services
Collection Services at the Massachusetts Historical Society has recently created a collection guide for, and fully digitized, the 5th Massachusetts Cavalry Regiment carte de visite album, ca. 1864-1865 (Photograph Collection 228). The 5th Massachusetts Cavalry Regiment [...] read more

comments: 0 | permalink | Published: Tuesday, 17 March, 2015, 8:00 AM

This Week @ MHS

Series: Today @MHS
By Dan Hinchen
Come by on Tuesday, 17 March, for another Environmental History Seminar. This time around, Katherine Johnston of Columbia University presents "An Enervating Environment: Altered Bodies in the Lowcountry and the British West Indies." Conevery Bolton Valencius from the University [...] read more

comments: 0 | permalink | Published: Saturday, 14 March, 2015, 5:00 PM

Memories of the Civil War

Series: Civil War  , From Our Collections
By Susan Martin, Collection Services
John Hill White (1835-1920) served as a hospital steward in the 13th Massachusetts Infantry during the Civil War. His collection at the MHS  contains a lot of fascinating material, including four diaries he kept from 1862 to 1865. But I was particularly interested [...] read more

comments: 0 | permalink | Published: Saturday, 14 March, 2015, 1:00 AM

The King of the Filibusters

Series: From Our Collections , From the Reference Librarian 
By Dan Hinchen
Filibuster, n. 1. An irregular military adventurer, esp. one in quest of plunder; a freebooter; -- orig. applied to buccaneers infesting the Spanish American coasts; later, an organizer or member of a hostile expedition to some country or countries with which his own is [...] read more

comments: 0 | permalink | Published: Friday, 13 March, 2015, 8:00 AM

This Week @ MHS

Series: Today @MHS
By Dan Hinchen
On Tuesday, 10 March, there is an Environmental History Seminar beginning at 5:15PM. All are welcome to join us for "Fear of an Open Beach: The Privatization of the Connecticut Shore and the Fate of Coastal America." This seminar features Andrew W. Kahrl of the University [...] read more

comments: 0 | permalink | Published: Saturday, 7 March, 2015, 10:40 AM

Untangling North Atlantic Fishing, 1764-1910, Part 1: British Claim to the North Atlantic Fishery

Series: From Our Collections , From the Reading Room
By Andrea Cronin, Reader Services
Boundaries on land are largely man-made. These lines scribbled on paper or enclosed by transient fences signify what is claimed. Borders change over time. Geography shifts with natural disaster into or out of the ocean. Land boundaries are surprisingly fluid but not as immaterial [...] read more

comments: 1 | permalink | Published: Friday, 6 March, 2015, 3:07 PM