The Beehive: the official blog of the Massachusetts Historical Society

Bring Your Students to MHS!

Series: Around MHS , Education Programs , From Our Collections
By Kate Melchior, Center for the Teaching of History
December is knockingon the door which means that the Center for the Teaching of History at the MHS is wrapping-up its inaugural semester of class visits! This fall, the MHS hosted a number of programs for middle school, high school, and college students who want to learn [...] read more

comments: 0 | permalink | Published: Wednesday, 29 November, 2017, 12:00 AM

This Week @ MHS

Series: Today @MHS
By
After a nice long holiday weekend it's time to put down the turkey legs and get back to the business of history. Here are the programs on-tap in the week ahead: - Monday, 27 November, 6:00PM : Join us for an author talk with Henry Louis Gates, Jr., and Maria Tatar, both [...] read more

comments: 0 | permalink | Published: Sunday, 26 November, 2017, 12:00 AM

John Quincy Adams’ Would-be Assassin: George P. Todsen

Series: From Our Collections
By Neal Millikan, Adams Papers
On November 30, 1826, President John Quincy Adams learned that Dr. George P. Todsen (Todson) wanted to assassinate him. A native of Denmark, Todsen immigrated to St. Louis in 1817 where he established a medical practice. In 1824 he became an assistant surgeon in the U.S. [...] read more

comments: 0 | permalink | Published: Wednesday, 22 November, 2017, 12:00 AM

This Week @ MHS

Series: Today @MHS
By
Thanksgiving is nearly upon us, which means a shortened week here at the Society.  - Monday, 20 November, 6:00PM : Join us for a conversation with author Richard Aldous of Bard College, with Fredrik Logevall of Harvard University, as they discuss Aldous's recent work [...] read more

comments: 0 | permalink | Published: Sunday, 19 November, 2017, 12:00 AM

“The Happiest of the Happy”: An Expatriate in Italy

Series: From Our Collections
By Susan Martin, Collection Services
After you’ve processed several collections of papers here at the Massachusetts Historical Society, you start to see familiar names crop up. It’s not just the usual Cabots and Saltonstalls and Lowells, etc., or those famous Boston ministers, merchants, and abolitionists. [...] read more

comments: 0 | permalink | Published: Friday, 17 November, 2017, 11:08 AM

The End of Piracy: Pirates hanged in Boston 300 years ago

Series: From Our Collections
By Rakashi Chand, Reader Services
  Today marks the 300th anniversary of the execution of the Whydah pirates in Boston, Massachusetts, marched from their Boston jail to the gallows and hanged for their crimes of piracy. No less a person than Puritan minister Cotton Mather recorded the day of the execution [...] read more

comments: 0 | permalink | Published: Wednesday, 15 November, 2017, 5:56 PM

This Week @ MHS

Series: Today @MHS
By
We are back from a long weekend for the only full November week this year. Here are the programs coming in the week ahead: - Tuesday, 14 November, 5:15PM : The next installment of the Environemental History Seminar series is with Jacqueline Gonzales of Historical Research [...] read more

comments: 0 | permalink | Published: Sunday, 12 November, 2017, 12:00 AM

Gertrude Codman Carter’s Diary, November 1917

Series: From Our Collections
By Anna Clutterbuck-Cook, Reader Services
Today we return to the 1917 diary of Gertrude Codman Carter. You may read the previous entries here: Introduction | January | February | March | April | May June | July | August | September | November | December   We are nearing the end of Gertrude’s year [...] read more

comments: 0 | permalink | Published: Friday, 10 November, 2017, 12:00 AM

This Week @ MHS

Series: Today @MHS
By
It is a short week here at the Society as we approach the Veteran's Day holiday. But there are still a few opportunities for quenching your thirst for history. Here is what is on the calendar for the week ahead: - Tuesday, 7 November, 5:30PM : The next installment of the [...] read more

comments: 0 | permalink | Published: Sunday, 5 November, 2017, 12:00 AM

"...a calm prophetic of, we knew not what." : Tornadoes in New England

Series: From Our Collections
By Daniel Tobias Hinchen, Reader Services
Recently while in the stacks here at the MHS I happened upon a small collection of photographs that were in a folder labeled "Lawrence (Mass) tornado photographs, 1890." With only enough time to take a brief look, I made a mental note of the title so that I could find out [...] read more

comments: 0 | permalink | Published: Friday, 3 November, 2017, 4:49 PM