This Week @ MHS

So, you're looking for some history? Well, you came to the right place then. Take a look at what we have to offer this week at the Society:

- Tuesday, 8 March, 5:15PM : "How to Police Your Food: A Story of Controlling Homes and Bodies in the Early Age of Manufactured Foods" is an Environmental History seminar which addresses three concerns of our day: food, knowledge, and control. The seminar features Benjamin R. Cohen of Lafayette College, with Joyce Chaplin of Harvard University providing comment. Seminars are free and open to the public; RSVP required. Subscribe to receive advance copies of the seminar papers.

- Wednesday, 9 March, 12:00PM : This week's Brown Bag talk is given by Katlyn M. Carter of Princeton University. Her talk is titled "Practicing Politics in the Revolutionary Atlantic World: Secrecy, Publicity, and the Making of Modern Democracy." Carter traces how revolutionaries in the United States and France navigated the tension between an Enlightenment imperative to eradicate secrets from the state and a practical need to limit the extent of transparency. Brown Bag talks are free and open to the public. Grab a lunch and come on in!

- Wednesday, 9 March, 6:00PM : "The New Bostonians: How Immigrants Have Transformed the Metro Area since the 1960s," is a public author talk given by Marilynn S. Johnson of Boston College. Her work examines the confluence of recent immigration and urban transformation in greater Boston as a part of the region rebounding from a dramatic decline after World War II to an astounding renaissance. This talk is open to the public and registration is required at a fee of $10 (free for MHS Members and Fellows). A pre-talk reception begins at 5:30PM. 

- Saturday, 12 March, 10:00AM : The History and Collections of the MHS is a docent-led walk through our public rooms. The tour is free, open to the public, with no need for reservations. If you would like to bring a larger party (8 or more), please contact Curator of Art Anne Bentley at 617-646-0508 or abentley@masshist.org.

While you're here you will also have the opportunity to view our current exhibition.

This Week @ MHS

Here is the round-up of events in the week to come:

- Tuesday, 23 February, 5:15PM : This week's Immigration and Urban History seminar features Niki C. Lefebvre of Boston Univeristy presenting "'The Other Essential Job of War': Jewish American Merchants and the European Refugee Crisis, 1933-1945." Comment is provided by Noam Maggor, Charles Warren Center for Studies in American History. Seminars are free and open to the public; RSVP required. Subscribe to receive advance copies of the seminar papers.

- Wednesday, 24 February, 12:00PM : Join us for a Brown Bag lunch talk given by short-term research fellow Scott Shubitz. "Free Religion as Spiritual Abolitionism" reexamines the rise of the Free Religion movement and draws on a number of MHS collections, including the papers of Henry W. Bellows and John Weiss. This talk is free and open to the public so pack a lunch and stop by!

- Wednesday, 24 February, 6:00PM : "Preservation of Modernism." The fourth and final installment of the Mass. Modernism Series focuses on the forgotten optimism of the movement and the challenges and opportunities encourntered in renovating modernist architecture. The talk features Ann Beha, AIA, Ann Beha Architects; David Fixler, FAIA, EYP, DOCOMOMO New England; Henry Moss, AIA, Bruner/Cott & Associates, DOCOMOMO New England; and Mark Pasnik, AIA, Over, Under. A pre-talk reception begins at 5:30PM. Registration is required for this event. 

- Saturday, 27 February, 10:00AM : The History and Collections of the MHS Tour is a docent-led walk through our public rooms. The tour is free, open to the public, with no need for reservations. If you would like to bring a larger party (8 or more), please contact Curator of Art Anne Bentley at 617-646-0508 orabentley@masshist.org.

While you're here you will also have the opportunity to view our current exhibition.

This Week @ MHS

Please note that the MHS is closed on Monday, 15 February, in observance of President's Day. Normal hours resume on Tuesday, 16 February.

Here's what we have on tap in this shortened week:

- Tuesday, 16 February, 6:00PM : "Politics of Modernism" is the third of four programs in the Modernism Series and centers on the arrival of Edward Logue as the head of the Boston Redevelopment Authority. The discussion featurs Liz Cohen of the Radcliffe Institute at Harvard University, Elihu Rubin of Yale University, and Chris Grimley of AIA and Over,Under. There is a pre-talk reception at 5:30PM and the talk begins at 6:00PM. This event is open to the public, registration required. 

- Wednesday, 17 February, 9:00AM : "Adams, Jefferson, and Shakespeare" commemorates the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare's death by investigating his influence on America's Founding Mothers and Fathers. This full-day teacher workshop is open to educators and history enthusiasts with a fee of $25 per person (to cover materials and lunch). To register, complete this registration form, and for more information contact the education department at education@masshist.org or 617-646-0557. 

- Saturday, 20 February, 10:00AM : The History and Collections of the MHS is a docent-led walk through our public rooms. The tour is free, open to the public, with no need for reservations. If you would like to bring a larger party (8 or more), please contact Curator of Art Anne Bentley at 617-646-0508 or abentley@masshist.org.

While you're here you will also have the opportunity to view our current exhibition.

- Saturday, 20 February, 1:00PM : "'What News?': Communication in Early New England" is the latest installment of the "Begin at the Beginning: Boston's Founding Documents" series. Led by Katherine Grandjean of Wellesley College, this conversation looks at how news traveled in a time before postal service and newspapers. This program is open to the public at no cost, but registration is required. 

This Week @ MHS

On the calendar this week we have a pair of seminars, a pair of public programs, and a free tour. Here's how it all shakes out:

- Tuesday, 9 February, 5:15PM : Join us for an Environmental History seminar discussion with presenter Laura J. Martin of Harvard University, and commentor Brian Payne of Bridgewater State University. The talk focuses on Martin's paper, "The History of Ecological Restoration: From Bombs to Bac-O-Bits," which explores the intellectual and cultural history of ecological restoration from 1945 to 1965. Seminars are free and open to the public; RSVP required. Subscribe to receive advance copies of the seminar papers.

- Thursday, 11 February, 5:30PM : Laura Briggs of UMass-Amherst presents "All Politics are Reproductive Politics: Welfare, Immigration, Gay Marriage, Foreclosure" as part of the History of Women and Gender seminar series. The project looks at the collision of two forces - increasing unpaid care burdens, and ever more need for wage labor - and how they have radically reconfigured both families and political common sense in particularly racialized ways over the last forty years. Suzanna Danuta Walters of Northeastern University provides comment. Seminars are free and open to the public; RSVP required. Subscribe to receive advance copies of the seminar papers. This event takes place at the Schlesinger Library, Harvard.

- Thursday, 11 February, 6:00PM : "Culture of Modernism" is the second of a four-part series on the topic of Modernism. This talk features author Alexandra Lange; Jane Thompson of the Thompson Design Group; and Michael Kubo of Collective-LOK. There will be a pre-talk reception at 5:30PM. Registration is required for this program. This program takes place at the Concord Museum.

- Friday, 12 February, 2:00PM : "Jefferson's Journey to Massachusetts: The Origin of the Coolidge Collection at the MHS" is a free gallery talk focused on our current exhibition, The Private Jefferson. Stephen T. Riley Librarian, Peter Drummey, explains the provenance of this collection and how the largest collection of this Virginian's private papers arrived at the MHS. This talk is free and open to the public. 

- Saturday, 13 February, 10:00AM : The History and Collections of the MHS is a docent-led walk through our public rooms. The tour is free, open to the public, with no need for reservations. If you would like to bring a larger party (8 or more), please contact Curator of Art Anne Bentley at 617-646-0508 or abentley@masshist.org. While you're here you will also have the opportunity to view our current exhibition.