This Week @ MHS

It is time again for the weekly forecast of events here at the MHS! There are three public programs on offer in the week to come and with spring finally settling into its normal routine, plenty of reasons to take a walk and visit 1154 Boylston.

First up, on Tuesday, 7 May, is the last in the Early American History Seminar series for the season. Sarah Bilder of Boston College Law School and Pauline Maier of MIT present "Madison's Hand: Revising the Constitutional Convention." This seminar focuses on the most prominent remnants of the Convention in Philadelphia during the summer of 1787, Madison's Notes with his revisions, and ask what it means to take seriously that Madison's notes on the Convention are notes. Two hundred and twnty-five years after the writing, the use of changing technology allows a revisiting of the original manuscript to suggest that Madison revised his notes far more extensively than was previously understood, demonstrating that Madison's own understanding of the Convention, the Constitution, and his own role change dramatically betwee 1787 and the end of the 18th century. This seminar begins at 5:15pm and is free and open to the public. RSVP required. Subscribe to receive advance copies of the seminar paper. This is the last seminar at the MHS until the fall so come get your fix before the summer!

The following day, Wednesday, 8 May, come to attend the annual Jefferson lecture at the MHS. This year, Susan R. Stein of Monticello discusses "New Perspectives on Jefferson's Monticello: House, Landscape, and Family." This talk uses a wide lens to focus on recent restoration and interpretive efforts including Monticellos' work spaces beneath the house, public rooms, and upper floors, as well as the principal street of the plantation, Mulberry Row. Also included will be description of Monticello's free and enslaved communities. Ms. Stein is the Richard Gilder Senior Curator and Vice President for Museum Programs. Registration is required for this public program at no cost. Please RSVP. Pre-Talk Reception at 5:30pm, program starts at 6:00pm. Contact the education department at 617-646-0560/education@masshist.org for more informaiton or to reserve a spot.

And on Saturday, 11 May, after a few weeks off, our public tour resumes. "The History and Collections of the MHS" is a tour of the Society's public rooms that touches on the history and collections of the MHS, including some of the art and architecture on view in the public spaces. Tours are led by an MHS staff member or docent and last about 90 minutes. Tour begins in the lobby at 10:00am and is free and open to the public. No reservation is required for individuals or small groups. Parties of 8 or more should contact the MHS prior to attending a tour. For more information please contact Curator of Art Anne Bentley at 617-646-0508 or abentley@masshist.org.

Finally, the three current exhibitions on view are available six days a week, Monday-Saturday, 10:00am - 4:00pm. These exhibits are only around for three more weeks so be sure to get a glimpse before they go!

This Week @ MHS

As the spring rolls on and we enter a new month it will be a busier week here at the MHS with plenty of public programs to take part in. First on the list is a rare Sunday program happening on 28 April 2013. Join Jayne Gordon, MHS Director of Education and Public Programs, for an afternoon walking tour in Concord, MA. "Authors & Abolitionists" is a leisurely two-mile walk that explores the involvement of authors and Concord-residents like Emerson, Thoreau, and the Alcotts and their neighbors in antislavery efforts in Concord, hotbed of 19th-century abolitionist sentiment, and beyond. The walk, starting at 2:00pm, begins and ends at the Concord train depot and is coordinated with the Sunday train schedule. Walk leader Jayne Gordon is a resident of Concord who has worked at many of the town's historic site and teaches the Concord history course required of all town guides. Registration Required. Fee $25/$15 (F/M); Free for MHS Fund Giving Circle members. Light refreshments included. For more information contact the education department at 508-577-4599 / education@masshist.org.

Next up, stop by the MHS on Tuesday, 30 April, for the next installment in the Immigration and Urban History Seminar series. This panel discussion, "19th-century Immigration, Nativism, and Politics" will focus on two papers. Mimi Cowan of Boston College highlights the ways in which participation in volunteer military groups sometimes helped immigrants combat nativism and, at other times, fueled nativists' concerns about foreigners in her paper "Honorable Citizens: Ethnic Militias in Chicago, 1855-1879." "African American and Irish Political Coalitions in Boston, Massachusetts, 1881-1890," by Millington Bergeson-Lockwood, George Mason University, identifies three areas where African Americans and Irish immigrants established coalitions and laid claim to participation in the founding events of the United States as well as a histori resistance to oppression. Comment in this discussion provided by Evelyn Stern, University of Rhode Island. This program is free and open to the public, though RSVP is required. Subscribe to receive advance copies of the seminar papers. Discussion begins at 5:15pm.

Two events will happen on May Day this week. First, on Wednesday, pack a lunch and hit the MHS at noon for one of our Brown Bag Lunch talks. This week, Katelyn Crawford of the University of Virginia will present "Transient Painters, Traveling Canvases: Portraiture and mobility in the British Atlantic, 1750-1780." Ms. Crawford's project examines the paintings and portraitists working within the 18th-century British Atlantic world to demonstrate the impact of mobility on artistic practice and portraiture on identiy construction. She considers a network of about ten portraitists, the canvases they produce, and the travel of both individiuals and images throughout the British Atlantic and identifies a shift in the construction of artistic communities ans artists took to the sea. Her project reveals visual convergences and divergences that illustrate the development of regional identities within imperial conventions. This event is free and open to the public.

And on Wednesday evening, 1 May, head over to the Coolidge Corner Theatre, 290 Harvard St. in Brookline at 6:00pm for an MHS-sponsored author talk with Nathaniel Philbrick. The bestselling author of Mayflower and In the Heart of the Sea turns his attention toward the story of the first major battle of the American Revolution in his new book "Bunker Hill: A City, A Siege, A Revolution." This book explores this, the bloodiest battle of the coming Revolution and the point of no return for the colonists in rebellion. Mr. Philbrick is a New York Times bestselling author, recipient of the National Book Award, and finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. This event is co-sponsored with Brookline Booksmith and will take place at the Coolidge Corner Theater in Brookline. For directions, please visit http://www.coolidge.org/. Tickets are available from the Brookline Booksmith and are $5 per person.Please visit brooklinebooksmith.com/tickets or call 617-566-6660 to reserve your space. When you purchase the book, you receive one free ticket and the option to purchase a second ticket for $5.

Finally, on Friday, 3 May 2013, MHS Librarian Peter Drummey will present an exhibition spotlight, "The Three Lives of Anthony Burns." This program will explore the heroic, and tragic, life of Anthony Burns through documents on display at the Society. Who was Anthony Burns? How was his rendition - his return from Boston to slavery in 1854 - a turning point in the Abolitionist stuggle? What happened to him after he was free and his celebrity faded? Come by the MHS at 2:00pm to hear the answers to these questions. And while you are here, be sure to check out the three complementary exhibitions currently on display until May 24.

This Week @ MHS

After a very strange week here in Boston last week it appears that things are returning to normal. The Society was forced to cancel a couple of public programs last week. Stay tuned for information about rescheduling of last Tuesday's Immigration and Urban History Seminar, "Dynamic Tensions: Charles Atlas, Immigrant Bodybuilders, and Eugenics, 1920-45."

Perhaps appropriately, this week is also light on the public programs at the MHS as Boston returns to a regular schedule.On Friday, 26 April, the Society will sponsor a Bus Trip to the Museum of World War II, a special event for Members of the MHS Fund Paine through Adams Circles, part of the MHS Local Travel Series. Participants will enjoy a special lunch and behind-the-scenes tour of the the Museum of World War II with founder and director Kenneth Rendell. The museum houses the most comprehensive collection of World War II artifacts on display anywhere in the world. A bus will leave from the MHS at 11am and return by 5pm. Space is limited and RSVP is required, with a fee of $50.  For more information or to register, contact Katy Capó at kcapo@masshist.org or 617-656-0518.

And as usual, the three current exhibitions on display at the Society are available for public viewing, free of charge, Monday-Saturday, 10:00am-4:00pm. Be sure to stop by and check them out.

This Week @ MHS

After celebrating Patriot's Day and the running of the Boston Marathon, we return for a shortened week at the MHS, with these events on tap.

On Tuesday, 16 April 2013, drop by the MHS for the latest Immigration and Urban History Seminar, "Dynamic Tensions: Charles Atlas, Immigrant Bodybuilders, and Eugenics, 1920-1945." Dominique Padurano, Scarsdale High School, presents a paper which highlights the paradox of bodybuilders like Charles Atlas who marketed diet and exercise regimens by emphasizing their own innate weaknesses while, at the same time, espousing eugenics techniques of the day. Ms. Padurano also argues that, in a time when the nation was not a hospitable place for foreigners, both techniques served as sorts of assimilation strategies within immigrant and ethnic bodybuilding communities. Martin Summers, Boston College will provide comment. The seminar will begin at 5:15pm and is free and open to the public. RSVP required. Subscribe to receive advance copies of the seminar paper. This event has been canceled.

And on Thursday, 18 April, as part of the History of Women and Gender series, the MHS will present a panel discussion, "The Big Tent of U.S. Women's and Gender History: A State of the Field." Beginning at 5:30, join the group discussion to see what is going on today in the field of Women's and Gender History in the United States. Essayists are Cornelia H. Dayton from the University of Connecticut, and Lisa Levenstein, University of North Carolina at Greensoboro. Joining them will be the panelists, Crystal Feimster of Yale University, Carol F. Karlsen of the University of Michigan, and Betsy More of Harvard University. This panel discussion is free and open to the public; RSVP required. Subscribe to receive advance copies of the seminar papers.

Closing out the week, on Saturday, 20 April, come in at 10:00am for the MHS Tour: The History and Collections of the MHS. This 90-minute, docent-led tour takes guests through the public space of the Society's home at 1154 Boylston St. and touches on the history and collections of the Society, as well as some of the art and architecture on view. No reservation required for individuals and small groups but parties of 8 or more are requested to contact the MHS prior to attending. For more information please contact Curator of Art Anne Bentley at 617-646-0508 or abentley@masshist.org.