This Week @ MHS

It's a busy week here at the Society with programs galore for your enjoyment! Here is what's coming in the week ahead:

- Monday, 16 October, 12:00PM : The first Brown Bag talk this week features Hannah Anderson of the University of Pennsylvania and is called "'Lived Botany' : Settler Colonialism and Natural History in British North America." Anderson contends that natural historians in early America frequently benefited from information and plants provided by non-elite colonists who relied upon a form of knowledge that she calls "lived botany." Using methods inspired by material culture, household production, and more, "lived botany" shaped early American natural history, and facilitated settler colonialism by allowing colonists to adapt to new environments in the Atlantic world. This talk is free and open to the public. 

- Tuesday, 17 October, 5:30PM : The first seminar this week is part of the History of Women and Gender series. "Gender, Sexuality, and the New Labor History" is a panel discussion with Anne G. Balay of Haverford College, Aimee Loiselle of the University of Connecticut, and Traci L. Parker of Umass-Amherst, and moderated by Seth Rockman of Brown University. The "New Labor History" is highly gendered, global, and often situated in spaces that are transitory or obscured. This session will consider the new directions that the path-breaking work of these three scholars indicates. Please note that there are no pre-circulated essays for this session which takes place at Fay House, Radcliffe Institute. To RSVP, e-mail seminars@masshist.org or call 617-646-0579.

- Wednesday, 18 October, 12:00PM : The second Brown Bag talk of the week is about a project by Heather Sanford of Brown University. "Palatable Slavery: Food, Race, and Freedom in the British Atlantic, 1620-1838" uses food in the British Atlantic to understand ideas about the body, race, and freedom. This talk is free and open to the public. 

- Thursday, 19 October, 5:30PM : "Chasing Your Subject: Traveling Biographers, Traveling Subjects," part of the New England Biography series of seminars, is another panel discussion. This session features a discussion with Paul Fisher of Wellesley College, Charlotte Gordon of Endicott College, and author Sue Quinn, moderated by Civil War biographer Carol Bundy. What do biographers learn when they travel to distant parts and foreign countries in pursuit of their subjects? Is travel a necessary component to writing biography? And what challenges does a traveling subject present to a biographer? Come listen to these biographers talk about their experiences with such questions. To RSVP, e-mail seminars@masshist.org or call 617-646-0579.

- Friday, 20 October, 2:00PM : "Looking West from the East" is a biographical sketch of Chiang Yee, artist, poet, lecturer, and best-selling author best known for his Silent Traveler books. Chiang was also good friends with historian, author, and Boston Athenaeum librarian Walt Whitehil, whose papers are at the MHS. This program offers a unique perspective on America and the immigrant experience as well as a glimpse into the life of the Silent Traveler through one of his closest friendships. Registration is required for this program at no cost. 

- Saturday, 21 October, 9:00AM : K-12 educators are invited "The Material Culture of Death." In this workshop, participants will use documents and photographs from the Society's collections to investigate spirit photography, the spiritualist movement, and other fascinating intersections of technology, faith, and grief. Registration is required for this event with a fee of $25.

- Saturday, 21 October, 2:00PM : Join us for a talk with Peter Manseau, author of The Apparitionists: A Tale of Phantoms, Fraud, Photography, & the Man Who Captured Lincoln's Ghost. The stories recounted by Manseau offer a view of our nation's obsession with the afterlife and our reluctance to choose science over fantasy. This talk is open to the public free of charge, though registration is required. 

Finally, don't forget to come in and check out our current exhibition! Yankees in the West is open to the public, free of charge. 

This Week @ MHS

We start this week with a holiday but then begin rolling through programs for the rest of the month. Here is what the coming week holds:

- Monday, 9 October, 10:00AM-3:00PM :  MHS Open House. Visit the MHS and view Yankees in the West, an exhibition of letters, diaries, photographs, drawings, and artifacts that explores the ways New Englanders experienced the trans-Mississippi west in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Free and open to the public, the open house is part of the Opening Our Doors celebration in the Fenway Cultural District.

The Library is CLOSED on Monday, 9 October. Normal hours resume on Tuesday, 10 October.

- Tuesday, 10 October, 5:15PM : Come on in for an Environmental History Seminar with James Rice of Tufts University, and commentor Christopher Parsons of Northeastern University. "Early American Environmental Histories" speaks to questions raised in a recent workshop at the Huntington on early American environmental history. How do timespan and scale change our understanding of historical relationships between people and their environments? What new light does environmental history shed on topics such as race, gender, or law? What can early Americanists contribute to the field of environmental history as a whole? Seminars are free and open to the public; RSVP required. Subscribe to receive advance copies of the seminar papers. To RSVP, click the link or call 617-646-0579.

- Thursday, 12 October, 6:00PM : Steam Titans: Cunard, Collins and the Epic Battle for Commerce on the North Atlantic is the title of a recent work by William M. Fowler, Jr., of Northeastern University, as well as this author talk with Mr. Fowler. Steam Titans tells the story of a transatlantic fight to seize control of the globe's most lucrative trade route. Two men—Samuel Cunard and Edward Knight Collins—and two nations wielded the tools of technology, finance, and politics to compete for control of a commercial lifeline that spanned the North Atlantic. This talk is open to the public and registration is required with a fee of $20 (no charge for MHS Members or Fellows). Reception begins at 5:30PM, followed by the speaking program at 6:00PM. 

- Friday, 13 October, 12:00PM : Pack up a lunch and come by at noon for a Brown Bag talk with Caylin Carbonell of the College of William and Mary. "Women and Household Authority in Colonial New England" interrogates women's vertical and horizontal relationships with other members of their household, as well as their involvement in the daily operation of their homes, to show colonial households as contested spaces wherein authority was negotiated rather than assumed. This talk is free and open to the public. 

- Saturday, 14 October, 10:00AM : The History and Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society Tour is a 90-minute 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: Yankees in the West.

This Week @ MHS

Here's the skinny on the public programs, events, and other happenings at the Society this week. 

- Tuesday, 3 October, 5:15PM : Join us for an Early American History seminar with Paul Finkelman of the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, and commentor R. Kent Newmyer of the University of Connecticut. "John Marshall, Slaveowner and Jurist" is a chapter from Finkelman's forthcoming book and examines the personal and professional life of Chief Justice John Marshall in the context of his relationship to slavery. Finkelman argues that Marshall as a Supreme Court justice always favored slavery over freedom, and that this reflected his emotional and economic investment in slavery. Seminars are free and open to the public; RSVP required. Subscribe to receive advance copies of the seminar papers. To RSVP, click the link or call 617-646-0579. 

- Wednesday, 4 October, 12:00PM : "Commerce and the Material Culture of the Maritime Atlantic World" is a Brown Bag talk which focuses on the infrastructure of commercial exchanges as port cities adapted to larger ships, increased consumer goods, and productivity challenges in environments that included bays, rivers, and estuaries. J. Ritchie Garrison, University of Delaware, grounds his argument with historical documents, maps, objects, and archaeological fieldwork to show that people sought to stabilize local variables to accommodate rapid market shifts. This talk is free and open to the public. 

- Thursday, 5 October, 6:00PM : "Yankees in the West: Fellows & Members Preview & Reception." MHS Fellows and Members are invited to join us as we celebrate the arrival of Catherine Allgor, incoming president of the MHS, and open Yankees in the West. Following remarks by Sara Martin, enjoy a reception, meet our new president, and preview the exhibition. Registration is required at no cost.

- Friday, 6 October, 10:00AM : The Society's new exhibition, Yankees in the West, opens to the public! As with all others, this exhibit is open to all free of charge, Monday-Saturday, 10:00AM-4:00PM. Be sure to keep an eye on the online calendar for various events and talks centered around this show which remains on display until 6 April 2018. 

- Saturday, 7 October, 10:00AM : The History and Collections of the MHS is a 90-minute 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: Yankees in the West.

Please note that the library is CLOSED on Monday, 9 October. The galleries remain open, 10:00AM-4:00PM, as part of the Fenway Alliance "Opening Our Doors" event. 

This Week @ MHS

The Irish Atlantic has set sail to make way for our next exhibit, Yankees in the West, which opens to the public on Friday, 6 October. In the meantime, there are plenty of events on the agenda at the Society, including a return of our several seminar series. Here is what to expect in the coming week:

- Tuesday, 26 September, 5:15PM : The first Modern American Society and Culture seminar of the season is titled "Lost Cities of Chicago's South Side." This essay comes from a book-in-progress about Chicago's South Shore neighborhood by Carlo Rotella of Boston College. Over the past half-century, the area has gradually shifted toward a class system of haves and have-nots separated by an increasing divide. Samuel Zipp of Brown University provides comment for the discussion. Seminars are free and open to the public; RSVP required. Subscribe to receive advance copies of the seminar papers. To RSVP, click the link or call (617)-646-0579.

- Wednesday, 27 September, 12:00PM : Pack a lunch and stop by for a Brown Bag lunch talk with Laurel Daen, MHS-NEH Fellow, as she talks about "The Constitution of Disability in the Early United States." This project examines the development of disability as a meaningful bureaucratic, legal, institutional, and cultural category in the Early Republic, rooted in ideas about work, social worth, and economic independence, and increasinly determined by the expert discourse of medicine. This talk is free and open to the public. 

- Wednesday, 27 September, 6:00PM : Donna Lucey of the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities discusses her recently published work Sargent's Women: Four Lives Behind the Canvas in this author talk of the same name. This biography illuminates four extraordinary women painted by the iconic high-society portraitist John Singer Sargent. These compelling stories of female courage connect our past with our present and remind us that while women live differently now, they still face obstacles to attaining full equality. This talk is open to the public, registration required with a fee of $10 (no charge for MHS Members or Fellows). Pre-talk reception begins at 5:30PM, followed by the speaking program at 6:00PM. 

- Thursday, 28 September, 6:00PM : Area gradute students and faculty are invited to attend our annual Graduate Student Reception. Enjoy complimentary drinks and hors d'oeuvres as you meet students and professors from other universities working in your field. In addition to networking is the opportunity learn more about the Society and its collections as well as the resources available to support your scholarship, from research fellowships to our five different seminar series. This reception is free but we ask that you RSVP by September 27 by e-mailing seminars@masshist.org or calling (617) 646-0579.

- Saturday, 30 September, 1:00PM : "Begin at the Beginning - Violence, Disease, and Public Medicine during the Pequot and King Philip's Wars." This interactive talk by Kevin McBride, director of research at the Pequot Museum, and Ashley Bissonnette, Pequot Museum senior researcher, reveals how New England’s landscapes were far more heavily contested than previously thought, exploring the reality of the Pequot and King Philip's Wars. In addition, they will discuss the beginning of public health in the colonies. RSVP required for this event at no cost.