This Week @ MHS

After you recover from the Marathon why not take in some public progams here at the Society. Here is what is lined up for the week ahead:

The MHS is CLOSED on Monday, 17 April, in observance of Patriots' Day.

- Tuesday, 18 April, 2:00PM : Looking for something to do with the kids during vacation week? Come on in Tuesday at 2:00PM for Make Your Own Comic: The Jamestown Relief Mission to Ireland, a hands-on history program. After hearing from historians about the famine relief mission from Boston to Ireland led by Robert Bennet Forbes aboard the Jamestown, local comic book artists will help the young historians make their own historical comic depicting stories of Irish immigration. This event is open to the public free of charge though registration is required.

- Thursday, 20 April, 9:00AM : Boston to the Rescue: Robert B. Forbes & Irish Famine Relief is a full-day teacher workshop open to K-12 educators and students. Participants will explore the history of earliy Irish immigration to Boston and the tensions divided Catholic immigrants and Protestant New Englanders in the 1830s and 1840s. Registration is required at a cost of $25 (free for students). Please e-mail education@masshist.org or call 617-646-0557 for more information or to register. 

- Thursday, 20 April, 5:30PM : Lauren Meyer of Yale University presents this weeks History of Women and Gender Seminar, "Sadie Alexander, Black Women's Work, and Economic Citizenship during the New Deal Era." This argues that Sadie Alexander, the first black woman to earn a Ph.D. in economics and a successful practicing lawyer, offered an alternative, black feminist definition of economic citizenship that shifted discourses on the relationship between race, gender, labor, and the meaning of citizenship. Martin Summers of Boston College provides comment. Seminars are free and open to the public; RSVP required. Subscribe to receive advance copies of the seminar papers.

- Saturday, 22 April, 10:00AM : The History and Collections of the MHS 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: The Irish Atlantic: A Story of Famine Migration and Opportunity.

This Week @ MHS

There is a flurry of activity to start the week here at the Society before we ease into a long weekend. Here is what we have in store:

- Monday, 10 April, 6:00PM : We begin the week with an author talk featuring Ronald H. Epp, whose recent book is titled Creating Acadia National Park: The Biography of George Bucknam Dorr. In his work, Epp examines the pioneering role of Dorr's seminal contributions - largely unacknowledged - to the American environmental movement. This talk is open to the public and registration is required with a fee of $10 (no charge for MHS Members or Fellows). A pre-talk reception begins at 5:30PM followed by the speaking program at 6:00PM. 

- Tuesday, 11 April, 5:15PM : This weeks Environmental History Seminar is a panel discussion titled "Fishing the Commons." The talk will feature Erik Reardon of University of Maine at Orono and his paper "New England's Pre-Industrial River Commons: Culture and Economy," as well as Stacy Roberts of University of California, Davis, and her essay "The Private Commons: Oyster Planting in 19th-century Connecticut." Matthew McKenzie of University of Connecticut at Avery Point provides comment. Seminars are free and open to the public; RSVP required. Subscribe to receive advance copies of the seminar papers.

- Wednesday, 12 April, 12:00PM : Come in for a Brown Bag talk on Wednesday titled "Radical Enlightenment in the Struggle over Slavery," featuring Matthew Stewart, author of Nature's God: The Heretical Origins of the American Republic. This talk draws material from a work in progress to lead a discussion about the role of Enlightenment ideas in shaping abolitionism, anti-slavery politics, and the Civil War. This talk is free and open to the public so grab your lunch and stop by!

- Wednesday, 12 April, 6:00PM : "The Rise and Fall of the American Party" is a public program that is part of The Irish Atlantic Series which is centered on our current exhibition. In this talk, Stephen T. Riley Librarian of the MHS, Peter Drummey, looks at the meteoric rise of the American Party - the "Know Nothings" - as well as its rapid decline with the approach of the Civil War. This talk is free and open to the public though registration is required. Pre-talk reception kicks-off at 5:30PM and the program starts at 6:00PM. 

- Saturday, 15 April, 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: The Irish Atlantic: A Story of Famine Migration and Opportunity.

Please note that the Society is CLOSED on Monday, 17 April, in observance of Patriot's Day.

This Week @ MHS

It's a pretty quiet week here at the Society as we begin a new month. Here is what lies ahead:

- Tuesday, 4 April, 5:15PM : Agnès Delahaye of the Université Lyon II presents this week's Early American History seminar titled "Promotional Literature and Identity in Colonial Massachusetts." This essay examines the institutional and cultural factors behind promotional literature, the body of colonial sources written for metropolitan audiences. The essay details the tropes and expressions of the commonality of purpose that Delahaye sees in most New England historiography, and explores the relationship between colonial historiography and exceptionalism in the New England tradition. Conrad E. Wright of the MHS provides comment. Seminars are free and open to the public; RSVP required.
Subscribe to receive advance copies of the seminar papers.

- Wednesday, 5 April, 12:00PM : Julia Rose Kraut of the Historical Society of the New York Courts leads this week's Brown Bag lunch talk, entitled "A Fear of Foreigners and of Freedom: Ideological Exclusion and Deportation in America." This talk examines the history of the exclusion and deportation of foreigners from the United States based on their beliefs, associations, and/or expressions, from the Alien Act of 1798 to the War on Terror. This talk is free and open to the public.

- Saturday, 8 April, 10:00AM : The History and Collections of the MHS is a 90-minute docent-led walk through the public spaces here at the Society. The tour is free and open to the public with no need for researvations for individuals and small groups. Larger parties (8 or more) should contact Curator of Art Anne Bentley in advance at 617-646-0508 or abentley@masshist.org.

While you're here you will also have the opportunity to view our current exhibition: The Irish Atlantic: A Story of Famine Migration and Opportunity.

This Week @ MHS

Even though March is on its way out, it seems bent on imposing its will. Escape the late-winter bluster in the week ahead with some history:

- Monday, 27 March, 6:00PM : First up this week is a public program centered on our current exhibit, The Irish Atlantic, and is the first in a series. In The Mission of the Jamestown, William Fowler, Jr., guest curator of the exhibit, leads a discussion on the relief efforts of the Jamestown on the eve of the 170th anniversary of its voyage. Joining him are Catherine Shannon, Professor Emerita of History at Westfield State University, and Christine Kinealy, Director of Ireland's Great Hunger Institute at Quinnipiac University. This talk is free and open to the public though registration is required. A pre-talk reception takes place at 5:30PM and the talk begins at 6:00PM. 

-  Tuesday, 28 March, 5:15PM : This week's Modern American Society and Culture Seminar continues the Irish theme. In "Moving News, Affecting Relief: The Irish Famine's Trans-Atlantic Circulations," Anelise H. Strout of California State University - Fullerton demonstrates that ships which carried Irish famine victims to America also brought tragic stories of those left behind; in response, North Americans sent millions of dollars to help relieve rural suffering. The paper argues that exploring the interactions between these various circulations reveals a tension between aiding strangers overseas and welcoming them in American cities. Kevin Kenny of Boston College provides comment. Seminars are free and open to the public; RSVP required. Subscribe to receive advance copies of the seminar papers.

- Wednesday, 29 March, 12:00PM : This week's midday Brown Bag lunch talk is with Amy Hughes of Brooklyn College, CUNY. Join us as she presents "An Actor's Tale: Theater, Culture, and Everyday Life in Nineteenth-Century U.S. America," her monograph-in-progress inspired by the diary of U.S. actor Harry Watkins (1825-1894). This talk is free and open to the public. 

- Wednesday, 29 March, 6:00PM : Tea Sets and Tyranny: The Politics of Politeness in Early America is a recent book from Steven C. Bullock, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and is also the final program in the Politics of Taste series. The politics of politeness, he argues, helped make opposition to overbearing power central to early American thought and practice. This talk is open to the public and registration is required with a fee of $10 (no charge for MHS Members or Fellows). A pre-talk reception takes place at 5:30PM, followed by the speaking program at 6:00PM.

- Saturday, 1 April, 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: The Irish Atlantic: A Story of Famine Migration and Opportunity.