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.