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.