Writing History with H.W. Brands 
Our First Civil War: Patriots and Loyalists in the American Revolution

Presented in partnership with …

This project explores the role of the Committees in Massachusetts communities during the American Revolution, particularly the role they played in punishing community dissent and compelling…

The Boston Harbor Islands have been called Boston's "hidden shores." Previously home to prisons, asylums, and sewage treatment plants, this surprisingly diverse ensemble of islands has existed on…

The Par-Links Golf Club was an association of Black women golfers founded in 1958 in East Bay, Oakland California. Using photographs, organizational documents, and scrapbooks, this paper examine…

This lecture traces the development of the celebration of Christmas from the time it was outlawed in 17th Century New England through the beginning of the 21st Century. Many of the customs which…

In the 1920s, amid fears that American national identity was under threat from communism, pacifism, and immigration, nationalist organizations in the United States standardized many of the…

Between 1959 and 1968, New England saw a folk revival emerge in more than fifty clubs and coffeehouses; a revolution led by college dropouts, young bohemians, and lovers of traditional music. From…

Since its founding in 1939, the Society of American Historians has worked “to promote literary distinction in the writing of history” by conferring membership and honoring outstanding works.  The…

MHS’s new podcast, the Object of History highlights our extraordinary collections that tell the story of America through millions of rare and unique documents, artifacts, and…

President Woodrow Wilson came home from the Paris Peace Conference of 1919 with the Versailles Treaty, which ended World War I and created the League of Nations, the first global body committed to…

This panel will consider two papers exploring the world of early American religious culture through the lens of carceral conversions. Daniel Bottino’s essay will explore the 38 page conversion…

Join us for a special retrospective keynote panel to reflect on the scholarship presented at the 2020 Conrad E. Wright Research Conference, “Shall Not Be Denied: The 15th and 19th Amendments at…

This paper examines the emergence of dry farming as a new "scientific" agricultural method in the late 19th and early 20th centuries within broader global circulations of agricultural knowledge.…

Stephen Atkins Swails exhibited exemplary service in the 54th Massachusetts Infantry and became the first African American commissioned as a combat officer in the United States military. After the…

Engaging Todd Carmody’s invitation to consider how “race might have been ‘like’ disability in the late nineteenth century,” this essay explores texts by African American authors Charlotte L.…

The disabilities rights movement, like many rights movements, has been complex, coming from a variety of different perspectives, but at its heart, it has been a movement for justice, equal…

Gordon Wood and Woody Holton are both distinguished scholars of the American Revolution. But they approach the founding very differently, as you can see from their just-published books. Join them…