Upcoming Events

There are currently no Upcoming Events.

Past Events

Sat, May 25, 2019 ,

The MHS is CLOSED for the Memorial Day weekend.

Wed, May 22, 2019 ,

In the British colonies, the phrase “state of nature,” or the condition of human beings before or without political association, appeared thousands of times in juridical, theological, medical,…

Wed, May 22, 2019 ,

Samuel Hooper is best known as a politician and architect of Civil War era financial reforms like the greenback, but before arriving in Congress, Hooper made a fortune in the China trade. Using…

Sat, May 18, 2019 ,

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…

Thu, May 16, 2019 ,

Red Sox poet laureate Dick Flavin, author Bill Nowlin, and chronicler of Red Sox history Larry Ruttman will gather to share stories and reminisce about some of the highs and lows in the thousands…

Wed, May 15, 2019 ,

This talk examines the lives of African American children in Philadelphia, New York, and Boston during the late-18th to early-20th centuries by focusing on Black children's…

Tue, May 14, 2019 ,

Join us for a conversation with women working in architecture, design, and planning. They will explore social and political landscapes for women designers in Boston today and when they got started…

Thu, May 09, 2019 ,

On February 24, 1919, Pres. Woodrow Wilson arrived in Boston after completing the negotiations of the Treaty of Versailles that ended World War I. He was met by a thunderous crowd; the Boston…

Wed, May 08, 2019 ,

This talk shows that capitalism incentivized discourses of African pungency applied by intellectuals throughout the Atlantic World to justify racial dominance. Born of English literature, and…

Tue, May 07, 2019 ,

In the ten years after the American victory at Yorktown in 1781, the nation faced myriad problems and challenges. This panel examines how the revolutionary generation confronted issues of…

Mon, May 06, 2019 ,

“The Earth is putting on a new Suit,” Abigail Adams wrote, savoring the arrival of spring amid the tumult of national politics in 1800. Tending her kitchen garden and nurturing the new republic…

Sat, May 04, 2019 ,

John and John Quincy Adams were brilliant, prickly politicians and arguably the most independently minded among leaders of the founding generation. Distrustful of blind allegiance to a political…

Sat, May 04, 2019 ,

In preparation for a public program, the library closes at 3:00PM.

Sat, May 04, 2019 ,

Do you have boxes full of family papers and photographs sitting in your closet, basement, or attic? Are you wondering how to best preserve those precious memories for generations to come? Let the…

Sat, May 04, 2019 ,

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…

Wed, May 01, 2019 ,

Could better nutrition help shore up U.S. democracy in an era of mass inequality? This talk explores the early years of nutrition science in the late nineteenth century by examining the science’s…

Tue, April 30, 2019 ,

This paper focuses on dictated narratives from the 1840s and ‘50s, accounts delivered by blacks who fled the U.S. to settle in the wilds of Ontario. These first-person accounts of environmental…