Upcoming Events

There are currently no Upcoming Events.

Past Events

Sat, March 11, 2017 ,

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…

Fri, March 10, 2017 ,

Initially hailed by supporters as the fulfillment of America’s democratic promise, the Fifteenth Amendment would, within a few decades, be nullified in the southern states and regarded by many…

Fri, March 10, 2017 ,

Explore 175 years of the Irish in Boston from the founding of the Charitable Irish Society in 1737, through famine relief efforts led by Capt. Robert Bennet Forbes at the helm of the Jamestown…

Thu, March 09, 2017 ,

Please note that this event is sold out.To put your name on a waiting list, please call our RSVP line at 617-646-0578.

MHS Fellows and Members are invited to a special program, reception,…

Wed, March 08, 2017 ,

Beginning with the Constitutional Convention, Americans created the world's most accessible patent system. As the system and the republic grew together, Americans came to consider issued patents…

Tue, March 07, 2017 ,

This paper looks at a series of murders in Appalachia in the 1790s, committed by former loyalists. By following the lives of the Harpe brothers, who left a trail of blood through early Tennessee…

Thu, March 02, 2017 ,

In 2014, the Brookline…

Wed, March 01, 2017 ,

As post-war traffic fatalities rose, so did the concern to create safe communities and roads. Some of the work done by organizations involved creating imaginary personas, mostly…

Tue, February 28, 2017 ,

This project dispels the myths that American involvement in Vietnam ended abruptly after the fall of Saigon and that U.S. servicemen listed as prisoner of war/missing in action were the only…

Mon, February 27, 2017 ,

Despite our country’s founding statement that “all…

Sat, February 25, 2017 ,

The first English explorers to reach the northeastern corner of the New World were left with a conundrum: how to explain the new land to people who had never - and probably would never - see it?…

Sat, February 25, 2017 ,

“I will say then that I am not, nor ever have been, in favor of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the white and black races….”  Abraham Lincoln, 1858

Thu, February 23, 2017 ,

Please join us for a conversation with the authors of two important new books in the history of sexuality.  This wide-ranging discussion will explore the relationship between lesbian and gay…

Wed, February 22, 2017 ,

Wed, February 22, 2017 ,

Thousands of US artists traveled to Paris between 1865 and 1914, at various stages of their careers and for various lengths of time. This project culls archival materials to understand  how …

Wed, February 22, 2017 ,

Study the revolution through the…

Tue, February 21, 2017 ,

This session has been POSTPONED to Tuesday, May 9, at 5:15 PM.

Part of a larger book length study, this essay examines the use of seemingly exotic foodstuffs and industrial…

Mon, February 20, 2017 ,

The Society is CLOSED for President's Day