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Massachusetts Historical Society

Founded in 1791, the Massachusetts Historical Society is an independent research library and an invaluable resource for American history, life, and culture.

www.masshist.org

06/06/2026

Happy Birthday to Sarah Parker Remond!

Remond, a prominent Black abolitionist campaigner and lecturer, was born on June 6, 1826, in Salem, Mass. She gained national recognition after an 1853 incident in which Remond and her companions were refused their reserved seats at an opera performance at the Howard Atheneum in Boston. After being violently removed from the theater by a Boston police offer at the orders of the opera troupe's agent, Remond filed assault charges against the two men. She won her case, marking an early victory in the fight against segregated seating in antebellum Boston.

Throughout the 1850s, Sarah Parker Remond’s role as a noted abolitionist speaker continued to grow. During the Civil War, she embarked on a lecture tour in England, enlisting the sympathy of audiences for the antislavery cause and later for support of Black civil rights and aid for free Black people in the American south after emancipation. William Lloyd Garrison wrote of Remond in his public letter of introduction to editor of the Anti-Slavery Advocate of London, “She is capable of gracing any circle, and will be her own best recommendation wherever she travels.”

Read more about Remond’s life here: https://www.masshist.org/database/viewer.php?item_id=1300&pid=3

06/05/2026

Registration is open for Reconstruction, this year’s Conrad E. Wright Research Conference!

The conference features both scholarly panels and an associated teacher workshop. See details below, and find information about registration and an online program here: https://www.masshist.org/research/conferences

Research Conference: "Reconstruction"

June 25-26 at the Massachusetts Historical Society and Suffolk University, Boston

In a keynote address and panel sessions, scholars will explore broad themes associated with Reconstruction such as labor, legal issues, trans-national histories and comparisons, expansion, and memory, among others. Grad students attend for free.

Teacher Workshop: "Reconstruction History and Legacy"

June 24-27 and August 8 at the Massachusetts Historical Society, Suffolk University, and online

K–12 educators will attend the research conference, followed by a day-long workshop to identify important takeaways from the conference, discuss best practices for introducing these themes to students, and explore using Reconstruction-era primary sources in the classroom.

06/04/2026

Who was Rabindranath Tagore, and what’s his letter doing in the MHS collection?

Listen to our Reading Room supervisor speak about her surprising discovery of this 1930 letter written by Tagore (Indian literary icon and first non-European Nobel Prize winner) to Ellery Sedgwick, editor of The Atlantic, in the Ellery Sedgwick Papers at the MHS.

Read the full blog post at the link in our bio to learn more!

Link: https://www.masshist.org/beehiveblog/2022/01/tagore-letters-at-the-mhs/

Credits:

Tagore Image 1: Unknown photographer, 1909. Published in 1914 in Sweden in Les Prix Nobel 1913. Wikimedia Commons.

Tagore Image 2: Unknown photographer, circa 1941. State Archive. Wikimedia Commons.

06/01/2026

"Objectivity in science, in a lot of ways, means more reckoning with our biases rather than assuming we can escape them, and [being] more conscientious in thinking about and challenging our own biases."

—Christopher Willoughby speaks about the importance of recognizing inherent bias in scientific research.

In this episode of Historians & Their Histories, Prof. Christopher Willoughby (recipient of the Elizabeth Woodman Wright Fellowship from the MHS) discusses his research on racial science and medicine in antebellum America. At the MHS, Willoughby has been working with the papers of John Collins Warren, examining how this notable Harvard surgeon assembled a skull collection drawn largely from enslaved people and Indigenous communities.

Stream the latest episode of Historians & Their Histories: https://www.masshist.org/podcast/hath-episode-35-Willoughby

Learn more about MHS fellowships and how to apply: https://www.masshist.org/research/fellowships

05/26/2026

Did the promises of the Declaration of Independence find their way into the Constitution? Join us to learn more about how America’s founding documents are related and how “we the people” imagined a new way to interpret the American experiment.

Learn more and register: https://www.masshist.org/events/drafting-independence

“Drafting Independence: Declaration to Constitution” with Emily Sneff, historian, and Mary Sarah Bilder, Boston College Law School, in conversation with Sara Georgini, MHS

Monday, June 1, 2026 | 6:00 PM–7:00 PM ET.

In person at the Massachusetts Historical Society and online.

05/25/2026

Today, May 25, marks Memorial Day, honoring those who passed away while serving in the US Armed Forces.

This picture was taken by Massachusetts-born Margaret Hall on May 30, 1919, in Châlons-en-Champagne, France. The caption reads, “American graves decorated by the French.”

Hall served as a nurse in the Red Cross during World War I. Upon her return home to Massachusetts, she compiled a personal narrative from letters and diary passages she wrote while overseas. She illustrated her story with photographs depicting life on the Western Front.

See more of the WWI photographs by Margaret Hall on the MHS website: https://www.masshist.org/photographs/hall/

05/22/2026

ROADSHOW Gets Revolutionary! ANTIQUES ROADSHOW is celebrating America’s 250th birthday by revealing the dramatic, high-stakes stories behind our earliest national treasures in a four-part weekly YouTube series.

Watch the first episode in the comments!

05/20/2026

It wasn't only people who shaped the War of Independence—or bore its consequences. 🌳

Join us as David Hsiung and Joyce Chaplin discuss the intricate and often surprising ways in which the natural environment and the war were interconnected, from food and fuel to deforestation and shifting animal populations.

Learn more and register: https://www.masshist.org/events/curious-and-complex-connections

“Curious & Complex Connections: Environmental History & the War of Independence” with David Hsiung, Juniata College, in conversation with Joyce Chaplin, Harvard University.

Wednesday, May 27, 2026, 6:00 PM – 7:00 PM ET.

In person at the Massachusetts Historical Society and online.

05/18/2026

“It’s just kind of seen historically as this peaceful revolt, although it’s not as peaceful as the idea of Glorious Revolution kind of invokes, but it’s just this kind of tumultuous period.”

—Chelsi Arellano speaks about the historical misconception around the Glorious Revolution of 1688 as a peaceful time period in British history, and the long-term effects of the period that she is investigating in her research.

In this episode of Historians & Their Histories, Prof. Chelsi Arellano (recipient of the Samuel Victor Constant Fellowship from the Society of Colonial Wars in Massachusetts administered by the MHS) discusses her research on the Glorious Revolution of 1688 and its ripple effects across the British Empire, with a particular focus on the Bostonian Revolt of 1689. She explores how colonists in Massachusetts Bay, frustrated by the dissolution of their charter under James II and the creation of the Dominion of New England, were inspired by events in England to depose their own royal governor. Prof. Arellano also examines the largely overlooked role that women, people of color, and the poor played in that revolt.

Stream the latest episode of Historians & Their Histories: https://www.masshist.org/podcast/hath-episode-34-Arellano

Learn more about MHS fellowships and how to apply: https://www.masshist.org/research/fellowships

05/15/2026

New episode release for The Object of History, Season 5!

In this episode, TOOH is joined by Luc Nicole-Labrie, the Senior History Advisor at the National Battlefields Commission in Québec to discuss the American Invasion of Canada (1775-1776). We also examine a few items from the MHS collection that shed light on the difficulties of this endeavor to make Québec the fourteenth colony in rebellion.

Listen to the latest episode of The Object of History on the MHS website:https://www.masshist.org/podcast/season-5-episode-5-Invasion-Canada or find us on your favorite streaming platform.

Graphic:

Map: “Plan of the city and environs of Quebec, : with its siege and blockade by the Americans, from the 8th of December 1775 to the 13th of May 1776.” Map Engraved by W. Faden. Published in London, 12 September 1776. From the MHS collection.

Arnold Portrait: Hart, Thomas, "Colonel Arnold: who commanded the Provincial Troops sent against Quebec (...). " (1776). Prints, Drawings and Watercolors from the Anne S.K. Brown Military Collection. Brown Digital Repository. Brown University Library.

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