Boston Flora

Tag: Massachusetts Historical Society

  • Tuesday, February 11, 5:15 pm – 7:30 pm – Northern Exposure: American Military Engineering in the Arctic Circle

    The Massachusetts Historical Society is sponsoring a lecture at its headquarters at 1154 Boylston Street in Boston on February 11, beginning at 5:15 pm, by Gretchen Heefner of Northeastern University, with comment by Christopher Capozzola of MIT,, as part of its Environmental History Seminars, entitled Northern Exposure: American Military Engineering in the Arctic Circle. From the late 1940s through the 1960s, U.S. military engineers constructed and maintained a vast, though largely unknown, infrastructure of military facilities throughout the Far North. This talk examines how these engineers explored the Arctic regions, what sorts of information they accumulated about it, and ultimately what happened to that information once it was released from military constraints. Free, but registration requested at www.masshist.org.

  • Tuesday, February 26, 5:15 pm – 7:30 pm – Our Own Orient: Mecca, California, and Dates

    The Massachusetts Historical Society will hold a free Modern American Society and Culture Seminar on February 26 at 5:15 at its headquarters on Boylston Street, with Eleanor Daly Finnegan of Harvard University and comment by Laura Barraclough of Yale University on the topic of dates. Residents changed the name of Walters, California to Mecca in 1904. They were trying to use the exoticism of the Middle East to sell dates. This paper will focus on Mecca, California and the Indio Date Festival, looking at the complicated ways in which Orientalism has changed in the United States, its relationship to consumerism, and the economic connections made to the Middle East.

    To RSVP: email seminars@masshist.org or call (617) 646-0579.

    Image result for historical postcard Mecca California date trees

  • Tuesday, January 15, 5:15 pm – 7:30 pm – Camp Benson and the “GAR” Camps: Recreational Landscape of Civil War Memory in Maine

    The Massachusetts Historical Society will host C. Ian Stevenson, of Boston University, along with commentator Ian Delahanty of Springfield College, in an Environmental History Seminar on January 15 from 5:15 – 7:30 at the Massachusetts Historical Society headquarters, 1154 Boylston Street in Boston. The topic is Camp Benson and the “GAR” Camps: Recreational Landscapes of Civil War Memory in Maine, 1886 – 1910. This seminar examines sites where veterans transitioned the Civil War vacation toward a civilian audience: Camp Benson, where several Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) posts built a campground, and at the “GAR Camps” where a single veteran proprietor built rental cottages. The speakers ask why postwar civilians would want to mimic the veteran desire to associate healthful destinations with wartime memory. How do these outdoor landscapes explain the nation’s healing process from the Civil War? The seminar is free and open to the public.

    To RSVP: email seminars@masshist.org or call (617) 646-0579.

  • Tuesday, October 9, 5:15 pm – 7:30 pm – Native American Environmental History

    This Massachusetts Historical Society panel on Tuesday, October 9 from 5:15 – 7:30 will explore the intersections of environmental history and indigenous studies—the questions that each field engenders in the other, as well as the perspectives that native and non-native scholars bring to their research as they traverse both fields. Questions of race, gender, geography, and sources enliven this growing body of scholarship. Join us for a stimulating and wide-ranging conversation on these and other topics. The panel participants are Lisa Brooks, Amherst College; Strother Roberts, Bowdoin College; Ashley Smith, Hampshire College; Thomas Wickman, Trinity College.  Moderator: Cedric Woods, Institute for New England Native American Studies, University of Massachusetts Boston. The panel takes place at 1154 Boylston Street in Boston.

    Seminars are free and open to the public; RSVP required.To RSVP: email seminars@masshist.org or call (617) 646-0579.

    Image result for Native American environmental history

  • Thursday, June 14, 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm – United Tastes: The Making of the First American Cookbook

    American Cookery (1796) by Amelia Simmons is known as the “first American cookbook”and has attracted an enthusiastic modern audience of historians, food journalists, and general readers. Yet until now American Cookery has not received the sustained scholarly attention it deserves. Keith Stavely and Kathleen Fitzgerald’s United Tastes fills this gap by providing a detailed examination of the social circumstances and culinary tradition that produced this American classic. They will discuss the book at the Massachusetts Historical Society, 1154 Boylston Street in Boston, on Thursday, June 14, beginning with a pre-talk reception at 5:30 and lecture at 6:00. $10 per person (no charge for Massachusetts Historical Society members). Registration required at https://www.masshist.org/calendar

    Image result for united tastes the making of the first american cookbook

  • Tuesday, February 13, 5:15 pm – 7:30 pm – Governor Francis W. Sargent: Fisheries Manager

    Francis Sargent was a Cape Cod fisherman. Fishing brought him into the government as Director of Fisheries, then head of Public Works, and, eventually, Governor of Massachusetts. In his positions, Sargent bridged the gap between working-class fishers and government. This paper examines Sargent’s ability to speak directly to fishermen, arguing that his post-1974 disengagement from public life robbed fishermen of an ally who might have soothed tensions created by late-1970s federal regulations. The Massachusetts Historical Society will welcome Benjamin Kochan of Boston University and Brian Payne of Bridgewater State University on Tuesday, February 13 at 5:15 pm at 1154 Boylston Street in Boston. To RSVP: email seminars@masshist.org or call (617) 646-0579.

  • Thursday, January 16, 5:15 pm – 7:30 pm – The Fight Before the Flood: Rural Protest and the Debate Over Boston’s Quabbin Reservoir

    In 1919, state engineers proposed solving Boston’s water supply crisis by damming the Swift River, flooding a western Massachusetts valley and evicting 2,500 people. The contentious six-year debate that followed does not fit the standard story of urban conservationists versus rural peoples, as many valley residents defined themselves as rural and conservationist, and thus offers scholars a chance to see fresh nuances in early twentieth-century land management, rural life, and urban development. The Massachusetts Historical Society welcomes Jeffrey Egan of University of Connecticut, with comment by Karl Haglund, Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, on Tuesday, January 16 from 5:15 – 7:30, at 1154 Boylston Street in Boston. To RSVP: email seminars@masshist.org or call (617) 646-0579.

  • Wednesday, October 25, 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm – Weird and Worrisome Tour

    All neighborhoods have secrets but some are stranger than others. Just in time for Halloween, we will explore Jamaica Plain in Boston. Participants will stop at sites of anarchist robberies, stuffed elephants, and a nervine asylum and hear tales of train wrecks and things that lurk beneath the surface of Jamaica Pond. The Massachusetts Historical Society tour is hosted in collaboration with the Emerald Necklace Conservancy and the Jamaica Plain Historical Society. Meet on Wednesday, October 25 at 6 at the Loring-Greenough House, 12 South Street in Jamaica Plain. $10 registration fee (no charge for MHS, ENC, or JPHS members.) Image from www.promptguides.com.

  • Tuesday, October 10, 5:15 pm – 7:30 pm – Early American Environmental Histories

    James D. Rice, Tufts University, will speak on Tuesday, October 10 at the Massachusetts Historical Society, 1154 Boylston Street, Boston,  beginning at 5:15 pm, with commentary by Christopher Parsons of Northeastern University. This presentation 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? Free and open to the public, but RSVP required. To RSVP: email seminars@masshist.org or call (617) 646-0579.

  • Monday, June 6, 5:30 pm – 7:00 pm – The Lively Place: Mount Auburn, America’s First Garden Cemetery, and its Revolutionary and Literary Residents

    When the Mount Auburn Cemetery was founded, in 1831, it revolutionized the way Americans mourned the dead by offering a peaceful space for contemplation. This cemetery, located not far from Harvard University, was also a place that reflected and instilled an imperative to preserve and protect nature in a rapidly industrializing culture—lessons that would influence the creation of Central Park, the cemetery at Gettysburg, and the National Parks system. Even today this urban wildlife habitat continues to connect visitors with nature and serves as a model for sustainable landscape practices. Stephen Kendrick celebrates this vital piece of our nation’s history, as he tells the story of Mount Auburn’s founding, its legacy, and the many influential Americans interred there, from religious leaders to abolitionists, poets, and reformers. A pre-talk reception on Monday, June 6 will begin at 5:30 with the lecture at 6, at the Massachusetts Historical Society, 1154 Boylston Street in Boston. Register at www.masshist.org.