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The other day she dress'd herself in white and walk'd into Capn. Whitmans Coppes set herself upon a rock under a fine spreading oak and was excited by the melody of a variety of Birds that were perch'd upon almost every bough, to add her note to theirs. – Letter from Mary Smith Cranch to Abigail Adams, 22 July 1785.
Photograph of Three Dogs at Tea in Garden by Marian Hooper Adams, 1883

Marian Clover” Hooper Adams took up photography in 1883, and her work was widely admired by contemporaries. Among her favorite subjects were her dogs Possum, Marquis, and Boojum, shown here enjoying a garden tea party. This photograph is part of a collection of three albums dating from 18831885.

See a larger image of the photograph.
Please note, MHS's online programs are held on the video conference platform Zoom. Registrants will receive an e-mail with a link to join the program.

From Revolution to Pandemic: What Makes Boston One of the World's Top Innovation Centers?

On Wednesday, 24 March, at 5:30 PM, Robert Krim presents From Revolution to Pandemic: What Makes Boston One of the World’s Top Innovation Centers? in conversation with Scott Kirsner.

Dr. Robert Krim, author of Boston Made: From Revolution to RoboticsInnovations that Changed the World, presents a fascinating journey through Boston’s innovation history. Looking at the range of Bostonborn innovations that, over its 400year history, have made Boston one of the world’s leading cities in innovation, Dr. Krim answers the question of why the city has remained so innovative. He will describe in colorful detail the struggles the cityand its innovatorsfaced on their road to innovations that changed the nation or the world, and will discuss how this unfettered innovative culture has helped the city reinvent itself after four devastating economic collapses.

Marriage of Minds or Boston Divorce? The Lives & Good Works of Caroline Healey Dall & Rev. Charles Henry Appleton Dall on Two Continents

On Thursday, 25 March, at 5:15 PM, Neilesh Bose, University of Victoria, and Helen R. Deese, Caroline Healey Dall Editor, MHS, present Marriage of Minds or Boston Divorce? The Lives & Good Works of Caroline Healey Dall & Rev. Charles Henry Appleton Dall on Two Continents with moderator Megan Marshall, Emerson College.

Caroline Healey Dall (18221912) and Charles Henry Appleton Dall (18161886) met in Boston where, as a teenager in Margaret Fuller’s Conversations, Caroline learned to ask “all the great questions of life.” The handsome but sickly Charles graduated from Harvard with Henry Thoreau and was influenced by Joseph Tuckerman’s ministry to the poor. Marrying in 1844, the couple struggled to find their footing as Charles took a series of ministerial jobs, each punctuated by a period of illness. When Charles left Caroline and their two children in 1855 to establish a Unitarian mission in Calcutta, drawn to the Brahmo Samaj and the Indian nationalist cause, his health improved. “Separated by half the earth,” historian Spencer Lavan writes, “their careers began to blossom.” Caroline emerged as a vehement writer and lecturer on abolition, women’s rights, and social science. Bose and Deese will effect a 21st-century reconciliation, putting into conversation a couple whose divergence led to lives of distinctive activism, documented in Caroline’s extensive journals held at the MHS.
 
On Tuesday, 30 March, at 5:15 PM, Samuel Backer, Johns Hopkins University, presents The Parlor & the Public: Tin Pan Alley & the Birth of Manhattan Mass Culture with comment by Jeffrey Melnick, University of Massachusetts Boston.
On Thursday, 1 April, at 5:15 PM, Tyler Parry, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, presents "Fighting the Dogs:" Fugitivity, Canine Hunters, and Slave Resistance in the Rural South with comment by Harriet Ritvo, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

On Tuesday, 6 April, at 5:30 PM, Kate Masur, Northwestern University, presents Until Justice Be Done: America's First Civil Rights Movement, from the Revolution to Reconstruction in conversation with Edward Ayers, University of Richmond.

On Thursday, 8 April, at 5:30 PM, David S. Brown, Elizabethtown College, presents The Last American Aristocrat: The Brilliant Life and Improbable Education of Henry Adams.

On Monday, 12 April, at 5:30 PM, Scott Kirsner, Boston Globe, presents 11 Places That Have Shaped Innovation in Boston 1636-2021 in conversation with Helen Greiner, co-founder of iRobot.

On Tuesday, 13 April, at 5:15 PM, Garrett Nelson, Norman B. Leventhal Map & Education Center, presents Kaleidoscope Metropolis: Autonomy and Integration in the Fractured City with comment by Lizbeth Cohen, Harvard University.

On Thursday, 15 April, at 6:00 PM, Martha Minow, Harvard Law School; Becky Shuster, Boston Public Schools; and Rachel E. Twymon present Boston School Desegregation through the Rearview Mirror with moderator Matthew F. Delmont, Dartmouth College. This is the second program in the series Confronting Racial Injustice.

On Tuesday, 20 April, at 5:15 PM, Kwelina Thompson, Cornell University; Shoniqua Roach, Brandeis University; and Laura Puaca, Christopher Newport University, present Contesting Domesticity - A Panel Discussion with comment by Allison Horrocks, Lowell National Historic Park.

On Thursday, 22 April, at 5:30 PM, Karen Mauney-Brodek, Emerald Necklace Conservancy; Rep. Nika Elugardo; and Chris Reed, Harvard Graduate School of Design, present Clean Water, Green Spaces, and Social Equity moderated by Sarah Glazer.

On Monday, 26 April, at 5:30 PM, Christopher Capozzola, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, presents Bound by War: How the United States and the Philippines Built America's First Pacific Century.

On Tuesday, 27 April, at 5:15 PM, Danielle Battisti, University of NebraskaOmaha, and Carly Goodman, La Salle University, present The "Other" Illegals: Unauthorized European Immigration to New York City and Boston in the 20th Century with comment by Christopher Capozzola, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

On Thursday, 29 April, at 5:15 PM, Caroline Weber, Barnard College, and Channing Joseph, University of Southern California, present Fashioning a Life: How Style Matters in Biography moderated by Natalie Dykstra, Hope College.

Visit www.masshist.org/events for more information and to register for programs.
Interested in Viewing Past Programs?
If you missed a program or would like to revisit the material presented, please visit www.masshist.org/video or our YouTube channel. A selection of past programs is just a click away.
Share Your COVID-19 Experience(s)

The MHS invites you to contribute your COVID-19 experience(s) to our collection. Record your experiences on a daily, weekly, or intermittent basis. You can contribute your thoughts and images online. Visit our COVID-19 web display to learn more and to share your thoughts. Or you can keep a journal and donate it to the MHS. Contact collections@masshist.org for more information.  
 
Thank you to everyone who has shared so far. If you have not yet done so or would like to contribute again, please visit www.masshist.org/projects/covid/index.php. You can also read what others have shared.

Our Members are the heart of the MHS community and an integral part of the MHS story. Become a Member to help make possible the Society’s mission to promote the study of American history. Receive benefits including invitations to enhanced Member-only events; free or discounted admission to special programs; and access to publications such as our calendar of events, newsletter, and Annual Report.
Learn more at www.masshist.org/members.