Stay engaged with the MHS this year.
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“There is a young man in this town—not so very young
either—(he is between thirty & forty years old)—of whom
you have heard—the Author of the "twice told Tales." He
is I think a man of first rate genius. —To my mind
he surpasses Irving even—in the picturesque beauty
of his style & certainly in the purity—elevation—and
justness of his conscience—An extreme shyness of
disposition—and a passionate love of nature—together
with some peculiar circumstances have made him
live a life of extraordinary seclusion.”
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Letter from Elizabeth Palmer Peabody to Horace Mann, 3 March 1838
In this letter to her future brother-in-law, Elizabeth Palmer Peabody introduces Horace Mann to her other future brother-in-law, a young author named Nathaniel Hawthorne. Hawthorne would later marry Sophia Peabody, and Mann, Mary Tyler Peabody.
Elizabeth Peabody may be most famous today for establishing kindergartens in the American curriculum beginning in 1860 and for helping Bronson Alcott establish the experimental Temple School. Peabody corresponded with many people in her time, including Transcendentalists like Ralph Waldo Emerson. She ran a book store in Boston, MA, and, for a time, published the Transcendentalist newspaper The Dial. In her store she created a space for intellectuals like Margaret Fuller to discuss the important topics of the day.
In 1837, Elizabeth Peabody read an anonymous book titled The Token and determined to discover the author’s identity. Later that year she connected the story to Nathaniel Hawthorne, a young writer then living in her hometown of Salem, MA. Through Elizabeth’s invitation, Nathaniel met Sophia, his future wife, at the Peabody home. As Elizabeth Peabody predicts in this letter to her future brother-in-law Horace Mann, Nathaniel Hawthorne became one of the most famous American authors of his time, and remains so to this day.
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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.
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Beyond the Boundaries of Childhood: African American Children in the Antebellum North
For all that is known about the depth and breadth of African American history, we still understand surprisingly little about the lives of African American children. But hidden in institutional records, school primers and penmanship books, biographical sketches, and unpublished documents is a rich archive that reveals the social and affective worlds of northern Black children. Crystal Webster argues that young African Americans were frequently left outside the nineteenth century’s emerging constructions of both race and childhood. They were marginalized in the development of schooling, ignored in debates over child labor, and presumed to lack the inherent innocence ascribed to white children. Webster shows that Black children nevertheless carved out physical and social space for play, for learning, and for their own aspirations.
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Virtual Gallery Tour of Our Favorite Things Exhibition
Join Peter Drummey, Chief Historian and Stephen T. Riley Librarian, for a closer look at our newest online exhibition. With millions of letters, diaries, photographs, and objects in our holdings, the stories we can tell at the MHS are countless. Our Favorite Things connects a selection of compelling, captivating, and amusing items from our collection to the backgrounds, interests, and memories of the MHS staff. This virtual gallery tour will give online guests a closer look at a few of these staff-curated collection items and the remarkable stories they embody.
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Interested in Viewing Past Programs?
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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.
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Share Your COVID-19 Experience(s)
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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.
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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.
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