“Thanksgiving Day, a day of feasting throughout the State. Custom (and I know not but law also) has established, that towards the End of the year, the Governor, should appoint a certain day, for returning thanks to the supreme being for his favours during the course of the year, and the Custom is, universally, to have something extraordinary on that day, to feast upon.”
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Featured Item from the MHS Collection |
“Thanksgiving day we here enjoyed, The bivalves from the Merrimac; While all about us wild and void, We pioneers, our jokes would crack.”
Born in Massachusetts, Daniel W. Nason “caught the California gold fever” early in 1849 and headed west to try his luck. His manuscript memoir about his years as a “Forty Niner” includes a poem describing an improbable event: the celebration of Thanksgiving during the Gold Rush. Titled “Thanksgiving in California at the Cabin, 1849,” the poem begins, “Three hardy sons from New England’s shore, With bronzed face and scarred hands, Sat down to talk old matters o’er, And feast on smoking chowdered clams.” Nason’s fondness for his native cuisine is apparent, but some details of the poem remain a mystery: how did the bivalves from the Merrimac get to California? Were they canned clams that had been sent from home? Click here to learn more about Nason’s time in California and read the entire poem.
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On Monday, 30 November, at 5:30 PM, Jennifer Van Horn, University of Delaware, presents The Power of Objects in 18th-Century British America. Over the course of the 18th century, Anglo-Americans purchased an unprecedented number and array of goods. Prof. Jennifer Van Horn investigates these diverse artifacts—from portraits and city views to gravestones, dressing furniture, and prosthetic devices—to explore how elite American consumers assembled objects to form a new civil society on the margins of the British Empire. In this interdisciplinary transatlantic study, artifacts emerge as key players in the formation of Anglo-American communities and eventually of American citizenship. This presentation is the second annual lecture in honor of MHS President Emeritus Dennis Fiori in recognition of his leadership. The lecture is made possible by gifts from friends of the Society. Register for this online program.
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On Tuesday, 1 December, at 5:15 PM, Charlotte Carrington-Farmer, Roger Williams University, and Casey Schmitt, Cornell University, present Caribbean Connections with comment by Ryan Quintana, Wellesley College. This panel brings together the work of two historians investigating the Caribbean. Casey Schmitt’s paper explores the intersection of warfare and human trafficking in the 17th century. Unmet demand for enslaved labor in smaller markets coupled with near constant warfare among major European powers in the region reinforced practices of
raiding and captivity. Schmitt’s paper shows how the lure of seizing captives facilitated manning expeditions during wartime and demonstrates the centrality of violence against enslaved communities to 17th-century warfare. Carrington-Farmer’s paper explores how 18th-century New Englanders diversified their thriving equine breeding and exportation business in an effort to meet an increasing demand for mules in the West Indies. Whilst New England’s foray into mule breeding never reached the success of its horse enterprises, the lengths that farmers and merchants went to start a breeding program demonstrates how wider Atlantic markets drove New England’s economy. This program is part of the Pauline Maier Early American History Seminar series. Seminars bring together a diverse group of scholars and interested members of the public to workshop a pre-circulated paper. Register for this online program.
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In 1864 a ship leaves its New England port carrying a USCT regiment to fight Confederateson the Louisiana front. But on the way, a showdown takes place when Pvt. John Green refuses his commanding officer’s order to cut his hair, protesting that it is contrary to his religion. In the events that follow, a revealing picture of black self-assertion in the making of freedom emerges, one too often hidden by a Civil War master narrative. This paper tells John Green’s story and asks how we might look at emancipation differently when we view it through his dreadlocks. This program is part of the African American History Seminar Seminar series. Seminars bring together a diverse group of scholars and interested members of the public to workshop a pre-circulated paper. Register for this online program.
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On Monday, 7 December, at 5:30 PM, Joshua R. Greenberg presents Bank Notes & Shinplasters: The Rage for Paper Money in the Early Republic. Before Civil War greenbacks and a national bank network established a uniform federal currency in the United States, loosely regulated banks saturated the early American republic with upwards of 10,000 unique and legal bank notes. Joshua R. Greenberg shows how ordinary Americans accumulated and wielded the financial knowledge required to navigate interpersonal bank note transactions. He argues that the shift from state-regulated banks and private shinplaster producers to federally authorized paper money in the Civil War era led to the erasure of the skill, knowledge, and lived experience with banking that informed debates over economic policy. Register for this online program.
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Upcoming December Programs |
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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.
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