Stay engaged with the MHS this year! |
|
“The cold is quite sharp, and in this ancient house not a little uncomfortable. By some means or other I have got a cold, a thing very new to me since I have been in England... The sky was overcast all day, and the temperature a little higher, but the chill had penetrated more completely into the interior, in spite of all measures artificially to warm it. At no time has the glass fallen below ten degrees, which in Boston we should not esteem very severe. But our houses are better guarded, at least in turn. After luncheon, I went out alone, and having no fear of troubling any body, struck off boldly on a road which brought me at last to the little town of Steppingley—a curious old place which looked antiquated in all excepting the church. This did not look in keeping. The boys were all out on every piece of frozen water to be found, sleding or skating. The whole country is covered with frost, very much as it looks in America after an inch of snow. There was little or no wind, and the walking was excellent.”
|
|
Unidentified Girls Ice Skating
This mysterious image of girls ice skating is from the Nathaniel T. Allen photograph collection at the MHS. It is dated [ca.1860]–1925, however, we can tell a few things from this photograph to get a more exact date on it and to possibly guess how these girls relate to this collection.
Two things point to the 1920s: first is that the coat on the girl on the left side of the photograph has a dropped waist, a popular style in the 1920s; the second is another piece of fashion history—the high hemline on all three of the girls. Although children were not dressed as strictly as adults, this high hemline usually wouldn't be seen on the older girls here until the 1920s. Also, ice skating was favored in the late 19th and early 20th centuries as a popular activity for children, and adults, especially after ice skating became an Olympic sport in 1908.
The girls here may have attended the school opened by Nathaniel T. Allen’s daughter, Lucy Ellis Allen, who taught with her father until his retirement in 1900. In 1904 she opened Misses Allen School for Girls with her sister, Fanny, in West Newton and served as its principal until 1942.
|
|
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. Some programs will be hybrid with in-person and virtual registration available. Please be sure to register how you will attend.
|
|
The Reinvention of Tradition: Conformist Nationalism in the United States, 1923–1931
In the 1920s, amid fears that American national identity was under threat from communism, pacifism, and immigration, nationalist organizations in the United States standardized many of the patriotic rituals and traditions Americans performed in their daily lives. This Nationalist Network, led by the American Legion and the U.S. Flag Association, grew increasingly right-wing in this period, inventing and reinventing patriotic traditions to “Americanize” those who were already citizens and control their behavior to adhere to white, upper middle-class norms. These traditions reinforced existing racial and class hierarchies and defined American nationalism along exclusionary principles.
|
|
Four Centuries of Christmas in New England
This lecture traces the development of the celebration of Christmas from the time it was outlawed in 17th-century New England through the beginning of the 21st century. Many of the customs that we take for granted as part of current celebrations are actually a product of more recent history. This program will look at how Christmas was transformed from a rowdy celebration into a family-centered event. Among the topics discussed are how the Christmas tree became popular, why halls were decked, and how Santa Claus came to town.
|
|
“Challenge or Be Challenged”: the Par-Links Black Women's Golf Club in East Bay, CA
The Par-Links Golf Club was an association of Black women golfers founded in 1958 in East Bay, Oakland, California. Using photographs, organizational documents, and scrapbooks, this paper examines the possibilities and realities of Black leisure, recreation, and community care and play practices before the passage of the Civil Rights Act. It places Par-Links in the context of the burgeoning sport, the development of Black golf clubs, and within the local and national fights to desegregate public golf courses and professional golf in US Civil Rights Movement histories.
|
|
Urban Archipelago: An Environmental History of the Boston Harbor Islands
The Boston Harbor Islands have been called Boston’s “hidden shores.” Previously home to prisons, asylums, and sewage treatment plants, this surprisingly diverse ensemble of islands has existed on the urban fringe over the last four centuries. Pavla Šimková reinterprets the Boston Harbor Islands as an urban archipelago, arguing that they have been an integral part of Boston since colonial days. Drawing on archival sources, historic maps and photographs, and diaries from island residents, she attests that the harbor islands’ story is central to understanding the ways in which Boston has both shaped and been shaped by its environment over time.
|
|
Writing History with H. W. Brands: Book Talk and Extended Q&A
A ticket of $50 includes the Zoom meeting link and a signed and personalized book sent in time for holiday giving!
The best-selling historian and Pulitzer Prize finalist, H. W. Brands, shares insights on his research and craft of writing history following a discussion of his new, page-turning narrative of the American Revolution.
In a fresh and dramatic recasting of the American Revolution, H. W. Brands reveals how the war was not simply a conflict between the American colonists and British redcoats. It was also a violent battle among neighbors, friends, and family members, affecting Ben Franklin and his relationship with his son; George Washington’s standing at the apex of Virginia society; and the lives and friendships of royal governors such as Thomas Hutchinson. Native Americans and the enslaved had daunting choices to make as civil war broke out around them. Those committing sedition were ultimately remembered as heroes and Founding Fathers.
In this intimate Zoom meeting, the best-selling historian will share an illustrated presentation, join in a discussion, and answer your questions about his inspirations, research, and process behind writing his new book and other celebrated works of American history. Don’t miss this informative and inspiring literary event, which comes with a signed and personalized copy of Our First Civil War.
|
|
On Thursday, 9 December, at 5:15 PM, Sally Hadden, University of Western Michigan, with comment by Jessica Otis, George Mason University, and Susanna Blumenthal, University of Minnesota, presents Digitizing Early Massachusetts Court Records, a Digital History Seminar.
On Tuesday, 14 December, at 5:15 PM, Hannah Smith, University of Minnesota, with comment by Nora Doyle, Salem College, presents “The Kind of Death, Natural or Violent”: Fetal Death and the Male Midwife in Nineteenth-Century Boston, a History of Women, Gender & Sexuality Seminar.
|
|
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.
|
|
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.
|
|
Help us improve your experience with the MHS.
Adjust your e-mail preferences by updating your profile below,
and we will adjust our e-mails to you accordingly.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
