We are pleased to announce the full list of MHS research fellows for the 2020-2021 year. Offering more assistance than ever before to scholars who wish to use the MHS library and archival collections, the MHS received more than 200 applications and ultimately granted 63 individual grants. Since the start of the fellowship program in the 1984-1985 academic year, the MHS has awarded more than 900 fellowships. These research projects have resulted in more than 470 publications, including more than 160 books. Read more and see the full list of recipients.

The UVA Press recently started a reading club with an inaugural theme in 2020 of "Virginia Pathways and People." Featured on the list is MHS President Catherine Allgor's  The Queen of America: Mary Cutts's Life of Dolley Madison The book edits and contextualizes Mary Cutts's memoirs of her aunt, considered the closest account we have to the autobiographical voice of Dolley Payne Todd Madison, who left no memoir of her own. Arguing that the memoirs “are as much about a mid-nineteenth-century woman writer as they are about an early republican First Lady,” Allgor also discusses Cutts's life and context.  See the full list of books for the reading club.

"Perished in the service of his country": Lieutenant Frederic Baury, United States Navy

Vest belonging to Frederic Baury, Linen, bone buttons, [1809-1812]

This linen waistcoat, with its understated yet elegant white-on-white embroidery and bone buttons, belonged to Frederic Baury, a naval officer. Baury was appointed a midshipman in the Navy in 1809, assigned first to the USS  Essex  and later the USS  Constitution . He was aboard that ship in 1812 when she escaped a British squadron off the coast of New Jersey, as well as at the capture of the  Guerrière  and the  Java . It was during the epic battle with the  Guerrière  that the  Constitution  earned its moniker "Old Ironsides." In 1814, Baury joined the USS  Wasp and engaged in several battles at sea. Presumed lost in a storm, the Wasp disappeared in the North Atlantic at some point after 21 September 1814 and Baury and the crew were never seen again. Read more about Baury and his time at sea.

The Lost Tradition of Economic Equality in America,1600-1870

On Thursday, 14 May, at 5:30 PM , join us for a live online conversation with Daniel R. Mandell, Truman State University, and Liz Covart, Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture.

Although many Americans today are concerned with what they perceive to be ever-increasing levels of wealth and income inequality in their country, many others continue to believe that the United States was founded on a person’s right to acquire and control property. The Lost Tradition of Economic Equality argues that the US was originally deeply influenced by the belief that maintaining a “rough” equality of wealth was essential for a successful republican government. Historians Daniel Mandell and Liz Covart will discuss Mandell’s new book, which explores this tradition from its English roots through Reconstruction. Register for the online event.

On Wednesday, 20 May, at 5:30 PM , join us for A Virtual Tour of Inaccurate Historical Markers with Gavin Kleespies, MHS.

On Wednesday, 27 May, at 5:30 PM , join us for an online talk with Ted Widmer, Macauley Honors College (CUNY), about his new book,

Lincoln on the Verge: Thirteen Days to Washington .

Visit www.masshist.org/events for more information and to register.  

How do you feel our government has handled COVID-19?

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.