This Week at the MHS - 21 December

Stay engaged with the MHS this year!

“The snow not as with you excessively deep, but enough to cover all the Earth and deep enough to afford a very smooth path and beautifully white as Innocence itself. Yet the sun melts the snow and it runs from the Roofs and fills the air with a Chilly Vapour which destroys the Comforts as well as beauty of Winter in this place.— How soon a warm rain and thorough Thaw may happen to break all up & make the Roads impossible,

none can tell.

Christmas is arrived but I dont hear of T. B. Adams’s Arrival at Newbury Port. I hope you have before this: but if you have not dont be anxious—long Passages very long are very frequent at this season.”

– Letter from John Adams to Abigail Adams, 25 December 1798

Visit our website

Featured Item from the MHS Collection

Playbill for Christmas Performances, 1883

The elaborate Christmas plays staged by the Bowditch family, who referred to themselves as “the Management” in their playbills, were done with utmost attention to detail. Each Christmas, the Bowditch family began their celebrations by sending out printed invitations. Then the script was written, the characters assigned, costumes and scenery created, and playbills printed. The Bowditch family Christmas traditions became more elaborate and important with each passing year, marking the day with merriment, spirit, enthusiasm, and great creativity. The family tradition began with the introduction of a Christmas tree from a European relation, but swiftly evolved into an intricately planned celebration.

View all four pages of the playbill.

The Object of History, MHS Podcast

The Object of History podcast unravels the stories behind historical objects held at the MHS.

Episode 5, “Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. and the ‘Lowly Hotdog,’” examines a few 20th-century political campaign objects from the remarkable, but little known career of Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. Chances are that if you have heard of Lodge Jr., you will likely remember his involvement in the Vietnam War. But this episode explores Lodge’s earlier political career, looking at an undelivered speech drafted for Senator Joseph McCarthy, an unusual pair of campaign mugs, and a peculiar bronzed hot dog paperweight.

Listen to this episode now on the website or wherever you regularly listen to your podcasts.

This episode was the last released, but more are coming in January 2022!

Our Favorite Things Exhibition Now Open for In-Person Viewing!

With millions of letters, diaries, photographs, and objects in our holdings, we can tell countless stories at the MHS. 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.

The MHS building will close briefly the week of 27 December 2021 and will re-open on 3 January 2022.

General Public:

Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM

Tuesday and Thursday, from 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM

Members-only:

Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, from 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM

Tuesday and Thursday, from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM

Want access to the exhibition during Members-only hours?

Join the MHS with a gift today!

Your MHS Fund donation is now your gateway to membership. See new membership levels and benefits, and provide additional support for MHS programs here.

Visiting the MHS during COVID-19

Please note that all guests are required to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination and wear a well-fitted mask covering the nose and mouth while in the building. Learn more about our COVID-19 protocols.

Programs

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.

Upcoming Programs

On Tuesday, 11 January, at 5:15 PM, Peter Jakob Olsen-Harbich, The New American Antiquarian, presents Seceding from the Sachemship: Coercion, Ethnology, and Colonial Failure in Early Historic New England, with comment by Linford Fisher, Brown University.

On Wednesday, 12 January, at 5:30 PM, Reed Gochberg, Harvard University, presents Useful Objects: Museums, Science, and Literature in Nineteenth-Century America.

On Thursday, 13 January, at 6:00 PM, Kanisorn Wongsrichanalai and Kevin Levin present Film Club: Glory.

On Tuesday, 18 January, at 5:15 PM, Lindsay Keiter, Pennsylvania State University–Altoona, presents The Emergence of the Marriage Market, with comment by Ellen Hartigan-O’Connor, University of California–Davis, a History of Women, Gender & Sexuality Seminar.

On Wednesday, 19 January, at 5:30 PM, Tegan Kehoe, Russell Museum of Medical History and Innovation at MGH, presents Exploring American Healthcare through 50 Historic Treasures.

On Tuesday, 25 January, at 5:15 PM, Katrin Kleeman, German Maritime Museum–Leibniz Institute for Maritime History, presents Earthquakes in New England, 1600–1800: Extraordinary Natural Events and Timekeeping Practices in Early America, with comment by Lukas Rieppel, Brown University, an Environmental History Seminar.

On Wednesday, 26 January, at 5:30 PM, Seth Bruggeman, Temple University, presents Lost on the Freedom Trail: The National Park Service and Urban Renewal in Postwar Boston, with other experts, TBA.

On Thursday, 27 January, at 5:15 PM, Chad Williams, Brandeis University, presents In the Shadow of World War: Revisiting W. E. B. Du Bois’s Black Reconstruction, with comment by Adriane Letz-Smith, Duke University, an African American History 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.