“This was the regular day allotted by the State Authorities according to custom, to the purpose of offering thanks for the manifold blessing received by us from the divine source. It came today in unclouded beauty.”
|
|
Featured Item from the MHS Collection |
On 19 November 1863, President Abraham Lincoln gave brief remarks—lasting just two minutes—at the consecration of the Soldier’s National Cemetery at Gettsyburg, Penn. Edward Everett, by comparion, gave a two-hour oration. The next day, Everett wrote to the President praising his speech: “I should be glad, if I could flatter myself, that I came as near to the central idea of the occasion in two hours, as you did in two minutes.” The same day Lincoln replied in the letter presented here, “In our respective parts yesterday, you could not have been excused to make a short address, nor I a long one. I am pleased to know that, in your judgment, the little I did say was not entirely a failure.” Click here to read both letters.
|
|
This Week’s Online Programs
|
|
On Tuesday, 17 November, beginning at 6:00 PM, enjoy a conversation between Pulitzer Prize– winning presidential historian Jon Meacham and GBH’s Emily Rooney at our virtual Making History Gala. The John Codman Ropes Award will be presented to Governor Charlie Baker and Mayor Martin J. Walsh. Visit www.masshist.org/gala for more information.
|
|
On Tuesday, 17 November, at 8:00 PM, embrace your inner nerd and join us at our first Young Patron Party! Hosted by Tori Bedford, reporter at GBH News and producer of the All Rev’d Up podcast, this virtual event will feature a variety of entertaining activities. Join Bully Boy Distillers and Edgar B. Herwick III, host of The Curiosity Desk at GBH News, for lively cocktail-making demonstrations and engage in conversations with peer young patrons. The inaugural Rising History Maker Award will be presented to Dr. Karilyn Crockett, the City of Boston's first Chief of Equity. Click here for more information.
|
|
On Wednesday, 18 November, at 5:30 PM, Michelle Marchetti Coughlin presents Penelope Winslow, Plymouth Colony First Lady: Re-Imagining a Life. Historian Michelle Marchetti Coughlin explores the life of Plymouth Colony First Lady Penelope Pelham Winslow, a woman of influence during the eventful years of Plymouth’s existence, through wartime and the end of the colony’s independence. Tracking fragmentary records and traces of Penelope Winslow’s material world, Coughlin illuminates the story of a long-forgotten historical figure and offers fresh insight into the experiences of women in early New England. Register for this online program.
|
|
On Thursday, 19 November, at 5:15 PM, Anelise Shrout, Bates College, presents Data Prosopography & Archives of Violence in 19th-Century Virginia with comment by Robert K. Nelson, University of Richmond. This project combines digital history methods with theories from critical archive studies to explore the intersection of data, power, documentation, and violence in antebellum Virginia. It explores these issues through a history of the First African Baptist Church (FABC) in Richmond, Virginia, which, in the years before the American Civil War, was a religious space open to both free and enslaved people of color, and simultaneously a site of surveillance and violence. This project combines quantitative analysis, interactive visualization, and traditional historical narrative in order to tell the history of the FABC in new ways. This program is part of the Digital History Projects 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.
|
|
Upcoming November Programs |
|
On Monday, 23 November, at 5:30 PM, William Hosley, Terra Firma Northeast, presents Hidden Gems. This is the third program in the series A Treasury of Massachusetts House Museums and Local History Orgs.
|
|
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.
On Tuesday, 8 December, at 5:15 PM, Kelly Kean Sharp, Luther College, and Alisha Hines, Wake Forest University, present Black Women’s Worlds in Antebellum America with comment by Tiya Miles, Harvard University.
|
|
Interested in Viewing Past Programs? |
|
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.
|
|
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. Learn more at www.masshist.org/support/members.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
