Massachusetts Historical Society

Massachusetts Historical Society Founded in 1791, the Massachusetts Historical Society is an independent research library and an invaluable resource for American history, life, and culture.

www.masshist.org

This Juneteenth, learn about Black history from projects by Massachusetts students!Students in grades 6-12 submitted the...
06/19/2026

This Juneteenth, learn about Black history from projects by Massachusetts students!

Students in grades 6-12 submitted their Massachusetts History Day projects for our virtual “Celebrating Juneteenth” exhibit, and they did not disappoint. This year’s MHD theme of “Revolution, Reaction, and Reform” inspired projects like “A Literary Revolution: How Afro-American writing Impacted the Civil Rights Movement,” “Beyond the Changes: John Coltrane’s Jazz Revolution,” and more!

Check out the digital exhibit: https://www.masshist.org/masshistoryday/Juneteenth

Some of these student projects can also be seen on display this Friday, June 19, at the Museum of African American History Boston's open house event, “Freedom! A Juneteenth Celebration."

New episode release for The Object of History, Season 5! On this episode, TOOH explores the Revolutionary War in South C...
06/18/2026

New episode release for The Object of History, Season 5!

On this episode, TOOH explores the Revolutionary War in South Carolina.

We examine the Siege of Charleston and compare the town's experience to that of Boston, where the roles were reversed; unlike the Siege of Boston, American forces in Charleston held the city against an ultimately victorious British army! We also take a closer look at several items related to the Revolution in South Carolina in the MHS collection.

Our discussion is joined by Elizabeth Chew, CEO of the South Carolina Historical Society, and Greg Brooking, author and historian of the American Revolution in the South. This episode was produced in collaboration with From the Vault: The SCHS Podcast. Check out their upcoming episode highlighting the relationship between founding fathers John Adams and Henry Laurens!

Listen to the latest episode of The Object of History on the MHS website: https://www.masshist.org/podcast/season-5-episode-6-South-Carolina or find us on your favorite streaming platform.

"I’m really interested in this question of how do people think about manhood and what a man should be or shouldn’t be, a...
06/17/2026

"I’m really interested in this question of how do people think about manhood and what a man should be or shouldn’t be, and how does that then map on to their expectations or their desires for the people they see in office?”
— Rachel Wiedman discusses the research questions behind her dissertation on gender and political culture in the Civil War era North.

In this episode of Historians & Their Histories, we speak with Rachel Wiedman (recipient of the Marc Friedlaender Fellowship from the MHS) about her dissertation research on gender and political culture in the Civil War era North. At the MHS, Rachel has been working with letters written by constituents to figures such as John Quincy Adams, Daniel Webster, and Massachusetts Governor John A. Andrew, revealing how ordinary Northerners used the language of manhood to praise and condemn their political representatives.

Stream the latest episode of Historians & Their Histories: https://www.masshist.org/podcast/hath-episode-36-Wiedman

Learn more about MHS fellowships and how to apply: https://www.masshist.org/research/fellowships

06/16/2026

What was cut from the final draft of the Declaration of Independence?

Find out from the MHS Chief Historian as he discusses draft copies of the Declaration written by John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, now on view in the “1776: Declaring Independence” exhibition.

Click here to learn more about exhibition gallery hours and plan your visit today: https://www.masshist.org/visit/hours-and-admission

Over the next few weeks, soccer fans from around the world are streaming to Foxborough, Mass.! But did you know that bef...
06/12/2026

Over the next few weeks, soccer fans from around the world are streaming to Foxborough, Mass.! But did you know that before Foxborough became a destination for sports, it was known as . . . a center for straw hats!

Following the fashion for straw bonnets and hats, what started as a small-scale industry became huge. Union Straw Works, founded in 1853, employed more than 6000 men and women at its height. Some employees worked in its factory buildings, and others sewed and braided straw from home. In 1855, Union Straw Works produced 1,100,000 bonnets and 900,000 hats!

Manufacturer E.P. Carpenter boasted that (supposedly) “Foxborough has made, through its straw business, a name that in many foreign places in known better than the city of Boston itself.”

The factory burned down in 1900, and today you can find a historical marker near the site of Foxborough’s post office. Take a look when you’re in town for the big games this summer!

Image credit:
Above: A view of Gillette Stadium, Abzeronow. Circa 2021. Wikimedia.

Below: Union Straw Works illustration from Foxborough's Official Centennial Record, Saturday, June 29, 1878. MHS collections.

Member Week 2026 was one for the books! Members learned about historical fashion, signed it like Hancock, hit the Declar...
06/12/2026

Member Week 2026 was one for the books! Members learned about historical fashion, signed it like Hancock, hit the Declaration Trail, and even did yoga in the Dowse Library!

Want to join in on the fun? Become a Member today: https://www.masshist.org/support/mhsfund. If you're age 40 or younger, you can join for $40 as a Young Patron!

Announcing a new resource on the MHS History Source: “War for the Dawnland: Reimagining King Philip’s War,” available on...
06/10/2026

Announcing a new resource on the MHS History Source: “War for the Dawnland: Reimagining King Philip’s War,” available online now: https://www.historysource.org/history-source-sets/dawnland-war

This set of primary sources for K-12 educators analyzes the conflict over land and power between Dawnland nations—including the Wampanoag, Narragansett, Nipmuc, and Wabanaki communities—and New England settlers 350 years ago from an Indigenous perspective.

According to Indigenous Knowledge Keepers, the Dawnland is “an Indigenous term for understanding the region known commonly as New England, as many Tribal Nations orient themselves towards the rising sun in the East and are referred to as the People of the Dawn or First Light.”

Even if you’re not an educator, dive into the resource to learn more about the war and related collections at the MHS.

Happy Birthday to Sarah Parker Remond! Remond, a prominent Black abolitionist campaigner and lecturer, was born on June...
06/06/2026

Happy Birthday to Sarah Parker Remond!

Remond, a prominent Black abolitionist campaigner and lecturer, was born on June 6, 1826, in Salem, Mass. She gained national recognition after an 1853 incident in which Remond and her companions were refused their reserved seats at an opera performance at the Howard Atheneum in Boston. After being violently removed from the theater by a Boston police offer at the orders of the opera troupe's agent, Remond filed assault charges against the two men. She won her case, marking an early victory in the fight against segregated seating in antebellum Boston.

Throughout the 1850s, Sarah Parker Remond’s role as a noted abolitionist speaker continued to grow. During the Civil War, she embarked on a lecture tour in England, enlisting the sympathy of audiences for the antislavery cause and later for support of Black civil rights and aid for free Black people in the American south after emancipation. William Lloyd Garrison wrote of Remond in his public letter of introduction to editor of the Anti-Slavery Advocate of London, “She is capable of gracing any circle, and will be her own best recommendation wherever she travels.”

Read more about Remond’s life here: https://www.masshist.org/database/viewer.php?item_id=1300&pid=3

Registration is open for Reconstruction, this year’s Conrad E. Wright Research Conference!The conference features both s...
06/05/2026

Registration is open for Reconstruction, this year’s Conrad E. Wright Research Conference!

The conference features both scholarly panels and an associated teacher workshop. See details below, and find information about registration and an online program here: https://www.masshist.org/research/conferences

Research Conference: "Reconstruction"

June 25-26 at the Massachusetts Historical Society and Suffolk University, Boston

In a keynote address and panel sessions, scholars will explore broad themes associated with Reconstruction such as labor, legal issues, trans-national histories and comparisons, expansion, and memory, among others. Grad students attend for free.

Teacher Workshop: "Reconstruction History and Legacy"

June 24-27 and August 8 at the Massachusetts Historical Society, Suffolk University, and online

K–12 educators will attend the research conference, followed by a day-long workshop to identify important takeaways from the conference, discuss best practices for introducing these themes to students, and explore using Reconstruction-era primary sources in the classroom.

06/04/2026

Who was Rabindranath Tagore, and what’s his letter doing in the MHS collection?

Listen to our Reading Room supervisor speak about her surprising discovery of this 1930 letter written by Tagore (Indian literary icon and first non-European Nobel Prize winner) to Ellery Sedgwick, editor of The Atlantic, in the Ellery Sedgwick Papers at the MHS.

Read the full blog post at the link in our bio to learn more!

Link: https://www.masshist.org/beehiveblog/2022/01/tagore-letters-at-the-mhs/

Credits:

Tagore Image 1: Unknown photographer, 1909. Published in 1914 in Sweden in Les Prix Nobel 1913. Wikimedia Commons.

Tagore Image 2: Unknown photographer, circa 1941. State Archive. Wikimedia Commons.

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