| Show on main page | URL | Summary Description | Attendee Information | Full Description | Recorded Date | Recorded Location |
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| Yes | 1776: Town Meeting with David McCullough | David McCullough discusses his novel, 1776, in a town hall meeting style with audience participation. | David McCullough, author, 1993 & 2001 Pulitzer Prize winner | Hear the story of Americans in the ranks: men of every shape, size, and color; farmers, schoolteachers, shoemakers, no-accounts, and mere boys turned soldiers as told by author and host of PBS' American Experience, David McCullough. | | Old South Meeting House |
| Yes | 230 Years Later: The Boston Tea Party Revisited | On the 230th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party meeting, Charlie Bahne discusses the importance tea played in everyday civilians lives in 1773. | Charlie Bahne, author, historian, tour guide | Local historian, author and tour guide Charlie Bahne takes us back to 1773 when the talk of the town was tea. Learn about the actual value of tea not only in monetary ways, but the importance tea played in everyday civilians lives. On the 230th anniversary of the famous event, Mr. Bahne explore these topics and more in the building that served as the dramatic backdrop of the infamous Boston Tea Party meeting. | | Old South Meeting House |
| Yes | A Short History of Boston | Robert J. Allison, Professor of History at Suffolk University, brings to life the major events and important figures who formed the 'City on a Hill'. | Robert J. Allison, professor, history, Suffolk University | Robert J. Allison, Professor of History at Suffolk University, brings to life the major events and important figures who formed the 'City on a Hill'. | | Old South Meeting House |
| Yes | African American Voices of the Civil War | Charles Fuller brings the testimonies of slaves, soldiers, reporters and activists from the Civil War to life, to celebrate the publication of Freedom's Journey. | Charles Fuller, 1982 Pulitzer Prize winner | A special evening program featuring Charles Fuller, 1982 Pulitzer Prize in Drama winner for A Soldier's Play. Discussions and performances bring the testimonies of slaves, soldiers, reporters and activists from the Civil War to life, in celebration of the publication of Freedom's Journey. | | Old South Meeting House |
| Yes | American Indians and the French & English War | Professor Calloway looks at the experiences of American Indians who fought in the French and English War. | Colin G. Calloway, professor, Dartmouth | Professor Colin G. Calloway of Dartmouth College focuses attention on the motivations and experiences of American Indian peoples who fought in the French and English War. | | Old South Meeting House |
| Yes | Atlantic Pirates in the Golden Age | Rediker discusses his new book Villains of All Nations, a social and cultural history of pirates and their democratic, egalitarian and multiethnic society. | Marcus Rediker, author | Author Marcus Rediker discusses his new book, Villains of All Nations: Atlantic Pirates in the Golden Age, an unprecedented social and cultural history of pirates and their democratic, egalitarian and multiethnic society. Villains of All Nations explores the "Golden Age" of Atlantic piracy (1716-1726) - the infamous generation whose images underlie the modern romanticized view of pirates, such as the dreaded black flag The Jolly Roger and swashbuckling figures such as Edward Teach (aka Blackbeard) and the nameless, one-armed pirate who became known as Long John Silver in Stevenson's Treasure Island.
Rediker exposes pirate history and shows how sailors emerged from deadly working conditions on merchant and naval ships, turned pirate, and created a starkly different reality aboard their own ships, electing their officers, dividing their booty equitably, and maintaining a multinational social order. The real lives of the real motley crews, which included cross-dressing women, people of color, and the "outcasts of all nations," are far more compelling than contemporary myth. | | Old South Meeting House |
| Yes | Bits to Beeswax: The Conservation of Treasures | Michaela Neiro explains how the creative use of materials, as well as computer technology, help conservators save cherished objects. | Michaela Neiro, assistant conservator, Cherished Possessions exhibit | SPNEA has the largest assemblage of New England art and artifacts in its collection, a total of nearly 100,000 items. The care and conservation of these objects is an astonishingly meticulous and important job. SPNEA assistant conservator Michaela Neiro explains how the creative use of materials, such as clay and beeswax, as well as computer technology, help conservators save cherished objects. | | Old South Meeting House |
| Yes | Britain and the Seven Years War | Gould asks if this War, which involved conflict in Europe, Africa, India and the Philippines, is the real first world war. | Eliga H. Gould, professor, history, University of NH | Although the Seven Years War began in North America, the conflict eventually became the first global war in British history, with fighting in Europe, Africa, India and the Philippines. In this illustrated lecture, Eliga H. Gould, Professor of History at the University of New Hampshire, discusses this broader dimension and the impact that the war's global character had on British and American politics. | | Old South Meeting House |
| Yes | Calvin Cooldige's Private War | Dr. Robert Gilbert reveals the story of President Calvin Coolidge's deep depression during his tenure in the White House. | Dr. Robert E. Gilbert, professor, political science, Northeastern | Calvin Coolidge, Governor of Massachusetts and 30th President of the United States has often been described as a do-nothing, incompetent president who slept fifteen of every twenty-four hours, despite having been a respected and capable governor.
Dr. Robert E. Gilbert, professor of political science at Northeastern University, discusses how profoundly affected Coolidge was by the death of his sixteen-year-old son, Calvin Jr., as a result of blood poisoning in 1924. This experience plunged him into a deep and devastating depression from which he never fully recovered. | | Old South Meeting House |
| No | Caroline Healey Dall: Daughter of Boston | Deese discusses the extensive diaries of Boston activist Caroline Healey Dall (1822-1912). | Helen R. Deese, editor, Boston Historical Society | Bostonian Caroline Healey Dall (1822-1912) was a transcendentalist, early feminist, writer, reformer, and an extremely active diarist. Caroline Healey Dall kept a diary for 75 years that captured the fascinating details of her sometimes agonizing personal life, the major figures who surrounded her, and many facets of nineteenth century Boston. Helen R. Deese, Caroline Healey Dall Editor for the Massachusetts Historical Society, discusses this 45 volume diary which is perhaps the longest diary written by any American and the most complete account of a nineteenth century woman's life in existence. | | Old South Meeting House |
| Yes | Charlestown Convent Fire of 1834 | Schultz explores the burning of the Catholic Charlestown Convent by Protestants, one of the darkest incidents of religious persecution in modern society. | Nancy Schultz, author, professor, Salem State | What would lead a mob of Protestant men to burn down a Roman Catholic convent and elite boarding school in 19th century Boston? In an illustrated lecture, Salem State College Professor Nancy Schultz, author of Fire and Roses: The Burning of the Charlestown Convent, 1834, answers this question and sheds light on one of the darkest incidents of religious persecution in modern society. | | Old South Meeting House |
| No | Daughters of the Union: Northern Women Fight the Civil War | Silber discuss the changes in social structure bought on by women's participation in the Civil War. | Nina Silber, professor, history, Boston University | Nina Silber, Associate Professor of History at Boston University, traces the emergence of a new sense of self and citizenship among the women left behind by Union Soldiers. Using the diaries and letters of these women, Silber shows the women of the North discovering their patriotism and acting with greater independence in running their households and in expressing their political views. Women serve as fundraisers, post mistresses, suppliers, nurses, government workers and teachers. With a greater public role, women find "their personal, intimate relationships subjected to intense... scrutiny, not only from neighbors and kin but also from state and federal officials." Those who work as nurses are "required to be plain looking women." The result, Silber argues, was a change in the way that the regulatory function of marriage worked within society in ways that continue to reverberate through homes and jobs | | Northeastern University, Egan Center |
| Yes | Deaf Artist: The World of John Brewster, Jr. | Harlan Lane examines John Brewster Jr., as a deaf artist, and one of the best American portrait artists of his time. | Harlan Lane, Northeastern University | John Brewster Jr. was born in 1766, a seventh generation descendant of a Mayflower pilgrim, and was arguably one of the best American portrait artists of his time. Brewster was deaf and did not learn to use sign language or read until he was 51 years old.
Psychologist, historian and distinguished professor at Northeastern University, Harlan Lane examines this extraordinary artist and how his memberships within multiple worlds (Puritan, Federalist elite, Deaf and Art) converged to leave an enduring legacy.
This lecture is sign language interpreted. | | Old South Meeting House |
| Yes | Debating Reparations for Slavery | How do you put a price on 300 years of injustice? Glenn Loury and Melissa Nobles debate the pros and cons of paying reparations today for slavery. | James Hirsch, moderator, reporter, writerGlenn C. Loury, professor, economics, Boston UniversityMelissa Nobles, professor, political science, MIT | How do you put a price on 300 years of injustice? The legacy of slavery in the United States continues to shape life and society for all Americans. The controversial arguments surrounding slavery reparations is proof that this country is still struggling with how to address and overcome the repercussions of slavery. Does this country owe a financial debt to the descendants of black slaves? Who should pay and receive reparations? How much is owed? Instead of repairing damage, might such payments polarize communities and create new racial tensions? Glenn C. Loury of Boston University and Melissa Nobles of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, will debate the pros and cons of this controversial issue. | | Old South Meeting House |
| Yes | Dieting For Sins: New England Food Reformers | Linda Bassett speaks about New England's "Gold Coast" (The North Shore) and how the influx of immigrants into this area shaped the eating habits of Essex County. | Barbara Haber, curator, Schlesinger Library, Harvard University | Learn about the impact of traditional Jewish, Portuguese, Greek, and African-American dishes on New England dining rooms. Culinary writer Linda Bassett speaks about New England's "Gold Coast" (The North Shore) and how the influx of immigrants into this area shaped the eating habits of Essex County. She is the author of From Apple Pie to Pad Thai - Neighborhood Cooking North of Boston, a collection of adapted traditional recipes from the immigrant populations that have settled into the North Shore neighborhoods for nearly four centuries. | | Old South Meeting House |
| Yes | Empires at War | William M. Fowler, Jr. discusses his new book Empires at War: The French and Indian War and the Struggle for North America 1754-1763. | William M. Fowler, Jr., director, MA Historical Society | William M. Fowler, Jr., Director of the Massachusetts Historical Society, describes the epic struggle between the world's two great super powers, France and England, in a war fought to determine the fate of North America. | | Old South Meeting House |
| Yes | From Apple Pie to Pad Thai | Linda Bassett speaks about New England's "Gold Coast" (The North Shore) and how the influx of immigrants into this area shaped the eating habits of Essex County. | Linda Bassett, writer, culinary expert | Learn about the impact of traditional Jewish, Portuguese, Greek, and African-American dishes on New England dining rooms. Culinary writer Linda Bassett speaks about New England's "Gold Coast" (The North Shore) and how the influx of immigrants into this area shaped the eating habits of Essex County. She is the author of From Apple Pie to Pad Thai - Neighborhood Cooking North of Boston, a collection of adapted traditional recipes from the immigrant populations that have settled into the North Shore neighborhoods for nearly four centuries. | | Old South Meeting House |
| Yes | Haymarket: Chicago's Fight for Freedom | Actors read and discuss selections of Zayd Dohrn's new play about the struggle for free speech and civil liberties in 1880s Chicago. | Zayd Dohrn, playwrightAdam Zahler, directorDan Hunter, executive director, MAASHJames Green, professor, community service, UMass | Enjoy a reading of the new play by Zayd Dohrn about the struggle for free speech and civil liberties in 1880s Chicago. Six actors read selected scenes from this original new work set around the dramatic events of the Haymarket Riot in Chicago on May 4, 1886. A panel discussion follows with writer Zayd Dohrn, director Adam Zahler, Executive Director for MAASH Dan Hunter, and James Green, professor of public & community service at UMass Boston. | | Old South Meeting House |
| Yes | Hero at the Great Boston Fire of 1872 | On a mild November weekend in 1872, the center of Boston burned down. Hear how Fire Chief John Damrell was able to get this enormous fire under control. | Bruce Twickler, writer, film director | A spark in a Summer Street building's basement turned into a firestorm, reducing over seven hundred buildings to sixty-five acres of rubble. Tragically and miraculously, only thirty people were lost . Bruce Twickler, writer and director of the film Damrell's Fire, explains why Boston can credit its deliverance from Chicago's fate to John Damrell, its courageous Fire Chief. | | Old South Meeting House |
| Yes | History of the Boston Athenaeum | John Lannon, discusses one of the oldest and most distinguished independent libraries, in the United States, the Boston Athenaeum. | John Lannon, associate director, Boston Athenaeum | John Lannon, Associate Director of the Boston Athenaeum discusses the history of this enduring fixture on Beacon Hill. Founded in 1807, it houses such treasures as George Washington's library, and artworks by artists such as John Singer Sargent and Gilbert Stuart. | | Old South Meeting House |
| Yes | Jewish Heritage on Beacon Hill | Ellen Smith, lecturer in Near Eastern and Judaic Studies at Brandeis University, discusses the history of Jewish immigration in Boston. | Ellen Smith, lecturer, Brandeis University | Ellen Smith, lecturer in Near Eastern and Judaic Studies at Brandeis University, discusses the history of Jewish immigration in Boston. Boston's first Jewish congregation established a synagogue in the South End in 1852. By 1907, Boston's Jewish population had grown to 60,000 with many families settling in the West End. The Vilna congregation began to hold services on Beacon Hill in 1903 and remained there until 1985. | | Old South Meeting House |
| Yes | Last Mantua Maker: Women in Boston's Clothing Trades | Professor Miller discusses 'Mantuamakers' in Boston, and why this job title, prestigious from 1789-1845, became unfashionable. | Marla Miller, assistant professor, public history, UMASS Amherst | In 1845, after almost a dozen years in business, Rebecca Goodwin Major closed up shop. She was the very last Boston woman to call herself a mantuamaker in the pages of the city directory. Most of her competitors abandoned the 17th-century term for the more up-to-date nomenclature, dressmaker.
Marla Miller, Assistant Professor of Public History at UMASS Amherst, will look at how one of the most prestigious occupations available to American women since the 17th century, faded from the Boston scene. | | Old South Meeting House |
| Yes | Legacy of the Cocoanut Grove Fire | Schorow explores one of Boston's most famous and catastrophic fires, the 1942 burning of the Cocoanut Grove nightclub, and its impact on Boston firefighting. | Stephanie Schorow, reporter, author, Boston Herald | The fire that swept through the Cocoanut Grove nightclub in Boston on November 28, 1942, was one of the worst in the nation's history, resulting in at least 492 deaths and hundreds of injuries. The fire led to new building codes, medical innovations in burn treatment and legal precedents in manslaughter law. Stephanie Schorow, reporter for The Boston Herald and author of Boston on Fire: A History of Fires and Firefighting in Boston, examines many myths and misconceptions about the fire, and evaluates its legacy and its continuing impact on Boston. | | Old South Meeting House |
| Yes | Local Women Activists in the Early 20th Century | Flavia Cigliano discusses Progressive Era women on Beacon Hill and their social and political impact. | Flavia Cigliano, director, Nichols House Museum | Flavia Cigliano discusses Progressive Era women on Beacon Hill and their social and political impact. Beginning in the late 19th century, modern women such as Beacon Hill resident Rose Nichols, ventured outside of the domestic realm and into the world of employment and politics. The so called "new woman" was less constrained by Victorian norms and domesticity than previous generations. | | Old South Meeting House |
| Yes | Masquerade: Deborah Sampson, Continental Soldier | Hear and watch a reenaction of the remarkable story of a woman who fought in the American Revolution as "Robert Shurtliff" and got away with it! | Alfred Young, historian, authorLaurel Thatcher Ulrich, historian, 1991 Pulitzer Prize winnerJoan Gatturna, storyteller, performer | Join historian Alfred Young, author of Masquerade, and Pulitzer Prize winning historian Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, in examining Americans' public memory of Sampson and other Revolutionary-era women. Performer and storyteller Joan Gatturna brings Deborah Sampson to life in a dramatic first-person performance. | | Old South Meeting House |
| Yes | Midwifery and Medicine in Boston | Amalie M. Kass provides illuminating perspectives on medicine, society, and women's reproductive lives in nineteenth-century America. | Amalie M. Kass, lecturer, Harvard Medical School | A prominent obstetrician, professor of midwifery and medical jurisprudence, and dean of the faculty at Harvard Medical College, Dr. Walter Channing (1786Ð1876) was a central figure in Boston's medical community for more than fifty years. Ms.
Kass's book rescues this remarkable, but overlooked physician from obscurity, and provides a vivid depiction of his city's rapidly changing social, political, and economic landscapes.
Kass examines Channing's obstetrical practice and charts his many other distinguished pursuits lecturer to hundreds of young men in 'the art of midwifery,' consultant to doctors throughout New England, staff physician for nearly two decades at Boston's only general hospital, and editor of the New England Journal of Medicine and Surgery. In addition, Channing was a major force in gaining acceptance for the use of anesthesia in childbirth, played an instrumental role in founding the Boston Lying-In Hospital as a refuge for women who would otherwise lack decent obstetrical care, and was an active champion for the social reform movements of his day.
Amalie M. Kass is a lecturer on the History of Medicine in the Department of Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School. She is coauthor of Perfecting the World: The Life and Times of Thomas Hodgkin, M.D. and author of numerous journal articles and encyclopedic entries. | | Old South Meeting House |
| Yes | Military History of the Boston Harbor Islands | Jayne Triber draws on her research and experiences working at Fort Independence to review the dramatic military history of the Boston Harbor Islands. | Jayne Triber, historian, writer | For over 350 years, the Boston Harbor Islands have played an important role in the defense of Boston, Massachusetts and the United States. From the colonial period to the Cold War, the Harbor Islands have been the site of fortifications, training camps, prisoner-of-war camps, and Nike missile installations. Historian and author Jayne Triber draws on her research and experiences working at Fort Independence on Castle Island in South Boston and at the Boston Harbor Islands national park area to review the dramatic, colorful, and military history of these hidden treasures. | | Old South Meeting House |
| Yes | Naked Quaker and Other Pre-Revolutionary Tales | | Diane Rapaport, historian, lawyer | Lawyer and historian Diane Rapaport extracts some tantalizing tales from pre-Revolutionary court records, highlighting the concerns of ordinary people in early New England. Included is the title story of a Quaker woman who dropped her dress in a church service to show her contempt for the Puritans.
| | Old South Meeting House |
| Yes | Native Americans and the Boston Harbor Islands | A group of Native Americans discusses Deer Island's history as an internment camp in the 1675 war known as King Phillip's war. | George Price, cultural anthropologist, National Park ServiceEdith Andrews, Wampanoag Tribe of Gay HeadJim Peters, executive director, Commission Indian AffairsPat Garwood, administrator, Tribal Council, Nipmuc Nation | Currently the home of a waste water treatment plant, many do not know Deer Island's history as an internment camp for Native Americans (many who died) in the 1675 war known (in Anglicized terms) as King Phillip's war. Multiple perspectives (Anglicized and Native American) are still being revealed about the dark pages of Deer Island's history. This and other topics particular to Native American history and the islands are discussed with a diverse panel moderated by cultural anthropologist for the National Park Service (Northeast Region) George Price. Panelists include Edith Andrews, Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah), Jim Peters, Executive Director, Commission on Indian Affairs, and member of the Wampanoag Mashpee, Pat Garwood, Tribal Council, Nipmuc Nation. | | Old South Meeting House |
| Yes | Nuclear Terrorism: Preventing the Ultimate Catastrophe | Graham Allison presents a feasible blueprint for eliminating the possibility of nuclear terrorist attacks completely. | Graham Allison, founding dean, Harvard JFK School | Graham Allison, founding dean of Harvard's JFK School of Government and director of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, presents a feasible blueprint for eliminating the possibility of nuclear terrorist attacks completely. Presented as a "Partner in Public Dialogue" with the Belfer Center. | | Old South Meeting House |
| Yes | Our Daily Bread: Tales of How Treasures Were Saved | Ken Turino recounts several fascinating stories of how 200 treasures managed to survive to the present day. | Ken Turino, exhibitions manager, Cherished Possessions exhibit | The stories of how the 200 objects in the "Cherished Possessions" exhibition were saved and managed to survive to the present day is often as interesting as the objects themselves. Exhibitions manager, Ken Turino recounts several fascinating stories, including that of a Dorchester family who saved two pieces of bread allegedly dating to the 17th century and a bedcover made by the mother and grandmother of Samuel Adams and passed down through generations of women. | | Old South Meeting House |
| Yes | Patriots of Color: Revolutionary Heroes | This event salutes Native American and African-American war heroes and includes performances and authentic music from the Revolutionary War. | Byron Rushing, state representative, D-MAJames Oliver Horton, professor, American studies, GW University | Salute Native American and African-American war heroes with moderator State Representative Byron Rushing, and speaker James Horton, a historian at George Washington University. This event includes performances and authentic music from the Revolutionary War. It was co-sponsored by the Boston National Historical Park, Massachusetts Historical Society, and Old South Meeting House.
The Patriots of Color Celebration derives from the National Park Service report titled, "Patriots of Color, 'A Peculiar Beauty and Merit' African Americans and Native Americans at Battle Road and Bunker Hill". Revolutionary War consultant George Quintal Jr. painstakingly uncovered approximately 120 new minority identities, untold stories that literally and figuratively change the faces of the Lexington & Concord and Bunker Hill battles. The report's concept was to revive the neglected historical memory of those men before they were permanently lost.
The Patriots of Color Celebration reminds the Boston community about their enduring pluralistic heritage and will help educate the public about the African-American and Native American communities that are often under-recognized for their ancestral contributions to the Revolutionary War. | | Old South Meeting House |
| Yes | Piracy, Terrorism and the Question of Islam | Anouar Majid discusses the United States' first major contact with the Muslim World in the Barbary War and the parallels to our own time. | Dr. Anouar Majid, professor, english, University of New England | Dr. Anouar Majid, professor and chair of english at the University of New England, discusses the new United States' first major contact with the Muslim World in the Barbary War and the parallels to our own time. | | Old South Meeting House |
| Yes | Portuguese Homestyle Cooking | Ana Patuleia Ortins explains how New England Portuguese cooks have adopted quintessential New England ingredients as well as influenced how New Englanders eat. | Ana Patuleia Ortins, culinary author | A first generation descendant of Portuguese immigrants from the Alto Alentejo region of Portugal, Ana Patuleia Ortins grew up with the ethnic lore and traditions attached to the food of her ancestors. In this lecture, Ana draws us into an immigrant kitchen where traditional culinary methods were handed down from father to daughter, shared and refined with the help of the family and friends who watched, chopped, and tasted. She explains how New England Portuguese cooks have adopted quintessential New England ingredients as well as influenced how New Englanders eat. Ana holds a degree in culinary arts and teaches Portuguese cooking in her own kitchen and at local colleges. | | Old South Meeting House |
| Yes | Prelude to The Boston Massacre | Zobel reads from his book about the trial of Ebenezer Richardson for the death of Christopher Seider and the famous 1770 Boston riot. | Hiller Zobel, author | In early 1770, tensions in Boston were running high. On February 22, an eleven year old boy, Christopher Seider, was shot and killed during a riot. Several months later a Boston loyalist, Ebenezer Richardson, was tried for the crime. The Honorable Hiller Zobel, author of Prelude to the Boston Massacre: The Trial of Ebenezer Richardson and Christopher Seider and widely considered the definitive expert on the Boston Massacre and trial, explores the death of Seider, who was hailed as a martyr to the Patriot cause, and the trial of Richardson. | | Old South Meeting House |
| Yes | Rainsford Island: Resort to Reformatory | Ellen Berkalnd and Elizabeth Carella shed light on the fascinating history of Rainsford Island through archeology and extensive documentary research. | Ellen Berkland, city archeologist, Boston Landmarks CommissionElizabeth Carella, curator, Archives for Historical Documentation | From a farm, summer resort, quarantine hospital, almshouse and a boy's reformatory to eventually an abandoned eleven acres, Rainsford Island in Boston Harbor has served many since its 1636 occupation by Edward Rainsford. Ellen P. Berkalnd, Boston City Archeologist, and Elizabeth Carella, Curator of Photography, present how one archeological field season and extensive documentary research shed light on the fascinating history of Rainsford Island. This slide lecture reviews the archeological and historic evidence and examines the ways in which the island has served the marginalized populations of Boston for decades. | | Old South Meeting House |
| Yes | Relations Between Japan and Korea | Ambassador Teruske Terada speaks about the challenges facing Japan, South Korea and the US in the increasingly complex global landscape. | Teruske Terada, president, Foreign Press Center, Japan | For centuries Koreans and Japanese have considered themselves distant neighbors at best, bitter foes at worst, but the escalating tensions between the US and North Korea and rising anti-American sentiment in South Korea have placed new pressures on Japan-Korea relations that could have wide-ranging implications for economic and political stability throughout northeast Asia for decades to come. Ambassador Teruske Terada, president of The Foreign Press Center, Japan and former Japanese ambassador to Republic of Korea, speaks about the challenges facing Japan, South Korea and the US in this increasingly complex global landscape. | | Old South Meeting House |
| Yes | Remembering and Forgetting John Winthrop | Francis Bremer tells us about John Winthrop, Massachusetts' first governor who proceeded to serve as governor twelve times over 20 years! | Francis J. Bremer, editor, Winthrop Papers, Mass Historical Society | The first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, John Winthrop, has been revered as a true architect of America and reviled as a "stereotype of [a] sour, steeple-hatted [persecutor]". John Winthrop served asMassachusetts' governor twelve times, being voted out and back into the position over the course of nearly 20 years. During his tenure, Winthrop shaped the religious and governing policies of the Massachusetts colony.
Francis J. Bremer, Editor of the Winthrop Papers for the Massachusetts Historical Society, reveals the real Winthrop and what he tried to achieve in his lifetime. | | Old South Meeting House |
| Yes | Sarah's Long Walk: The Struggle that Changed America | Stephen Kendrick, author of Sarah's Long Walk, discusses the local history behind the famous case of Brown v. Board of Education. | Stephen Kendrick, author, minister, First and Second Church, Boston | In 1848, five year old Sarah Roberts had to pass five white-only schools to attend the poor and densely crowded all-black Abiel Smith School. Incensed at this injustice, her father Benjamin Roberts took action. He resolved to sue the city of Boston on her behalf, and began a hundred-year struggle that culminated in the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education. Stephen Kendrick, author of Sarah's Long Walk and minister of First and Second Church, Boston discusses the history behind this famous case. | | Old South Meeting House |
| Yes | Scandal on the Stage: Banned Theatre in Boston | This program includes vignettes of censored plays in Boston from the Puritan period to the 1929 banning of Eugene O'Neill's theatrical experiment, Strange Interlude. | John D. Anderson, professor, communications, EmersonMatthew Chapuran, managing director, Nora Theatre CompanyTom Connolly, professor, English, Suffolk UniversityMaureen Dezell, arts reporter, Boston Globe | "Banned in Boston" is a theme this city finds hard to shake. This program includes vignettes of censored plays in Boston, beginning with the Puritan censorship of Morton's May Pole and climaxing with the 1929 banning of Eugene O'Neill's Freudian theatrical experiment, Strange Interlude. Afterwards, a panel discusses the performances and the ideas of censorship. Though it is not institutionalized, as it was with the "Watch and Ward Society", what form does censorship take today? | | Old South Meeting House |
| Yes | Shut Out: Race and Baseball in Boston | Howard Bryant tells the story of the Yawkey family and of Boston's struggle with the issue of race in baseball. | Howard Bryant, senior sports writer, Boston Herald | Senior sports writer for the Boston Herald, Howard Bryant talks about his new book Shut Out: A Story of Race and Baseball in Boston. In his book, Bryant traces the haunting practice and legacy of racism, chronicling the policies and personality of the Yawkey family as well as the conflicted Boston press that wrestled with its own racial issues, set against the backdrop of Boston's difficult struggle with race. | | Old South Meeting House |
| Yes | Smallpox in Boston: A Complex Affair | Dr. Philip Cash speaks about the history of Smallpox in Boston, from the inoculation controversy through the vaccination debates. | Dr. Philip Cash, professor emeritus, Emmanuel College | The debate surrounding Smallpox inoculation in Boston began in 1721 when an epidemic struck the town. The Reverend Cotton Mather attempted to convince physicians to try the then controversial practice of inoculation, without success. In 1800, Benjamin Waterhouse, a Harvard professor of medicine, became the first person to test the smallpox vaccine in the United States. His first test subject was his 5-year-old son Daniel whom he infected with a sample of cowpox sent from England. | | Old South Meeting House |
| Yes | Storm Warriors: Shipwrecks and Survivors in Boston Harbor | Local historians discuss the Storm Warriors who saved over 28,000 vessels and 179,000 people from the terrifying perils of the sea. | Ed McCabe, director, Maritime Program, Hull Lifesaving MuseumLory Newmyer, executive director, Hull Lifesaving Museum | From Colonial times through the Industrial Revolution, Boston was one of the busiest shipping ports in the country, and the maritime heritage of the region continues to mark our lives in the city today. Massachusetts is the birthplace of aids to mariners designed both to prevent shipwrecks and and to help wreck survivors. During its peak years, the Storm Warriors of the US Life Saving Service saved over 28,000 vessels and 179,000 people from the terrifying perils of the sea. It is thought that the greatest of these local, often unsung, heroes were the men of Hull who kept this busiest of all ports also the best protected. | | Old South Meeting House |
| Yes | Talking Teapots: What Treasures Tell Us About History | Nancy Carlisle tells tales of treasures from past centuries and how they reflect larger themes of revolution, immigration, industrialization and reform. | Nancy Carlisle, curator, Cherished Possessions exhibit | What can a teapot belonging to Boston Massacre martyr Crispus Attucks or pottery vases made by immigrant women in Boston's North End tell us about the history of New England? Nancy Carlisle, Curator of SPNEA's traveling exhibition "Cherished Possessions" tells tales of treasures from the 17th to the late 20th century and how they reflect the larger historical themes of revolution, immigration, industrialization and reform. | | Old South Meeting House |
| No | The Baker Chocolate Factory | Anthony M. Sammarco tells the fascinating, and not always sweet, tale of the Boston chocolate mill's roots, which date back to the 1700s. | Anthony M. Sammarco, writer, historian | Author and historian Anthony M. Sammarco tells the fascinating and not always sweet tale of the Boston chocolate mill's roots, which date back to the 1700s. When one thinks of chocolate, the name "Baker's Chocolate" comes to mind with its trademark chocolate woman. Sammarco explores the history of the company beginning with the establishment of the first chocolate mill in America, founded by Dr. James Baker and his chocolate maker John Hannon, in a converted wooden mill on the banks of the Neponset River in Massachusetts. Within a century, the company, known as the Walter Baker Company, Ltd. had become known throughout the world as the oldest manufacturer of chocolate in the United States.
Anthony M. Sammarco has been called "Boston's premier amateur historian" by the Boston Globe, but his interest in the history and development of his native city as led to the publication of more than 25 photographic histories that include The Great Boston Fire of 1872, Boston: A Century of Progress, and recently Boston's Harbor Islands. He has lectured frequently on local Boston history, writes newspaper columns for numerous newspapers, and is a prolific author. His efforts to make history more accessible to the general public have earned him many awards and honors. | | Old South Meeting House |
| Yes | The Jazz Age: From New Orleans to Chicago | Eric Jackson discusses stylistic and instrumentation changes in jazz music during the 1920's using piano styles as examples. | Eric Jackson, radio host, WGBH 89.7FM | Eric Jackson, host of WGBH's Eric in the Evening, has been called the dean of Boston jazz radio. Jackson, who has been heard nightly on 'GBH/89.7 FM for more than 20 years, discusses the rise of this beloved and uniquely American music form in the wild decade of the 1920's. Using Buddy Bolden as a starting point, Jackson highlights the changing instruments in the early jazz band and discusses stylistic changes in the music through piano styles like ragtime, stride and boogie woogie. He underscores the differences between what is called New Orleans jazz and the styles popularized in Chicago in the late 20s. Jackson reviews the roots of the big band by looking at Fletcher Henderson and Don Redman's pioneering work.
Listen to other lectures in the History of Jazz Series:
History of Jazz: Part I (http://www.forum-network.org/wgbh/forum.php?lecture_id=1231)History of Jazz: Part II (http://www.forum-network.org/wgbh/forum.php?lecture_id=1232)History of Jazz: Part III (http://www.forum-network.org/wgbh/forum.php?lecture_id=1233)History of Jazz: Part III http://www.forum-network.org/wgbh/forum.php?lecture_id=1234) | | Old South Meeting House |
| Yes | The Literary Trail of Greater Boston | Susan Wilson, author, photographer | Susan Wilson, photographer, historian and guidebook writer, brings Boston's literary past to life. | No city in America can match the literary heritage of Boston. Just as the city has a Freedom Trail connecting its Revolutionary sites, it also has a Literary Trail connecting the homes, workplaces, and final resting places of its great writers.
Professional photographer and writer Susan Wilson brings this trail to life with highlights from the newly revised edition of her beloved guidebook. | | Old South Meeting House |
| Yes | The Orb of Chatham | Bob Staake's tells the tale of five witnesses who vanished inexplicably in 1935 after reporting a strange sight in Chatham, MA. | Bob Staake, author, illustrator, cartoonist | Learn what happened on a fateful day in 1935 when five residents of Chatham, Massachusetts, reported witnessing a black 'orb' rolling through the small fishing village on the elbow of Cape Cod. With his stunning black-and-white artwork, Cape Cod author-illustrator Bob Staake graphic novel tells the tale of five witnesses who vanished inexplicably after reporting the same strange vision. | | Old South Meeting House |
| Yes | The Quincys: From Family to Faneuil Hall | John Quincy, Jr., an 11th generation descendant of the Quincys in America, discusses the history of his well-known ancestors. | John Quincy, Jr., 11th generation descendent, Quincy Family | The Quincys are one of New England's most famous political families. John Quincy Jr., an 11th generation descendant of the Quincys in America and author of Quincy's Market, discusses the history of his well-known ancestors. From the early 19th century's Edmund de Quincy to Mayor Josiah Quincy, the man responsible for building one of Boston's best known landmarks, Faneuil Hall Marketplace. | | Old South Meeting House |
| Yes | The Real Family Behind 'Little Women' | Jan Turnquist discusses the daily activities and pursuits of The Alcott's, a trailblazing family of reformers in Boston. | Jan Turnquist, executive director, Orchard House | In this slide lecture Jan Turnquist, executive director of Orchard House, discusses the daily activities and pursuits of The Alcott's, a trailblazing family of reformers. | | Old South Meeting House |
| Yes | The Station Nightclub Fire | Two Providence Journal staffers discuss local media commitment to resolving questions about the deadly fire that tore through a crowded bar in East Warwick, Rhode Island. | Thomas E. Heslin, editor, Providence JournalPaul Edward Parker, reporter, Providence Journal | Fire broke out inside a crowded bar south of Providence on the night of Thursday, February 20, 2003. The six-minute conflagration, which eventually killed 100 people and injured more than 200, was among the deadliest nightclub fires in United States history. In this illustrated lecture, Thomas E. Heslin, metropolitan managing editor and Paul Edward Parker, investigative reporter, for the Providence Journal, discuss how their newspaper devoted extraordinary resources to the coverage of this story in the pursuit of answers to such basic questions as who lived, who died and why? | | Old South Meeting House |
| Yes | The Tuskegee Airmen | Enoch Woodhouse, a Boston attorney and veteran Tuskegee Airman, will discuss the nation's first black military airmen who faced racism and bigotry at home. | Enoch Woodhouse, attorney, veteran Tuskegee Airman | The heroic deeds of the Tuskegee Airmen in World War II were an important factor in ending racial segregation in the U.S. military by 1948. | | Old South Meeting House |
| Yes | The Workers of Boston's Big Dig | Hintlian, who has photographed over 5,000 Big Dig workers, shows images from his new book and discusses the difficulties and joys of assembling this collection. | Michael Hintlian, photographer | Starting in 1997, Michael Hintlian began photographing the 5,000 men and women who worked on the Big Dig. Despite being thrown off of one site after another, his perseverance paid off in a book of stunning, gritty black-and-white photographs entitled Digging: The Workers of Boston's Big Dig. In celebration of the final stages of the Big Dig and the people who work extraordinarily hard each day to make it a possibility, Hintlian shows his work and discusses the difficulties and joys of putting this collection together. | | Old South Meeting House |
| Yes | Town Meeting with Howard Zinn | Howard Zinn discusses his classic book A People's History of the United States in an interactive town meeting. | Howard Zinn, professor emeritus, political science, Boston University | Join this interactive town meeting with Howard Zinn, upon the reissue of his classic book A People's History of the United States, moderated by James R. Green, Professor of History at UMass, Boston.
This event was presented in collaboration with the Organization of American Historians as a Partners in Public Dialogue Program. | | Old South Meeting House |
| No | Vindication: A Life of Mary Wollstonecraft | Gordon tells the stories behind Wollstonecraft's beliefs and battles as a foremother of education and human rights, women's rights, female sexuality and marriage. | | "She was not a born genius, she became one," says author Lyndall Gordon, of Wollstonecraft. Gordon discusses how this independent, compassionate woman who devised a blueprint for human change achieved that distinction. Wollstonecraft's wide, evolving circles of friends, benefactors, mentors, admirers and detractors are richly sketched out by Gordon, and drama (a money-squandering, abusive father; a sister trapped in a tyrannical marriage; financial crises; unfaithful lovers; attempted suicides) abounds. Wollstonecraft's life was an adventurous one; in Paris, she watched as the admired French Revolution became the Reign of Terror. Yet Wollstonecraft's adventurous life illuminates rather than obscures the philosophical and historical work that made her the foremother of much modern thinking about education and human rights, as well as about women's rights, female sexuality and the institution of marriage. | | Old South Meeting House |
| No | Walking with Henry David Thoreau | Richard Smith takes us for a visit with Concord native Henry David Thoreau as he reads from his nature essay 'Walking.' | Richard Smith, historian, actor, Concord Museum | "In the streets and in society I am almost invariably cheap and dissipated, my life is unspeakably mean. But alone in the distant woods or fields, in unpretending sprout-lands or pastures tracked by rabbits, even in a bleak and, to most, cheerless day, like this, when a villager would be thinking of his inn, I come to myself, I once more feel myself grandly related, and that cold and solitude are friends of mine. I suppose that this value, in my case, is equivalent to what others get by churchgoing and prayer. I come home to my solitary woodland walk as the homesick go home. I thus dispose of the superfluous and see things as they are, grand and beautiful. I have told many that I walk every day about half the daylight, but I think they do not believe it. I wish to get the Concord, the Massachusetts, the America, out of my head and be sane a part of every day." - Thoreau's Journal, January 7, 1857
In a first-person performance Richard Smith takes us for a visit with the Concord native, American writer and original thinker Henry David Thoreau as he reads from his nature essay 'Walking,' which began as a lecture called "The Wild," delivered by Henry at the Concord Lyceum on April 23, 1851. He gave this lecture many times, developing it into the essay finally published in the Atlantic Monthly after his death, in 1862. | | Old South Meeting House |
| Yes | War of Words: The Last Colonial War in American Literature | Franklin discusses the novels of James Fenimore Cooper, author of The Last of the Mohicans. | Wayne Franklin, professor, Northeastern | As a young author, James Fenimore Cooper set out to write a series of Revolutionary War era novels, but abruptly changed his plans after his first visit in 1825 to several classic French and Indian War sites in northern New York.
Professor Wayne Franklin of Northeastern University explains how The Last of the Mohicans the first of Cooper's many "colonial" novels, helped to create a popular understanding of the discontinuities and radical disruptions of this country's first 150 years. | | Old South Meeting House |