On this episode of The Object of History , we visit an item from the MHS collection currently on loan to the Museum of African American History on Boston’s Beacon Hill. We examine the imposing stone that enabled the printing of William Lloyd Garrison’s abolitionist publication, The Liberator . While visiting the Museum, we learn more about the building’s importance to African American history in Boston as well as the Museum’s current exhibits. Learn more about episode objects here: https://www.m...
Jun 15, 2025•43 min•Season 4Ep. 7
On this episode, we visit the Massachusetts Audubon Society (Mass Audubon). While there, we examine some objects related to the early history of the Society from Membership Specialist, Emily Gray. MHS Chief Historian Peter Drummey and Bancroft Poor, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer at Mass Audubon, tell us about the Society’s formation as an advocacy group at the turn of the twentieth century and how its goals have changed over time. Learn more about episode objects here: http...
May 15, 2025•32 min•Season 4Ep. 6
On this episode, we continue our visit to Mount Auburn Cemetery. Joined by biographer Natalie Dykstra, we visit the Gardner tomb where Isabella Stewart Gardner is buried. We learn more about Gardner and her family's relationship to the history of Boston from Dykstra and Chief Historian Peter Drummey. Mount Auburn is the first American cemetery that purposely combined commemoration with elements of experimental gardening, picturesque landscape design, and access to nature, starting a trend across...
Apr 15, 2025•41 min•Season 4Ep. 5
On this episode, we visit the Mount Auburn Cemetery in nearby Cambridge and Watertown, Massachusetts. Following a suggestion by Hannah Elder, Associate Reference Librarian for Rights and Reproductions at the MHS, we investigate one connection that we have to the Cemetery: a key to Robert C. Winthrop’s tomb. Mount Auburn is the first American cemetery that purposely combined commemoration with elements of experimental gardening, picturesque landscape design, and access to nature, starting a trend...
Mar 15, 2025•44 min•Season 4Ep. 4
In this episode, we visit the Bulfinch Building at the Massachusetts General Hospital to examine one of the most, if not the most, significant discoveries in modern medicine. Sarah Alger, the Director of the Paul S. Russell, MD Museum of Medical History and Innovation, shows us the hospital's Ether Dome where the first public surgery using an anesthetic was performed. Back at the MHS, we sit down with Chief Historian Peter Drummey and Curator of Art and Artifacts Emerita Anne Bentley to learn mo...
Feb 15, 2025•39 min•Season 4Ep. 3
In this episode, we begin our exploration of the greater Boston area and institutions that are connected to the MHS through shared collections. We first visit the Old North Church located in the North End to speak with Nikki Stewart, Executive Director of Old North Illuminated, and Patrick Gabridge, the producing artistic director of Plays in Place. We learn more about the building, its significance to the American Revolution, and its relationship to the Society's collections. Learn more about e...
Jan 15, 2025•45 min•Season 4Ep. 2
Join us on January 6, 2025 for Historians & Their Histories , the new podcast from the Massachusetts Historical Society. In this new series, we are introducing you to the historians who write the histories. In each episode, we sit down with a scholar who has received fellowship support from the Massachusetts Historical Society. We learn about their origin stories and ask them about why they became students of the past. And we get a sneak peek at their current projects, too. Learn more here: ...
Dec 22, 2024•2 min
On this season of The Object of History , we are visiting institutions and organizations that have a connection to the MHS either through collections that we house or objects that we have loaned to them. But, first, we begin this season by discussing our very own headquarters in Boston. We sit down with various MHS staff members to learn more about the construction of the building, its maintenance, and their own experiences at 1154 Boylston Street. Learn more about episode objects here: https://...
Dec 15, 2024•34 min•Season 4Ep. 1
In a recent episode of The Object of History , titled " The Mortal & Everlasting Life of Frederic Augustus James: Enduring Life Behind the Deadline of a Civil War POW Camp ", we discussed Frederic Augustus James's experience in the Andersonville prisoner of war camp during the Civil War. In this bonus episode, we sit down with MHS Library Assistant Brandon McGrath-Neely. Brandon shares his impressions of James's writings and discusses his experience as a Park Ranger at the Andersonville Nati...
Aug 15, 2024•22 min
In a recent episode of The Object of History , titled " Events That Did Not Happen ", we examined several items from the MHS collections that marked events that did not actually take place. In this bonus episode, we sit down with MHS Library Assistant Hannah Goeselt to learn more about Boston's statue of Leif Erikson and Eben Horsford's efforts to commemorate Norse discoverers of America. Learn more about episode objects here: https://www.masshist.org/podcast/season-3-bonus-episode-eben-horsford...
Jul 15, 2024•18 min
In this episode, we are focusing on the Civil War and the prisoner of war experience of Frederic Augustus James and others like him. Elaine Heavey, the Director of the Library at the MHS, introduces us to James' diary and letters held by the MHS. Historian Evan Kutzler, author of Living By Inches: The Smells, Sounds, Tastes, and Feeling of Captivity in Civil War Prisons , tells us more about the prisoner of war experience. And the MHS Curator of Art & Artifacts Emerita, Anne Bentley, describ...
Jun 15, 2024•43 min•Season 3Ep. 8
On this episode, we take a look at events that never happened and are yet commemorated in some fashion. We find the monument to one such event on Boston's Commonwealth Avenue Mall. We also take a look at a token that marks the presidential election of an American politician and a set of medals struck to mark a great naval victory, neither of which happened. Learn more about episode objects here: https://www.masshist.org/podcast/season-3-episode-7-events-that-did-not-happen Email us at podcast@ma...
May 15, 2024•32 min•Season 3Ep. 7
In this episode, we continue our conversation with Prof. Matthew Dennis, author of the book American Relics and the Politics of Public Memory . Prof. Dennis discussed corporeal relics with us in Part 1 of this discussion. In Part 2, we talk about natural specimens as well as objects that are given significance by the connection they have to an historic event or figure. MHS Curator of Art & Artifacts Emerita, Anne Bentley, and Chief Historian & Stephen T. Riley Librarian, Peter Drummey, a...
Apr 15, 2024•35 min•Season 3Ep. 6
In this episode, we speak with historian Matthew Dennis about his book, which looks at relics in American memory. With Peter Drummey, the Chief Historian & Stephen T. Riley Librarian, and Anne Bentley, the Curator of Art & Artifacts Emerita at the MHS, we examine two pieces of a blood-soaked towel and a fishhook made from human bone. Learn more about episode objects here: https://www.masshist.org/podcast/season-3-episode-5-relics-corporeal-remains Email us at podcast@masshist.org . Episo...
Mar 15, 2024•35 min•Season 3Ep. 5
On this episode, we are investigating the phenomenon of Egyptomania, a "fascination with the style of Egypt, but also the people, and the landscape, and antiquity". We sit down with Lea Stephenson, a PhD Candidate in Art History at the University of Delaware, to examine Egyptomania's second wave during the Gilded Age. Lea helps us examine two collections by Americans who documented their travels to Egypt through various media. We also discuss these American travelers and their relationship with ...
Feb 15, 2024•33 min•Season 3Ep. 4
On this episode, learn more about abolitionist Jonathan Walker, known as the “Branded Hand”, because of a punishment he received for attempting to rescue 7 enslaved laborers in 1844. Hannah Elder, the Associate Reference Librarian for Rights and Reproductions at the MHS, and Katherine Fein, a PhD candidate in the Department of Art History & Archaeology at Columbia University, join us as we discuss how abolitionists harnessed the new technology of photography to showcase the brutality of the ...
Jan 15, 2024•37 min•Season 3Ep. 3
In this episode, we discuss the field of Disability History and how it relates to several items at the MHS. Jenny Reiss, a Ph.D. candidate at University of Pennsylvania, introduces us to Gouverneur Morris, a founding father of the United States who lived with disabilities. We then take a look at several 19th and 20th century objects in the collection that relate to the history of disability. Learn more about episode objects here: https://www.masshist.org/podcast/season-3-episode-2-gouverneur-mor...
Dec 15, 2023•34 min•Season 3Ep. 2
In this episode of The Object of History, we closely examine a portrait of George Washington in which he does not resemble the familiar face on the one-dollar bill. We discuss how this might be related to President Washington’s longtime struggle with his dental health and the cultural significance of teeth in the 18th century. Episode transcript Learn more about episode object here: https://www.masshist.org/podcast/season-3-episode-1-washingtons-teeth Email us at podcast@masshist.org . Episode S...
Nov 15, 2023•34 min•Season 3Ep. 1
In 1860, a historically-minded donor presented the MHS with tree roots, which he claimed belonged to Boston’s famous Liberty Tree. The tree, an American elm, served as a rallying point and important symbol for protesters and rebels in the years leading up to the American Revolution. Were the roots actually from that hallowed tree? Are they even from an American elm? In this episode, we set out to solve the mystery. Learn more about episode objects here: https://www.masshist.org/podcast/season-2-...
Jul 15, 2023•38 min•Season 2Ep. 9
In this episode, we are taking a close look at some of the oldest items in the Society's collection. W. Dean Eastman Undergraduate Resident, Erin Olding, takes us along as she examines manuscripts from the Middle Ages that are illuminated with gold and silver. Learn more about episode objects here: https://www.masshist.org/podcast/season-2-episode-8-illuminated-manuscripts Email us at podcast@masshist.org . Episode Special Guests: Erin Olding was one of the two interns for the MHS's innagural W....
Jun 15, 2023•36 min•Season 2Ep. 8
In this episode, we find out what it takes to live like a historical figure and how collections like the Adams Papers can help us rethink daily life in both the past and the present. We sit down with Gwen Fries, the Production Editor of the Adams Papers at the Massachusetts Historical Society, to discuss an experiment she conducted during the lockdown of 2020. Gwen spent a week of her life living like John Quincy Adams. We discuss what daily life was like for the sixth president of the United St...
May 15, 2023•34 min•Season 2Ep. 7
In this episode, Danny Bottino, a Ph.D. candidate at Rutgers University, explains the importance of studying wax seals, objects that accompany but are often overlooked when historians focus on the text of historical documents. As key components of deeds, letters, and other types of papers, wax seals tell important stories that we are just beginning to understand. Dr. Sara Georgini, the Series Editor of The Papers of John Adams , also shows us one of the most remarkable documents in the entire MH...
Apr 15, 2023•39 min•Season 2Ep. 6
In this episode, we are taking a close look at some of the smallest objects in the MHS collection. Inspired by a visit from Dr. Madeline Zehnder, a postdoctoral fellow in the Literary and Epistemic History of Small Forms Research Training Group at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, we first examine small copies of the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation. In addition, Curator of Art & Artifacts Anne Bentley shows us some of her favorite small artifacts from the collection. Learn more about epi...
Mar 15, 2023•39 min•Season 2Ep. 5
In this episode, we examine an object from the first diplomatic mission between the United States and India. We learn more about an unassuming but truly marvelous piece of furniture that once accompanied the United States’s first consul, Benjamin Joy, back from India. MHS Reading Room Supervisor, Rakashi Chand, joins the conversation to discuss Joy’s role and this unique item. Learn more about episode objects here: https://www.masshist.org/podcast/season-2-episode-4-benjamin-joys-sea-chest Email...
Feb 15, 2023•34 min•Season 2Ep. 4
In this episode, we explore the story of Thunderbolt, a dog who served as a companion to an American bomber pilot and POW, Lieutenant Robert Payne, during World War II. Research Department Intern Ian Morrison guides us through this story by highlighting the letters and photos that he discovered in the MHS collection. Learn more about episode objects here: https://www.masshist.org/podcast/season-2-episode-3-thunderbolt Email us at podcast@masshist.org . Episode Special Guests: Ian Morrison, a Bos...
Jan 15, 2023•35 min•Season 2Ep. 3
In this episode, we closely examine one of the most noteworthy items in the MHS collection: the Bucks of America flag. The flag is one of the only remaining artifacts of the Bucks of America, an African American militia based in Boston during the Revolutionary era. There is very little known about the unit with no official military record of their service. We discuss the few pieces of evidence that we have including the flag presented by Governor John Hancock after the end of the Revolutionary W...
Dec 15, 2022•35 min•Season 2Ep. 2
In this episode, we examine the career of Daniel Webster, a 19th century political figure and nationalist from New England. We look at objects that give a glimpse into the rural and political life of this legendary individual. We shall also learn about Webster’s connection to the MHS, his understanding of the term “Union,” and consider why some view him as a controversial figure. Learn more about episode objects here: https://www.masshist.org/podcast/season-2-episode-1 Email us at podcast@masshi...
Nov 15, 2022•37 min•Season 2Ep. 1
In this episode, we are exploring the life of Margaret Fuller, the extraordinary 19th century intellectual who played a central role in the transcendentalist movement. We’ll learn about a recovered parcel of Fuller’s letters to her close friend, James Freeman Clarke. The letters had been lost for more than a hundred years before they were discovered carefully preserved in an ornate folio in the home of Clarke’s descendants. Learn more about episode objects here: https://www.masshist.org/podcast/...
Jun 15, 2022•38 min•Ep. 11
In this episode, we are examining a group of letters written by the poet Phillis Wheatley to her friend Obour Tanner. These documents provide a window into a relationship between two young Black women during the age of the American Revolution. In Phillis’ letters to Obour, we catch a glimpse of their spiritual lives, their joint efforts to publish Wheatley’s books of poems, and the support they provided one another through hardship. Learn more about episode objects here: https://www.masshist.org...
May 15, 2022•35 min•Ep. 10
In this episode, we are examining several medals produced when a German U-boat torpedoed a civilian British ocean liner during the First World War. The medals became the center of a propaganda campaign that spanned the Atlantic. Originally created by a German artist, the medals quickly became tools for the Allied propaganda machine and a nightmare for the German government. Learn more about episode objects here: https://www.masshist.org/podcast/episode-9 Email us at podcast@masshist.org . Episod...
Apr 15, 2022•31 min•Ep. 9
