Massachusetts Historical Society

Conferences

1775: A Society on the Brink of War and Revolution

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April 10-11, 2025

About

The Concord Museum, the David Center for the American Revolution at the American Philosophical Society, and the Massachusetts Historical Society will hold a conference on April 10-11, 2025 on the theme “1775”. The conference will be convened at the Concord Museum and marks the 250th anniversary of the battles of Lexington and Concord. There will be opportunities for attendees to visit historic sites and view objects and collections significant to the Revolution.

Call for Proposals

What challenges did New England society face in this moment, and how did they impact the outbreak of fighting in 1775? The conference organizers seek proposals from scholars across fields whose perspectives may bear new insight into British American society, culture and economy on the brink of its collapse; the origins of the American Revolution; and the outbreak of military conflict.

Topics may include, but are not limited to:

Presenters are asked to submit a proposal of no more than 250 words along with a cover letter and a short CV by October 15, 2024. Proposals should be sent via email to Cassandra Cloutier, Assistant Director of Research, Massachusetts Historical Society at ccloutier@airllevant.com.

Selected presenters will have travel expenses covered, and the David Center may commission a volume of papers drawn from the conference. Conference organizers will compose panels, and we are not accepting panel proposals.

Header Image: A View from the Town of Concord, by Timothy Martin Minot. Massachusetts, about 1825. Concord Museum Collection, Bequest of Mrs. Stedman Buttrick, Sr.; Pl414.

Racial Histories of Higher Education in New England: A Symposium Co-Hosted by The New England Quarterly 

September 27, 2024

Learn more here.

2024 Conference: Conrad E. Wright Research Conference on Citizenship

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The Conrad E. Wright Conference series was endowed by The Honorable Levin H. Campbell in honor of Conrad Edick Wright, former Director of Research and Sibley Editor.

 

July 11-13, 2024

Program

About

The centennial of both the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924 and Immigration Act of 1924 offers an opportunity to explore the intersection of two subjects that have not always been considered alongside each other. However, as both scholars of Native American and U.S. immigration history grapple with the legacies of settler colonialism in their respective fields, the links between the aforementioned pieces of legislation come into clearer focus. Recent scholarship points out that the “peopling” of the United States not only occurred through the forces of international migration, but also reflects the incorporation of Indigenous peoples, forced or enslaved migrants from Africa and elsewhere, and the movement of borders that turned people into newcomers regardless of whether or not they actually moved. The degree to which those groups were included or excluded from citizenship, cultural “membership,” or even the right to remain in the nation has however varied widely. This conference will bring together scholars to explore the broad themes associated with citizenship and other variations of national belonging reflected in both the pieces of landmark legislation featured here.

The conference and workshop will take place at the Massachusetts Historical Society and Suffolk University in Boston on 11-13 July 2024. The panels and presentations will take place on 11-12 July with the teacher workshop on 13 July.

Conference Steering Committee

Registration

Registration is required for each day of the conference.

Graduate students attend for free. Please email Assistant Director of Research Cassie Cloutier (ccloutier@airllevant.com) and note which days you wish to attend.

Schedule

Thursday, July 11
Massachusetts Historical Society, 1154 Boylston Street, Boston

3:00-4:30pm
Registration/Reception, Dowse Library

4:30-5:45pm, 
Keynote Panel, Red Room

Moderator: Sunu Kodumthara

Friday, July 12
Suffolk University, Sargent Hall, 120 Tremont Street, Boston

9:00-10:15am
Panel 1, Room 235

Commenter: Lila Teeters Knolle

10:15-10:30am
Break 

10:30-11:45am
Panel 2, Room 285

Commenter: Barbara Krauthamer

Panel 3, Room 235

Commenter: Benjamin Railton

11:45am-1:30pm
Lunch

1:30-2:45pm
Panel 4, Room 285

Commenter: Kunal Parker

Panel 5, Room 235

Commenter: Brenden Rensink

2:45-3:00pm
Break

3:00-4:15pm
Panel 6, Room 235

Commenter: Marcia Zug

Saturday, July 13
Massachusetts Historical Society, 1154 Boylston Street, Boston

Teacher Workshop
 

K-12 Teacher Workshop

As an organization that operates within academia and the public history arena, the Massachusetts Historical Society both champions important scholarship and supports vital public history initiatives like professional development for K-12 instruction. This conference will serve both constituencies—scholars and K-12 educators—by providing a platform to consider how the classroom serves as a key site of historical representation. Teachers will be invited to attend the traditional academic sessions, and scholars in turn will be invited to participate in a concluding teacher workshop at the end of the conference. We encourage participation from scholars who are eager to engage with and learn from K-12 educators, as well as teachers who are looking to incorporate the latest scholarship into the classroom. Learn more here.


2023 Conference: Empire and its Discontent, 1763-1773

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December 1-2, 2023

Program

 

About

The David Center for the American Revolution at the American Philosophical Society and the Massachusetts Historical Society intend to host a conference on the theme “Empire and Its Discontent” at the Massachusetts Historical Society on December 1 and 2, 2023. This conference is part of a series of interdisciplinary and international meetings designed to re-examine the origins, course and consequences of the American Revolution. Our 2023 meetings mark the 260th anniversary of the Treaty of Paris that ended the Seven Years’ War and the 250th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party. We intend to use this gathering to examine the British empire at its moment of great triumph, in 1763, with its enemies defeated and its control spreading from India to the Mississippi; and again at 1773, with its control beginning to slip away in North America as a radical mobilization began against imperial power.

Registration

There is no fee, but registration is required. To attend, please email Assistant Director of Research Cassie Cloutier (ccloutier@airllevant.com) to be added to the registration list. Please also note which days you wish to attend and any dietary restrictions you may have.

There is limited space for Day 1 of the conference and we are currently at capacity for Day 2 of the conference. If you would like to be placed on the waitlist, please e-mail Cassie Cloutier (ccloutier@airllevant.com). If space becomes available, we will contact the names on the list on Thursday, November 30.

Schedule

Friday, December 1

3:30-4:45pm

Panel 1: Imperial Administration

Moderator: Frank Cogliano, University of Edinburgh

5:00-6:00pm

Opening Reception

6:00-7:00pm

Opening Keynote: Could the Empire Have Been Saved?

Moderator: Brendan McConville, Boston University

Saturday, December 2

9:00-9:15am

Welcome

9:15-10:30am

Panel 2: Global Margins and Peripheries

Moderator: Eliga Gould, University of New Hampshire

10:30-11:00am

Break

11:00-12:15pm

Panel 3: Fringes and Frontiers

Moderator: Kate Grandjean, Wellesley College

12:15-1:30pm

Lunch

1:30-2:45pm

Panel 4: Commerce, Culture, and its Discontent

Moderator: Zara Anishanslin, University of Delaware

2:45-3:00pm

Break

3:00-4:00pm

Wrap up / Spilling the tea with:

Moderator: Patrick Spero, George Washington Presidential Library, Mt. Vernon
 


Conference Publications

Since its first conference volume on American Unitarianism, issued in 1989, the MHS has made the scholarship developed through its conferences widely and permanently available to the field.

The MHS publication series Studies in American History and Culture comprises many of these volumes. More recently, MHS conference volumes published by other presses have given our conference scholarship an even wider reach. Peruse these essay collections.


Past Conferences

Learn more about past conferences here.

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