The Object of History

Latest Episodes:

Gouverneur Morris and the History of Disability Dec 15, 2023

Show notes

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-morris-and-history-disability

Email us at podcast@masshist.org.

Episode Special Guests:

Jennifer W. Reiss is a fifth year Ph.D. candidate in History at the University of Pennsylvania, where she is working on a dissertation, tentatively titled "Undone Bodies: Women and Disability in Early America", exploring the relationship between gender and disability in colonial America and the early Republic. She holds a B.A. in History and Political Science, also from Penn, a J.D. from Harvard Law School, and two Master's degrees, in Law and in History, from the University of Cambridge.

Mary Yacovone, Curator of Rare Books & Visual Materials, has been at the MHS since 1994, after beginning her library career at the Essex Institute in Salem, Mass. She holds a B.A. in English from Tufts University and a Masters in Library Science from Simmons College.

This episode uses materials from:

Across The River by Podington Bear (Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported) Psychic by Dominic Giam of Ketsa Music (licensed under a commercial non-exclusive license by the Massachusetts Historical Society through Ketsa.uk) Curious Nature by Dominic Giam of Ketsa Music (licensed under a commercial non-exclusive license by the Massachusetts Historical Society through Ketsa.uk)

"Holding the Atlantic World In His Mouth": George Washington, an MHS Portrait, and the Culture of Teeth in the 18th Century Nov 15, 2023

Show notes

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 Special Guests:

Lucy Smith is a PhD candidate at the University of Michigan in the joint History and Women & Gender Studies program. Her dissertation examines the cultural history of human teeth in the early American Republic and has taken her to 34 archives in 21 cities nationwide. Prior to graduate school, Smith worked nearly a decade in the museum field, most recently as the Education Specialist at George Washington's Mount Vernon.

This episode uses materials from:

Lens Flare by Podington Bear (Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported) Psychic by Dominic Giam of Ketsa Music (licensed under a commercial non-exclusive license by the Massachusetts Historical Society through Ketsa.uk) Curious Nature by Dominic Giam of Ketsa Music (licensed under a commercial non-exclusive license by the Massachusetts Historical Society through Ketsa.uk)

The Roots of Liberty?: An MHS Mystery Jul 15, 2023

Show notes

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-episode-9-roots-liberty-mhs-mystery

Email us at podcast@masshist.org.

Episode Special Guests:

Dr. William (Ned) Friedman is the eighth director of the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University and the Arnold Professor of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology at Harvard. He is deeply interested in the evolutionary history of plants as well as the intellectual history of evolutionary thought.

Dr. Jacqueline Reynoso is a historian of Early America whose research explores processes of geopolitical imagining in eighteenth-century North America. She is an Assistant Professor of History at CSU Channel Islands.

This episode uses materials from:

Peas Corps by Podington Bear (Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported) Psychic by Dominic Giam of Ketsa Music (licensed under a commercial non-exclusive license by the Massachusetts Historical Society through Ketsa.uk) Curious Nature by Dominic Giam of Ketsa Music (licensed under a commercial non-exclusive license by the Massachusetts Historical Society through Ketsa.uk)

Illuminating Illuminated Manuscripts Jun 15, 2023

Show notes

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. Dean Eastman Undergraduate Library Residency, working with the Library and Research departments. She is going on to study History at the University of Massachusetts Boston.

Dr. Agnieszka Rec is the Early Materials Cataloger at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University. She is working on the collecting habits of Boston bibliophile Anna Cabot Lowell Quincy Waterston.

This episode uses materials from:

All the Ways by Podington Bear (Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported) Psychic by Dominic Giam of Ketsa Music (licensed under a commercial non-exclusive license by the Massachusetts Historical Society through Ketsa.uk) Curious Nature by Dominic Giam of Ketsa Music (licensed under a commercial non-exclusive license by the Massachusetts Historical Society through Ketsa.uk)

To Live Like John Quincy Adams May 15, 2023

Show notes

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 States and what it was like to emulate him.

Learn more about episode objects here: https://www.masshist.org/podcast/season-2-episode-7-to-live-like-john-quincy-adams

Email us at podcast@masshist.org.

Episode Special Guests:

Gwen Fries is the Production Editor of the Adams Papers at the Massachusetts Historical Society. Fries holds degrees in history and corporate communications from Elizabethtown College and has been with the Adams Papers since 2016.

Neal Millikan is the Series Editor for Digital Editions with the Adams Papers at the Massachusetts Historical Society. She is currently editing the John Quincy Adams Digital Diary, part of the Mellon-sponsored Primary Source Cooperative at the MHS.

Laura Rocklyn is an award winning actress, writer, and first person historical interpreter who has performed with regional theaters across the country and worked at museums up and down the East Coast. She is currently an Acting Company Member with the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company and a museum educator at the Paul Revere House Museum.

This episode uses materials from:

Cases to Rest by Blue Dot Session (Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 Unported) Psychic by Dominic Giam of Ketsa Music (licensed under a commercial non-exclusive license by the Massachusetts Historical Society through Ketsa.uk) Curious Nature by Dominic Giam of Ketsa Music (licensed under a commercial non-exclusive license by the Massachusetts Historical Society through Ketsa.uk)

Stories Told in Wax Apr 15, 2023

Show notes

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 MHS collection.

Learn more about episode objects here: https://www.masshist.org/podcast/season-2-episode-6-stories-told-in-wax

Email us at podcast@masshist.org.

Episode Special Guests:

Daniel Bottino is a doctoral candidate in early American and early modern European history at Rutgers University. His dissertation analyzes the interaction of oral and literate culture in the creation of landscapes of colonization in seventeenth-century Maine.

Dr. Sara Georgini is the series editor for The Papers of John Adams, part of the Adams Papers editorial project based at the Massachusetts Historical Society. She is the author of Household Gods: The Religious Lives of the Adams Family and Our Library in Paris, coming soon from Oxford University Press.

This episode uses materials from:

Retrograde by Podington Bear (Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported) Psychic by Dominic Giam of Ketsa Music (licensed under a commercial non-exclusive license by the Massachusetts Historical Society through Ketsa.uk) Curious Nature by Dominic Giam of Ketsa Music (licensed under a commercial non-exclusive license by the Massachusetts Historical Society through Ketsa.uk)

Small Objects Mar 15, 2023

Show notes

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 episode objects here: https://www.masshist.org/podcast/season-2-episode-5-small-objects

Email us at podcast@masshist.org.

Episode Special Guest:

Madeline Zehnder is a Postdoctoral Researcher at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. Her current book project investigates relationships between pockets, small print formats, and fantasies of spatial and population control in the nineteenth-century United States.

This episode uses materials from:

Burned by Podington Bear (Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported) Psychic by Dominic Giam of Ketsa Music (licensed under a commercial non-exclusive license by the Massachusetts Historical Society through Ketsa.uk) Curious Nature by Dominic Giam of Ketsa Music (licensed under a commercial non-exclusive license by the Massachusetts Historical Society through Ketsa.uk)

Furnishing Foreign Relations: Benjamin Joy's Sea Chest Feb 15, 2023

Show notes

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 us at podcast@masshist.org.

Episode Special Guest:

Rakashi Chand is a member of the Reference Staff at the Massachusetts Historical Society and oversees the Society's Reading Room. She served two terms as the President of the United India Association of New England and is a member of Attorney General's Advisory Council for New Americans representing the Indian Community in Massachusetts. Rakashi takes pride in advocating for her community and promoting Indian culture, heritage and traditions in America.

This episode uses materials from:

Blue Blanket by Podington Bear (Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported) Psychic by Dominic Giam of Ketsa Music (licensed under a commercial non-exclusive license by the Massachusetts Historical Society through Ketsa.uk) Curious Nature by Dominic Giam of Ketsa Music (licensed under a commercial non-exclusive license by the Massachusetts Historical Society through Ketsa.uk)

Thunderbolt: A World War II Bomber Pilot's Canine Companion Jan 15, 2023

Show notes

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 Boston-area native, is a Junior at Bowdoin College where he is studying History and Francophone Studies. He first interned with us to learn more about curation and library science, and has since confirmed his desire to continue on in the field.

Lorien Foote is the Patricia & Bookman Peters Professor of History at Texas A&M University.

This episode uses materials from:

Cloudbank by Podington Bear (Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported) Psychic by Dominic Giam of Ketsa Music (licensed under a commercial non-exclusive license by the Massachusetts Historical Society through Ketsa.uk) Curious Nature by Dominic Giam of Ketsa Music (licensed under a commercial non-exclusive license by the Massachusetts Historical Society through Ketsa.uk)

Who Were the Bucks of America? Dec 15, 2022

Show notes

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 War.

Learn more about episode objects here: https://www.masshist.org/podcast/season-2-episode-2

Email us at podcast@masshist.org.

Episode Special Guests:

J. L. Bell is the author of The Road to Concord: How Four Stolen Cannon Ignited the Revolutionary War and proprietor of the Boston 1775 blog. An MHS Fellow, he helped to design the society's online exhibit "Thomas Nast: A Life in Cartoons."

Ben Remillard is a PhD candidate at the University of New Hampshire. His research interests include the study of war and society, memory, and digital pedagogy. His dissertation examines the lives of New England's Revolutionary War soldiers of color.

This episode uses materials from:

Great Egret by Chad Crouch (Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International) Psychic by Dominic Giam of Ketsa Music (licensed under a commercial non-exclusive license by the Massachusetts Historical Society through Ketsa.uk) Curious Nature by Dominic Giam of Ketsa Music (licensed under a commercial non-exclusive license by the Massachusetts Historical Society through Ketsa.uk)

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