Events

Learn about 1840s Hyde Square when German and Irish immigrants transformed the neighborhood with their businesses, schools, and institutions. See how in the early 1960s, Hyde Square changed again when Cuban, Puerto Rican, and Dominican immigrants transformed it into Boston’s first predominantly Hispanic neighborhood. This tour also takes us to the home of Maud Cuney Hare, a prominent music historian and one of only two black women students at the New England Conservatory of Music in 1890. You will also…

The current trend of criminalizing trans issues is nothing new—the first major wave of anti-trans legislation started in the 1840s lasted for more than a century. In this virtual talk, Dr. Susan Stryker briefly surveys this history, starting with the first prosecutions for cross-gender expression in the early colonial period, including seventeenth-century New England. Susan Stryker is Professor Emerita of Gender and Women's Studies at the University of Arizona, and a 2022-23 Stanford University Humanities Institute External Faculty Fellow. She is the…

Join the Jamaica Plain Historical Society on a walk along Green Street. Laid out in 1836, the street played a key role in Jamaica Plain’s development, functioning as a residential, commercial, and transportation conduit in the lives of the district’s residents. Although Green Street was subdivided as early as 1851 for stores, factories and houses, it was not extensively developed until the late 1870s with construction continuing until the early 1900s. The Bowditch School was completed in 1892, and early…

On June 12, 2022, the Salem Athenaeum will host a public reading of Frederick Douglass’s speech, “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July.” Douglass first gave this speech, perhaps his most famous, in Rochester, New York on July 5, 1852. As an acclaimed abolitionist orator and agent for The Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society, Douglass gave many speeches across the North and Midwest United States, including in Salem. The reading will be followed by a reception where we encourage the audience…

In this virtual talk, Dr. Leo Lovemore explores the fascinating community of women practicing medicine on Boston’s Beacon Hill during the mid-nineteenth century. Focusing on the lives and legacies of Dr. Rebecca Lee Crumpler, the first African American woman physician in the U.S., and Dr. Harriot Kezia Hunt, the first woman to apply to—and be rejected from—Harvard Medical School, the talk uncovers how these figures navigated barriers of gender, race, and sexuality to forge new approaches to health and medicine that would…

Join the Jamaica Plain Historical Society to tour this part of the JP neighborhood which developed from 19th-century summer estates into a model suburban enclave. It contains examples representative of New England architecture with designs by local architects and builders. It also contains an unusual garden city model housing development by the Boston Dwelling House Company which was founded in 1912. Please note: tours will be given based on the current COVID 19 directives from the City of Boston and…

Grab a pour and take a tour with Curator of Collections, Bronson Michaud. Hear about the untold stories from our collection and take a peek at objects on display just for you. Plus, you’ll receive a Beer with Bronson koozie to keep your beer (or root beer) cold and hands warm! Admission is free for Old Colony History Museum members, non-members are $5.