Of some 12,000 Union Civil War surgeons, only 14 were Black men. Jill Newmark’s book Without Concealment, Without Compromise: The Courageous Lives of Black Civil War Surgeons (Southern Illinois Univ. Press, 2023) is the first-ever comprehensive exploration of the surgeon’s lives and service. [Read more…] about The Courageous Lives of Black Civil War Surgeons
Massachusetts Historical Society
Corporations that Built British Colonialism
Across four centuries, from Ireland to India, British colonialism was above all the business of corporations. Corporations conceived, promoted, financed, and governed overseas expansion, making claims over territory and peoples while ensuring that British and colonial society were invested in their ventures. [Read more…] about Corporations that Built British Colonialism
Politics of Trash: Corruption & Clean Cities, 1890–1929
The Politics of Trash: How Governments Used Corruption to Clean Cities, 1890–1929 (Cornell Univ. Press, 2023) by Patricia Strach of the University of Albany and Kathleen Sullivan of Ohio University explains how municipal trash collection solved odorous urban problems using nongovernmental and often unseemly means. [Read more…] about Politics of Trash: Corruption & Clean Cities, 1890–1929
Indivisible: Daniel Webster & the Birth of a Nation
The book 
Indivisible: Daniel Webster & the Birth of American Nationalism (Riverhead Books, 2022) by Joel Richard Paul tells the story of how Webster, a young New Hampshire attorney turned politician, rose to national prominence through his powerful oratory and unwavering belief in the United States. [Read more…] about Indivisible: Daniel Webster & the Birth of a Nation
Understanding Wax Seals
In the latest episode of the Massachusetts Historical Society podcast The Object of History, 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importance of studying wax seals, objects that accompany but are often overlooked when historians focus on the text of historical documents. [Read more…] about Understanding Wax Seals
Theodore Roosevelt on Horseback
Theodore Roosevelt gave this signed photograph to his close friend and confidant Senator Henry Cabot Lodge in May 1902. The two men first met at the Porcellian Club at Harvard University and then again in 1884 when Republican Party politics brought them together in their support of presidential candidate James G. Blaine. [Read more…] about Theodore Roosevelt on Horseback
School Discipline & the Rise of Mass Incarceration
In American cities throughout the North and South, discriminatory discipline emerged or increased during desegregation, creating a “pushout” phenomenon in which the repeated use of suspension compelled students to drop out of school. [Read more…] about School Discipline & the Rise of Mass Incarceration
Royal Government in the Declaration of Independence
The Massachusetts Historical Society will host “From ‘league & amity’ to ‘absolute Tyranny’: The History of Royal Government in the Declaration of Independence,” a program by Steven Sarson of Jean Moulin University, with comment by Brendan McConville of Boston University, set for Tuesday, April 4th. [Read more…] about Royal Government in the Declaration of Independence
Movie-Mad Girls: Early 20th Century Female Suicidality
Diana W. Anselmo’s recent publication “Movie-Mad Girls: Female Suicidality in Early Twentieth-Century United States” explores the cultural and political reach of “bad feelings” beyond the strictly psychoanalytic. [Read more…] about Movie-Mad Girls: Early 20th Century Female Suicidality
Mourning the Presidents: Loss & Legacy in American Culture
The Massachusetts Historical Society will host “Mourning the Presidents: Loss & Legacy in American Culture,” a virtual program by Dr. Lindsay M. Chervinsky set for Monday, April 3rd. [Read more…] about Mourning the Presidents: Loss & Legacy in American Culture