By Jeremy Dibbell

Noted historian 和 Thomas Jefferson scholar Merrill Peterson died on Wednesday, 23 9月 in Charlottesville, VA. Peterson was 88. 的 author or editor of some 37 books (including Jefferson in the American Mind, Thomas Jefferson 和 the New Nation, Lincoln in American Memory, Starving Armenians: America 和 the Armenian Genocide, 1915-1930，和 Library of America compilation of the writings of Thomas Jefferson), Peterson also served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Armenia at the age of 76. He taught history at the University of Virginia from 1963 until 1987.

Peterson was elected the 717th corresponding member of the MHS on 24 May 1984.

的 Charlottesville Daily Progress 有一个 full obituary.

By Jeremy Dibbell

As with many things on the Internet, it’s difficult to tell if this is new or recycled, but an interesting post came through my Google Reader this afternoon. 祖先 magazine features a “More Hidden Treasures” column, 和 这一个 注意到出版的历史学会族谱研究的潜在价值. Author Curt Witcher mentions the MHS 诉讼 的名字, noting “While the actual business activities of the society provide, 在最好的情况下, scant clues regarding other sources of information, the biographical sketches of deceased society members, often called notices or memoirs, 是金色的! Frequently with more than a page of text 和 occasionally a likeness of the individual, these notices provide tremendous genealogical data regarding parents, 配偶, 和 children. Schools that were attended, military adventures, educational accomplishments, 政治活动、教会关系和职业活动通常都包含了非常详细的内容.”

Witcher also notes the importance of the 利记手机官网 (particularly their indexes) to the genealogically-inclined.

的 entire column is well worth a read, 这是一个有用的提醒(对我们来说，希望对研究人员也是如此)，MHS的出版物可以有广泛的用途. It’s also a convenient time to reiterate that the 诉讼 现在 可用 via the scholarly database JSTOR.

By Jeremy Dibbell

Just in case you haven’t been checking in regularly with John Quincy Adams’ Twitter feed (http://www.推特.com/JQAdams_MHS)在海上航行了大约一个半月后(他们从查尔斯顿出发)，我想我应该简要介绍一下他们的最新进展, MA, you’ll remember, on 5 8月 1809).

到今天为止, 18 9月, the European mainl和 has come into view; the coast of Norway was sighted at around 5 a.m.，和 ship’s position at noon is recorded as 57 43′ latitude, 7 15′ longitude (you can see that on the JQA tracking map 在这里).

Adams continues to read at a prodigious pace; he’s now completed five volumes of Plutarch’s 生活, as well as a good portion of Massillon’s sermons. Two hundred years ago today he began reading Voyage d’Anacharsis. 你可以跟随JQA的阅读(他的许多Twitter粉丝都在这样做)每月的博客文章 8月 和 9月. Perhaps a JQA reading club is in order?

这也是一个有用的时间来提醒你，JQA的长日记提供了利记APP官网手机版每天事件的更多细节. You can view manuscript images of the 日记 via the MHS 网站 (today’s is 在这里), 以及查尔斯·弗朗西斯·亚当斯(Charles Francis Adams)通过他父亲作品的版本(今天的条目是)对长日记的部分转录 在这里).

Hard as it is to believe, they’re still more than a month away from their ultimate destination，和 worst part of the trip is still to come. 请继续关注!

By Jeremy Dibbell

的 Massachusetts Historical Society sponsors four seminar series, each addressing a diverse range of topics including: Early American History, Environmental History, 移民 & Urban History，和 History of 女性 & 性别.  Seminars are open to everyone.

Seminar meetings usually revolve around the discussion of a pre-circulated paper. Sessions open with remarks from the essayist 和 an assigned commentator, after which the discussion is opened to the floor. After each session, the Society serves a light buffet supper. 我们要求那些希望留下来吃晚饭的人提前打电话617-646-0540预订.

We 现在 offering seminar papers in PDF format at a password-protected web page. Subscribers will receive instructions for accessing the essays when we receive their payment. Annual fees for seminar subscriptions are as follows:

Boston Early American History Seminar: $25 (online)   
Environmental History Seminar: $15 (online)    
移民 & Urban History Seminar: $15 (online)

访问我们的 网站 to purchase an on-line subscription: http://yvuviv.automaticl.net/events/attend.cfm

(Visit the Schlesinger Library to 订阅 to the History of 女性 & 性别 seminar: http://www.radcliffe.edu/events/calendar.aspx)

如有疑问或注册协助，请利记手机官网研究部门:seminars@automaticl.net or 617-646-0557.

的 fall seminar season begins on 1 October, 和 all seminars appear in the MHS Events Calendar as well as in each week’s This Week @ MHS blog post.

By 安娜·库克

Last Wednesday (9 9月), long-term NEH-MHS fellow, April Haynes, gave a brown bag lunch presentation 在这里 at the MHS titled “Riotous Flesh: 性别, Physiology, 和 the Solitary Vice, 1830-1860.“阿普丽尔向我们描述了19世纪女性改革者接受生理学的方式 – the “glamour science” of the 1800s – as a way of speaking about human sexuality 和 establishing their right to act, as embodied individuals, in the public sp在这里. Specifically, 她专注于19世纪30年代激进分子西尔维斯特·格雷厄姆(Sylvester Graham)利记APP官网手机版“人类生命科学”的演讲.” In these lectures, 格雷厄姆谈到了性自我约束的美德，特别是“孤独的恶习”(手淫)的危险, 他认为, could adversely affect the nervous system of both men 和 women. 

从1833年到1837年，当格雷厄姆把这些演讲作为“给母亲们的演讲”在东北部城市上下进行时，骚乱爆发了, with male protesters alleging that Graham was a “mass seducer” of his female audience, 和 that the content of the lectures were inappropriate for women’s ears. 在回应, 女性, many of whom were active in other reform movements such as the anti-slavery movement, 抵制抗议者，坚持参加讲座的权利——有时甚至带着青春期的女儿. In 1840 a group of women founded the Ladies Physiological Society, a sister-society to the American Physiological Society, for the promotion of physiological science.  东部和中西部的妇女协会热情地寻找生理学方面的讲师和文献, bringing Grahams ideas from metropolitan centers into “into the hinterl和s.” Eventually, 生理学的语言及其思考人类性行为的道德框架从边缘进入了学校和医院等既定空间. During her stay 在这里 at the MHS, April has been using the records of the New Engl和 Female Medical College, records from girls’ schools, 以及妇女组织与传教士和传教士协会的通信以便追踪妇女将生理学语言从改革运动中带入这些机构环境的方式. 

In the conversation that followed April’s presentation, 与会者对葛培理的运动和节制激进主义之间的利记手机官网提出了问题(葛培理作为改革者的根源是在节制运动中)。, the religious dimension of his physiological theories (Graham himself was Presbyterian, but his ideas had wide appeal across religious lines), 格雷厄姆的“孤独的恶习”概念重新定义了自慰的问题，不仅关注男性，也关注女性(因为问题不再是非生殖性行为), but rather a broader lack of self-restraint).  阿普丽尔认为，格雷厄姆的新框架为女性提供了一种“重塑化身”的方式,，肯定了女性的身体和性，同时为她们提供了一条通往身体体面的道路:自我克制. 通过“抛弃一种特定的行为”(手淫)，女性有可能把自己想象成只要保持在高尚的性行为范围内就能保持纯洁的性存在. We also spoke about the striking lack of dissenting voices, even from the free-thinking radicals who, as April put it, “could think their way out of marriage!” yet did not question the danger of the solitary vice. 

Many thanks to April for sharing some of the fruits of her research with us. I, for one, look forward to reading the project in published form.  Best wishes to her as she moves on to a fellowship at the American Antiquarian Society.

By Kathleen Barker

的 Massachusetts Historical Society is partnering with the Paul Revere House, Old South Meeting House，和 Boston African American National Historical Site to deliver an engaging 和 informative teacher workshop this fall. “争取自由:马萨诸塞州的奴隶制和废除”将探讨奴隶制在殖民地/联邦的发展，以及波士顿和附近社区的个体奴隶的生活. 我们还将研究马萨诸塞州奴隶制的废除，以及废除奴隶制对我们州和国家的影响.

Participants will have the opportunity to visit all four sites (the Revere House 和 Old South on the 26th; MHS 和 the National Park on the 3rd). 的 cost of the workshop is $50. Participating teachers can earn 12  Professional Development Points after attending both days’ events 和 completing a lesson plan. (研究生学分也可用于额外费用和一些额外的课程计划.) Please visit our web calendar (yvuviv.automaticl.net/events) or contact the Education Department for more information: education@automaticl.net or 617-646-0557.

For more on the event 和 for registration directions, please see the PDF传单.