The Object of History

Join us on January 6, 2025 for Historians & Their Histories, the new podcast from the Massachusetts Historical Society. In this new series, we are introducing you to the historians who write the histories. In each episode, we sit down with a scholar who has received fellowship support from the Massachusetts Historical Society. We learn about their origin stories and ask them about why they became students of the past. And we get a sneak peek at their current projects, too.

On this season of The Object of History, we are visiting institutions and organizations that have a connection to the MHS either through collections that we house or objects that we have loaned to them. But, first, we begin this season by discussing our very own headquarters in Boston. We sit down with various MHS staff members to learn more about the construction of the building, its maintenance, and their own experiences at 1154 Boylston Street.

Learn more about episode objects here: https://www.masshist.org/podcast/season-4-episode-1-1154

Email us at [email protected].

Episode Special Guests:

Dan Sweeney is the Facility Manager at the MHS. He began working at the Society in 2010.

James P. Harrison III has been Custodian at the MHS since 1990.

This episode uses materials from:

Canoe by Podington Bear (Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 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)

In a recent episode of The Object of History, titled "The Mortal & Everlasting Life of Frederic Augustus James: Enduring Life Behind the Deadline of a Civil War POW Camp", we discussed Frederic Augustus James's experience in the Andersonville prisoner of war camp during the Civil War. In this bonus episode, we sit down with MHS Library Assistant Brandon McGrath-Neely. Brandon shares his impressions of James's writings and discusses his experience as a Park Ranger at the Andersonville National Historic Site and National Prisoner of War Museum.

Learn more about episode objects here: https://www.masshist.org/podcast/season-3-bonus-episode-inside-andersonville

Email us at [email protected].

Listen to "The Mortal & Everlasting Life of Frederic Augustus James: Enduring Life Behind the Deadline of a Civil War POW Camp".

Episode Special Guest:

Brandon McGrath-Neely is a current student at Simmons University's dual-degree Masters of Library and Information Science and History program. He is a graduate of Gettysburg College, where we worked as a Civil War Fellow, documentary filmmaker, and a Brian C. Pohanka Intern at Andersonville National Historic Site and National Prisoner of War Museum.

This episode uses materials from:

Bald Eagle 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)

In a recent episode of The Object of History, titled "Events That Did Not Happen", we examined several items from the MHS collections that marked events that did not actually take place. In this bonus episode, we sit down with MHS Library Assistant Hannah Goeselt to learn more about Boston's statue of Leif Erikson and Eben Horsford's efforts to commemorate Norse discoverers of America.

Learn more about episode objects here: https://www.masshist.org/podcast/season-3-bonus-episode-eben-horsfords-nordic-nostalgia

Email us at [email protected].

Listen to "Events That Did Not Happen".

Read Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 of Hannah's blog post on "Horsford's Vikings of New England".

Episode Special Guest:

Hannah Goeselt joined the MHS as a Library Assistant in October of 2023 after graduating from Simmons' Master of Library and Information Science program. She mostly writes and thinks about manuscripts as material objects and their individual journeys through history.

This episode uses materials from:

Ginger 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)

In this episode, we are focusing on the Civil War and the prisoner of war experience of Frederic Augustus James and others like him. Elaine Heavey, the Director of the Library at the MHS, introduces us to James' diary and letters held by the MHS. Historian Evan Kutzler, author of Living By Inches: The Smells, Sounds, Tastes, and Feeling of Captivity in Civil War Prisons, tells us more about the prisoner of war experience. And the MHS Curator of Art & Artifacts Emerita, Anne Bentley, describes a few objects in our collection created by prisoners of war or taken from prisons during the Civil War.

Learn more about episode objects here: https://www.masshist.org/podcast/season-3-episode-8-frederic-augustus-james

Email us at [email protected].

Episode Special Guests:

Elaine Heavey, Director of the Library, joined the Library Readers Services team at the MHS 2006. She previously worked as a high school history teacher at Bridgewater-Raynham Regional High School. Elaine holds a BA in History and Religious Studies from Stonehill College, and an Masters in Library Science from Simmons College.

Evan Kutzler is an associate professor of U.S. and public history at Western Michigan University. He is the author of Living by Inches: The Smells, Sounds, Tastes, and Feeling of Captivity in CIvil War Prisons (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2019) and a former park ranger at Andersonville National Historic Site.

This episode uses materials from:

Bald Eagle 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)

On this episode, we take a look at events that never happened and are yet commemorated in some fashion. We find the monument to one such event on Boston's Commonwealth Avenue Mall. We also take a look at a token that marks the presidential election of an American politician and a set of medals struck to mark a great naval victory, neither of which happened.

Learn more about episode objects here: https://www.masshist.org/podcast/season-3-episode-7-events-that-did-not-happen

Email us at [email protected].

Learn more about the Lusitania Medal here.

Episode Special Guest:

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:

Ginger 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)

In this episode, we continue our conversation with Prof. Matthew Dennis, author of the book American Relics and the Politics of Public Memory. Prof. Dennis discussed corporeal relics with us in Part 1 of this discussion. In Part 2, we talk about natural specimens as well as objects that are given significance by the connection they have to an historic event or figure. MHS Curator of Art & Artifacts Emerita, Anne Bentley, and Chief Historian & Stephen T. Riley Librarian, Peter Drummey, also return to help us look at the remains of a Blackburnian warbler and a pair of epaulets that belonged to General George Washington.

Learn more about episode objects here: https://www.masshist.org/podcast/season-3-episode-6-relics-one-of-a-kind

Email us at [email protected].

Episode Special Guest:

Matthew Dennis is Professor of History and Environmental Studies Emeritus at the University of Oregon and now lives in New York City. His books include Cultivating a Landscape of Peace: Iroquois-European Encounters in 17th-Century America; Red, White, and Blue Letter Days: An American Calendar; Riot and Revelry in Early America; Encyclopedia of Holidays and Celebrations, 3 vols.; Seneca Possessed: Indians, Witchcraft, and Power in the Early American Republic; and American Relics and the Politics of Public Memory.

This episode uses materials from:

Yellow-rumped Warbler 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)

In this episode, we speak with historian Matthew Dennis about his book, which looks at relics in American memory. With Peter Drummey, the Chief Historian & Stephen T. Riley Librarian, and Anne Bentley, the Curator of Art & Artifacts Emerita at the MHS, we examine two pieces of a blood-soaked towel and a fishhook made from human bone.

Learn more about episode objects here: https://www.masshist.org/podcast/season-3-episode-5-relics-corporeal-remains

Email us at [email protected].

Episode Special Guest:

Matthew Dennis is Professor of History and Environmental Studies Emeritus at the University of Oregon and now lives in New York City. His books include Cultivating a Landscape of Peace: Iroquois-European Encounters in 17th-Century America; Red, White, and Blue Letter Days: An American Calendar; Riot and Revelry in Early America; Encyclopedia of Holidays and Celebrations, 3 vols.; Seneca Possessed: Indians, Witchcraft, and Power in the Early American Republic; and American Relics and the Politics of Public Memory.

This episode uses materials from:

Monday 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)

On this episode, we are investigating the phenomenon of Egyptomania, a "fascination with the style of Egypt, but also the people, and the landscape, and antiquity". We sit down with Lea Stephenson, a PhD Candidate in Art History at the University of Delaware, to examine Egyptomania's second wave during the Gilded Age. Lea helps us examine two collections by Americans who documented their travels to Egypt through various media. We also discuss these American travelers and their relationship with the landscape.

Learn more about episode objects here: https://www.masshist.org/podcast/season-3-episode-4-egyptomania

Email us at [email protected].

Episode Special Guest:

Lea Stephenson is a PhD Candidate in Art History at the University of Delaware, where her dissertation considers Euro-American artists and collectors in Egypt during the Gilded Age. Currently, she is the Luce Foundation Curatorial Fellow in American Paintings & Works on Paper at Historic Deerfield.

This episode uses materials from:

Box Canyon by Chad Crouch (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)

On this episode, learn more about abolitionist Jonathan Walker, known as the "Branded Hand", because of a punishment he received for attempting to rescue 7 enslaved laborers in 1844. Hannah Elder, the Associate Reference Librarian for Rights and Reproductions at the MHS, and Katherine Fein, a PhD candidate in the Department of Art History & Archaeology at Columbia University, join us as we discuss how abolitionists harnessed the new technology of photography to showcase the brutality of the system of slavery.

Learn more about episode objects here: https://www.masshist.org/podcast/season-3-episode-3-branded-hand

Email us at [email protected].

Episode Special Guests:

Katherine Fein is a PhD candidate in the Department of Art History & Archaeology at Columbia University. Her article about the daguerreotype of Jonathan Walker's branded hand was published in Oxford Art Journal.

Hannah Elder, Associate Reference Librarian for Rights and Reproductions, has been with the MHS since 2018. She holds a BA in Anthropology from the University of Maine and an MLIS from Simmons University. Her historical interests include the history of the book, queer history, and the lived experiences of ordinary women.

This episode uses materials from:

Belted Kingfisher 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)