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Boston's 375th Anniversary Series

Lectures curated in celebration of the 375th anniversary of Boston's Charter on September 10, 2005. These lectures, given in some of Boston's most treasured landmarks, showcase Boston as a city of innovation, diversity, complexity, and rich history.

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Town Hall Meeting with Governor Deval Patrick

Governor Deval Patrick discusses current issues facing Massachusetts citizens in a televised Town Meeting format moderated by NECN Anchor R.D. Sahl.

A Short History of Boston

Robert J. Allison

Robert J. Allison, professor of history at Suffolk University, brings to life the major events and important figures who formed the "City on a Hill".

Trying to Achieve the American Dream in Boston

Elisabeth D. Babcock

Panelists explore what structures and networks are available to give Boston residents the reading, writing, science, and math skills they need to find solid employment and move into financial stabilit

Marc D. Draisen

Marc D. Draisen of the Metropolitan Area Planning Council asks what metro Boston will look like in 2030 if we continue to grow at our current rate.

Boston Unplugged: Mapping a Wireless Future

February 15, 2006

A panel discusses wireless technology, an affordable strategy to bridge the "digital divide", and pave the way for innovation and new tools that can strengthen education, enrich civic participation and nurture community networks.

Creating Green Cities

November 16, 2005

Peter Smith of the Boston Society of Architects, Larissa Brown, chief planner for urban design firm Goody and Clancy, and Kristina Egan, director of the Massachusetts Smart Growth Alliance discuss transit oriented development and "smart growth" are new initiatives in urban design aimed at creating "

Boston Unbound: Challenges for the 21st Century

January 4, 2004

In this lecture, journalists Neal Pierce and Curtis Johnson tackle one question: What are the Boston region's most critical challenges for the 21st Century? Pierce and Johnson provide an overview of their findings here and take audience questions.

Good City: Writers Explore 21st Century Boston

January 27, 2005

The Boston Foundation commissioned The Good City to provide a fresh image of Boston for newcomers to the city, such as those attending the Democratic National Convention and newly arriving coll

Immigration and the Changing Face of Massachusetts

The focus of this forum is the Massachusetts Institute for a New Commonwealth's recently released report providing a comprehensive look at the state's growing immigrant population.

Capitol Perspective: Cultural Tourism

Edward M. Kennedy

Capital Perspective is a forum for discussions with local community leaders to highlight local and national issues that affect the people of Massachusetts.

A History of Boston Women Artists

November 16, 2006

In honor of the 3rd edition of the Boston Women's Heritage Trail Guidebook, Erica Hirshler gives an illustrated lecture about the often overlooked contributions of Boston women artists to the world of painting and sculpture.

Extreme Makeover: Mural Edition

Gianfranco Pocobene

January 11, 2006

Gianfranco Pocobono and Richard Wolbers discuss how science and art merged to conserve the John La Farge murals at Trinity Church Boston, and what happens when the conservation choices are not clear cut and the world is watching.

Picturing Boston: Painting the Town

Erica Hirshler provides a tour of Boston's waterfront, parks, and neighborhoods through the eyes of the painters who portrayed the city. Using images from the MFA's collection, this lecture explores how artists chose to represent Boston and its inhabitants throughout its history.

Boston's Love for Neoclassical Sculptors

David B. Dearinger

David Dearinger discusses Boston's obsession with neoclassical sculpture in the 1800s.

Scandal on the Stage: Banned Theater in Boston

John D. Anderson

This program includes vignettes of censored plays in Boston, beginning with the Puritan censorship of Morton's Maypole and climaxing with the 1929 banning of Eugene O'Neill's Freudian theatrical experiment, Strange Interlude.

Amusement Parks and Grand Hotels: Boston Harbors Past

Donald Cann of the Boston Harbor Islands and John Galluzzo of the Massachusetts Audubon Society show the multiple uses of Boston Harbor by displaying a series of historical postcard images, from the Boston docks and shipyards to the amusement parks and summer playgrounds of the early 20th century.

Victorian Boulevard Preserved: Cambridge's Brattle Street

January 18, 2007

Charles Bahne discusses everything about Brattle Street, from the Mt. Auburn Cemetery to the home of Frank A. Kennedy, a Cambridge pioneer in the mass production of cookies and crackers.

Architecture of Ralph Adams Cram's Boston

Douglass Shand-Tucci

November 17, 2005

Historian Douglass Shand-Tucci discusses Ralph Adams Cram's architectural monuments as well as Cram's Boston work.

North Shore Boston: Country Houses of Essex County

Pamela Wilkinson Fox

October 4, 2005

Pamela Wilkinson Fox discusses more than 50 great houses in Boston's North Shore, designed by such architects as McKim, Mead & White, the Olmsted Brothers, Peabody & Stearns, and Ogden Codman.

Documenting Boston

Rebecca Dreyfus

Documentary film directors Rebecca Dreyfus (Stolen,) Henry Corra (Same Sex America,) and Rudi Schwab (Closed on Sundays) sit down with moderator Ellie Lee to dis

Boston Sites and Insights: A Guide to Historical Landmarks

Susan Wilson's monthly column on Boston history, "Sites and Insights," first appeared in the Boston Globe in 1987.

Bloomsday Discussion: Irish and Jews of Boston

As a part of simultaneous, international celebrations of James Joyce's Ulysses, a panel of experts discusses how the Irish and the Jews of Boston impacted the evolution of the city and each other.

Capitol Perspective: New Bedford Immigration Raid

Edward M. Kennedy

Ted Kennedy hosts a studio discussion revolving around the New Bedford, MA Immigration Worker Raid, which took place in March, 2007 at a New Bedford factory.

Overcoming Corruption and Racial Segregation in Boston Schools

Educators recount the history, the setbacks, and the successful approaches that improved the educational opportunities for Boston school children.

Beyond Black and White: Race in the Boston Public Schools

Charles J. Ogletree Jr.

Basic Black hosts an hour-long forum with panelists and an audience in the WGBH studio. The discussion explores how the Boston public school system can maintain a commitment to diversity and provide a quality education.

Blacks in Boston: A Fifty Year Retrospective

February 20, 2003

For more than 40 years, Hubie Jones has played a key role in the formation, rebuilding, and leadership of at least 30 organizations within the black community and across Boston.

Passing in Boston: The Story of the Healy Family

December 4, 2002

Boston College history professor, James O'Toole discusses his newest book Passing for White: Race, Religion, and the Healy Family, 1820-1920, which documents the extraordinary life of the Healy brothers of Boston.

Boston's 19th Century African American Communities

James Oliver Horton

January 25, 2003

As part of a graduate course presented by the Museum of Afro-American History in collaboration with Nantucket Public Schools and UMass Boston Graduate College of Education, James and Lois Horton, authors of Black Bostonians: Family Life and Community Struggle in the Antebellum North, di

Haitian Creation in Boston

Marie P. St. Fleur

Marie St. Fleur, Regine Jackson and Marc Prou discuss and celebrate the influence of Haitian immigrants in Boston.

Histories of Boston's Chinese: Research and Reflections

A panel of Boston-local Chinese American scholars and writers discuss histories of Boston's Chinese, highlighting current research, reflections, and resources.

Dieting For Sins: New England Food Reformers

Barbara Haber, author and curator of books at Harvard University's Schlesinger Library, looks at food reformist movements, including the 1889 New England Kitchen movement, during her discussion of New England culinary history.

From Apple Pie to Pad Thai

Linda Bassett speaks about New England's "Gold Coast" (Massachusetts' North Shore) and how the influx of immigrants into the area shaped the eating habits of its residents. Learn about the impact of traditional Jewish, Portuguese, Greek, and African-American dishes on New England dining rooms.

Not So Sweet: Baker Chocolate Factory

Anthony M. Sammarco

Author and historian Anthony M. Sammarco tells the fascinating and not always sweet tale of the Boston chocolate mill's roots, which date back to the 1700s. When one thinks of chocolate, the name "Baker's Chocolate" comes to mind, with its trademark chocolate woman.

Facets of Mount Auburn: Horticulture

Daniel J. Hinkley

Daniel J. Hinkley, celebrated horticulturist, plant explorer, and author, looks at the influence of Asian horticulture on Western landscapes such as Mount Auburn Cemetery.

What Lies Beneath: Sunken Treasure in Boston Harbor

Allen Gontz discusses the hunt for the wrecks of the Magnifique and Niagara in Boston Harbor.

Surveying the Shore: Cartography and Politics

Joseph Garver, reference librarian of the Harvard Map Collection, displays maps of coastal Massachusetts from the 1600s to the 1930s and shows how cartographers have drawn the shoreline to suit their political and commercial goals.

Victorian Charlestown, Massachusetts

January 4, 2007

Ed Gordon, president of the New England Victorian Society, discusses Charlestown, MA's amazing collection of Victorian structures and story its being annexed to the City of Boston.

Streets of My Youth: Brockton Disappears

After a short visit to his family's home in Brockton, Massachusetts, photographer Gerald Parker ended up returning and staying for three years and documenting his hometown literally disappearing befor

Wind Energy in Boston Harbor and Beyond

Wind power is one of the most appealing sources of renewable energy today.

Nantucket Sound Offshore Wind Farm Debate

Christopher Lydon

The WGBH Conservation Initiative hosts a debate concerning the proposed development of America's first offshore wind farm in the shallow waters of Nantucket Sound.

Digging: The Workers of Boston's Big Dig

Michael Hintlian

In celebration of the final stages of the Big Dig and the people who work extraordinarily hard each day to make it a possibility, photographer Michael Hintlian shows his work, Digging: The Workers of Boston's Big Dig, and discusses the difficulties and joys of putting this collection together

Boston's Back Bay: America's Greatest 19th Century Landfill

William M. Newman

November 9, 2006

William Newman and Wilfred Holton present an illustrated look at how environmental crises and urban crowding led to the massive project for filling Boston's Back Bay tidal marsh.

Boston's Made Land

Nancy S. Seasholes

September 28, 2006

Nancy Seasholes leads a virtual tour of Boston's Central Waterfront area and traces where and why Boston's man-made land was created, uncovering fascinating and little-known pieces of Boston history along the way.

Gaining Ground: History of Landmaking in Boston

Nancy S. Seasholes

December 2, 2003

Historian Nancy Seasholes gives us the first complete account of when, why, and how Boston's land was created. Fully one-sixth of Boston is built on made land.

Ten Years of Progress: Boston Harbor Islands National Park

Bruce Jacobson and Tom Powers talk about their work on the Boston Harbor Islands National Park Area, a unit of the National Park System that includes 34 islands within the 50-square miles of Boston Harbor.

Jamestown vs. Plymouth: America's Historical Amnesia

Karen Ordahl Kupperman

Historians Karen Ordahl Kupperman and Walter W. Woodward look at the story of John Smith, the early days of colonial speculation in Virginia and New England, and Jamestown's creation story from hell.

Literary Trail of Greater Boston

Professional photographer and writer Susan Wilson brings Boston's Freedom Trail to life with highlights from the newly revised edition of her beloved guidebook.

Scam, Scandal, Murder and Mayhem in Colonial Boston

D. Brenton Simons

October 31, 2005

In this lecture, writer D. Brenton Simons discusses his book Witches, Rakes, And Rogues: True Stories of Scam, Scandal, Murder, And Mayhem in Boston, 1630-1775 , in which he paints a darker picture of Colonial Boston than was previously imagined.

True Crimes in New England: The Boston Strangler

October 18, 2006

Alan Rogers sheds light on one of Boston's most terrifying crime sprees, one that remains unsolved to this day. Between June 14, 1962 and January 4, 1964, Boston was terrorized by a serial killer who murdered 13 women.

True Crimes in New England: Lizzie Borden

Karen Elizabeth Chaney

October 31, 2006

Author Karen Elizabeth Chaney examines the investigation and murder trial of Lizzie Borden, and describes Lizzie's quiet life after her acquittal.

Shared Legacies: Founding Generations Tell Their Stories

September 7, 2005

In celebration of Boston's 375th anniversary, a panel of authors discuss the lives of Massachusetts Bay colonists between 1630 and 1710.

Acquired Tastes: The Boston Athenaeum, 1807 - 2007

Richard Wendorf

In celebration of the Boston Athenaeum's bicentennial, Richard Wendorf presents an illustrated lecture drawing upon many objects that form part of the bicentennial exhibition.

Prelude to the Boston Massacre

Hiller Zobel, author of Prelude to the Boston Massacre: The Trial of Ebenezer Richardson and Christopher Seider and widely considered the definitive expert on the Boston Massacre and trial, explores the death of Christopher Seider, who was hailed as a martyr to the Patriot cause, and the tria

230 Years Later: The Boston Tea Party Revisited

December 11, 2003

Local historian, author and tour guide Charlie Bahne takes us back to 1773 when the talk of the town was tea. Learn about the actual value of tea not only in monetary ways, but the importance tea played in everyday civilians lives. On the 230th anniversary of the famous event, Mr.

Diary From Great Brewster Island: Girls Night Out in the 1890s

Stephanie Schorow

November 19, 2009

Author Stephanie Schorow explores the lives of four remarkable women who, on a hot July day in 1891, set off for 10 days of "roughing it" on Great Brewster Island and kept a diary of their summer adventure on their "enchanted isle." Now in the collection of the Schlesinger Library at Harvard Univers

Native Americans and the Boston Harbor Islands

Currently the home of a waste water treatment plant, many do not know Deer Island's history as an internment camp for Native Americans (many of whom died) in the 1675 war known (in Anglicized terms) as King Phillip's war.

Military History of the Boston Harbor Islands

Historian and author Jayne Triber draws on her research and experiences working at Fort Independence on Castle Island in South Boston and at the Boston Harbor Islands national park area to review the dramatic, colorful, and military history of these hidden treasures.

Rainsford Island: Resort to Reformatory

Storm Warriors: Shipwrecks and Survivors in Boston Harbor

Ed McCabe and Lory Newmyer of the Hull Lifesaving Museum share the stories of the Storm Warriors of the US Life Saving Service.

Boston's Waterfront Mobs and the American Revolution

September 13, 2006

Russell Bourne lectures on the topics presented in his book Cradle of Violence: How Boston's Waterfront Mobs Ignited the American Revolution. Bourne discusses the role of waterfront "mobs" in the Boston Massacre, the Boston Tea Party and other pre-Revolutionary events.

Patriots of Color: Revolutionary Heroes

State Representative Byron Rushing and James Horton, an historian at George Washington University, salute Native American and African American war heroes. This event includes performances and authentic music from the Revolutionary War.

Last Mantua Maker: Women in Boston's Clothing Trades

In 1845, after almost a dozen years in business, Rebecca Goodwin Major closed up shop. She was the very last Boston woman to call herself a mantuamaker in the pages of the city directory.

Talking Teapots: What Treasures Tell Us About History

November 6, 2003

Nancy Carlisle, Curator of the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities (SPNEA)'s traveling exhibition "Cherished Possessions", tells tales of treasures from the 17th to the late 20th century and how they reflect the larger historical themes of revolution, immigration, industrializati

Our Daily Bread: Tales of How Treasures Were Saved

November 13, 2003

"Cherished Possessions" exhibition manager Ken Turino recounts several fascinating stories, including that of a Dorchester family who saved two pieces of bread allegedly dating to the 17th century and a bedcover made by the mother and grandmother of Samuel Adams and passed down through generations o

Bits to Beeswax: The Conservation of Treasures

November 20, 2003

Michaela Neiro assistant conservator for the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities (SPNEA), explains how the creative use of materials, such as clay and beeswax, as well as computer technology, help conservators save cherished objects.

Paul A. Christian

February 12, 2008

Paul A. Christian and the members of the Boston Fire Historical Society discuss the history of fire in Boston. Since the massive fire of 1872, which destroyed much of downtown Boston, fire has forever altered the city's appearance, fortunes, and psyche.

Legacy of the Cocoanut Grove Fire of 1942

Stephanie Schorow

September 14, 2004

Stephanie Schorow, reporter for The Boston Herald and author of Boston on Fire: A History of Fires and Firefighting in Boston, examines many myths and misconceptions about the Cocoanut Grove nightclub fire, and evaluates its legacy and its continuing impact on Boston.

Hero at the Great Boston Fire of 1872

September 21, 2004

Bruce Twickler, writer and director of the film Damrell's Fire, explains why Boston can credit its deliverance from Chicago's fate to John Damrell, its courageous fire chief.

Charlestown Convent Fire of 1834

September 7, 2004

Salem State College Professor Nancy Schultz, author of Fire and Roses: The Burning of the Charlestown Convent, 1834 sheds light on one of the darkest incidents of religious persecution in modern society.

Midwifery and Medicine in Boston

November 4, 2004

Smallpox in Boston: A Complex Affair

November 18, 2004

Professor emeritus Philip Cash lectures on the history of the smallpox epidemic in Boston.

Bringing Charles Hammond Gibson to Life

October 10, 2007

Charles Hammond Gibson, Jr. (1874-1954) was a Boston writer and bachelor bon vivant, best known for having preserved his family's Beacon Street home as a museum of Victorian style and taste.

Tea at Sea: Moonlit Drama of the Boston Tea Party

Robert J. Allison

October 11, 2007

Robert J. Allison, professor at Suffolk University, vividly recounts the moonlit drama of the Boston Tea Party, while examining the political and economic background of the destruction of the tea.

Naked Quaker and Other Pre-Revolutionary Tales

November 1, 2007

Lawyer and historian Diane Rapaport extracts some tantalizing tales from pre-Revolutionary court records, highlighting the concerns of ordinary people in early New England.

Boston Firsts: Innovations and Inventions in Beantown

Lynda Morgenroth

November 2, 2006

Author Lynda Morgenroth describes the scientific advances and breakthroughs in culture that are woven in Boston's fascinating and quirky history. The first ready-made suit, automatic bargain basement and subway all belong to Boston.

IDEAS Boston 2004 Conference Series

IDEAS Boston 2004 Conference Series

Lectures curated from IDEAS Boston 2004 Conference showcasing New England as a unique center of innovation and creativity.

Boston's Spectacle Island and its Native American Past

November 5, 2009

Boston City archeologist Ellen Berkland shows how archeologists have pieced together a rich story of the daily lives of some of the first communities in Boston, on Spectacle Island. The Boston Harbor Islands have been inhabited for thousands of years. From A.D.

View from the Corner Office in Massachusetts

Michael Dukakis

Three of its former governors discuss the attainment of the American dream in Massachusetts.

238th Anniversary of the Boston Massacre

Robert J. Allison

Robert Allison narrates a commemorative reading of the Boston Massacre Orations by local high school students on the 238th anniversary of the massacre. On March 5, 1770, British soldiers killed 5 men on the streets of Boston in what would become known as the Boston Massacre.

Banned in Boston: The Silent Speech of Margaret Sanger

Cecile Richards

Cecile Richards reflects on the silencing of Margaret Sanger and the era that gave us the phrase, "Banned in Boston." "You all know that I have been gagged. I have been suppressed. I have been arrested numerous times. I have been hauled off to jail.

Samuel Adams, Paul Revere and "The Body of the People"

September 6, 2006

Ray Raphael theorizes on whether or not Samuel Adams really gave a "signal" for the Boston Tea Party, the real story of Paul Revere's ride, and the role of the average person in the events leading up to the American Revolution.

Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind Little Women

Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind Little Women

October 29, 2009

Screenwriter Harriet Reisen discusses her new biography Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind Little Women.

Louisa May Alcott's Email

September 13, 2006

Author Kit Bakke discusses her new book Miss Alcott's E-mail: Yours for Reforms of All Kinds. In her novel, she sends an email to her childhood role model Louisa May Alcott and is amazed when she receives a reply.

The Alcotts: The Real Family Behind "Little Women"

September 24, 2003

Jan Turnquist, executive director of Orchard House, discusses the daily activities and pursuits of the Alcotts, a trailblazing family of reformers.

A Tribute to Sargent Shriver

December 12, 2005

The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum hosts a special tribute to Sargent Shriver. Family members and close associates honor Ambassador Shriver with a forum to discuss the many contributions he has made to the United States from the Peace Corps to the War on Poverty.

American Experience: John & Abigail Adams

Bernard Margolis

January 10, 2006

American Experience producer Elizabeth Deane provides a strikingly intimate look inside a marriage of true companions in the new documentary, John & Abigail Adams.

Caroline Healey Dall: Daughter of Boston

October 20, 2005

Helen R. Deese discusses the 45 volume diary of Bostonian transcendentalist Caroline Healey Dall, which is perhaps the longest diary written by any American and the most complete account of a nineteenth century woman's life in existence.

Boston Brothers: William and James "Whitey" Bulger

Howie Carr tells the controversial story of the notorious Winter Hill Gang, the Bulger Brothers, and the relationships between politics, law enforcement, and crime in Boston from 1950 to the present. Two brothers from South Boston. One becomes the president of the Massachusetts Senate.

Peabody Sisters: Igniting American Romanticism

Megan Marshall lectures on Elizabeth, Mary, and Sophia Peabody, the subjects of her 20 years in the making biography, The Peabody Sisters. Marshall focuses on the period during which the Peabody sisters made their indelible mark on history.

Marked by Memories: Remembering Robert Lowell

Gail Mazur, Frank Bidart, Robert Pinsky and Lloyd Schwartz gather here to remember their mentor, renowned poet and professor Robert Lowell, and to celebrate the publication of his Collected Poems.

Amy Lowell: Selected Poems

January 25, 2005

Honor Moore, editor for poet Amy Lowell, discusses the impact of Lowell's work. A cigar-smoking proponent of free-verse modernism in open rebellion against her distinguished Boston lineage, Amy Lowell cut an indelible public figure.

Nature of Sacrifice: Biography of Charles Russell Lowell Jr.

The world advances by impossibilities achieved, Charles Lowell insisted in 1854 when, as valedictorian, he spoke at his Harvard graduation just two weeks after Boston had enforced the Fugitive Slave L

John Kenneth Galbraith: His Life, His Politics, His Economics

Richard Parker, author of John Kenneth Galbraith: His Life, His Politics, His Economics and Robert Reich, former secretary of labor under President Bill Clinton, join James Carroll, author and Boston Globe columnist, for a look back at the remarkable career of John Kenneth Galbraith.

Writer's Room Presents: LeHane, Mazur and Perrotta

November 6, 2004

Writers Gail Mazur, Tom Perrotta, and Dennis Lehane read from their current projects and discuss the New England authors who have been important to their work. This lively, entertaining, and thoroughly Bostonian discussion connects the city's literary past to the thriving writing community of today.

Celebrating Boston Athenaeum Writers Past and Present I

Philip McFarland

September 26, 2006

As part of a bicentennial series celebrating Boston Athenaeum writers, Jill Ker Conway discusses the work of Samuel Eliot Morison; Megan Marshall discusses Hannah Adams; and Philip McFarland discusses Francis Parkman. William M. Fowler acts as master of ceremonies.

Celebrating Boston Athenaeum Writers Past and Present II

J. Frederick Marchant

October 24, 2006

As a part of a bicentennial series celebrating Boston Athenaeum writers, J. Frederick Marchant presents Henry Wadsworth Longfellow; Jill McDonough presents Amy Lowell; and Rosanna Warren presents Ralph Waldo Emerson. Edward Kessler acts as master of ceremonies.

Celebrating Boston Athenaeum Writers Past and Present III

November 30, 2006

As a part of a bicentennial series celebrating Boston Athenaeum writers, Rishi Reddi discusses the work of Alice Brown and Tom Perrotta discusses Nathaniel Hawthorne. Rob Perkins reads from John P. Marquand. Cullen Murphy, editor-at-large of Vanity Fair acts as master of ceremonies.

Celebrating Boston Athenaeum Writers Past and Present IV

December 2, 2006

As a part of a bicentennial series celebrating Boston Athenaeum writers, M.T. Anderson presents David McCord; Liza Ketchum presents Barbara Cooney; Irene Smalls presents Norma Farber; and Rebecca Doughty presents James Marshall. Jack Gantos acts as master of ceremonies.

Celebrating Boston Athenaeum Writers Past and Present V

Marshall Moriarty

December 5, 2006

As a part of a bicentennial series celebrating Boston Athenaeum writers, Marshall Moriarty presents Daniel Webster; Massachusetts State Representative Martha M. Walz presents Lydia Maria Child; and Daniel R. Coquillette presents John Quincy Adams. Deborah Bornheimer acts as master of ceremonies.

Emerson and the Examined Life

Robert Pinsky, award-winning author and poet, Richard Geldard and David M. Robinson, Emerson scholars, celebrate the bicentennial of Ralph Waldo Emerson with a live reading from famous American essays including Self-Reliance, The Oversoul and The American Scholar.

Quincy Generations From Family to Faneuil Hall

September 17, 2003

John Quincy Jr., an 11th generation descendant of the Quincys in America and author of Quincy's Market, discusses the history of his well-known ancestors, one of New England's most famous political families.

Sweetwater: Secrets of a Yankee Life

Roxana Robinson

November 13, 2003

Roxana Robinson discusses Sweetwater, her story of a woman whose second marriage casts into sharp relief the painful echoes of her first. The book draws together the disparate strands of family complexities, social tensions, and the fragility of the natural world in this moving novel.

Letters of John and Abigail Adams

November 19, 2007

Governor and Mrs. Deval Patrick, the Kennedys, and the Dukakises celebrate the publication of a new book of the letters of President John and First Lady Abigail Adams.

Salem Witch Judge: Samuel Sewall's Life and Repentance

October 18, 2007

Eve LaPlante discusses how, after years of internal struggle, Salem's condemning judge, Samuel Sewall, emerged as America's most surprising moral hero.

Sacco and Vanzetti

November 8, 2007

Eli C. Bortman, professor at Babson College, discusses the fascinating case of Sacco and Vanzetti that still causes controversy today.

Keeping the Faith: Multiculturalism and Catholic America

Thomas H. O'Connor

Thomas H. O'Connor discusses his 16th book, The Athens of America: Boston, 1825-1845, about leaders of the post-Constitutional generation whose personal talents and financial resources made Boston the nation's cultural, intellectual, and philanthropic center.

Mary Baker Eddy: No Stranger to Controversy

December 14, 2003

Gillian Gill examines the life story of Mary Baker, the controversial and charismatic founder of the Christian Science religion. Mary Baker Eddy (1821-1910), is the controversial and charismatic founder of the Christian Science religion.

Celebrating the Red Sox

Larry Lucchino, Red Sox CEO, Tom Werner, co-owner of the team, and Dan Shaughnessy, Boston Globe columnist and author of Reversing the Curse, look back at the season leading up to the Red Sox's World Series championship. Mike Barnicle, Boston Herald columnist, moderates.

Shut Out: Race and Baseball in Boston

September 16, 2003

Senior sports writer for The Boston Herald, Howard Bryant talks about his new book Shut Out: A Story of Race and Baseball in Boston. In his book, Bryant traces the haunting practice and legacy of racism, chronicling the policies and personality of the Yawkey family as well as the conf

Celebrating America's National Pastime: Baseball

ABC Good Morning America's Charles Gibson moderates this discussion about baseball's enduring hold on our national imagination with Boston Red Sox CEO and President Larry Lucchino, New Yorker writer Roger Angell, Dan Shaughnessy from The Boston Globe, and NECN Red Sox anno

Big Wheels Kept on Turning: Arlington's Mill Brook Valley

February 5, 2009

Ed Gordon tells the story of how a visionary preservationist prevented the destruction of the Scwamb brothers' mill.

History of Experimental Video in Boston

January 31, 2010

Otto Piene, sky artist and former director of the Center for Advanced Visual Studies at MIT, and Fred Barzyk, former director of WGBH's New Television Workshop, talk about Boston's influential role in the creation of the video art medium in the late 1960s.