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Bostonian Society

A Knock at the Door: Three Centuries of Governmental Search and Seizure

November 4, 2009

Public historian J.L. Bell, legal scholars Frederick Lane and Joseph McEttrick, and Kurt Opsahl, discuss the historical origins of the protection against unreasonable search and seizure, as well as modern challenges to this long-cherished protection of our rights.

Historic Voices: Boston Students Echo Boston Patriots

Robert J. Allison

Boston Latin School commemorates the 239th anniversary of the Boston Massacre by dramatizing the words of orators such as John Hancock, Joseph Warren, and John Rock.

Crack in the Glass Ceiling: Boston Women Entering Politics

October 22, 2008

Sarah Deutsch, Dean of Social Sciences at Duke University and a scholar of gender and race in the early 20th century, explores the role of Boston's suffragists during the turbulent era when women secured the right to vote and officially entered the world of politics.

Preserving Boston's Old State House

Donald Tellalian

September 16, 2008

Members of the Old State House preservation team talk about the exciting discoveries that were made throughout their most recent restoration project. At 295 years old, the Old State House undergoes a major preservation project.

Mercy Otis Warren: Muse of the Revolution

Barbara Delorey

Barbara Delorey, Patrice Hatcher, and Nancy Rubin Stewart enact and describe Mercy Otis Warren's important contributions to the American Revolution.

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.

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.

Lucy Ellen Sewall and the MA Infant Asylum

Martha N. Gardner

Martha N. Gardner explores Lucy Ellen Sewall's medical and social attitudes, as well as the complicated position that women held in the field.