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The Painter's Fire: A Forgotten History of the Artists Who Championed the American Revolution

July 23, 2025
Event Date2025-07-23T18:00:17 - 2025-07-23T19:00:17

The war that we now call the American Revolution was not only fought in the colonies with muskets and bayonets. On both sides of the Atlantic, artists armed with paint, canvas, and wax played an integral role in forging revolutionary ideals. Join us, as Zara Anishanslin charts the intertwined lives of three such figures who dared to defy the British monarchy: Robert Edge Pine, Prince Demah, and Patience Wright. From London to Boston, from Jamaica to Paris, from Bath to Philadelphia, these largely forgotten patriots boldly risked their reputations and their lives to declare independence.

This program is part of the annual Jack Grinold Lecture in American Art and Architecture.

This is a hybrid event. FREE for MHS Members. $10 per person fee (in person). No charge for virtual attendees or Card to Culture participants (EBT, WIC, and ConnectorCare).

Learn More

 

July 23, 2025
Event Date2025-07-23T18:00:17 - 2025-07-23T19:00:17

Revolutionary Kinship: Sustaining Family Through Wartime Divisions

June 16, 2025
  • 6:00pm - 7:00pm
  • Massachusetts Historical Society
    1154 Boylston Street
    Boston, MA 02215
  • Contact:
    Massachusetts Historical Society
  • Price:
    FREE
  • Neighborhood:
    Neighborhood
    Back Bay
  • Published Date
  • Boston 250

Event Date2025-06-16T18:00:40 - 2025-06-16T19:00:40

The American Revolution had a profound impact on families, with some ideas and experiences dramatically altered and some surprisingly durable. Conflicting beliefs about the future of the nation caused familial rifts, and many lost friends and loved ones to battle and plunder. Enslaved people simultaneously broadened ideas about family in response to the violence of slavery and evaluated whether independence would keep their kin safer from future violence. Gender roles were both everchanging in the circumstances of war as women ran businesses, handled material needs of war, and faced new childcare situations, but also remained constant in many ways. As a result of change and continuity, families included stepfamilies and single parents, relationships across plantations, and transcended biological connections. In this program, panelists will consider how the American Revolution both disrupted family arrangements and brought new formations of kinship while retaining many of the same structures.

This is a hybrid event. FREE for MHS Members. $10 per person fee (in person). No charge for virtual attendees or Card to Culture participants (EBT, WIC, and ConnectorCare).

June 16, 2025
  • 6:00pm - 7:00pm
  • Massachusetts Historical Society
    1154 Boylston Street
    Boston, MA 02215
  • Contact:
    Massachusetts Historical Society
  • Price:
    FREE
  • Neighborhood:
    Neighborhood
    Back Bay
  • Published Date
  • Boston 250

Event Date2025-06-16T18:00:40 - 2025-06-16T19:00:40

Gallery Talk: Rebels, Rights and Revolution: Battles of Lexington and Concord

June 13, 2025
  • 1:00pm - 2:00pm
  • Massachusetts Historical Society
    1154 Boylston Street
    Boston, MA 02215
  • Contact:
    Massachusetts Historical Society
  • Price:
    Price
    FREE
  • Neighborhood:
    Neighborhood
    Back Bay
  • Published Date
  • Boston 250

Event Date2025-06-13T13:00:36 - 2025-06-13T14:00:36

Join Chief Historian, Peter Drummey, for a gallery talk on the exhibition, 1775: Rebels, Rights and Revolution, which charts major Massachusetts events in the first year of the American Revolution. Peter will discuss the impact of the Battle of Bunker Hill using related exhibition items. Visitors are invited to explore the rest of the exhibition and ask questions.

Register Here

June 13, 2025
  • 1:00pm - 2:00pm
  • Massachusetts Historical Society
    1154 Boylston Street
    Boston, MA 02215
  • Contact:
    Massachusetts Historical Society
  • Price:
    Price
    FREE
  • Neighborhood:
    Neighborhood
    Back Bay
  • Published Date
  • Boston 250

Event Date2025-06-13T13:00:36 - 2025-06-13T14:00:36

Gallery Talk: Rebels, Rights and Revolution: Battles of Lexington and Concord

Join Chief Historian, Peter Drummey, for a gallery talk on the exhibition

June 13, 2025
  • 10:00am - 11:00am
  • Massachusetts Historical Society
    1154 Boylston Street
    Boston, MA 02215
  • Contact:
    Massachusetts Historical Society
  • Price:
    Price
    FREE
  • Neighborhood:
    Neighborhood
    Back Bay
  • Published Date
  • Boston 250

Event Date2025-06-13T10:00:22 - 2025-06-13T11:00:22

Join Chief Historian, Peter Drummey, for a gallery talk on the exhibition, 1775: Rebels, Rights and Revolution, which charts major Massachusetts events in the first year of the American Revolution. Peter will discuss the impact of the Battle of Bunker Hill using related exhibition items. Visitors are invited to explore the rest of the exhibition and ask questions.

Register here 

June 13, 2025
  • 10:00am - 11:00am
  • Massachusetts Historical Society
    1154 Boylston Street
    Boston, MA 02215
  • Contact:
    Massachusetts Historical Society
  • Price:
    Price
    FREE
  • Neighborhood:
    Neighborhood
    Back Bay
  • Published Date
  • Boston 250

Event Date2025-06-13T10:00:22 - 2025-06-13T11:00:22

Annual Fiori Lecture: French Material Culture in the Revolutionary Atlantic

Lafayette’s tour of the United States in 1824-5 resulted in the production of objects—ceramics, textiles, prints, among others—all emblazoned with his name and visage. But like Lafayette himself, French impact on material culture dates to the American Revolution. Join us as Ashli White examines the influence of various French things on political movements throughout the revolutionary Atlantic world and considers how diverse populations turned to these items as part of their attempts to realize liberty and equality.

May 19, 2025
  • 6:00pm - 7:00pm
  • Massachusetts Historical Society
    1154 Boylston Street
    Boston, MA 02215
  • Contact:
    Massachusetts Historical Society
  • Price:
    FREE
  • Neighborhood:
    Neighborhood
    Back Bay
  • Published Date
  • Boston 250

Event Date2025-05-19T18:00:41 - 2025-05-19T19:00:41

This is a hybrid event. FREE for MHS Members. $10 per person fee (in person). No charge for virtual attendees or Card to Culture participants (EBT, WIC, and ConnectorCare).

 

May 19, 2025
  • 6:00pm - 7:00pm
  • Massachusetts Historical Society
    1154 Boylston Street
    Boston, MA 02215
  • Contact:
    Massachusetts Historical Society
  • Price:
    FREE
  • Neighborhood:
    Neighborhood
    Back Bay
  • Published Date
  • Boston 250

Event Date2025-05-19T18:00:41 - 2025-05-19T19:00:41

Arts Action Consortium Launch Party

The official launch party for the Arts Action Consortium, a transformative collaboration for Boston artists offering free consultations, workshops, cohort opportunities, performance space, and more for Boston artists.

April 29, 2025
  • 6:00pm - 8:00pm
  • CROMA @ ASC
    Public Alley 438
    Boston, MA 02116
  • Contact:
    Arts and Culture
  • Price:
    Price
    FREE
  • Neighborhood:
    Neighborhood
    Back Bay
    Citywide
  • Published Date
Event Date2025-04-29T18:00:54 - 2025-04-29T20:00:54

Join us at the official launch party for the Arts Action Consortium, a transformative collaboration for Boston artists supported by the City of Boston in partnership with six leading cultural organizations to offer free consultations, workshops, cohort opportunities, performance space, and more for Boston artists!

This event will include:
  • Live performances

  • Dinner and non-alcoholic drinks

  • Cash bar serving wine and beer

  • Speakers from the Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture and AAC

  • Networking with artists and arts leaders

  • Opportunities to learn more about the Artist Pathways Project

This event is your chance to connect, learn, and celebrate the vibrant artistic community that makes Boston thrive. Whether you're an emerging artist, and established artist, or a passionate supporter of the arts, this is a night you won't want to miss.

April 29, 2025
  • 6:00pm - 8:00pm
  • CROMA @ ASC
    Public Alley 438
    Boston, MA 02116
  • Contact:
    Arts and Culture
  • Price:
    Price
    FREE
  • Neighborhood:
    Neighborhood
    Back Bay
    Citywide
  • Published Date
Event Date2025-04-29T18:00:54 - 2025-04-29T20:00:54

Special Collections Open House: The American Revolution in Boston

Happy Patriots’ Day and Marathon Weekend! Did you know that April 19, 2025 is the 250th anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord—and the start of the American Revolutionary War? In honor of this anniversary, Special Collections and the Leventhal Map and Education Center are collaborating on an open house to highlight items for their collections relating to this event, as well as other major events of the American Revolution in Boston.

April 22, 2025
Event Date2025-04-22T11:00:13 - 2025-04-22T16:00:13

Stop by the Leventhal Map and Education Center to see their new exhibit, Terrains of Independence, which uses maps to highlight the geography of Boston and Massachusetts in the Revolutionary War. Then, head into their classroom to see related items from Special Collections across a variety of formats.

This open house will take place on both Saturday, April 19, and Tuesday, April 22, from 11 a.m. - 4 p.m. The same items will be on display at both open houses. No reservation is required to attend.

April 22, 2025
Event Date2025-04-22T11:00:13 - 2025-04-22T16:00:13

Special Collections Open House: The American Revolution in Boston

Happy Patriots’ Day and Marathon Weekend! Did you know that April 19, 2025 is the 250th anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord—and the start of the American Revolutionary War? In honor of this anniversary, Special Collections and the Leventhal Map and Education Center are collaborating on an open house to highlight items for their collections relating to this event, as well as other major events of the American Revolution in Boston.

April 19, 2025
Event Date2025-04-19T11:00:13 - 2025-04-19T16:00:13

Stop by the Leventhal Map and Education Center to see their new exhibit, Terrains of Independence, which uses maps to highlight the geography of Boston and Massachusetts in the Revolutionary War. Then, head into their classroom to see related items from Special Collections across a variety of formats.

This open house will take place on both Saturday, April 19, and Tuesday, April 22, from 11 a.m. - 4 p.m. The same items will be on display at both open houses. No reservation is required to attend.

April 19, 2025
Event Date2025-04-19T11:00:13 - 2025-04-19T16:00:13

Gallery Talk: Rebels, Rights and Revolution: Battles of Lexington and Concord

Join Reference Librarian Lauren Gray for a gallery talk on the exhibition "1775: Rebels, Rights and Revolution," which charts major Massachusetts events in the first year of the American Revolution. Lauren will delve into the impact of the Battles of Lexington and Concord using related exhibition items. Visitors are invited to explore the rest of the exhibition and ask questions.

April 19, 2025
Event Date2025-04-19T13:00:47 - 2025-04-19T14:00:47
April 19, 2025
Event Date2025-04-19T13:00:47 - 2025-04-19T14:00:47

Gallery Talk: Rebels, Rights and Revolution: Battles of Lexington and Concord

Join Reference Librarian Lauren Gray for a gallery talk on the exhibition "1775: Rebels, Rights and Revolution," which charts major Massachusetts events in the first year of the American Revolution. Lauren will delve into the impact of the Battles of Lexington and Concord using related exhibition items. Visitors are invited to explore the rest of the exhibition and ask questions.

April 19, 2025
Event Date2025-04-19T10:00:44 - 2025-04-19T11:00:44
April 19, 2025
Event Date2025-04-19T10:00:44 - 2025-04-19T11:00:44
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