Massachusetts Historical Society

The Massachusetts Historical Society (MHS) was founded in 1791 for the threefold purpose of collecting, preserving, and disseminating resources for the study of American history. It was the first institution anywhere to devote its attention primarily to collecting and publishing in the field. Today the society’s manuscripts form the centerpiece of its holdings. It has more than 12,000,000 manuscript items in 3,600 collections of personal papers and institutional records. These holdings cover such diverse subjects as the history of religion, law, education, and medicine; diplomacy and international commerce; the American Revolution and the Civil War; and Native American and women’s history. Although collections in the history of New England and in the period from colonization through the late 19th century are especially strong, the society also has significant materials for the study of the West Indies, Latin America, the China trade, and the 20th century.

The society’s collection of 200,000 published items complements its manuscript holdings. Printed materials include more than 20,000 broadsides, 30,000 18th- and 19th-century pamphlets, and 5,000 maps. The society also owns more than 150,000 microforms and 200,000 historic photographs as well as major collections of portraits, engravings, silhouettes, busts, and memorabilia. The staff does all it can to make the MHS a friendly, welcoming place for researchers. MHS-NEH fellows join a community that includes active scholars on the staff as well as more than thirty visiting scholars on short-term grants over the course of a typical year. A busy calendar of programs affords frequent opportunities to meet with scholars from across New England. The society hosts three ongoing seminar series — in early American history, immigration and urban history, and environmental history — as well as frequent brown-bag lunches at which fellows and other researchers discuss their work. Many years the MHS also holds a major conference: recent topics have included Transcendentalism, immigration to Massachusetts, the intellectual life of Ralph Waldo Emerson, women’s role in modern warfare, and the environmental history of Boston. The MHS will award at least two MHS-NEH fellowships for 2008-2009. For additional information or to apply, contact the Massachusetts Historical Society.

Application deadline: January 15, 2008

Contact:
Long-Term Fellowships
Massachusetts Historical Society
1154 Boylston Street
Boston, MA 02215
Telephone: 617/536-1608
FAX: 617/859-0074
E-Mail: publications@masshist.org
website: http://www.masshist.org