History Camp Boston 2025 Weekend
History Camp Weekly Newsletter
Sign up for updates on History Camp Boston and our weekly History Camp Author Discussions.
History Camp Boston 2025—Sessions and Speakers
|
|
|
|
|
1775: The Year the War Began
Robert J. Allison, PhD, (robertallisonhistory.com), is a Professor of History at Suffolk University in Boston. He chairs Revolution 250 (revolution250.org), a consortium of organizations and individuals exploring the history of the American Revolution and the ways that this story still resonates in society two and a half centuries later. Allison is also the President of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts. His books include short histories of the American Revolution, Boston, the Boston Massacre, the Boston Tea Party, and the debates over the U.S. Constitution, as well as longer books on Stephen Decatur and Olaudah Equiano and The Crescent Obscured: The United States and the Muslim World 1776–1815 (University of Chicago Press). His lecture series on the Age of Franklin and on Colonial America are available through Great Courses.
The War for American Independence began in 1775. Why? Why did armed conflict not begin sooner? Could war have been avoided? Neither side wanted a war, but each would accept war to establish its aims. What were each side’s aims, what obstacles were in the way of achieving them, and how was the situation different at the end of the year?
“… A Very Sudden & Rapid Attack of the Enemy”: Exploring the Battle of Saratoga through Battlefield Archaeology
Ben Powers, MA, holds a master’s degree in strategic leadership from American Military University and served 24 years in the United States Army, retiring as a lieutenant colonel. Ben is an author, YouTuber, and President of the Board of Directors of American Veterans Archaeological Recovery (AVAR). He participated in fieldwork in Barber’s Wheatfield on the Saratoga Battlefield in the fall of 2021.
On October 7, 1777, British and German troops, part of a larger expedition commanded by General John Burgoyne invading New York from Canada, embarked on a scouting and foraging expedition in the vicinity of farmland known as Barber’s Wheatfield. An American Army under General Horatio Gates engaged and defeated this force, ultimately leading Burgoyne to capitulate and surrender his army. This victory, known as the Battle of Bemis Heights, or the 2nd Battle of Saratoga, led to French recognition of the newly established United States of America. In the fall of 2021, a team of researchers, archaeologists, and military veterans assembled at Saratoga National Historic Park under the auspices of the National Park Service, and in collaboration with American Veterans Archaeological Recovery. The group conducted metal detection and excavations to determine whether the detritus of battle could reveal secrets about how the American troops maneuvered, where the British and Germans made their stand, where the bulk of the fighting occurred, and what concentration of force resulted in the British retreat. Building on an understanding of the more extensive outlines of the fighting, previous fieldwork, and input from the National Park Service, the team identified a previously un-excavated battlefield section and performed a detailed three-work survey of the site, revealing a material record of how the fighting unfolded. The project combined the strengths of trained archaeologists with those of American military veterans, who brought a strong work ethic, teamwork, and an understanding of terrain to the effort, resulting in an excellent piece of battlefield archaeology.
The Amistad Trials: What Price Freedom?
Honorable Dennis J. Curran (judgedenniscurran.com) served as an Associate Justice of the Massachusetts trial court, where he presided over 450 civil and criminal trials. As a trial judge, Justice Curran received several state-wide awards for judicial excellence. He graduated from Boston Latin School and received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Pennsylvania and his law degree from the University of Virginia. Curran’s lifelong passion has been history. He has been elected a Fellow of the Massachusetts Historical Society and is a member of the Board of Advisors of the nationally-respected Lincoln Forum. He has been featured on a panel of Lincoln scholars on C-SPAN-2. Justice Curran has served as a Professor at Tufts University, teaches at Brown University’s summer program, and lectures widely before historical groups, fellow judges, professional societies, public libraries and senior groups. He also serves as an enrichment lecturer for the luxury cruise line industry.
The issue of slavery versus freedom reared its ugly head in this American court case, more than two decades before the Civil War exploded in 1861, concerning the fate of a group of Africans after they rebelled aboard the Spanish schooner La Armistad (“Friendship”) in 1839. This trial pitted the American government against the Spanish government, President Martin Van Buren against Secretary of State John Forsyth, the executive branch against the judicial branch, and abolitionists against slave traders. It even prompted Former President John Quincy Adams to appear before the Supreme Court to condemn the policies of the present administration. It is considered to have been one of the most important court cases involving slavery until it was overshadowed by Dred Scott v Sandford in 1857. This case finally received the recognition it deserved from Stephen Spielberg’s 1997 Academy Award-nominated feature film, Amistad.
An Army of Skeletons: The Politics of George Washington’s Fight to Save the Continental Army at Valley Forge
Kathleen Coulter, MSed, is an Army veteran and middle school social studies teacher in western New York. A native of the Boston area, she strives to bring a touch of local Boston history into many of her lessons. She is also an avid traveler, who loves to incorporate the historical background into the area that she explores with her family. Her current area of research is foreign fighters in the Revolutionary War in anticipation for the 250th Independence celebration.
This presentation will examine the challenges to George Washington’s leadership of the Continental Army while at Valley Forge from 1777–1778. Washington dealt decisively with multiple challenges, including supplying the Army (on their way to the winter encampment as well as feeding the Army while it was there), maintaining his Officer Corps (there were many that were leaving the Army due to lack of pay), keeping his job as Commander of the Army (this challenge was known as the Conway Cabal), and preparing the Army to fight the next campaign (with the help of Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben). Significantly, this earned him greater confidence from his subordinate officers and soldiers, secured his position as Commander of the Army, and gained critical political support from members of the Second Continental Congress.
Anatomy of a Scandal: Passion and Politics in the New Republic
Rebecca Flynt (rebeccaflyntauthor@gmail.com) is an author and storyteller with a passion for early American history. Her first novel, American Harlot, was published in 2024, and tells the story of Maria Reynolds, infamous mistress of Alexander Hamilton and the woman at the center of the first major scandal in American history. Flynt enjoys speaking about the Founders and early American History at various educational, social, and civic organizations in her area and has appeared as a guest on Historian Clay Jenkinson’s podcast “Listening to America” (formerly “The Thomas Jefferson Hour”). Her second novel, Upon Leaving Bizarre, tells the story of the scandalous wife of Founding Father, Gouverneur Morris, will be released in Spring of 2026.
Considered to be the first political sex scandal in America, the affair between Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton and a married woman named Maria Reynolds in 1791–92 was more than just a salacious tale of passion and betrayal, it had political implications from the very beginning. Five years before the affair became public, over a dozen of the most powerful men in America knew about it, including three future Presidents, a future Vice-President, a sitting Governor, former Speaker of the House, and the Attorney General. In this session, Flynt will explore the origins, details, and fallout from the scandal and how it was kept secret and weaponized by Hamilton’s political enemies to keep the ambitious Founding Father from attaining the pinnacle of political power.
Battle Flags of the Wars for North America, 1754–1783
Steven W. Hill, MA, (dupageflag@gmail.com, dupagemilitaryflag.com) has been researching military flags and colors, with special focus on the regimental colors of the five major combatants in the American War for Independence—American, French, British, German, and Spanish—for over 50 years. He has worked as curator and historian at both the current Massachusetts State House and The Old State House in Boston, the Historical Society of Delaware, the Indiana War Memorials in Indianapolis, and most recently at the National Museum of Health and Medicine—formerly the Army Medical Museum. In addition to his “regular” curatorial positions, Hill is a researcher and maker of reproduction flags for museums, the military and government, reenactment groups, tv and movies, including flags of the French and British troops in the movie “Last of the Mohicans.” He is also a consultant to museums, publishers, and historical painters on the details of military flags and their histories. He recently completed the book Battle Flags of the Wars for North America, 1754-1783, Foreign Armies and Regiments, and is currently working on a companion volume on the American standards and colors of the same period. Partial list of places Steven Hill’s (DBA DuPage Military Flags) reproductions of historically significant flags can be seen: Smithsonian Institute’s Museum of American History; United States Military Academy at West Point; United States Naval Academy; Vicksburg, Chickamauga, Perryville, Wilson’s Creek, Petersburg National Battlefield Parks; National Medal of Honor Museum; Fortress of Louisbourg, Nova Scotia; Old Guard Museum in Washington DC; US Treasury Department; US Army Artillery Museum; US Army National Guard Headquarters, DC; the Pentagon; Harvard University Memorial Hall; Historical Society of Delaware; Mount Vernon; Ford’s Theatre; State capitol buildings of Maine, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut, reproduction French frigate l’Hermione, and the flags of the French and British troops in the movie “Last of the Mohicans.”
Regimental colours, the flags carried into battle to identify the individual regiments that made up the armies of the day, were important military accoutrements throughout the eighteenth century, particularly in North America, where regimental flags served to identify troops owing allegiance to nine different crowns of Europe. We may think we know a lot about these flags—drawings of them are all over the internet, reproductions of them are in museums and at battlefield parks, they figure prominently in historical paintings and popular culture such as movies and television. But how accurate are any of those drawings or reproductions? This presentation will explain how not just regulations and traditions, but also the physical limitations of the times (such as the availability of standardized materials and dyes, the lack of standard measurements, changing artistic tastes and expectations) made those colours the way they were. Hill will also discuss a veritable storehouse of newly available archives and documents. From these new materials, we can correct many of the mistakes and misunderstandings that have crept into even the most respected “standard” works on the subject, and arrive at a more accurate picture of how these colors actually looked at the time of their use, rather than as worn and dilapidated mementos of battles fought over two centuries ago.
The Battle of Menotomy, 19 April 1775
Michael Ruderman is an author and a noted presenter on topics of Colonial and nineteenth-century history. His love for the subject was spurred by his elementary-school discovery that his classmates were descendants of Pilgrims. Today’s presentation is both timely and local, as Ruderman lives in “Menotomy village” (today’s Arlington, MA) where the most action occurred on April 19, 1775.
Battle Green, Lexington was an accident. Concord Bridge, a skirmish. But in the most brutal and deadly warfare of April 19, 1775, nearly 6,000 combatants fought hand to hand and house to house, the length and breadth of a colonial village in Arlington MA. This was the Battle of Menotomy, where Americans fought for the first time as a united force, and British ‘regulars’ encountered their worst nightmare: a nascent Continental Army.
Black Voices Raised in Protest: Speaking Out Against the “Mammy” Monument, 1923
Updated August 1: This has been postponed until History Camp Boston 2026 due to presenter availability.
Ken Liss (kenliss.com, kenlissbrookline@gmail.com) is a public historian and president of the Brookline Historical Society. A retired librarian who worked at Harvard, Boston College, Boston University, and the Boston Public Library, he leads walking tours of different Brookline neighborhoods and researches and writes on local history, baseball terminology, and word and phrase origins.
In 1923, Congressional supporters of the so-called “Lost Cause” of the Confederacy pushed for the construction in Washington, D.C. of “a monument in memory of the faithful colored mammies of the South.” Opposition from Black leaders like W.E.B. Du Bois, Mary Church Turrell, and others helped defeat the proposal. All but forgotten are two of the strongest voices against the monument — Robert W. Carter, a Black man living in Brookline, Massachusetts, and Maude Nooks Howard, a Black woman from Circleville, Ohio. This presentation tells their story — and that of another “Mammy” figure: one that was included in a Confederate monument in Arlington National Cemetery before being removed in 2023.
The Boston Massacre, John Adams, and the Rule of Law
Thomas J Carey, Jr., AB, JD, LLM, holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Government from Boston College, a Juris Doctor degree from Boston College Law School, and a Master of Laws degree from Harvard Law School. He is a member of the Massachusetts Bar and the Supreme Court Bar. Carey’s legal career includes government service, private practice, law teaching, and public speaking on various legal subjects. He is a member of the Hingham Historical Society and a Trustee of the Hingham Public Library.
On March 5, 1770, a large unruly crowd of Bostonians confronted a group of seven British soldiers and their leader, Captain Thomas Preston. Shots were fired on the group of civilians, killing five men, including Crispus Attucks, and wounding six. The event was quickly characterized as “The Boston Massacre” by Samuel Adams and the Sons of Liberty. Captain Preston and the seven soldiers were all indicted for murder, and, fortunately for them, John Adams, Josiah Quincy, and Robert Auchmuty agreed to represent them. Captain Preston’s case was severed from the others, and he was acquitted in the first trial. The seven lower ranking soldiers were tried together in the second trial; five were acquitted and two were found guilty of manslaughter. Adams later declared that “the part I took in the defense of Captain Preston and the soldiers procured me anxiety and obloquy enough. It was, however, one of the most gallant, generous, manly, and disinterested actions of my whole life, and one of the best pieces of service I ever rendered my country. Judgment of death against those soldiers would have been a foul stain upon this country …. As the evidence was, the verdict of the jury was exactly right.” What was the evidence and how good was John Adams as a trial lawyer? Was his assessment of the cases correct? Do the Boston Massacre trials still hold an important place in America’s legal history?
Cambridge, We Have a Problem: The Forgotten Story of NASA’s Electronics Research Center
Scott Kirsner (kirsner@pobox.com) is a columnist for MassLive, a contributor to WBUR, and author of the recent collection “Innovation Economy: True Stories of Start-ups, Flame-outs, and Inventing the Future in New England.” He is also the co-founder of The Innovation Trail, a STEM and history oriented nonprofit that celebrates Boston and Cambridge as the birthplace of dozens of breakthroughs that have changed the world.
Rebecca Carpenter, MA, joined Draper in 2022 as the Corporate Archivist, where she leads efforts to document and preserve Draper’s rich history. Her work spans the management of all physical and digital documents, photographs, and artifacts. In this role, she also oversees the creation and curation of the Draper Museum, which highlights the history, culture of innovation and future advancements to a broader audience. Rebecca holds a BA in History and English from Fitchburg State University and a MA in Archives from the University of Massachusetts, Boston.
If you lived in the Boston area in the 1960s, you may remember the glory days of the Electronics Research Center, a NASA facility that was supposed to make Kendall Square an essential part of our country’s space program — but that just wasn’t in the stars. Kirsner will talk about why NASA chose to set up the ERC Cambridge, what happened to it, and how its untimely demise led to the Kendall Square we know today. In 2025, the last vestiges of the NASA ERC campus were demolished as part of an MIT project to revitalize its 14-acre site, and this presentation will also touch on the future plans for this part of Kendall.
Deciphering a Diaspora: From Armenia to Massachusetts
Scott Nadler is a mostly-retired strategy and sustainability consultant (Nadler Strategy LLC). His consulting work has taken him to North America, South America, Africa, Asia and Europe. He has presented at Boston, Denver, and National History Camps, and was Program Director of the 2024 Pursuit of History: Santa Fe Weekend. He is a docent in the Walking Tours of Historic Downtown Santa Fe and serves on the Steering Committee of the New Mexico Museum Foundation’s “Friends of History.” He is also a Board member of The Keshi Foundation, a public non-profit providing sustainable pathways promoting Zuni arts, education and economy while respecting the traditions and lifeways of the Zuni People. Nadler has a BA in Government from Harvard University.
Nadler will trace the complex story of one family from Armenia to Melrose and Malden, through genocide, depression, and kindness, with intermediate stops in Beirut, Marseilles, and Fresno. The story includes special guest appearances by Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid, the Converse shoe family, the American Baptist Church, and others. This presentation will also look at how contextual history informs family history, and vice-versa (including tapping John Cass’ “neighbor history” methodology). This presentation is based on the work of the late John Yacobian.
The Declaration of Independence: The Debates and Vote(s) That Made it Happen
Tom McMillan (X: @TomMcMillan63; Facebook: Author Tom McMillan) recently retired from a 43-year career in sports communications and now focuses on his true passion — writing about history. The Year That Made America: From Rebellion to Independence, 1775–1776 is his fifth book, following books on the Civil War, September 11th, and the Star-Spangled Banner. Tom has served on the boards of Pittsburgh’s Heinz History Center, the Friends of Flight 93 National Memorial, and the Antietam Institute, while also co-hosting the “Antietam and Beyond” podcast. He and his wife, Colleen, volunteer at Antietam National Battlefield and Gettysburg’s historic Evergreen Cemetery. They split their time between Pittsburgh and Gettysburg.
Tom McMillan, author of the new book, The Year That Made America, will explore the intense political struggle in the first seven months of 1776 that led to our founding document. While July 4th claims the glory, the actual vote for independence came on July 2nd—and even that historic moment almost didn’t happen. From January’s publication of Common Sense to December’s darkest hours of the Revolution, McMillan will reconstruct the dramatic months when rebellious colonies transformed into a new nation. From heated Congressional debates to the dangerous aftermath of declaring independence, McMillan delivers a fresh perspective on America’s founding that resonates powerfully with today’s political challenges. It is a fascinating, and rarely-told, history.
Dr. Joseph Warren, Hero of the Battle of Bunker Hill
Dr. Samuel A. Forman, MD, MBA, MPH (drjosephwarren.com; illfatedfrontier.com) is a historian and Harvard University faculty member. He is educated in the history of the American Revolution as well as the practice of medicine. Throughout his successful careers as a physician, military officer, and businessman, he has published and lectured on historical topics that inform current issues. Sam is the author of the award-winning biography Dr. Joseph Warren: The Boston Tea Party, Bunker Hill, and the Birth of American Liberty (Pelican, newly appearing as a deluxe reprint for the 250 Anniversary of the Revolutionary War) and Ill-Fated Frontier — Peril and Possibilities in the Early American West (Lyons Press). Dr. Forman is a Founding Board Member of The Pursuit of History and is a regular presenter at History Camp Boston.
At the 250th anniversary of the iconic Battle of Bunker Hill, we recall the Boston Founding figure whose heroics are forever associated with that conflict and with the early years leading up to America’s assertion of independence. Warren was a charismatic figure reaching out both to friends and enemies. He may have coordinated spying on the occupying British Army. A contemporary cryptically observed, “The ladies judged him handsome.” Far from the battlefield martyr as he is sometimes depicted, we will get to know an extraordinary American – physician to both poor and well-placed; influential Mason; effective Patriot leader, writer, and orator; the man who sent Paul Revere and William Dawes on that famous ride; and as a citizen whose legacy has shaped the American experience in important ways.
Facing Colonel Leslie: How & Where the Revolution’s “First Shots” were nearly fired in February 1775
Judy Anderson is an architectural, cultural, and social historian who has spoken about Marblehead for more than 30 years, through illustrated presentations or by public programs or walking tours in various areas of the historic town. After a ten-year career in Art Museums in Los Angeles followed by grad school and a year in the education department of the MFA Boston, she became the first year-round staff person and administrative director at the Marblehead Museum (formerly Historical Society). For a decade after, she was privileged to serve as the only specifically designated curator of its exceptional Colonel Jeremiah Lee Mansion, before writing a book about the Mansion’s superlative original 1760s English hand-painted paper wall murals. She enjoys revealing to audiences more of Marblehead’s compelling history during the colonial and early national periods (some familiar, much of it not), its fascinating social history (especially women and children, and the human aspects of historical figures), along with its exceptional material culture (particularly its impressive 18th-century furniture craftsmanship and patronage), its surprising artistic elements (including two dozen portraits of Marbleheaders by John Singleton Copley), and its remarkable early architecture (around 300 houses surviving of the 519 that stood in 1765). She has spoken at several dozen museums and cultural organizations in cities and towns up and down the Atlantic seaboard and inland, and she has brought the superlative Lee Mansion and Marblehead to prominent symposia, including the Charleston (SC) Art and Antiques Forum, the Colonial Williamsburg Antiques Forum, and the Victoria & Albert Museum in London.
Find out how and where the “first” shots of the American Revolutionary War could have taken place in Marblehead and/or at Salem’s North Bridge on February 26th in 1775, less than two months before Lexington and Concord, in the exact same scenario. Who was “Leslie”? — Where did all that take place? — Who were the key figures? — Who WASN’T there? — And, to get to Salem, why did the British Lt. Colonel choose to march his Regular Army troops straight through the sixth most populous metropolis in British North America (and second largest in Massachusetts at that time), with its gritty and notoriously volatile residents? This illustrated program will show and discuss the broader geographical and human aspects of the near-miss episode that much later became known as “Leslie’s Retreat.”
Famous Descendants of the 1692 Salem Witch Trials
Giovanni Alabiso, BSJ, MPA, CPA, (giovannialabiso.com, facebook.com/salemhistoricaltours) is the owner of Salem Historical Tours in Salem, MA, where the infamous 1692 Witchcraft Trials occurred. He is a former sports/news journalist, retired CPA, and now historian. He has researched and written about the Salem Witchcraft Hysteria for 15 years as a walking tour host and blog author. For two years during Covid, he hosted the internet show Salem History & Beyond, which featured experts and authors in the field of witchcraft. Alabiso is also an actor and comedian performing all over New England and New York, as well as a producer of several local movies.
Salem, Massachusetts will be 400 years old in 2026. It is rich in history, including a critical role in the American Revolution, and being the richest seaport in America per capita from 1790 to 1812. And then, there’s the 1692 Witch Trials. There were 156 official complaints, maybe 200+ accusations, along with 70 afflicted persons, several judges, dozens of jurors, hundreds of witnesses, and many more who observed the trials. Calculations estimate that there could be more than 50 million descendants from the event. Plenty of them know their lineage, but others do not — many famous, some infamous, and most never having been in the public eye. This presentation will discuss key people involved in the 1692 Witchcraft Trials and their descendants. You might be surprised — perhaps you are one of them!
The Fenian Invasion of Canada: Nineteenth Century Foreign Affairs and Irish Nationalism
Daniel Gleason (daniel.gleason2024@gmail.com) is a current student at Gettysburg College, majoring in History, with a minor in Civil War Era Studies. He was a member of the American Battlefield Trust Youth Leadership Team from 2023-2024, lobbying in Congress for battlefield preservation. A part time Civil War reenactor and avid Civil War history buff, Gleason is also active in the New England Civil War Museum. His work on the museum and local military history recently aired on the local news station.
Peter Gleason (pgleason6359@gmail.com) is pursuing a BA in History at the University College Dublin (UCD). He spent his youth visiting historical battlefields across the U.S. In the four years of his college education in Europe, he has visited places such as Rome, Verdun, Dunkirk, and Waterloo. While studying in Ireland, he has been surrounded by Irish history. Gleason has a great passion for genealogy and has researched extensively on nineteenth-century Irish-American history.
The Fenian Brotherhood, first organized in 1858 in New York City, was a highly militarized and fraternal group of Irish nationalists who sought to fight against British rule by any means possible. Their methods and aims were numerous, and, by 1871, four separate military operations were conducted in their attempt to invade Canada (which, at this time, was partially ruled by the British). During these invasions and raids, a crisis emerged between the U.S. and British governments, further worsened by the Rising of 1867 in Ireland, and, ultimately, culminated in an interesting dialogue regarding American citizenship abroad. For these reasons, this era was a particularly influential time for Irish nationalism and the Irish-American identity in relation to foreign affairs. This session will cover the Irish nationalist movement in the United States during and after the American Civil War, focusing on the perspective of John Hassett Gleason, the presenters’ ancestor and one of the leaders of this movement.
Henry Knox, Loyalist?
J.L. Bell (boston1775.blogspot.com) is the author of The Road to Concord: How Four Stolen Cannon Ignited the Revolutionary War, the National Park Service report Gen. George Washington’s Home and Headquarters—Cambridge, Mass., and numerous articles. He maintains the Boston 1775 website, offering daily postings of history, analysis, and unabashed gossip about Revolutionary New England. Bell is slowly working on a book about the troubled first year of the Continental artillery regiment, including Henry Knox’s rise to command.
Most biographies of Henry Knox describe him as a fervent Whig in the years leading up to the Revolutionary War, but that picture seems to be based on hindsight. Knox’s name actually appears in no records of political groups before the war. Contemporaries in the early 1770s viewed Knox as a young man who could go either way politically—and whose family connections were solidly on the side of the royal government. That left him privy to sensitive information, both in his London Book-Store and in the family home. It also meant Knox’s contemporaries viewed his decision to leave besieged Boston in May 1775 as a great sacrifice which positioned him well for his career in the Continental Army.
Hidden Illness in the White House: Patient Confidentiality vs. the Public Good
Dale Magee, MD, is a retired Obstetrician-Gynecologist with an interest in medical history. He began by collecting antique medical books and instruments, and now organizes medical history trips, runs a book club, and presents on medical history topics to local organizations. He is the curator of the Worcester District Medical Society and recently started the New England History of Medicine Society to offer programs of interest to clinicians and the general public. In addition to practicing for more than 35 years, he has functioned as president of the Massachusetts Medical Society, the Worcester District Medical Society, Medical Director of an independent physicians’ group, and Commissioner of Public Health for the City of Worcester. Magee also worked on an infant mortality task for Worcester for over 15 years, reviewing all infant deaths and stillbirths to provide reports and perspective. He was elected to four terms on the Shrewsbury School Committee, retiring in 2022.
The presidency of the United States is a demanding job that requires intellectual, emotional and physical strength. All presidents have support staff they rely on to help make decisions, but when the president is ill, whose interests take precedence? The president, who may have other issues or be in denial? His staff, who may be sacrificing their power? The citizens and the rest of the world, who depend on a stable executive running the United States government? Magee will outline three presidents, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt and Dwight David Eisenhower, to look at specific cases in which these issues arose, and the uncertainties and deceptions that occurred not only during their presidencies, but also their candidacies.
History Camp Trivia Challenge
Hosted by History Camp’s own Mary Adams!
How South Carolina Won the Revolutionary War (With a Little Help From All Y’all)
Cindy Thames (radicalprinter.substack.com) is an independent researcher writing a biography of Peter Timothy, printer of the South-Carolina Gazette from 1746 to 1780. She launched this project after a career in publishing, including as a reporter for daily newspapers. Her article about Timothy and the Stamp Act appeared in Carologue, the general interest magazine of the South Carolina Historical Society. She also shares outtakes from her research in her blog, “The Radical Printer.”
As the richest of the thirteen colonies, with trade vital to the British economy, South Carolina was essential to the fight for independence. But its ruling class did not get on board until the people rose up, spurred by newspaper reports from New England—Boston in particular. This session aims to shed light on the relationships between Boston’s patriots and Charleston’s sons of liberty and their joint effort to push reluctant planters and merchants to back nonimportation, block trade with Britain, and ultimately support the war.
How to Get Excommunicated in Puritan New England
Lori Rogers-Stokes, PhD, is an independent scholar, public historian, and contributing editor for New England’s Hidden Histories, a digital history project making thousands of pages of colonizing-era Congregational church records available through digitization and transcription. She is the author of Records of Trial from Thomas Shepard’s Church in Cambridge, 1638–49: Heroic Souls. Lori studies the history of Woodland New England, particularly the founding decades of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, when Indigenous people and English colonizers took actions that continue to shape our lives today.
Most people would include “excommunication” on a short list of words they would use to describe the Puritans. It’s true — excommunication was the most powerful form of discipline the Puritans used with wayward members. But they would have referred to it as a tool, not a weapon. Join Lori Rogers-Stokes as she explains excommunication in Woodland New England, pulling vivid stories from two centuries of church records to put names and faces to this infamous practice.
The Infamous Captain Bradley: a Cautionary Tale of the Salem Witch Trials
Marilynne K. Roach, independent researcher, writer, and illustrator, has delved into the 1692 trials for nearly half a century and still finds new information cropping up in unexpected places. Roach was one of the sub-editors contributing to the definitive Records of the Salem Witch-Hunt, a member of the Gallows Hill Group that verified Proctor’s Ledge as the true location of the 1692 hangings (hailed by Archaeology Magazine as one of the top ten discoveries of 2016), and has authored several books about the Salem Witch Trials.
In the 1930s during the Great Depression, before images of actual trial documents became widely viewable, an enterprising con man covered the heartland, financing his travels by using Salem Witch Trial death warrants as collateral for loans from the unsuspecting. These fakes still manage to turn up not only among family papers, but also in museums and respectable auction houses proving once again the value of research. Even a laudable love of history can lead one into temptation.
Inventing the Union: How the American Colonies Created a Union after 150 Years of Failure
Liz Covart, PhD, is a historian of the American Revolution and the creator of the award-winning podcast Ben Franklin’s World. A passionate advocate for making history accessible and engaging, Covart blends scholarly research with the power of storytelling to connect the past to the present. Her current book project explores the Articles of Confederation and the origins of the American Union. She has also led groundbreaking work at the intersection of public history and digital humanities as the Founding Director of Colonial Williamsburg Innovation Studios and as Digital Projects Editor at the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture. Today, Liz is the Founder of Scholar.DIY, a public benefit company that helps scholars turn their expertise into compelling digital stories that build trust, foster media literacy, and strengthen democracy.
For more than 150 years, British colonists in North America tried—and failed—to unite. Proposals for intercolonial councils, mutual defense, and shared diplomacy seemed like common sense, yet every attempt at forging a union collapsed under the weight of local interests, regional rivalries, and political distrust. So what changed? How did thirteen wildly different colonies—each with its own government, economy, and identity—succeed in forming a “perpetual union” under the Articles of Confederation between 1777 and 1781? Join award-winning historian and “Ben Franklin’s World” host Liz Covart for a revealing look at the long, messy road to American union. Drawing on her current book project, Covart will uncover the forgotten history of early efforts to cooperate across colonial boundaries and explore how revolution, necessity, and imagination finally made union possible. This session will change how you think about the Articles of Confederation—and the origins of the United States itself.
John Brown’s Body in Boston
Jake Sconyers is the host and creator of the award-winning podcast HUB History, with more than 300 episodes of Boston history that goes far beyond the Freedom Trail.
The most popular song of the Union Army during the Civil War was inspired by the most hated man in America, it borrowed the tune from an old church hymn, and it was first sung at Fort Warren on Georges Island in the Boston Harbor Islands. Together, we’ll learn about the double meaning behind the title of the song, its holy and profane lyrics, and the tragic history of the “Hallelujah Regiment” who made it famous. The 12th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment marched out of Boston in 1861 with 1040 men and a song in their hearts, but when they returned three years later, they numbered just 85, and they had vowed never to sing their famous song again.
John Greenleaf Whittier, 19th Century Abolitionist Poet from Massachusetts
Christiana Boehmer (antislaveryinessexcounty.substack.com) is an independent historian from Andover, Massachusetts, who writes about the antislavery movement in Essex County, Massachusetts, from 1760-1860. She earned graduate degrees in education and environmental engineering, but, after retiring in 2021, turned her energies to researching and writing about local history. Her research focuses on how less-famous individuals in towns north of Boston participated in the fight against Massachusetts slavery in the eighteenth century and U.S. slavery in the nineteenth century. In her blog, “ANTIslavery in Essex County,” she shares untold stories of these people, some who were themselves enslaved or descended from enslaved individuals.
Twentieth century people memorialized John Greenleaf Whittier as a beloved Quaker poet, but Whittier was also a fierce anti-slavery activist. For several decades, Whittier devoted his working and writing life to the cause. He edited several abolitionist newspapers, organized anti-slavery societies and abolitionist political parties, and penned scores of poems expressing outrage at the brutality of slavery and the hypocrisy of pro-slavery politicians and religious leaders. Frederick Douglass called Whitter “The Slave’s Poet.” In her talk, Boehmer will share short excerpts of some of Whittier’s most impactful anti-slavery verses.
Johnny Appleseed’s Revolutionary Childhood
Melissa M. Cybulski is a local historian, museum guide, and author based in Western Massachusetts. As Vice-President of the Longmeadow Historical Society, she has done extensive research, writing, and presenting on a variety of topics of import to her community’s history particularly as they relate to the untold stories of women, children, and the enslaved. Most notably, Cybulski has partnered with UMass-Amherst for their Documenting Early Black Lives in the Connecticut River Valley project which led to a collaboration between the Witness Stones Project and the Longmeadow Public Schools. In April 2024, she published her first book, a middle-readers novel called Appleseeds: A Boy Named Johnny Chapman, about the Massachusetts childhood of the boy who would become famous as Johnny Appleseed. Her other professional passion is the 19th century world of poet, Emily Dickinson, and she has been a museum guide and researcher at the Emily Dickinson Museum in Amherst since 2017.
He has become mythologized as Johnny Appleseed, the man who spread apples throughout the developing west, but his origins begin right here in Massachusetts. Born in September 1774, just months before the Battles of Lexington and Concord, Johnny’s entire childhood and adolescence were shaped by the events of the American Revolution. This presentation will focus on his father, Captain Nathaniel Chapman’s, and his contributions to the war efforts from Bunker Hill to the Springfield Arsenal. Cybulski will also examine how the Connecticut River Valley town of Longmeadow, Massachusetts provided a backdrop to the captain’s family struggles in the post-war economy – as well as reveal an intriguing clue about Captain Chapman’s involvement in Shay’s Rebellion.
L.M. Montgomery’s Emily of New Moon and the Arts and Crafts Movement
Abby Chandler, PhD, is Associate Professor of History at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. Her second book, “Seized with the Temper of the Times”: Identity and Rebellion in Pre-Revolutionary America, was published by Westholme in 2023. She is also a gardener, a life-long reader of L.M. Montgomery, and is writing a book which considers Montgomery’s writings about gardens in context with horticultural movements from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Canadian writer L.M. Montgomery is best known as the author of multiple novels including Anne of Green Gables, but she was also a passionate gardener who filled her novels with carefully detailed gardens. The early 1920s found Montgomery at a turning point in her literary career. Having finally finished the early Anne books, she was ready to start writing about a new heroine whom she christened Emily Byrd Starr. Unlike the cottage gardens in her earlier books, the gardens that Montgomery created for Emily’s New Moon Farm were rooted in the traditions of the Arts and Crafts Movement. Now in her forties, Montgomery knew that the “ideal garden” that she had carried about in her mind for years was unattainable in her own life but she was, at last, ready to create it in fiction. Examining the New Moon garden in context with the Arts and Crafts Movement tells a new story about a beloved writer and the worlds that she created, while highlighting the real life gardens that shaped and influenced Montgomery’s writing.
“Listen, my children!”: How Longfellow’s Poem Turned Paul Revere into a National Hero
Charles Bahne fell in love with Boston when he came here for college. After majoring in urban studies and planning, his career has been devoted to sharing his enthusiasm for the city and its history. Bahne is well known as a local tour guide, and he regularly leads Road Scholar programs about Boston’s role in the American Revolution. He is author of The Complete Guide to Boston’s Freedom Trail and Chronicles of Old Boston, as well as articles and chapters in several other publications. He lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and, yes, he had to memorize “Paul Revere’s Ride” when he was a sixth-grader in the Midwest.
“Listen, my children, and you shall hear / Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere…” On the eighteenth of April in 1775, Paul Revere set out on a nighttime journey that would become legend. Eighty-five years later, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow stood at his desk, pencil in hand, and drafted the lines that would form that legend. Originally a clandestine mission of military intelligence, the midnight ride of Paul Revere is now one of the best-known events in American history — just as “Paul Revere’s Ride” is one of the best-loved poems of American literature. This program will examine how Longfellow came to learn about Revere’s ride, and his motivations for writing about it. We’ll look at the reaction to the poem after it was published, how it became associated with the famous Wayside Inn, and how and why it is historically inaccurate. Included will be a reading of stanzas that were edited out and never made it into print.
Local Money: Currency and Credit in Colonial New England
Matthew Mees, AB, toils in the fields as an independent researcher of pre-revolutionary New England, with a particular interest in how people, communities and regions were connected; exploring their spiritual and economic lives; their relationships with the First Peoples, the French and British and Caribbean islands. Mees researches individuals using genealogies, period newspapers, tax rolls, probate records and town meeting minutes. He travels to visit the sites, homes, graves of these people, who after all, were real people, doing real things. Mees supports his research by working as a scenic carpenter building stage sets for theaters in Boston and New York City.
The North American colonies were not allowed to establish banks or produce their own currencies. There were attempts, over the colonial years, to introduce coinage, paper currency and establish land-banks, which were all suppressed by Parliament. All financial transactions used British currency, at least in name. Despite these restrictions, North Americans, and New Englanders in particular, were known to live a comfortable middling-sort of life with a relatively shallow degree of income disparity. This presentation will outline the British coinage system, and looks at various currencies circulating through New England at this time. It also describes the ways the colonists worked to build a stable and prosperous economy, despite the various restrictions imposed upon them by Parliament. Resources from the 18th and recent era are offered for further study to those interested.
Looking a Witch Judge in the Eye: The Portrait of William Stoughton, Chief Magistrate of the Salem Witchcraft Trials
Margo Burns, AB, MA, is the Project Manager and Associate Editor of Records of the Salem Witch-Hunt (salemwitchhunt.org, published in 2009 by the Cambridge University Press), the definitive comprehensive record of legal documents pertaining to the Salem witchcraft trials, organized in chronological order. She is currently working on a biography of William Stoughton, the Chief Magistrate of those trials.
We are often attracted to artists’ depictions of historical figures, as if being able to “look them in the eye” could help us understand them better. This presentation will focus on a portrait at Harvard of William Stoughton, who signed the death warrants to hang 19 people for witchcraft at Salem in 1692. Burns will examine everything that is presumed to be true about it, and come to some surprising conclusions.
Lost Voices and Hidden Truths: Recovering Stories of the Enslaved People of the North Shore
Abby Battis, ALM, is the Director at Historic Beverly. She has more than a decade of experience in the museum field in curatorial practice and collections management. Ms. Battis holds a Master of Liberal Arts (ALM) in Museum Studies from the Harvard Extension School where she has been an adjunct instructor for 9 years teaching classes on the future of historic house museums and museum exhibition design fundamentals. Ms. Battis recently received a letter of commendation for her distinguished teaching performance in the Harvard Extension School. Battis is also an adjunct faculty member at Endicott College, where she is a professor of Art History and Arts Administration, and holds an adjunct faculty position at Montserrat College of Art where she is a professor in the Art History Department. Ms. Battis has served as a consultant for various museums, including being an integral part of the strategic planning project for the Wenham Museum, and an exhibition consultant for the Southold Historical Society on Long Island and the Issaquah History Museum in Issaquah, Washington. She recently finished a project as museum historian for the Bakers Island Light project for Essex National Heritage. Battis has been named one of the Top 10 Women Leaders in the Region by North of Boston Business Magazine, and has received numerous awards including the Pioneer in Partnership Award from Essex National Heritage and the National Park Service, the Gold Star Award from the Massachusetts Cultural Council and was awarded an Arts and Culture Citation by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts House of Representatives.
Elizabeth Matelski, PhD, is Distinguished Professor of History at Endicott College in Beverly, Massachusetts, where she teaches classes on race, gender, and sexuality in American history. Dr. Matelski received a BA from Ripon College and PhD from Loyola University Chicago. Her teaching interests include incorporating digital technologies into the history classroom. In addition to teaching American history, she also created Endicott’s Public History concentration. Dr. Matelski is a past director of two NEH summer institutes about the Salem Witch Trials. Her current research is centered on Robin Mingo, a formerly enslaved Black man who lived in Beverly in the early 1700s, and after whom Mingo Beach is named.
The history of slavery is often associated with the American South, but enslaved people lived, labored, and resisted throughout New England. Yet, their stories have often been overlooked or erased. How do we research the lives of those for whom the historical record is silent? This presentation will explore the challenges of uncovering these hidden histories, drawing on examples of enslaved individuals whose stories are being rediscovered. Join Matelski and Battis to examine how historians navigate gaps in the archives, reinterpret existing sources, and employ creative approaches to recover and amplify the voices of the enslaved.
The Loves of Theodore Roosevelt: The Women Who Created A President
More than Women’s Work: Redefining Gender Roles in the Armed Forces (1942–1948)
Mel Bloom, MS, is an Air Force veteran and highly-rated educational speaker with 3+ years of experience in public history with a focus on women’s topics. She has presented at the Naval War College Museum, Blackstone River National Historical Park, the Massachusetts State House, and the Veterans Affair Hospital. She has a BS in Architecture, an MArch, and a MS in Historic Preservation. She launched 3-5-0 Girls in 2022 to tell the stories of women who served in the military, stories that had previously gone unknown. In addition to public speaking, Bloom provides interpretive services at many local museums as well as research, feedback, and exhibit design for displays featuring women who served in the military.
When someone mentions women who served in World War II, generally people have a familiarity with the nurses, Rosie the Riveter, and occasionally the women pilots. Although by far the most iconic and well-known, those are all civilian roles, and the women who served in the military during World War II are largely forgotten. Other than combat, most other jobs previously held by a man (even ones considered feminine, like administration work) were now open to women. Additionally, in 1942, it wasn’t just the women’s roles that were changing, the military was evolving and adapting to new strategies and technologies, including things like radar and airpower. One of the more common misconceptions about women’s roles is that they were only doing women’s jobs: admin, nursing, clerical roles; but they were also some of the first Americans, regardless of gender, to train and utilize new technology for warfare. These women were pioneers in military technology in addition to paving the way for the military women who came after them. It was a whole new military in early 1942 — new technology, new weapons, new terrain, and a new workforce — that would continue to evolve throughout the war. The variety of jobs the women could do affected everything from recruiting and uniform design to their training and assignments. This lecture will talk about the women who served in the Armed Forces in the Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard, and examine what “women’s work” truly looked like.
Mrs. Lincoln and Mrs. Kennedy
Laura F. Keyes, MLS, (laurafkeyes.com) is a Library Director in Central Illinois. Laura enjoys sharing little-known stories from history, and has been portraying women from history and lecturing on historic topics since 2008. Her recent living history programs include a station operator on the Illinois Underground Railroad; Mary Harlan Lincoln’s reaction to the death of her Mother-in-Law Mary Todd Lincoln; and Elizabeth Parsons Ware Packard, who was unjustly (though legally) imprisoned in an insane asylum by her husband for three years.
Leslie Goddard, PhD, (lesliegoddardpresents.com) is an award-winning historian and actress who has been presenting programs on topics in 20th century American history and women’s history for more than twenty years. She holds an interdisciplinary PhD from Northwestern University as well as master’s degrees in both museum studies and in theater. A former museum director, she is the author of three books on Chicago history and currently works full-time as a public speaker, actress, and scholar. Her presentations have been seen by audiences in more than thirty-five states, including scores of universities, museums, libraries, festivals, and civic organizations.
If Mary Todd Lincoln and Jacqueline Kennedy met, what would they discuss? Join Laura F. Keyes, MLS, and Leslie Goddard, PhD, for this first-person portrayal that brings Mrs. Lincoln and Mrs. Kennedy to life in an imagined meeting of these two powerful women at the Smithsonian Institution’s First Ladies exhibition. As they reminisce, they share stories about life in the White House, balancing motherhood with the role of First Lady, and the challenges they endured after their husbands’ deaths.
“No Avenging Gibet”: The 1860 Pemberton Mill Collapse and the Cover Up that Followed
Robert Forrant, PhD, is Distinguished University Professor of History at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. Principal historian on numerous projects funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Lowell National Historical Park, and the Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities, his newest book, co-edited with Mary Anne Trasciatti, Where are the Workers: Interpreting Labor and Working-Class History at Museums and Historic Sites, was published by the University of Illinois Press in 2022. In early 2024, he published “‘No Avenging Gibet’: The 1860 Pemberton Mill Collapse” in The New England Quarterly.
Many know about the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire in New York City in 1911, which cost 146 workers their lives. How many know about a similar occurrence on January 10, 1860, in Lawrence, Massachusetts, when nearly 100 workers were killed in the Pemberton textile mill collapse? The wealthy Bostonians involved in the mill’s construction got a free pass in the cover-up that followed. Instead, Charles H. Bigelow, chief engineer on the mill construction project, received singular blame for the horror at a coroner’s inquest. In the aftermath, efforts to reform worker health and safety in the Commonwealth failed. The deadly event even called into question whether we should be a nation of factories. Why did the mill fall? Could the families of the deceased workers sue the mill owners? Who engineered the cover-up? All will be revealed in this ‘true history detective’ session.
On the Road with the Virginia Presidents
Heather S. Cole, MA, (heatherscole.com) is a writer and public historian living in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. She has a master’s degree in history from Salem State University and has worked in a variety of museums and archives, including at the Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library & Museum. Cole currently works as an editor for Bridgewater College and runs a small publishing company specializing in local history, culture and memoir. She is the author, most recently, of Virginia’s Presidents: A History & Guide and Ohio’s Presidents: A History & Guide, both published by The History Press.
This is an engaging armchair travel presentation about the eight U.S. presidents born in Virginia and the historic sites that tell their stories. Participants will travel the state with Cole — from Staunton to Charles City and Wytheville to Winchester — to (virtually) visit the homes, libraries and museums of the Virginia presidents and talk about how historical interpretation at these sites has changed over the years. Attendees will learn a bit about the presidents’ lives and get ideas for their next history road trip.
Parting Ways Revisited: A Remarkable Story of African American Families and Community Connections from Plymouth to Boston and Beyond
Connie Crosby, MA, has a BA in American and African American History from Colby College and an MA in Anthropology from University of California, Berkeley where she was a graduate student of Dr. James Deetz in Historical Archaeology. She was Research Coordinator for the Parting Ways Museum project in the late 1970s and volunteered time in the 1980s and 1990s on grants, historic preservation issues, continuing research, archaeology, and museum exhibits. In her 25 years as an Historic Archaeologist and Researcher, she also worked for the Museum of African American History (African Meetinghouse Site, Southwest Corridor Archaeology Project); the Massachusetts Historic Commission, consulted for many other museums, conducted archeological field schools, wrote articles and gave dozens of public talks and professional papers. She also received commendations from the Massachusetts House and Senate for her contributions to an exhibit on African American Communities at the Commonwealth Museum in Boston. In 1998 she left her career in archaeology to pursue her passions in art making and rowing. She collaborated with the Wildlands Trust of Southeastern Massachusetts on creation of the Willowbrook Farm Preserve, a major land preservation project in Pembroke, Massachusetts. She became a member of Hull Life Saving Museum, Community Rowing, Inc. and volunteered her time with the Girls Row Boston (now Let’s Row program at CRI). She became a rowing coach and national and world champion rower at the master’s level, and has won the Head of the Charles.
Muriel D. Roberts, Family Historian and Genealogist, attended Jersey City State College as a Performing Arts/Theater major. She is a fourth-generation resident born, raised, and educated in Jersey City, New Jersey, with ancestral locations in Colonial New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Georgia, South Carolina, and Virginia. The Girl Scout organization was an integral part of her life, a legacy of her mother’s membership from the age of 10 to 92. She was a girl member through the ranks, a camp counselor, volunteer leader, and a local Council employee serving as Program Manager/Field Executive for 23 years. She was an original member of the Kennedy Dancers and Dance instructor at Docampo’s Music and Dance Academy, Union City, NJ. She also served as a Lay Eucharistic Minister, Chalice Bearer, Lector and Intercessor, Altar Guild and Vestry member in the Episcopal Church of St. Paul and Incarnation. She became a DAR member on April 5, 2021, honoring a new DAR Forgotten Patriot, Plato Turner of Parting Ways, from Plymouth, Massachusetts.
Crosby and Roberts will tell the stories of four African American families (Plato and Rachel Turner, Cato and Althea Howe, Prince and Nellie Goodwin, Quash and Phillis Quandey and their son Quamony Quash and his wife Ellen) and how they navigated their way through the Revolutionary War and into a post-war world that promised liberty and freedom in the early republic and beyond. Originally enslaved in Plymouth, by the late 1770s these families began settling on 106 acres of Plymouth common land. The story continues through the 19th-century as one Turner family son bought a small farm in Bridgewater and another son remained at Parting Ways. The five Turner family daughters left Plymouth, married, and settled on the north slope of Beacon Hill in Boston and became integral members of the Black community surrounding the African Meeting House. One of those families joined Captain Paul Cuffe’s return to Africa in 1815 to Sierra Leone. The results of archeology, historical research and family genealogy are used to tell the stories of this remarkable early settlement. This research began with community-based efforts in the 1970s undertaken by the Parting Ways Museum project in Plymouth and continues today with community members and the descendants of Plato and Rachel Turner.
A Perfect Frenzy: A Royal Governor, His Black Allies, and the Crisis That Spurred the American Revolution
Andrew Lawler is the author of four books: A Perfect Frenzy, Under Jerusalem, The Secret Token, and Why Did the Chicken Cross the World? He also has written more than a thousand newspaper and magazine articles, and his byline has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, National Geographic, and Smithsonian. A contributing writer for Science and a contributing editor for Archaeology, he is the recipient of several awards for writing and reporting.
The Presidents and the Pastime: Baseball’s Unique Relationship with our Commanders in Chief Through the Years
Dan Coonan (dancoonanauthor.com) has been a leader in the field of intercollegiate athletics for over twenty years. He took over as Commissioner of the ECAC eight years ago after serving for a dozen years as Athletic Director at Santa Clara University. He has also practiced law, run a Congressional campaign, and served as Chairman of Lifemoves, the largest homeless shelter network in the San Francisco Bay Area. He has published two novels: Presidential Spirits and Another Round — a political version of Field of Dreams or Midnight in Paris. He has a book about baseball coming out in 2025 and another novel coming in 2026.
Baseball has long held a special place in the hearts of Americans, and that is particularly true of our presidents. Every president from Taft to Obama chose to throw out a ceremonial first pitch at a baseball game — an act guaranteed to generate a fair amount of goodwill and free publicity. But the sport’s relationship with presidents goes far beyond just that. FDR considered it essential that major league baseball continue to be played throughout the war and took specific steps to ensure that it was. George W. Bush believed that throwing out a pitch at Yankee Stadium in the 2001 World Series following 9/11 was the perfect symbol that the American way of life would proceed undeterred. Bill Clinton felt compelled to personally intervene to try to avert the ’94-’95 players’ strike. This session will explore the many facets of the special relationship our national pastime has enjoyed with our Commanders in Chief through the decades.
Printing Revolution
Andrew Volpe is a Living History Presenter, Artist, and Printer in the Worcester, MA area. He has been involved with the Museum of Printing in Haverhill, MA, since 2006, where he gives lectures and printing demos, public tours, and is currently researching the massive Klein Collection of prints. Since 2012, he has worked with Gary Gregory who founded the Printing Office of Edes & Gill (which recently relocated to the Museum of Printing), where he replicates and prints copperplate engravings of Paul Revere, and creates special limited edition 250th commemorative prints & artwork. Volpe also presents on ancient Roman armor and archaeology to area schools and at the Worcester Art Museum.
While the printing press (and rolling press) had a significant impact on the American Revolution, the press has had a very long history of printing revolutionary and radical ideas – causing all sorts of havoc and controversy along the way. Join Andy Volpe, of the Printing Office of Edes & Gill and the Museum of Printing, and take a look at several examples throughout history where the press, the printers, engravers, and artists had a role in revolution & rebellion!
Recreating Boston During the Revolutionary Era
Edouard Lussan has worked on more than ten video games and interactive titles combining fiction and historical reconstructions. He created three games based on medieval themes — ‘Crusades’, ‘Vikings’, ‘Robin Hood: The Legend of Sherwood’; as well as ‘Operation Teddy Bear’, which was recognized by the Mémorial de Caen for its historical accuracy. In 2003, he created the concept and brand ‘Sniper Elite’, which has sold over 10 million copies since its release in 2005. Lussan has worked in France, Canada, and England in several development studios, allowing him to acquire the necessary skills in the world of digital production, combining new technologies and interactivity. In 2014, he co-founded Histovery with Bruno de Sa Moreira, a company specializing in the design, production, and distribution of HistoPad, an augmented reality tour solution on tablet devices for monuments and museums. As Chief Content Officer, his role is to design immersive and interactive HistoPad experiences and lead a production team of around twenty people. Based on video game technologies, the HistoPad production team includes project managers, 3D and 2D artists, animators, and developers. To ensure the historical accuracy of each HistoPad, he coordinates production with Scientific Committees, bringing together recognized experts who validate the content from a scientific standpoint. Since 2019, HistoPad has expanded internationally with augmented exhibitions, such as ‘Airborne – Freedom from Above’, deployed at the National Museum of the U.S. Army (Washington, D.C.), and ‘Notre-Dame de Paris’, which is touring worldwide from 2022 to 2025. As of today, the HistoPad is deployed in over 20 sites across France, Germany, and the USA. In 2025, it will launch in Belgium, at the Fortress of Dinant.
Join Edouard Lussan of Histovery as he shares how to they have recreated historically accurate urban environments by combining top research and technology. This session will particularly focus on a recreation of a now vanished, Revolutionary-era Boston in 3D. Lussan will present a tour of the city at three defining historical moments: the Stamp Act, the Boston Massacre, and the Boston Tea Party, focusing specifically on architecture (buildings, harbor, landmarks), 18th-century people, everyday life ambiance, and specific props.
Researching Revolutionary War Patriots of Hingham, Massachusetts: The Challenge, the Results, and How New Findings Upended Assumptions
Ellen Stine Miller (ellen.stine.miller@gmail.com) is the volunteer manager of The Old Ordinary, an historic house museum owned by the Hingham Historical Society (hinghamhistorical.org) and built by her 7th great grand-uncle in 1686. She is a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, teaches genealogy at the Weymouth Senior Center and conducts historical research in support of the Hingham Historical Society. She co-authored the book, Revolutionary War Patriots of Hingham and has recently published an addendum to that work.
Hingham, an historic town on the South Shore, has a rich and well-documented history and a wealth of 17th and 18th century homes, including that of Maj. Gen. Benjamin Lincoln, of Revolutionary War fame. In The History of Hingham, Massachusetts (1893), historian Walter Bouvé estimated that Hingham supplied an astonishing 600 to 750 soldiers to the war effort. Amateur researchers Ellen Miller and Susan Wetzel undertook the challenge of identifying those individuals, culminating in a book including over 850 names and sketches, illustrated with photos of homes, gravesites, and portraits. This session will start by recapping their journey with its challenges, changing objectives, sources, efforts at inclusion, and analysis of the data. It will continue with an update with new records and research that expanded our list significantly and challenged assumptions about town Loyalists. Learn how the historical society is leveraging this work and that of other researchers as part of Rev250, and learn some tips for how participants might launch their own projects.
The Rise and Fall of Philadelphia Quakers in Revolutionary Pennsylvania
Jeff Denman (jeffreyadenman.com, Instagram: @jeffreyadenman, X: @JeffDenman3) is the author of John Quincy Adams, Reluctant Abolitionist and co-author of Greene and Cornwallis in the Carolinas: The Pivotal Struggle of the American Revolution, 1780-1781. He is a retired US History and World Geography teacher from the Brookline Public Schools as well as a historian and the author of seven journal articles dealing with subjects ranging from the American Revolution to World War II.
The Quakers found themselves at the center of a controversy that ignited a firestorm of paranoia, anger, and vengeance. How did a peace-loving people find themselves the objects of derision and disdain in a time of social and political upheaval as British hegemony in America was being waged? The religious precepts the Society of Friends in Pennsylvania devoutly followed collided violently with the realities of eighteenth-century life, which often involved constant wars among European powers that ended up as colonial issues as well. As the violence of the Revolution ramped up, Quaker leadership reminded their flock that the Society would be taking a neutral stance in the coming conflict. Neutrality, as it turned out, was deemed an unacceptable position to take by the radical leadership in Pennsylvania. Non-Quakers had difficulty distinguishing between passive neutrality and aiding and abetting British policy. Friends were criticized from both sides and were labeled dissenters from the American cause. As the revolution unfolded, the Quakers suffered immeasurably. Since they rejected military service, they were fined and taxed heavily. Their property was distrained, and they were forced to lodge soldiers in their homes. British and American depredations destroyed Quaker farms and businesses. This is a story of the precipitous rise of the Society of Friends in Pennsylvania, their goal of what seemed a utopian society, and a testament to resilience and adherence to their strict standards.
Searching for Pomp Russell and Discovering Some ‘Mighty Feisty’ Mainers
Judith Granger is a retired educator, a family genealogist with 1600s Essex Co. and Oyster River roots, and now, a citizen historian — someone committed to discovering the stories of rural black citizens living in the wilderness of Maine in the late 1700s to mid 1800s. Why? Thanks to volunteering to help a white friend with the discomforting story of a lost and forgotten black ancestor born in 1761, her goal is now to share Pomp and his extended Russell family’s lives and to learn what they might help us understand. As a qualitative researcher and inveterate storyteller, Granger invites everyone to consider how new richly complex stories might help us grow.
Upon finding the first American Anti-Slavery Almanac (1836), Granger learned a sorrowful family story — a white mother so bereft that her husband bought her a black baby, to be named Pomp Russell. Granger was inspired to learn more about Pomp’s life and family tree by a friend who could trace their lineage back to the Russells. All Granger knew to start was that Pomp is buried under a NH Revolutionary War stone in the wilderness of Weld, Maine. Discovering how Pomp got there, and finding his family connections, has led to new discoveries of how his family influenced rural Maine’s early 1830s anti-slavery activism.
The Tea Party That Wasn’t: The Edenton Ladies, Their Petition, and Historical Myth-Making
Nancy Parode, MA, (nancy.parode@gmail.com) has taught U.S. History for eight years. In her research, she has explored topics ranging from the lives of women printers and publishers of the revolutionary era, to her current research on the lives and work of enslaved and free Black people who labored for Jesuit priests in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Maryland.
On October 25, 1774, a group of fifty-one upper- and middle-class women from Edenton, North Carolina, agreed to publicly support the pre-Revolutionary War nonimportation agreements promulgated by the North Carolina provisional assembly by composing a petition and signing their names underneath it, later published the Virginia Gazette and other English newspapers. “The Edenton Ladies’ Tea Party,” as it became known, attracted a lot of attention, considering that women in the pre-revolutionary era were expected to confine their activities to the domestic sphere. Artist Philip Dawe added to the mockery by creating a mezzotint cartoon titled “A Society of Patriotic Ladies at Edenton in North Carolina, October 25, 1774.” There’s only one problem with this story — no evidence exists to prove that this tea party ever happened. Nevertheless, history textbooks mention it, historical “artifacts” from the tea party have been displayed in museums, and several artists have depicted this event. The Edenton Ladies’ Tea Party offers us an example of historical myth-making that evolved alongside the history of North Carolina and the United States. Join Parode as she examines why works of art, a teapot, and an 1898 pamphlet that appeared just fifteen days after the 1898 Wilmington, North Carolina, Massacre can teach us something important about how historians, writers, politicians, and artists interpret historical events.
They Tore Down the King’s Colours: The Seizure of Fort William and Mary 250 Years Later
Cynthia Hatch, PhD,is a historian and educator specializing in Revolutionary War-era America, with a focus on the political, social, and cultural forces that shaped the nation’s founding. She holds a Ph.D. in History and teaches American History and U.S. Government at Oklahoma State University Institute of Technology. Her forthcoming book, Enablers of Rebellion: The Colonial Court System and the Road to the American Revolution (Savas Beatie, Spring 2026), explores how the surprising leniency of colonial courts helped ignite resistance to British rule, shedding light on a crucial but often overlooked catalyst for American independence.
In December 2024, Fort William and Mary marked its 250th anniversary. The events culminating in the takeover of Fort William and Mary in New Hampshire included the Pine Tree Riot in 1772, the Gaspee Affair in 1772, the Tea Act of 1773, and the Coercive Acts of 1774. An exploration of the complexity of the colonial legal system will illuminate its inadvertent facilitation of Colonial resistance in the years leading up to the “Shot Heard Round the World” in 1775. In addition to the changing political landscape, a few of the Patriot participants included in this story are John Langdon, who later commanded a regiment at the Battle of Saratoga; John Sullivan, subsequently appointed as Major General by General Washington and participant in the Battle of Trenton; and Paul Revere, who notably made his Midnight Ride before the Battle of Lexington and Concord in 1775.
Transforming on Campaign: How the British Army Adapted in the American War for Independence
Richard O. Tucker, MMH, (linkedin.com/in/richard-tucker-ab6ba429) is a Marine Corps veteran, lifelong reenactor of various eras, and accredited historian. Richard holds a BA in US History from Keene State College, and an MA in Military History from Norwich University. He is currently the commanding officer of Baker Company, 21st Marine Regiment (reenacted) and the NCOIC of the Grenadier Company of His Majesty’s 47th Regiment of Foot (reenacted).
The British Army in 1775 was very much the average for a European Army at the time. Contemporary histories say it was the best army in the world, but a closer examination proves that they came in third, or even fourth. There was, however, one thing that the British were superior at, and that was innovation and adaptability. “Transforming on Campaign” will discuss the changes the British Army made during the American War for Independence that made a third (or fourth) rate army such a challenging opponent for the fledgling Continentals. As the 250th Anniversary is well under way, it is important to contextualize how the British were fighting so we might better understand what a feat it was to have defeated them.
Trying the Japanese as War Criminals in WWII
Michel Paradis, PhD, is a leading human rights lawyer, historian, and national security law scholar and most recently the author of the critically acclaimed Last Mission to Tokyo. He is also a partner at the international law firm Curtis Mallet-Prevost and a Lecturer at Columbia Law School. He has appeared on or written for the PBS NewsHour, CBS, MSNBC, CNBC, C-SPAN, Netflix, NPR, The Atlantic, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Lawfare, Just Security, Articles of War, among other publications. He is a fellow at the Center on National Security and the National Institute for Military Justice. He was awarded his doctorate from Oxford University, where he was a Campion Scholar, and received his law degree from Fordham Law School in New York.
Many students of WWII know the Doolittle Raid of 1942 — the first American strike on Tokyo after Pearl Harbor, in which sixteen American bombers secretly bombed Tokyo. This provoked the Japanese Empire into making a series of catastrophic strategic blunders, including the Battle of Midway. Few know, however, about the fate of the two lost crews and how Japan’s torture, trial, and execution of the Doolittle Raiders in the summer of 1942 set in motion the modern era of prosecutions for war crimes. Based on Paradis’ critically acclaimed Last Mission to Tokyo, this presentation will reveal the dramatic aftermath of the famous Doolittle Raid, which involved two lost crews captured, tried, and tortured at the hands of the Japanese, a dramatic rescue of the survivors in the last weeks of World War II, and an international manhunt and trial led by two dynamic and opposing young lawyers (in which both the United States and Japan accused the other of war crimes) that would change the face of our legal and military history.
Scots-Irish Self-Reliance on the Eastern Frontier: Living & Dying on the Dummer Claim
Julie A. Potter-Dunlop, PhD, is the Secretary of the Maine Ulster Scots Project (MUSP), as well as a member of the MUSP Editorial Board for the publication, 1718–2018: Reflections on 300 Years of Scots Irish in Maine. Julie is a direct descendant of Scots-Irish emigrants arriving in the District of Maine on the “MacCallum” in 1718. Professionally, she is a retired Nurse Educator who served at the University of Hawai’i Maui College. Privately, she is an amateur genealogist, historian, and archaeological excavation site team member.
This presentation will explore the history of the Scots-Irish First Settlers to Casco Bay, District of Maine in 1718. Through an 18th-century lens, the Dummer Claim on Flying Point (Ancient North Yarmouth) will be examined as a microcosm community bent on land possession and land development. Cultural aspects of family norms, the founding of civic government, and dynamic commerce industry will be discussed as well as the leanings into self-governance and rebellion against British control during the American War for Independence.
The Tangled Relationship Between New York and the Dutch Caribbean, 1600–1700
William Matthews, MA, currently serves on the Board of The Friends of Philipse Manor Hall NYS Historical Site. He is the editor and producer of the historical podcast ‘New York, Quebec and The Water Route to the Center of the World.’ Previously he worked as a local Advanced Placement Teacher and History Department Chair in NYC, with more than 15 years of experience in the classroom. William has received scholarships from The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, The Williamsburg Teacher Institute and the Fort Ticonderoga War College. He has presented at both national history and educational conferences, while maintaining membership in The French Colonial Historical Society, The Society for Military History and The Holland Society of New York.
The unique syncretic culture of New Netherland and its successor state of New York, is directly tied to its intertwined history with the Dutch Caribbean and Northern Brazil. Join Matthews as he examines both the humanity and horror that these nascent trading voyages left in their wake, forever linking one of the most important cultural streams of the future United States, to far flung places such as Curaçao, Bonaire and Aruba. This presentation will cover an incredible set of translated Dutch documentary evidence from the New York State Archives, honoring and highlighting the work of Dr. Charles Gehring and Dr. Janny Venema from the New Netherland Project.
“We Could Easily Trace the March of Troops from the Smoke Which Arose Over Them”—Reexamining Lexington and Concord
Alexander Cain, JD, graduated from Merrimack College in 1993 with a degree in economics and from the New England School of Law in 1996 with a Juris Doctor. He directs a vocational program based in Merrimack Valley that introduces high school students to advanced manufacturing and skilled trades careers. Cain has published multiple research articles that illuminate the Battles of Lexington and Concord, Bunker Hill, the Siege of Boston, and the loyalist refugee experience during the American Revolution, as well as two books, We Stood Our Ground: Lexington in the First Year of the American Revolution and I See Nothing but the Horrors of a Civil War, and is the creator of the blog and podcast “Historical Nerdery.”
The Battles of Lexington and Concord are often depicted as a spontaneous clash between rugged farmers and British troops, but the reality is far more gripping. Join historian Alexander Cain as he dismantles the myth of the lone patriot and reveals the true story of a well-prepared and strategically organized resistance. Long before April 19, 1775, New England communities had been stockpiling arms, drilling their militias, and laying the groundwork for rebellion. Through a fresh examination of battlefield tactics, Cain will uncover how both patriot and British forces leveraged terrain, executed coordinated maneuvers, and adapted to the chaos of combat. He will also shine a light on a frequently ignored aspect of the day—the role of loyalists in the field and their influence on the unfolding conflict. Beyond the fighting, this lecture will explore the raw brutality of the day and its devastating impact on civilians caught in the crossfire.
“We haven’t had a president with facial hair in more than a century” and Other Trivial Observations
Heather Rogers (potuspages.com) isn’t a historian, an academic, or an impartial storyteller… but she has read more than one book about every U.S. president. Out of spite. She was dubbed “America’s Preeminent Presidential Doodler” by one of her favorite biographers and she’s been repeating it ever since. When she’s not reading or doodling history books, she’s a freelance graphic designer, illustrator, and content creator.
To keep her interest during an accidental spite project, Heather Rogers filled hundreds of sketchbook pages doodling her way through presidential biographies. Doing so heightened her curiosity and turned her into an insufferable presidential nerd. Along the way, she discovered unexpected threads connecting seemingly unconnected people, times, and events. She can’t get enough of the weird trivia, coincidences, and quirks. Like the fact that we haven’t had a president with facial hair since Taft. Or that General Washington illegally inoculated his troops. Don’t even get her started on Herbert Hoover, who was pronounced dead when he was two. Take a walk through her sketchbooks as she shares some of her favorite tidbits, observations, and resurrection stories about the first 36 presidents.
The Will of a Woman: Abigail Adams’s Textile Legacy
Sarah Walsh (@pins.abigail) is a librarian and educator who became involved in living history thanks to theater. In 2015, she took on the role of Abigail Adams in the first fully staged production of “1776” that had a cast of only women and nonbinary actors. A year later, Walsh was invited to portray Abigail with an 18th century re-enactment group and launched into studying Abigail’s life and letters in earnest. Having learned machine sewing from her mother at age 10, she is now using historical clothing construction techniques and skills to create a wardrobe spanning the years of Abigail’s life.
In the 18th- and 19th-centuries in America, textiles and textile goods were considered a separate legal category from other types of property, and as a result, those without property rights could assert and negotiate ownership of them. Textiles held enormous intrinsic value, whether as clothing or yardage, and were a much more stable form of wealth than cash or other assets. In 1816, Abigail Adams drew up a detailed will bequeathing large sums of money as well as gowns and lengths of fabric to her daughters-in-law, nieces, and granddaughters. She began the will by asserting that it was written “by and with my husband’s consent,” in accordance with the restrictions of coverture. But apportioning out valuable textile goods to the women in her extended family, who had no other expectation of personal property or wealth to call their own, was an act of quiet defiance.
When the Silver Screen Took Flight: The creation of Thunderbird Field before WWII [Glendale, Arizona 1940–1945]
Susan Weaver Johnson, MA, is a dynamic educator and speaker. Currently a faculty member at Arizona Christian University, she specializes in American History. Her wide-ranging experience in education spans more than 40 years. She is currently working on a book about Thunderbird Field during World War II based on her award winning graduate research at Pace University.
Before the attack on Pearl Harbor, a famous Hollywood agent and an exceptional test pilot teamed to create a primary flight school in the Arizona desert. Overseen by the US Army Air Corps, it was known as the “Country Club” of the civilian run air fields. Having been designed by a famous artist, it looked like a mythical Thunderbird from the air. Since America was “neutral” at this time and there was no government funding, a significant amount of the original investment came from a group of well-known silver screen stars. To help recruit pilots, a full length color movie was also partially filmed on this location. During the war years, the organization grew to four training locations across the Phoenix Valley, completing the training of over 16,000 cadet pilots from 29 different countries. Thunderbird Field was “frequently termed one of the Army’s most efficient training bases.” Today, parts of the original Thunderbird Field, including the Control Tower, are still standing. While conserving these buildings, the goal is to preserve the stories of the men and women from around the world who served on this facility. Come hear some of these stories and see the beautiful Thunderbird Field in multimedia.
The Williamsburg Powder Raid: Madison Meets Henry
Bil Lewis (PresidentMadison.weebly.com) is a Computer Scientist who worked and taught at Stanford, Tufts, MIT, and Sun Microsystems. In 2015, he was asked to do a little skit as James Madison and it was the beginning of a new profession. After intense study, Bil has performed and taught as James Madison at dozens of schools, libraries, historical societies, and even an invited talk at the Massachusetts State House. For his school presentations, Bil has written a series of vignettes that he performs with student volunteers, who play Washington, Jefferson, Dolley Madison, etc. Instead of a lecture, it becomes a play, with the students as the actors, and they love it. Bil now lives in Priest River, Idaho, where he continues to perform.
The April 20th, 1775 raid on the armory in Williamsburg brought around the first meeting of a young James Madison and Virginia’s new superhero, Patrick Henry. The initial friendship and eventual disagreements of these two men dominated Virginia politics for two decades. Join President Madison as he reflects on the events leading up to that day and the direction their differing politics took them.
Interested in becoming a Sponsor?
Contact Lee Wright, President of The Pursuit of History, to learn more about how you can support the mission of The Pursuit of History—the non-profit organization that is creating and presenting these three days in Boston, as well as weekly discussions and other annual programs that engage adults with history.
Sign up to receive weekly updates
Sign up for updates on our weekly History Camp Author Discussions, annual History Camp, and our travel series, The Pursuit of History for America’s 250th.
History Camp is a project of The Pursuit of History, the national the non-profit organization that brings together adults from all walks of life to engage with history and historic sites and organizations.