Events

Join us for our new exhibit “1776 and Beyond”
Open Sundays 1-4 PM.

See some of our upcoming fall programs below.

OCTOBER

MHSM Historical Book Group
Bound for Gold by William Martin

Book Club Leader: Jay Stott, MHSM Board Member
Thursday, October 15, 7:00 PM
10 Governors Avenue

Would you have joined the greatest migration in US history, leaving family and friends to travel thousands of miles to Gold Mountain (Gum Saan), where gold was said to be free for the taking? The next MHSM Book Club will focus on the history that underlies William Martin’s spell-binding novel of the 1848 California Gold Rush: Bound for Gold. Whether you have read the book, are thinking of doing so, or are just interested in learning about an event that transformed our country (and Medford’s ship-building industry), please join us by registering here.

John Hancock’s Middlesex Canal and Medford

Speaker: J. Jeremiah Breen, President, Middlesex Canal Association

Saturday, October 31, 1:00 PM
Charlotte and William Bloomberg Medford Public Library

Breen will speak on the significance of the canal as part of an interstate water highway essential to the Industrial Revolution in Massachusetts.

The Corporation was chartered in 1793 to build a 27-mile canal between the Charles River at Boston and the Merrimack River at what is now Lowell. It was built 30′ wide, 3½’ deep minimum, had 8 aqueducts, 20 locks, and 50 bridges. The Secretary of the Treasury described it as the greatest work of its kind in the United States in an 1808 report to the Senate. The Corporation was liquidated in 1853 after the one-horse canal boat lost the competition with the railroad. The first locomotive of the Boston & Lowell was rated 30 horsepower.
Register here.

NOVEMBER

Lincoln, Life, Law and Leadership

Speaker: Hon. Dennis J. Curran, Justice, Massachusetts Superior Court (Ret.)
Thursday, November 12, 7:00 PM
Charlotte and William Bloomberg Medford Public Library

Where have all the great leaders gone? In today’s sharply polarized America, we can take comfort in looking at Abraham Lincoln, a man who left an enduring legacy of leadership. We will examine how, as a politician, Lincoln mastered the art of communication and compromise; and as a leader, envisioned a goal and attained it by tempering responsibility and determination with compassion and hope. At moments of great challenge, Lincoln was able to summon his “better angels” to enlarge the opportunities and lives of others. The test of a true leader can be found in a man who continues to inspire a country long after his own
voice has faded to the echoes of time. This is Lincoln. Register here.

> Sponsored by Tisha Shaughnessy Sullivan and Shamrock Sign & Lettering Co.

DECEMBER

MHSM Members Save the Date:
Thursday, December 3, 7:00 PM for the 1st Annual Hearthfest!
Member Holiday Party & Toy Drive
Performances by:
Max Heinegg, Medford’s Poet Laureate, singer, songwriter, recording artist,
& Lemon Queens, featuring Laura Lacombe & fellow band members
10 Governors Avenue, Medford