UPCOMING
See below for our Spring 2025 programs Co-sponsored by the Charlotte and William Bloomberg Medford Public Library. All programs will take place at 111 High Street, Medford.
All programs are free. Please consider making a donation to MHSM via this easy online form.
++++++++++++++++
Tuesday, April 1, at 7:00 p.m.,
A House Restored: The Tragedies and Triumphs of Saving a New England Colonial
Speaker: Lee McColgan, Author and Preservationist
Old houses share their secrets only if they survive. Trading the corporate ladder for a stepladder, Lee McColgan commits to preserving the ramshackle Loring House, built in 1702, using period materials and methods and on a holiday deadline. But his enchantment withers as he discovers the massive repairs it needs. A small kitchen fix reveals that the structure’s rotten frame could collapse at any moment. In a bathroom, mold appears and spreads. He fights deteriorating bricks, frozen pipes, shattered windows, a punctured foundation, and even an airborne chimney cap while learning from a diverse cast of preservationists, including a master mason named Irons, a stone whisperer, and the Window Witch. But can he meet his deadline before family and friends arrive, or will it all come crashing down? McColgan’s journey expertly examines our relationship to history through the homes we inhabit, beautifully articulating the philosophy of preserving the past to find purpose for the future.
Sign up here.
Thursday, May 8: MHSM Members Save The Date! Annual Meeting & Medford Jeopardy Feud, beginning at 7 PM at 10 Governors Avenue. Business meeting followed by fun, festivities and libations!
Did Medford Have an American Revolution?
Medford’s experience of the American Revolution as a war is a well-documented and proud chapter of the community’s history. But to what extent was there a revolution in the hearts and minds of Medford’s people of the kind that Adams described? In this presentation, James Bennett will examine late 18th-century primary sources from Medford to shed light on the fundamental nature of how the people of Medford experienced political change during the tumultuous years of the revolutionary and early national periods. For Medford, was the American Revolution simply a war to remove royal authority from the apex of their political system, or was it a catalyst for a much more fundamental change in the values of their political system as a whole? This presentation will point to some possible answers to that question, and spark conversations in the community about what that historical experience 250 years ago means for us today. Jim Bennett has worked as a public historian, researcher, actor, and teacher for over 25 years. He currently works as a research fellow for Revolutionary Spaces, the non-profit which stewards Boston’s Old State House and Old South Meeting House. He served as chair of the Melrose Historical Commission for four years, and has an abiding passion for the history of our local communities
Thanks to the Medford Arts Council for supporting MHSM
“These programs are supported in part by a grant from the Medford Arts Council, a local commission that is supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council and the City of Medford.”
The Power of Truth: Early Diversity in Medford, February 2024
Murder at the Harvard Medical School, April 2023
Black Heritage Trail Virtual Tour, February 2022