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October 2023
Inside the Hammond Castle Museum
The Medford Public Library is co-sponsoring the online program "A Look Inside the Hammond Castle Museum" with John Leysath, curatorial director of the Gloucester venue. Levsath will be your guide to the unique, medieval-style home and museum of noted scientist John Hays Hammond Jr., his collection of artifacts, and his remarkable life. Hammond was one of the most prolific inventors in U.S. history, and registered more than 500 patents throughout his career. Known as “the father of radio control,” Hammond…
Find out more »History Beneath Our Feet: The Archeology of Thomas Brooks Park
The Medford Historical Commission and The Public Archaeology Laboratory, Inc. (PAL) of Pawtucket, Rhode Island, invite you to the program, "History Beneath Our Feet: The Archeology of Thomas Brooks Park," at the Medford Public Library. Located off of Grove Street in West Medford, Thomas Brooks Park is a wooded and grassy parcel that is an important reminder of Native Americans, northern slavery, and the Brooks family. PAL and the Historical Commission will share artifacts that were excavated by volunteers during…
Find out more »November 2023
The Great Bond of Friendship in Medford
The Medford Council on Aging welcomes historian Dee Morris of Medford for the presentation, "The Great Bond of Friendship." Many Medford residents have always had good friends no matter what century they lived in. Their life stories reveal the mutual affection that arose from these timeless relationships. Our Revolutionary War hero, Governor John Brooks (1752-1825), enjoyed socializing with Abraham Touro (1774-1822), a prosperous Jewish merchant. Lucy Osgood (1791-1873), a minister's daughter, became an outspoken supporter of freeing the enslaved because…
Find out more »December 2023
An Evening at the Museum Toy Drive & MHSM Fundraiser
The Medford Historical Society & Museum invites you to "An Evening at the Museum Toy Drive & A History of Medford in 5 Objects," an end-of-year fundraiser for the organization. Come get a glimpse of Medford’s rich history through the discussion of five unique objects or images from the MHSM collection, led by Kyna Hamill and Dee Morris. Medford Brewing Company will generously donate beer for those 21-and-over in attendance. A donation of $10 to help support MHSM is appreciated.…
Find out more »Everlasting Love in Medford
The Medford Council on Aging welcomes historian Dee Morris of Medford for the presentation, "Everlasting Love in Medford." Romantic love has always been a part of Medford history. In 1777, Medford's young Abigail Bishop received a letter from Alexander Scammell, an officer in the Continental Army. He wrote, "You are ever present in my enraptured heart." Schoolteacher John Angier and Abby Adams of Quincy built a wonderful house on High Street in 1842 to celebrate their beautiful marriage. Times change,…
Find out more »January 2024
The Two Nerdy History Girls Ride Again
You may know them as the Two Nerdy History Girls – authors Loretta Chase and Susan Holloway Scott, the originators of the infamous blog by that name. Tonight, the Medford Public Library presents the bestselling authors via Zoom. They address such questions as how do they find interesting tidbits of historical lore, which libraries of the world have they visited, and how do they avoid the inescapable “rabbit hole”? It promises to be a fascinating and entertaining conversation between these…
Find out more »Lizzie Borden & John Best: Knowlton’s Trials that Gripped Boston
The Medford Historical Society & Museum begins its 2024 program season with "Lizzie Borden & John Best: Knowlton’s Trials That Gripped Boston’s South and North Shores," featuring speakers Douglas Heath and Alison Simcox. Hosea Knowlton is best known as the chief prosecutor of Lizzie Borden, whose 1893 trial for the murder of her parents created a national sensation. During his tenure as Massachusetts attorney general, Knowlton tried more murder cases than any man who held that office. As notorious as the…
Find out more »And Then They Came for Me: Remembering the World of Anne Frank
The Tufts University Department of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies presents a staged reading of "And Then They Came for Me: Remembering the World of Anne Frank," one of several “remembrance readings” coordinated by the National Jewish Theatre Foundation to commemorate International Holocaust Remembrance Day. "And Then They Came for Me ," written by James Still, is a play about the impact of the Holocaust on four teenagers – Anne Frank, Ed Silverberg, Eva Geiringer Schloss and her older brother…
Find out more »February 2024
The Power of Truth: Early Diversity in a Medford Neighborhood
The Medford Historical Society & Museum presents local historian Dee Morris with the Black History Month program, "The Power of Truth: Early Diversity in a Medford Neighborhood." Morris will introduce residents to the Revalyons, an early free Black family that lived in East Medford for many years. Thomas (born in 1777) and Margaret (born in 1781) Revalyon moved their family to a house on Cross Street in Medford in 1828. Thomas owned a popular Main Street barber shop while Margaret…
Find out more »The Souls of Womenfolk: A Conversation with Alexis Wells-Oghoghomeh
The Royall House & Slave Quarters invites you to a special Black History Month book talk with historian and author Alexis Wells- Oghoghomeh. Her 2021 book "The Souls of Womenfolk: The Religious Cultures of Enslaved Women in the Lower South" traces a bold history of the interior lives of bondwomen as they carved out an existence for themselves and their families amid the horrors of American slavery. With particular attention to maternity, sex, and other gendered aspects of women's lives,…
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