Past Events

Readings and performances of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol have played an integral part in winter holiday festivities since longer than most of us can remember. What fewer people know, however, is that the British literary superstar and his popular novella actually helped bring Christmas back to Boston.

Accompanied by a beautiful slide show, Susan Wilson—the Official House Historian of the Parker House—traces the history of Christmas celebrations, which were discouraged and even banned in the Puritan stronghold of colonial Boston. Wilson explains how and why Christmas finally began to be embraced in the mid 19th century, and how Charles Dickens' arrival in 1867—when he made his home at the Parker House for 5 months—really added fuel to the yule log.

Hear from the author of a revelatory memoir about a 330-mile walk from Washington, D.C., to New York City—an unforgettable pilgrimage to the heart of America across some of our oldest common ground.

Neil King Jr.’s desire to walk from Washington, D.C., to New York City began as a whim and soon became an obsession. By the spring of 2021, events had intervened that gave his desire greater urgency. His neighborhood still reeled from the January 6th insurrection. Covid lockdowns and a rancorous election had deepened America’s divides. Neil himself bore the imprints of a long battle with cancer.

Determined to rediscover what matters in life and to see our national story with new eyes, Neil turned north with a small satchel on his back and one mission in mind: To pay close attention to the land he crossed and the people he met.

What followed is an extraordinary 26-day journey through historic battlefields and cemeteries, over the Mason-Dixon line, past Quaker and Amish farms, along Valley Forge stream beds, atop a New Jersey trash mound, across New York Harbor, and finally, to his ultimate destination: the Ramble, where a tangle of pathways converges in Central Park. The journey travels deep into America’s past and present, uncovering forgotten pockets and overlooked people. At a time of mounting disunity, the trip reveals the profound power of our shared ground.

This program is part of the American Inspiration Series from  American Ancestors/NEHGS and presented in partnership with with the  Leventhal Map & Education Center at the Boston Public Library and  the GBH Forum Network.

Large-scale agriculture, factories and other sources produce chemical runoffs. These “nutrient loads”can accumulate in waters and cause harmful algae blooms (HABs), including the red tides that are increasingly common. Algal blooms are now occurring in every coastal state in the U.S., and are a major concern around the world. HABs affect the health of marine organisms and also people. Dr. Glibert explains the vital role of algae in marine ecosystems, how runoff toxins cause the unnatural algal blooms, and what must be done to stop the damage. She also discusses how ocean geoengineering can impact algae.

Join Revolutionary Spaces at the Old South Meeting House for a discussion with Dr. James Fichter of the University of Hong Kong to mark the publication of his new book Tea: Consumption, Politics, and Revolution, 1773–1776. Dr. Fichter is joined in conversation with Dr. Nathaniel Sheidley, President and CEO of Revolutionary Spaces.

In his new book, Dr. Fichter reveals a new dimension of the Boston Tea Party by exploring a story largely overlooked for the last 250 years—The fate of two large shipments of East India Company tea that survived and were drunk in North America. The book challenges the prevailing wisdom around the tea protests and consumer boycotts while showing the economic reality behind political rhetoric: Colonists did not turn away from tea as they became revolutionary Americans. While history records the noisy protests and prohibitions of patriots, merchant ledgers reveal that tea and British goods continued to be widely sold and consumed.

By bringing different locations and events into the story and reinterpreting old ones, Dr. Fichter shows how the continuing risk that these shipments would be sold shaped colonial politics in the years ahead. He also hints at the enduring potency of consumerism in revolutionary politics.

This program is made possible by the generous support of The Lowell Institute.

Ken Field is a saxophonist & composer. He leads the Revolutionary Snake Ensemble, an experimental & improvisational brass band, and is a longtime member of the electronic modern music ensemble Birdsongs of the Mesozoic. His solo releases document his work for layered saxophones and his soundtracks for dance and film. Field's music is heard regularly on the children's television program Sesame Street. He is the host of WMBR Radio’s “The New Edge”, former President of the Board of Tutoring Plus of Cambridge, Member of the HONK! Festival Organizing Committee, President of the Board of JazzBoston, and former member & chair of the Cambridge Bicycle Committee. Field was named a Finalist in Music Composition by the Mass Cultural Council.

Join us for an evening of music, wine, and food. Registration is encouraged for this free event.

Registration is encouraged for this free event.

LivableStreets' is back with the annual StreetTalk. Returning to the Old South Meeting House, ten speakers on ten different topics in one location to talk about issues regarding transit advocacy, climate justice, protecting our greenways, equitable housing + land use policies, and more!
Each speaker presents for seven minutes.

GBH hosts a panel with local experts about challenges and success for the recently released from incarceration, part of its ongoing series Life After Prison.

Each year thousands of people return from the state’s prisons and county jails facing challenges in finding work, housing and, in general re-integrating into society. Our series has focused on struggles of prisoners seeking education on the inside and, on the outside, staying out of trouble. We’ve looked at the rising multimillion-dollar state prison budget amidst a plummeting population. We’ve talked to dozens of returning citizens, experts and government officials about what needs to be done to help people succeed.

Chris Burrell, investigative reporter, hosts a conversation with State Senator Liz Miranda, Leslie Credle, Executive Director of Justice For housing and Noble Williams, Senior Director of Programming at Transformational Prison Project (TPP). They explore the challenges of re-entry after a time in prison and discuss solutions to be implemented.

Cambridge Forum explores some indigenous thinking mixed with a little magic, talking to Jess Housty about her debut poetry collection, CRUSHED WILD MINT.

Jess Housty is a Haíɫzaqv parent, writer, and land-based educator from the community of Bella Bella, BC. Housty lives in unceded ancestral homelands where she works in community building, food sovereignty, and leadership development. She is a freelance contributor to The Tyee and in addition to her debut poetry collection from Nightwood Editions, she has a forthcoming collection of essays due out shortly from Magic Canoe Press.

Housty’s writing is enmeshed in her indigenous roots and values, “wealth is measured not by what you’ve accumulated but by what you give away. True abundance comes from community and turning a gift into more gifts”. She demonstrates this beautifully in “Sixty-Eight Plums”, a surprise bag of plums appears on her doorstep and provides an opportunity for her to carry the joy forward by making jars of plum jam, to leave at neighbors’ doors.


Sixty-Eight Plums (by Jess Housty)

When sixty-eight golden plums appear like a bowl of phosphorescence on your stoop, look both upward
and all around you
when you give a little thanks.

It is no small feat
that they have arrived here:

Someone planted trees,
smiling to themselves at the foolishness of growing plums in this climate
where the rain makes everything soft— makes everyone soft.

And for more than one hundred years the trees have probably not been tended but certainly been spared the axe
and the lightning and unhappy accidents, and survived to delight you.

And this week, this week of softening
and relentless rain, someone lifted their hand level with their heart or higher—
sixty-eight times to the branches
while shaking the weather
out of their hair—
and doing this, they thought of you.

So plunge your clean hands in the bowl (What else is there to do?)
and pick out the stems and leaves;
tear into the rain-soft flesh,

the sun-bright flesh, to pry out the pits;
and think of how you will carry forward joy when you leave jars of warm jam
on many doorsteps in the morning.

Today, more than 50 percent of the world’s population lives in cities. By 2050, some 75 percent will be urbanites. Future urban design will emphasize not only innovative architecture and engineering, but the environmental, health, and social aspects of city dwelling also. And the plans anticipate potential settlements beyond Earth -- Mars in particular. Justin Hollander is an internationally recognized expert on urban planning, with many academic and media contributions. He discusses the evolving concern for healthy urban design and the numerous challenges involved in this transition. Dr. Hollander also discusses his recent book on the prospect of Mars colonization: The First City on Mars: An Urban Planner’s Guide to Settling the Red Planet

SOLD OUT


This special chocolate tasting experience includes a drinking chocolate kit and a one-hour pre-recorded virtual tasting class that you can enjoy at your leisure. Gather a loved one, get cozy and learn more from a local chocolatier.

The companion video recording features Bonnie Bennett, co-owner of Kakawa Chocolate House in Salem, MA demonstrating how to set up your tasting station. She will also present a brief history of chocolate. In the video class Bonnie will elaborate on the migration of chocolate from the European continent to North America, focusing on the history of the late 1700s to the present day. She will explore the influences of the first chocolate factory in the United States, located in Massachusetts, and the spice trade influences of the region as well.

The chocolate kit will be mailed to you directly and will include two liquid drinking chocolates and some of Kakawa’s signature eating chocolates that are representative of the last three centuries of chocolate history.

IMPORTANT NOTES: 

We can not deliver these kits to PO Boxes. Only physical street addresses are allowed.

Supplies are limited. Last year this event sold out quickly. Purchase your chocolate tasting kit and companion video in time for the holiday season.

You must purchase your kit by Tuesday, November 28, 2023 at 5pm ET. We will ship the chocolate kit to your preferred shipping address in early December. The companion video with instructions to this chocolate class will be sent to the contact email address provided when you registered.

By RSVPing for this event, you agree to receive timely news and updates on events, films, and special offers from GBH.

Photo credit: Can Stock Photo