Forum Network

Free online lectures: Explore a world of ideas

Funding provided by:

Revolutionary Spaces

**Revolutionary Spaces ** connects people to the history and continuing practice of democracy through the intertwined stories of two of the nation’s most iconic sites—Boston’s Old South Meeting House and Old State House. We foster a free and open exchange of ideas, explore history, create gathering places, and preserve and steward historic buildings.

https://www.bostonhistory.org

Caroline Healey Dall: Daughter of Boston

Thu, Oct 20, 2005

Helen R. Deese discusses the 45 volume diary of Bostonian transcendentalist Caroline Healey Dall, which is perhaps the longest diary written by any American and the most complete account of a nineteenth century woman's life in existence. Bostonian Caroline Healey Dall (1822-1912) was a transcendentalist, early feminist, writer, reformer, and an extremely active diarist. Caroline Healey Dall kept a diary for 75 years that captured the fascinating details of her sometimes agonizing personal life, the major figures who surrounded her, and many facets of nineteenth century Boston.

Forum Network

Partner:

Revolutionary Spaces
Scam, Scandal, Murder and Mayhem in Colonial Boston

Mon, Oct 31, 2005

In this lecture, writer D. Brenton Simons discusses his book Witches, Rakes, And Rogues: True Stories of Scam, Scandal, Murder, And Mayhem in Boston, 1630-1775 , in which he paints a darker picture of Colonial Boston than was previously imagined. In Boston's early years, before electricity, police departments, telephones and other modern conveniences, Boston was a scary place. Exposing this puritan underbelly is author D. Brenton Simons, COO of New England Historic Genealogical Society in Boston. When most people think of Boston between its founding in 1630 and the height of the American Revolution, they imagine a procession of Puritan ministers in black followed by revolutionaries like Paul Revere on horseback. By scouring family records and public archives, Simons demonstrates convincingly that the narrow, twisting streets of colonial Boston were also crawling with murderers, con men, identity thieves, and other blackguards. Bostonians may have been prayerful, but they were also prurient and violent. Added to his extraordinary rogues gallery are several misunderstood women who were tried and executed as witches. Simons even uncovers the truth about the first documented serial murder in Boston history.

Forum Network

Partner:

Revolutionary Spaces
Ponzi's Scheme: True Story of a Financial Legend

Thu, Nov 3, 2005

Mitchell Zuckoff discusses Charles Ponzi's mercurial rise and fall as he conjured up one get-rich-quick scheme after another. Zuckoff reveals how The Boston Post uncovered this "robbing Peter to pay Paul" system (as it was then known), and how Ponzi's life unraveled. Before Charles Ponzi (1882-1949) sailed from Italy to the shores of America in 1903, his father assured him that the streets were really paved with gold and that Ponzi would be able to get a piece. Ponzi learned as soon as he disembarked that though the streets were often cobblestone, he could still make a fortune in a culture caught in the throes of the Gilded Age.

Forum Network

Partner:

Revolutionary Spaces
Atlantic Pirates in the Golden Age

Fri, Jun 25, 2004

Marcus Rediker discusses his book, Villains of All Nations: Atlantic Pirates in the Golden Age, an unprecedented social and cultural history of pirates and their democratic, egalitarian and multiethnic society. Villains of All Nations explores the "Golden Age" of Atlantic piracy (1716-1726). This infamous generation provided the images that underlie the modern romanticized view of pirates, such as the dreaded black flag The Jolly Roger; swashbuckling figures like Edward Teach (aka Blackbeard); and the nameless, one-armed pirate who became known as Long John Silver in Stevenson's Treasure Island. Rediker exposes pirate history and shows how sailors emerged out of deadly working conditions on merchant and naval ships, turned pirate, and created a starkly different reality aboard their own ships, electing their officers, dividing their booty equitably, and maintaining a multinational social order. The real lives of the real motley crews, which included cross-dressing women, people of color, and the "outcasts of all nations," are at least as compelling as the contemporary myth.

Forum Network

Partner:

Revolutionary Spaces
Legacy of the Cocoanut Grove Fire of 1942

Tue, Sep 14, 2004

Stephanie Schorow, reporter for *The Boston Herald* and author of *Boston on Fire: A History of Fires and Firefighting in Boston*, examines many myths and misconceptions about the Cocoanut Grove nightclub fire, and evaluates its legacy and its continuing impact on Boston. The fire that swept through the Cocoanut Grove nightclub in Boston on November 28, 1942, was one of the worst in the nation's history, resulting in at least 492 deaths and hundreds of injuries. The fire led to new building codes, medical innovations in burn treatment and legal precedents in manslaughter law.

Forum Network

Partner:

Revolutionary Spaces
Hero at the Great Boston Fire of 1872

Tue, Sep 21, 2004

Bruce Twickler, writer and director of the film Damrell's Fire, explains why Boston can credit its deliverance from Chicago's fate to John Damrell, its courageous fire chief. A spark in the basement of a building on Boston's Summer Street turned into a firestorm, reducing over 700 buildings to 65 acres of rubble. Tragically and miraculously, only 30 people were lost.

Forum Network

Partner:

Revolutionary Spaces
History of the Boston Athenaeum

Thu, Feb 3, 2005

John Lannon, associate director of the Boston Athenaeum, discusses the history of this enduring fixture on Beacon Hill. Founded in 1807, it houses such treasures as George Washington's library, and artworks by artists such as John Singer Sargent and Gilbert Stuart.

Forum Network

Partner:

Revolutionary Spaces
Sarah's Long Walk: The Struggle that Changed America

Thu, Feb 10, 2005

Stephen Kendrick, author of *Sarah's Long Walk* and minister of First and Second Church, Boston, discusses the history behind the famous case of Sarah Roberts. In 1848, 5-year-old Sarah Roberts had to pass five white-only schools to attend the poor and densely crowded all-black Abiel Smith School. Incensed at this injustice, her father Benjamin Roberts took action. He resolved to sue the city of Boston on her behalf, and began a hundred-year struggle that culminated in the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education.

Forum Network

Partner:

Revolutionary Spaces
Quincy Generations From Family to Faneuil Hall

Wed, Sep 17, 2003

John Quincy Jr., an 11th generation descendant of the Quincys in America and author of *Quincy's Market*, discusses the history of his well-known ancestors, one of New England's most famous political families. From the early 19th century's Edmund de Quincy to Mayor Josiah Quincy, the man responsible for building one of Boston's best known landmarks, Faneuil Hall Marketplace.

Forum Network

Partner:

Revolutionary Spaces
The Alcotts: The Real Family Behind "Little Women"

Wed, Sep 24, 2003

Jan Turnquist, executive director of Orchard House, discusses the daily activities and pursuits of the Alcotts, a trailblazing family of reformers.

Forum Network

Partner:

Revolutionary Spaces