New Year, New Resolution

With New Year’s Eve fast approaching, it’s time to think about our New Year’s resolutions.  Resolutions are a wonderful way to reflect upon the past year, on the year to come, and attempt to bring about changes in our lives.  It’s in our nature to seek this kind of renewal – everyone likes a fresh ...

Charles Dickens: Novelist, Social Reformer and…Flashy Dresser?

In 1842, Charles Dickens made his first of two visits to America.  He took a sweeping tour of the country, meeting with dignitaries such as Longfellow, Poe, and President John Tyler.  He visited Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Washington D.C., Virginia, Maryland, Ohio, Kentucky and Missouri.  While in New York City, he was welcomed with a ...

The Diary of Patty Rogers

With wedding season upon us, and love and relationships at the forefront of many minds this time of the year, it's fun to wonder what courting, love, and relationships were like, and how they've evolved over the past couple hundred years.  We all have ideas in our minds,  probably placed there through novels and films.  ...

Lee Pardon Aldrich and the Trial of Daniel Sickles

In February of 1859, a scandalous event shook Washington D.C., involving two prominent politicians, betrayal and murder most foul.  How intriguing! Hon. Daniel E. Sickles, Congressman from New York, shot and killed Philip Barton Key, U.S. District Attorney (and also, interestingly enough, son of famed composer Francis Scott Key), after discovering an affair between Key and ...

Tomorrow Night: A Midwife’s Tale, 20 years later

Thursday, October 21, at 7:30 p.m. Reflections on A Midwife's Tale by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich The Seventh Annual Robert C. Baron Lecture The book A Midwife's Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard Based on Her Diary, 1785-1812 quickly became a model of social history when it was published in 1990. The book examines the life of one Maine ...