Poetry (and Portraits) of the Past and Present

“The world is full of poetry, the air is living with its spirit, and the waves dance to the music of its melodies.” ~ James Gates Percival’s “Poetry” copied into Martha Ann Brown’s commonplace book from 1849. Please join us at the American Antiquarian Society this Thursday, November 17, at 7 p.m. (register here to attend ...

In-person & Hands-on Early Worcester History, Featuring the Brown Family

Who and what springs to mind when you reflect on early Worcester history? Isaiah Thomas & his printing press? Major Taylor & his bicycle? Esther Howland & her Valentines? These classic Worcester historical figures will all be represented at AAS’s upcoming Chat with a Curator open house this Wednesday, but we hope many of the materials ...

A Snapshot of the Past: Celebrating Worcester’s 300th Anniversary

          In 1900, Theodore Clemens Wohlbrück, a professional photographer from New Jersey, moved to Worcester and opened a small but successful photo studio on Main Street. Known for his city views and postcards, Wohlbrück left Worcester in 1910, but his photographs of the city remained. The collection, now housed at the American Antiquarian Society, contains over ...

Artists in the AAS Archive: September 2020

This week we continue our Artists in the AAS Archive series.  This installment offers a spotlight on four more past fellows: book artist Maureen Cummins; performer-scholar Anne Harley; playwright and screenwriter Jeffrey Hatcher; and playwright and performer Laurie McCants. This series celebrates the 25th anniversary of Artist fellowships at the American Antiquarian Society.  More information about ...

Something Old, Something New: Updates on the Program in the History of the Book

In his October 1983 report to the Council, former AAS President Marcus A. McCorison outlined the founding of the Program in the History of the Book (PHBAC), an ambitious initiative that set out to unite four areas of the Society's work: collections, scholarship, fellowships, and publications.  In the same 1983 report, John Hench, then assistant director ...

Chat with a Curator: Halloween 2019

This fall we’re introducing a new kind of public program—one that gets you in conversation with our curators about our collection material!

This Wednesday, October 30, from 5 to 7 p.m., we will host our first “Chat with a Curator” program, during which the public is invited to drop in anytime during that window to view ...

AAS Hands-On Workshop Initiates Region-Wide Public History Program

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This past March the Society held a Hands-On History Workshop on the Declaration of Independence.  It featured Danielle Allen of Harvard University and used AAS collection materials to explore how Americans first learned about and celebrated independence in 1776 and how the Declaration was represented and interpreted in the nineteenth century.

Our Hands-On History Workshop ...

The Verses go Live! Music added to the Isaiah Thomas Broadside Ballads Project

You can listen to the melody and the lyrics of "The Rose Tree"

Just over a year ago, we launched Isaiah Thomas Broadside Ballads: Verses in Vogue with the Vulgar. With over 800 images and 300 mini-essays, this site offers a unique and comprehensive view of the broadsides that Isaiah Thomas (1749-1831) collected in early nineteenth-century Boston. Each broadside includes a brief explanation of its content by Kate Van Winkle ...

Moving Pictures: Images Across Media in American Visual and Material Culture

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When a singular image is reused in various publications or shows up in more than one medium, it’s indicative of the breadth of its impact. Take, for example, perhaps the most iconic image of the American Revolution, “The Boston Massacre” by Paul Revere, which was not only first copied by Revere from someone else’s design, ...

It’s Time for the Fall 2015 Public Programs

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It's public program time again, beginning tomorrow! This season we have a wonderful variety of programs, including a book launch, a panel presentation of former Creative Artists and Writers Fellows to celebrate the program's 20th anniversary, and reflections on the Revolutionary War era.

As always, public programs are open to the public and free of charge. ...

2014 Fall Public Program Lineup

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The air is starting to change here in Worcester, getting a bit cooler and crisper, and that’s a sure sign that our public programs are about ready to start as well! Here’s a quick rundown of what will be coming to Antiquarian Hall this fall:

Friday, September 12, 2014, at 7:00 p.m.
Cartographic Innovation in the Early ...

Lessons Learned through AAS’s YouTube Channel

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Sarah Harker, AAS media outreach intern this summer, graduated from Clark University last May, where she studied Film and Communications & Culture. She is currently an independent filmmaker while continuing her education at Clark, pursuing her master's degree in Professional Communications.

Having grown up in northeastern Massachusetts and living the past four years in Worcester as a ...

Public Program: Poet Tess Taylor on Researching at AAS

Tess Taylor

We've had an interesting lineup of public programs so far this spring, exploring everything from nineteenth-century theater and attitudes towards alcohol to what life was like for free and enslaved African Americans in Massachusetts during the prelude to the Revolutionary War.

Tomorrow, Thursday, May 29, at 7:00 p.m., we'll continue our series with a talk by ...

AAS joins the Worcester Revolution of 1774

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On September 6, 1774, 4,622 militiamen from 37 towns marched into Worcester, shiretown for  the county, closed the Royal courts, and forced each court official to resign. Forming two lines, they forced each court official, hat in hand, to disavow the recent Massachusetts Government Act, which revoked the Province’s charter and disenfranchised its citizens. With ...

Abby Goes Digital

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AAS is excited to announce the launch of an important new digital resource.  In partnership with the Worcester Historical Museum, AAS has digitized both the Worcester Historical Museum’s and our own collection of Abby Kelley Foster Papers.  Foster was a noted mid-nineteenth-century reformer, involved in both the anti-slavery and women’s rights movements.  Both AAS and ...