Stay engaged with the MHS this year.
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“Formerly I could not bring myself to correspond regularly with any one. Since I have been separated from all my friends and desired so much to hear regularly from them I have endeavored to show myself grateful, but they are generally pleased to say that my letters are but a poor substitute for my conversation. This, of course, I interpret into a compliment as well as I am
able.”
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“Most Fragrant Plant, the Mind”: A Young Margaret Fuller Writes to Mary Peabody
This letter from Margaret Fuller to Mary Peabody offers a fascinating glimpse into the life and mind of one of the great Transcendentalist thinkers of the nineteenth century. Written on 17 April 1836, when Fuller was just twenty-five years old, the letter dates from the beginning of her remarkable fifteen-year career as an author, editor, literary critic, teacher, and reformer.
Three years earlier Fuller’s father had moved with the family from a socially vibrant and intellectually stimulating life in Cambridge, MA, to a quiet farm in Groton, MA. Written six months after his death, this letter reveals Margaret Fuller’s grief and unhappiness as she languishes far from her friends.
In her note to her friend Mary Peabody in Salem, MA, Fuller asks that they write to each other when they feel the need, not merely as a polite courtesy in answer to a previous letter. She finds comfort in reading books and letters from other friends, but laments it is not the same as conversation in person. Fuller’s words feel especially timely in a pandemic year when so many of us have taken solace in entertainment and found ways to communicate with friends and family at a distance, all the while looking forward to being together in person again.
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As Massachusetts students readied their projects for submission this week for the National contest, we reflected on how this year’s challenges made the hard work of NHD students and teachers even more impressive. We celebrated their efforts with recognition and prizes at our awards ceremony in April, but we know that the NHD experience does more than offer students a chance to earn accolades: it prepares them to think more critically, communicate more effectively, and engage more meaningfully in their communities.
But don’t take our word for it; let our students, teachers, and families share what NHD has meant to them:
“The whole NHD experience helped me love learning and believe in myself more.”
- NHD student
“Over the years, so many [of my] students have been impacted by National History Day. Some of them realize in the moment but for others, it isn’t until much later when they reflect on their experiences that they realize how much they learned about research, presentation, word cutting, group work, and resilience. For some students, it is a real struggle, but they realize that the struggle has taught them so much. Others were hungry for a challenge and to explore their own interests, and NHD was just the opportunity they needed.”
-NHD teacher
“[My child] chose an extremely compelling, and equally demanding, topic for National History Day. As a parent, I can honestly say that this NHD paper and her teacher’s guidance have been life-altering experiences for [my child]. She now has a better understanding of how far one must reach within herself, and how much time it takes to produce a product she can be this proud of.”
-NHD parent
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MHS’s online programs are held on the video conference platform Zoom. Registrants will receive an e-mail with a link to join the program.
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When we talk about patriotism in America, we tend to mean one form: the version captured in shared celebrations like the national anthem and the Pledge of Allegiance. But as Ben Railton argues, that celebratory patriotism is just one of four distinct forms: celebratory, the communal expression of an idealized America; mythic, the creation of national myths that exclude certain communities; active, acts of service and sacrifice for the nation; and critical, arguments for how the nation has fallen short of its ideals that seek to move us toward that more perfect union. In Of Thee I Sing, Railton defines those four forms of American patriotism, using the four verses of “America the Beautiful” as examples of each type, and traces them across our histories.
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On Wednesday, 9 June, at 6:00 PM, Angela Onwuachi-Willig, Dean, Boston University School of Law; Hon. Leslie Harris (ret.), Suffolk Juvenile Court; and Renée Graham, Columnist, The Boston Globe, present Confronting Racial Injustice: The Charles Stuart Story: White Lies and Black Lives, moderated by Kim McLaurin, Associate Dean, Suffolk University Law School.
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Interested in Viewing Past Programs? |
If you missed a program or would like to revisit the material presented, please visit www.masshist.org/video or our YouTube channel. A selection of past programs is just a click away.
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Share Your COVID-19 Experience(s) |
The MHS invites you to contribute your COVID-19 experience(s) to our collection. Record your experiences on a daily, weekly, or intermittent basis. You can contribute your thoughts and images online. Visit our COVID-19 web display to learn more and to share your thoughts. Or you can keep a journal and donate it to the MHS. Contact collections@masshist.org for more information.
Thank you to everyone who has shared so far. If you have not yet done so or would like to contribute again, please visit www.masshist.org/projects/covid/index.php. You can also read what others have shared.
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Our Members are the heart of the MHS community and an integral part of the MHS story. Become a Member to help make possible the Society’s mission to promote the study of American history. Receive benefits including invitations to enhanced Member-only events; free or discounted admission to special programs; and access to publications such as our calendar of events, newsletter, and Annual Report.
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