On June 12th, 7pm at the Maynard Public Library, the Historical Society is pleased to host “Thoreau on Slavery in America”

Historical interpreter Richard Smith will reprise Thoreau’s lecture “Slavery In Massachusetts.” This re-enactment in 2014 will commemorate the 50th anniversary of the passing of the Civil Rights Act enacted on July 2nd 1964 . Designed for all ages, this program will bring to life Thoreau’s singular observations and concerns about social justice in a new nation. This presentation will conclude with a lively Q&A with Richard Smith about how and why Thoreau ideas and actions remains relevant today.

In the decades before the Civil War began, New England men and women participated in the abolitionist movement by joining the American Anti-Slavery Society, subscribing to a weekly newspaper, The Liberator, attending rallies, defying authorities and helping escaped slaves on their courageous journeys toward Canada. Henry David Thoreau supported the anti-slavery cause in both word and action. He and his family gave temporary sanctuary in their home to fugitives heading north. Thoreau wrote essays and delivered several anti-slavery public lectures. His most famous one was “Slavery in Massachusetts,” which he delivered at a famous rally in Framingham on July 4, 1854. Thoreau was also the first American to publicly support radical abolitionist John Brown with another renowned lecture, “Plea For Captain John Brown”.

This timely Thoreau program series has been presented state-wide by Freedom’s Way and the Maynard program is made possible by a generous grant by the Maynard Cultural Council.

Help spread the word: download flyer for the program.

Please join us on Monday, May 12th at 7pm for the Maynard Historical Society’s Annual Meeting.    The meeting will take place at the Senior Center main room, 15 Powder Mill Circle.

In addition to a review of the past year’s activities and election of officers – but we know that as fun as that might be, it really won’t draw an audience, so we will be bringing a very special artifact that has recently been donated to our collection: the draft of the petition for the town’s incorporation – from circa 1870.    The petition varies from the final one that was submitted to the State and ultimately created the Town of Maynard from Sudbury and Stow, and we’ll cover that a little bit.   Until recently this petition was part of a private collection, but we were thrilled when it was donated to the Society in 2014.   Come see what could be considered one of the earliest pieces of the Town of Maynard’s history.

While this is our Annual Meeting, all Historical Society meetings are open to the public and we invite you to join us whether you are a member or not.

When you think of the shameful history of slavery in the United States, Massachusetts doesn’t normally spring to mind.   By a bit of serendipity the Maynard Historical Society is pleased to host two events this year on this interesting topic, made especially poignant by this year’s observance of the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act.  When it comes to understanding one’s history, different points of view and interpretation of the records provides a more complete picture of what happened and we are pleased to be able to do that for this particular topic.

At 7pm on February 27th, in the Maynard Public Library, David Mark, a frequent contributor to the Historical Society program series will speak on this topic.  Here is David’s synopsis:

Massachusetts was the first colony to legalize slavery (1641) and the first to end it (1783). Slavery began with the question of what to do with Indians captured in war. The answer? Sell them to the Caribbean colonies, and while there might as well bring back African-born slaves.

Slavery never took hold in the northern colonies as it did in the south mostly because there were no labor intensive cash crops. Instead, northern slaves were primarily prestige property for the upper class. The end of slavery in Massachusetts was hastened by the Revolutionary War. Wealthy Loyalists fled to British-controlled territory, often abandoning their slaves. The Continental Army initially opposed enrolling any Negro men, but soon allowed Free Negros to enroll, and also for slave owners to receive cash compensation for any slave freed to serve in the Army. With the Revolutionary War still raging on, Massachusetts passed a state constitution in 1780 with key wording: “All men are born free and equal…” Court cases soon confirmed this, and also made illegal selling Negros to states that had not abolished slavery.

 On June 12th, 7pm at the Maynard Public Library, the Historical Society is pleased to host Thoreau on Slavery in America

Historical interpreter Richard Smith will reprise Thoreau’s lecture “Slavery In Massachusetts.” This re-enactment in 2014 will commemorate the 50th anniversary of the passing of the Civil Rights Act enacted on July 2nd 1964 . Designed for all ages, this program will bring to life Thoreau’s singular observations and concerns about social justice in a new nation. This presentation will conclude with a lively Q&A with Richard Smith about how and why Thoreau ideas and actions remains relevant today.

In the decades before the Civil War began, New England men and women participated in the abolitionist movement by joining the American Anti-Slavery Society, subscribing to a weekly newspaper, The Liberator, attending rallies, defying authorities and helping escaped slaves on their courageous journeys toward Canada. Henry David Thoreau supported the anti-slavery cause in both word and action. He and his family gave temporary sanctuary in their home to fugitives heading north. Thoreau wrote essays and delivered several anti-slavery public lectures. His most famous one was “Slavery in Massachusetts,” which he delivered at a famous rally in Framingham on July 4, 1854. Thoreau was also the first American to publicly support radical abolitionist John Brown with another renowned lecture, “Plea For Captain John Brown”.

 This timely Thoreau program series has been presented state-wide by Freedom’s Way and the Maynard program is made possible by a generous grant by the Maynard Cultural Council.  And to put the icing on the cake, Richard Smith is a Maynard resident!

We hope you avail yourself of these two unique programs.

At long last we have a date and location for our next meeting.  The Historical Society will hold their annual meeting on THURSDAY, November 29th at 7pm in the Maynard PUBLIC LIBRARY.   (We have traditionally met on Mondays in Town Hall, so I’m trying to emphasize the different day and location…)

After a short business meeting and update on the Society we will have local author and history buff David Mark speak on the topic “Meet the Maynard Family.” Mark will talk about the Maynard family and the town that developed around their wool mill, which came to be named after Amory Maynard, the mill’s founder, while he was still alive (and was almost renamed “Assabet” twelve years after he died).

Mark will also speak about William Knight – Amory’s forgotten partner – about how much water power the mill actually generated, where the wool came from, where the bricks came from, and who is buried (and not buried) in the Maynard family mausoleum.

The meeting is free and open to the public.  Light refreshments and some social time will follow the formal meeting.

For our February 27th meeting the Maynard Historical Society will have
David Mark read from his recently published book “MAYNARD: History and
Life Outdoors.” The book is available in local stores, and will also
be for sale at the meeting.

Mark brought his years of experience as a writer and scientist to create
this fact-populated collection of short essays gathered into twelve
theme-linked chapters. Much of the content was originally published as
his column in Maynard’s newspaper, the Beacon-Villager. More recent
columns are at www.maynardlifeoutdoors.com.

The Maynard Historical Society meets in the lower level of Maynard Town
Hall, 195 Main Street. The meetings start at 7:00 pm and are open to the
public. A social hour with light refreshments follows the meeting.
Meetings are open to non-members, and there is no charge.

Tonight’s regular meeting of the Maynard Historical Society features a program entitled “The Hidden History of Maynard’s Water” — a history of how that water that comes out of your tap.

Our meetings and the program are open to the public.  We meet in the lower level of Maynard Town Hall, 195 Main Street, at 7pm.  The program will run about 1 hour.  Light refreshments and some social time follows the program.

For our October 24th meeting the Maynard Historical Society will present the history of Emerson Hospital, which celebrates its 100th anniversary this year.  Our guest speaker is Kenton Blagbrough.  (This presentation was originally planned for our April meeting.)

The hospital was founded in 1911 when Charles Emerson (a nephew of Ralph Waldo Emerson) donated $20,000 and a site along the Sudbury River in Concord for a 14-bed cottage hospital. Formerly known as Deaconess Hospital, in 1924 the hospital was deeded to the community and renamed in honor of Charles Emerson. Today Emerson Hospital is a 179-bed acute care medical center providing advanced medical services to over 300,000 individuals in 25 towns.

Kenton Blagbrough is an employee and volunteer at Emerson Hospital. He holds masters degrees in History and Information Studies. He recently researched a property history which is included on the National Register for Historic Places, and the two hundred year status of an old New Hampshire road used in a civil proceeding.

Mr. Blagbrough, under the direction of the Medical Library and Office of Development, is researching the history of Emerson Hospital to prepare a written account for the hospital’s centennial in November 2011.

The Maynard Historical Society meets in the lower level of Maynard Town Hall, 195 Main Street.  The meeting starts at 7pm and are open to the public.  A social hour with Light refreshments follows the meeting.   There is no charge for the meeting.

The Maynard Historical Society invites you to our summer program on June 27th in the lower level of Town Hall at 7pm for a special program we’re calling “Treasures and Puzzles”.

Our crack team of collection volunteers have assembled a wide array of documents, photographs and artifacts that are sure to bring a smile of a memory of days gone by or have you wondering if you recognize a family face in a 3rd grader in an old class photograph.

Some of the “puzzles” we don’t know the answers to and, if we’re lucky, we hope to tap the wisdom and experience of our audience to identify some of them.

Our meetings are held in the lower level of Maynard Town Hall, 195 Main Street.  Parking is available in the rear of the building (as is the entrance to the lower level).  Light refreshments may be served (nobody volunteered).  Our meeting is free of charge and open to the public.