Massachusetts Historical Society

The Research Department is the MHS's principal point of contact with professional scholars. In a typical year it organizes 60 programs, including an academic conference, 5 research seminars series (28 sessions), approximately 30 lunch gatherings to discuss work in progress, and a reception for Boston-area graduate students in history and related fields. The department administers 4 fellowship competitions primarily for college and university faculty and graduate students; in 2011-12 it received 226 applications and made 37 grants (some in collaboration with other historical agencies). It also edits the Society's journal, the Massachusetts Historical Review; edits collections of essays originally presented at MHS conferences; prepares entries for the series Sibley's Harvard Graduates, a biographical dictionary of students who attended the school, now through the class of 1774; and oversees special research projects, including a history in progress of investment management in Boston.

The Adams Papers editorial project is sponsored by and located at the MHS, the repository that contains the massive Adams Family Papers manuscript collection. The Adams Papers is a comprehensive edition of the most important materials drawn from this collection and from Adams documents in other repositories, both in the U. S. and abroad. The project produces edited and annotated documents, in both print and digital formats, concentrating on John and Abigail and their family. The project runs two publication programs, the Papers of John Adams, which chronicles John Adams' career as a statesman and diplomat, and the Adams Family Correspondence, which includes John and Abigail Adams' correspondence with their family and friends. In addition to these ongoing series, the Adams Papers produces unique publications, such as the Diaries of Louisa Catherine Adams, due out this winter, and free digital tools such as the Online Adams Catalog.

The Education and Public Program department develops engaging activities and resources for two of the Society's three key constituencies - educators and intellectually curious adults. Through interactive primary source-based workshops for teachers; digitized documents, contextual material, and curricula available free of charge at the MHS website; and fellowships that bring educators to the MHS to develop lessons based on primary sources, the MHS has had tremendous success providing resources for the educational experience. Starting in FY2013, the MHS will use its unique resources and expertise to contribute to the improvement of the teaching of American history by serving as the official state sponsor of National History Day in Massachusetts. The MHS also strives to provide the community with an array of broad-based, widely appealing, intellectually strong programming to enhance the understanding of our nation's past and its connection to the present.

For over 200 years the MHS has been publishing in American history. These items have served two purposes, both based on founder Jeremy Belknap's vision of the MHS mission: preservation of the historical documents in the Society's collections and communication of historical knowledge to the citizens of the nation. Today, alongside standard promotional pieces such as printed calendars and a biannual newsletter, the Publications Department publishes an annual journal, the Massachusetts Historical Review; publishes soft- and hardcover books, currently about one each year, generally based on MHS collections, including the longstanding series Collections of the MHS; and prepares digital content for the Society's website, such as the Adams Papers Digital Edition. Staff in the Research and Adams Papers departments work on books that are released through other publishers.