American Antiquarian Society to Begin New Hands-on History Program

Thursday, May 23, 2013

Jeffrey Starr, GoLocalWorcester Contributor

The American Antiquarian Society handles centuries-old historical documents.

The American Antiquarian Society (AAS) is offering a new form of public programs called Hands-On History Workshops that allows participants to interact with leading scholars and to explore first-hand the objects found in the Society’s collection of historic American printed materials.

The first Hands-On History Workshop will occur on Saturday, June 1 from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Entitled “Worcester and the American Revolution,” this program explores the role Worcester played in fermenting and fighting the War of Independence. This highly interactive workshop will allow participants to interact with Ray Raphael, a leading historian of our nation’s birth, and explore a variety of eighteenth-century images, newspapers, books, maps and manuscripts.

“For many years the Society has offered lectures and dramatic performances to the general public free of charge. These always focused on either the Society’s collections or the time period that our collection covers - that is America between the years 1640 and 1876. But now we want to give members of the public an opportunity to engage more deeply with the Society’s collections and have created workshops where people can literally put their hands on history,” says James David Moran, AAS Director of Outreach.

Worcester and the American Revolution

In his book the First American Revolution, Raphael claims that American independence did not begin with the battles of Lexington and Concord but rather a year earlier in Worcester when in the summer of 1774, 4,622 militiamen from thirty-seven surrounding communities lined Main Street as Crown-appointed officials were forced to walk a gauntlet and resign their commissions. Similar peaceful demonstrations by common citizens throughout rural Massachusetts seized political power and effectively ended Royal authority throughout the Commonwealth. This program will examine these historic events and discuss why they are not more widely known. Eyewitness accounts in the form of diaries, letters and newspaper accounts will be explored during the program.

“Because AAS collects materials from throughout the country we have always tried to conduct programs that explore themes that have national importance. The program on June 1st while very much a local Worcester story also has implications that reach throughout what was then the thirteen colonies and indeed across the Atlantic world. Worcester was central to starting the war and in shaping the way people felt about it once it began.”

The Importance of Primary Soures

“Worcester and the American Revolution” will also explore the role AAS founder Isaiah Thomas and his fellow colonial printers played in instigating and fighting the war. Thomas moved his press from Boston to Worcester on April 16, 1775. The first two imprints he created in Worcester ˗ the May 3, 1775 issue of his newspaper the Massachusetts Spy and his pamphlet A Narrative of the Excursions and Ravages of the King’s Troops Under the Command of General Gage, on the Nineteenth of April, 1775 ˗ did much to shape public opinion about the beginning of the American Revolution on both sides of the Atlantic. These are the first two things ever printed in Worcester. Participants will have an opportunity to study these and other actual broadsides, pamphlets and newspapers that fought the American Revolution with words.

“When one actually holds a letter from a Revolutionary War veteran or turns the pages on a Civil War newspaper one feels a direct, visceral connection to the past. This experience is often profoundly emotional as well as intellectually transformative. We want to share these kinds of wonderful and powerful experiences with members of our community. And so we are providing opportunities for people to not only get up close and personal with leading scholars but also with our primary source texts and images.”

The fee for “Worcester and the American Revolution” is $65 for AAS members and $75 for non-members and includes pre-readings, materials, refreshments, and lunch. Interested parties can register by calling 508-755-5221 or online at http://www.americanantiquarian.org/handsonhistory.