Date: Thursday, March 26, 2026
Time: 2:45–6:00 p.m. (doors open at 2:30 p.m.)
Location: Harvard University, Boylston Hall, Fong Auditorium
Harvard Yard, Cambridge, MA 02138
Cost: Free and open to the public; advance registration required for in-person attendance
This afternoon mini-symposium examines the Siege of Boston (April 19, 1775 – March 17, 1776) and considers how the Revolution has been preserved, interpreted, and remembered through documents, objects, scholarship, and public memory.
Panel One (3:00–4:05 p.m.)
“Hands On the Revolution: Documents, Objects, and Methods”
Scholars and public historians from the American Antiquarian Society, the Massachusetts Historical Society, and The Royall House & Slave Quarters discuss how original records and artifacts shape our understanding of the Revolutionary era.
Speakers:
Scott Casper (American Antiquarian Society)
Sara Martin (Massachusetts Historical Society)
Kyera Singleton (The Royall House & Slave Quarters)
Panel Two (4:15–5:55 p.m.)
“The Decisive Day is Come”: Boston on the Brink of Siege
Inspired by Abigail Adams’s 1775 letter describing “the decisive Day…on which the fate of America depends,” this panel explores Boston during the early months of war, with attention to urban life, political upheaval, and Indigenous and Black experiences.
Speakers:
Benjamin Carp (CUNY Graduate Center)
Brendan McConville (Boston University)
Jacqueline Jones (University of Texas at Austin, Emerita)
Cedric Woods (University of Massachusetts Boston)
Reception
6:00–7:00 p.m.
Robinson Hall, Harvard Yard, Cambridge, MA 02138
Registration (required for in-person attendance):
https://1776.history.fas.harvard.edu/
