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Hasty Pudding Club Forms at Harvard
Hasty Pudding Club Forms at Harvard
On this day in 1795, 21 Harvard students gathered in a dorm room and formed a secret social club to cultivate "friendship and patriotism." Members agreed to take turns providing a pot of hasty pudding...
The Great Republic Burns
The Great Republic Burns
On this day in 1853, the Great Republic burned to the waterline in New York harbor the day before she was to set sail on her maiden voyage. Built by Donald McKay, the man most...
Yiddish Book Rescuer Wins Genius Grant
Yiddish Book Rescuer Wins Genius Grant
On this day in 1989, an Amherst man who had spent more than a decade scrounging in dumpsters, basements, and attics was awarded a MacArthur Foundation "genius grant." Aaron Lansky led an initially quixotic campaign...
First Whale Watch Departs
First Whale Watch Departs
On this day in 1975 charter boat captain Al Avellar left Provincetown Harbor with a boatload of school children. They were going to look, not fish. This was the first whale-watching trip on the eastern...
Henrietta Leavitt Buried in Cambridge
Henrietta Leavitt Buried in Cambridge
On this day in 1921, Henrietta Leavitt, a scientist at the Harvard Observatory, was buried in Cambridge. Her premature death cut short a brilliant career as an astronomer. In the late nineteenth century, observatory director...
Framingham Disassembles Meetinghouse
Framingham Disassembles Meetinghouse
On this day in 1735, Framingham's town meeting voted to "give the old meeting house frame" to their minister, who would undoubtedly find another use for it. The town had erected its first meetinghouse in...
Missionary Opens School for Mohican Indians
Missionary Opens School for Mohican Indians
On this day in 1734, the Yale-trained missionary John Sergeant opened a school for Mohican Indian children in Great Barrington. About 50 members of the Housatonic tribe of the Mohicans joined four English families on...
Erastus Bigelow Dies
Erastus Bigelow Dies
On this day in 1879, Erastus Bigelow, the father of the modern carpet industry, died in Boston. Born in West Boylston, Bigelow and his brother followed their father into the textile business. After several inventions...
Fitchburg Forms Ladies Soldier's Aid Society
Fitchburg Forms Ladies Soldier's Aid Society
On this day in 1861, more than 100 women in the central Massachusetts town of Fitchburg formed a Ladies Soldier's Aid Society. The organization's mission was to support Union men on the front and assist...
Abner Kneeland Prints Blasphemous Letter
Abner Kneeland Prints Blasphemous Letter
On this day in 1833, religious and social reformer Abner Kneeland printed a letter deemed so blasphemous by a Massachusetts court that it landed the former clergyman in jail. Kneeland capped 30 years of increasingly...