Discover History in Boston

The Program

Discover History in Boston is a four-day introduction to historical resources in the greater Boston area.  It is designed not only to introduce students to the history of Boston—although we will do plenty of that—but also to explore a wide array of times and places that can be studied in the Boston area. From Ancient Rome to Modern China, Boston has it all.

If you join History in Boston, you’ll be oriented to the city that will be your home for the next four years, you’ll meet a group of fellow first-year students, upperclassmen, and faculty members, you’ll find out more about History and the Humanities at MIT, and—most importantly—you’ll know how to get to the beach without a car.

You don’t have to be a potential history major to sign up—in fact, most of the other students won’t be either. Whether you loved or hated history in high school, you’re welcome. And Boston-area residents are welcome to come along and share their expertise!

DHB Specifics

Dates: Tuesday August 25th through Friday August 28th
Place: Freshmen will be housed in their assigned dormitory.
Available Spaces: 20
Cost: $100.00. History will be covering the remainder of the costs.

The Schedule

Registration and Check-In.
Move into assigned residence hall.
Dinner and activities to welcome you to History in Boston. Introductory talk and orientation to the city and to History at MIT.

Wear good walking shoes on Wednesday! We will begin our explorations in the morning at the Museum of Fine Arts, where students will explore the Ancient Greek and Roman Galleries with a History faculty member.

That afternoon, we will wander through downtown Boston, and visit portions of the Freedom Trail and the African-American Heritage Trail with History faculty members as our guides. We’ll wind up in Boston’s North End—chock-full of Italian restaurants—where you can explore on your own. That evening, weather permitting, we’ll attend a concert at the Hatch Shell, an outdoor amphitheater in a park along the Charles River.

On Thursday, we’ll be up early to take a daytrip to Salem, Massachusetts. Salem’s Peabody Essex Museum offers two great resources: an original twentieth-century Chinese house transported in its entirety to the United States, as well as special exhibitions on South Asian history and culture.

In the afternoon, we’ll spend some time exploring Salem, one of New England’s most beautiful seaside towns. Students can explore the city’s architecture or take in the numerous sites devoted to the history of the seventeenth-century Salem Witch Trials.

Or, if you’re not interested in witchcraft, you can take the train a few miles up the coast to Singing Beach in Manchester-by-the-Sea. No, not particularly historic, but worth a trip!

We will be back in Boston by early evening; dinner will be on your own.

Lowell, Massachusetts, is a city rich in industrial, economic, and technological history – the birthplace of American industry and of the writer Jack Kerouac, home to fascinating museums and great (ok, decent) baseball.

We’ll begin the day at the Lowell National Historic Park and learn about the history of nineteenth century American technology and industrialization.  At the American Textile History Museum next door, we’ll explore the history of the Lowell Mill Girls, some of the first women workers in American factories.  That evening, we’ll hear out to catch a game of the Lowell Spinners – while also spending some time learning about New Endland’s immigrant past and the role that baseball has played in shaping Boston’s history.