Oh my goodness, so creepy.

Knox Sunday I know, there was a big football game yesterday, and I watched half of it at an actual party but the day was reserved for Col. Henry Knox. I've been watching online as commemorations of Knox's Noble Train of Artillery moved across large swaths of New York and Massachusetts on its way…

Thank you, @genbird8.bsky.social!

The Problem with Sugar I have either written, edited, or read all of the essays that make up Salem's Centuries many times over these past three years as they have taken shape but now that they're all together in a published book I read them again last week, as I wanted to see how the book held up,…

I got to write about Hugh Peter in our new book Salem's Centuries---a rather dramatic bio because of his connection to King Charles' execution #otd. Salem's fourth pastor became "Salem's Regicide" (the news that the King hadn't been executed didn't reach New England until June).

Frosty Salem So I was going to bring you some photographs of Salem during yesterday's snowstorm today, but that would have necessitated actually going out and walking around, and just a few steps from my backyard out onto Chestnut Street at midday were enough to convince me that I didn't want to…

What lying fucks they all are.

Salem Ladies 1876 I think I've previewed the "anniversary year" for quite a few years on this blog in Januarys past, but this particular year is going to be so dominated by the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution (nationally) and Salem's 400th anniversary (locally) that I decided not to.…

Here's an overview of our new book out from @templeunivpress.bsky.social: Salem's Centuries: New Perspectives on the History of an Old American City. 2026 is the 400th anniversary of Salem's European settlement, and its history is more than "witches": templepress.wordpress.com/2026/01/14/4...

Minority Report Provocative title, yes? It's not mine. A very different presentation for me today: a very short post, with no pictures and very little analysis on my part. Basically I just want to offer you a link, to the Minority Report of the two historians appointed to the City Seal Task Force,…

The director of the Kennedy Center. I can’t imagine why nobody wants to perform there.

Salem’s Centuries Yesterday I received three copies of Salem's Centuries. New Perspectives on the History of an Old American City, and Tuesday is publication day, so I thought I'd provide an introductory post. The crucible of this book is definitely this blog, so I want to thank all of its…

Thanks for the heads up! One of five 17th century valuables cabinets made by the Symonds shop of Salem, MA: the Peabody Essex Museum has one from a couple of years later owned by the Pope family. Maybe a Salem to New Salem story?

Finishing my 2025 Books I'm still working on the fall version of my 2025 reading list even as the year draws to a close. I certainly won't finish it by the end of the year, but I have a LONG break ahead of me as I have a sabbatical for the spring semester! Lots of great books coming out next year…

The Woman Who Invented Christmas Decorating? Everyone has their favorite Christmas movies, and most of mine are classics from the mid-twentieth century: there is the Barbara Stanwyck double feature of Christmas in Connecticut and Remember the Night followed by the Bing Crosby double feature…

Christmas Tipples I was researching the enforcement of the famous (or infamous) 1659 Massachusetts statutory "ban" on Christmas in the records of the Essex County quarterly courts the other day and soon realized that no one got fined for "keeping Christmas" but rather for excessive "tippling" on…

Christmas in Salem 2025: Close to Home Christmas in Salem, a holiday house tour held hosted every year by Historic Salem, Inc. as its largest fundraiser, has always been one of my favorite events. It represents every thing I love about Salem: architecture, creativity, community, preservation,…

Old Salem Settings One of the chapters I wrote for the forthcoming (on January 6!) Salem's Centuries was on the Colonial Revival, and in it I  explored Salem's experience of that cultural movement as well as Salem's influence in that cultural movement. I am no art historian, so my purview is very…

Facts, Feelings, and Erasure I really didn't want to publish any more about the Salem City Seal saga here, but the closing meeting of the Task Force which has recommended its replacement was concerning in so many ways that I simply had to write about it (it was keeping me up at night). For those…

The Revolution in Color I decided to celebrate the debut of Ken Burns' new series on the American Revolution by getting out two old books which I always enjoy browsing through, and which I now realize were quite foundational in how I look (and I do mean look) at American history in particular and…

My Shaker Family I am very excited about The Testament of Ann Lee, the new film about the Shaker founder, because its sounds like quite the experience and I am descended from a Shaker family. I know that sounds like an odd thing to say, because one of the most conspicuous characteristics of the…

A Sampler of Salem Folk Art Salem is not particularly known for its folk art, I think. The standard for craftsmanship during the later eighteenth and early nineteenth century was so high, and production so prolific, that the curatorial and collecting emphasis always seems to be on the best and the…

“Salem is not a Theme Park” You hear my title phrase all the time in Salem now, with increasing frequency. It's a way to acknowledge the fact that residents of Salem have to (or want to): go to work, drive to their appointments, take their kids to school, walk along the sidewalk or sit on their…

The demolition of the East Wing of the White House. If I want to paint my 1827 house in Salem, Massachusetts the exact same color it is now, I have to get approval from our city's Historical Commission.

Limning the Local I've engaged in lots of different history here: a lot of public, some world, American and European, but above all, local. I'm always looking for new ways to delve into and present local history. I follow the sources, I chase down new perspectives and approaches whenever I catch a…

No Kings rally in York, Me.

So much WOOD! The Historic New England season is closing this Columbus/Indigenous People's Day weekend and as I am up in York Harbor, I went to visit one of HNE's oldest houses (both in terms of sheer vintage and time under its stewardship): the Jackson House in Portsmouth, built circa 1664. This…

Great event coming up at Salem State University in #SalemMA on October 29: a curated view of the multimedia approach crafted to tell the story of Ireland's last witch trial! #publichistory

Words or Pictures or Numbers? This post is about the work of a venerable but new-to-me graphic designer, Seymour Chwast, but before I get to him I have to explain how I got to him. If you have been reading the blog over the past year or so, you might have perceived that I have become mildly…

Schoolhouse to Outhouse I had some obligations here in Salem so could not leave the Witch City for the weekend, but I did spend yesterday driving around a little part of our county stopping in at open houses for the annual Essex Heritage Trails and Sails event series, which features an array of…

Escape to Old Newbury I had yet another "symbol trauma" (I have no other way to refer to it) on Friday when people starting sending me images of little anime cats with notes indicating that this was the new official mascot for Salem's 400th commemoration, Salem 400+. Was this a joke? Apparently…

I knew that my city was NOT SERIOUS about its long history---it profits on tragedy after all---but I had no idea it was this NOT SERIOUS. 400 years!

A Colonial Revival Dining Room I wrote the chapter on Salem's Colonial Revival movement in our forthcoming book Salem's Centuries, an effort that I think was pretty ballsy given that I am neither an American historican or an art/architectural historian. You can be sure that I had both types of…

Well this looks amazing!

Houses are History Last week I was thinking about all the things that annoy or concern me about Salem now, and the list seemed endless, which depressed me, and then I suddenly thought, why don't I focus on the things that I love about Salem so I won't be so depressed? This seemed like a good idea,…

Fall Reading 2025 The stars seem to have aligned and I am all set for a fall full of reading. Salem's Centuries is in production (and out on January 6), my new saffron project hasn't taken flight yet, and I have a course release for the semester. I've written two books in five years and now is the…

Up North for a Spell Sorry for the longer time between posts; I generally try (and succeed!) to post once a week but I was on vacation up in Maine and forgot my power cord, which might have been a good thing. I had my Fall Reading List all ready to post, but now I think I'll save that for next…

"Presidential Historian".

Cardboard & Chrome Last week was a little challenging here in Salem, with news of two local businesses closing: one decades old, the other an extremely popular retail shop which caters to residents rather than tourists. Such businesses seem fewer and fewer present along the streets of Salem, and…

Massachusetts Menus I had a more substantive post planned for this week but I took a little detour and so here I am with menus. I started to write about my experience as a tour guide at the Phillips House of Historic New England, as I'm in my second year and I thought it was time for some…

Hello #renaissance #reformation & #earlymodern historians: I'm really trying to rev up my Ren&Ref course this syllabus time: any inspiring/successful monographs, sources, websites that you could recommend? Melchior Lorck, Satire on the Papacy @metmuseum.org. Thanks!

I’m Confused by Pineapples This is one of those "writing it out" posts. It starts out with confusion in the hope that I can work it out, but I may not so it might end in confusion as well. I'm confused about the symbolism of pineapples. Of course everyone knows that pineapples represent…

Happy Birthday Hawthorne Hotel This week marks the 100th anniversary of the opening of the Hawthorne Hotel, which has been the center of so much of Salem's  social and civic life for a century. One thinks of a hotel as a place for visitors, and I suppose that has been the Hawthorne's primary…

Stone Enders I met several work deadlines last week so now it's officially summer road trip season: about time! So yesterday I drove south to Rhode Island to see a very distinct form of its early architecture: stone enders. This is a very descriptive term: stone enders are late 17th century houses…

Two Visions for Salem I'm in the history business, so I rarely dwell on visions, unless they are in the rear-view mirror. But last week I happened to take two photographs while running around in downtown Salem, and when I looked at them later on my phone I realized that they represented two…

Happy Fourth! Bridge & Northey Streets, Salem, Massachusetts,1876 from the Phillips Library of the Peabody Essex Museum.

A very important piece of ephemera as the Massachusetts was the first steam boat in Boston Bay. But it did not go well for her. Phillips Library, Peabody Essex Museum. #otd

“A Country by Itself” A mayoral task force commission has been meeting for the past few months, called to contextualize charges that Salem's City Seal is demeaning to Asian Americans and explicity rascist. The image in question depicts an apparent native of Sumatra's westernmost province of Aceh…

Benjamin Franklin's pseudonym mobilized again! www.bostonglobe.com/2025/06/27/l...

The Battle of Bunker Hill: it’s Personal A grand reenactment of the Battle of Bunker Hill to be staged at Gloucester's Stage Fort Park has been in the planning for months to mark its 250th anniversary and I planned to go on this past Saturday until just a few days before. On the actual…