PATH I: Investigating the Boston Massacre

Boston Massacre > Massachusetts Historical Society > Gutman Library > Mass. State Archives > Judge Hiller Zobel

Our visit to the Massachusetts Historical Society was made possible by Jennifer Tolpa, Peter Drummey, and Bill Fowler, who made us all feel welcome in perhaps

PATH participants Kate Murdock and James Bower with MHS director Bill Fowler.

the most important repository of history in the Commonwealth.   Being the home of the Adams papers, we were fortunate to see the original court transcript of John Adams, who represented the British soldiers in the trial.  Students passed around an iron shackle that was once clamped to the necks of slaves in colonial times.  Perhaps Crispus Attucks once wore one?

Bill Fowler, director of the MHS, gave us a brief history of the Society.  Librarians Peter Drummey and Jennifer Tolpa helped us understand the Boston Massacre through such sources as newspaper accounts, diaries (both British and Colonial), and autopsy reports of the deaths of the five colonists. We also analyzed and interpreted a print of the event from the etching of Paul Revere.

Jennifer Tolpa explained how researchers use the collection at the Massachusetts Historical Society.

It seemed like there was actually a lot of primary source documents about the Boston Massacre.  Was this where our textbook knowledge of the event came from?   Had the story in textbooks always been the same?  We decided to investigate at the Monroe C. Gutman Library at Harvard University...

Next stop: Monroe C. Gutman Library at Harvard University >