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Agrippa Hull Enlists
Agrippa Hull Enlists
On this day in 1777, Agrippa Hull, a freeborn black man from the Berkshire County town of Stockbridge, signed on to serve in the Continental Army for the duration of the Revolutionary War. The 18-year-old...
Composer Stravinsky Visits Gropius House in Lincoln
Composer Stravinsky Visits Gropius House in Lincoln
On this day in 1940, the German-born architect Walter Gropius and his wife Ise opened their new home in Lincoln to some old friends — the great composer Igor Stravinsky and his wife Vera. Gropius...
Ceremony Honors Early Indian Students
Ceremony Honors Early Indian Students
On this day in 1997, over 300 people gathered in Harvard Yard to commemorate a long forgotten part of the college's history. A plaque was unveiled that read, "Near this spot, from 1655 to 1698,...
Sarah Remond Ejected from Boston Theater
Sarah Remond Ejected from Boston Theater
On this day in 1853, Sarah Parker Remond and two other African Americans entered a Boston theater intending to enjoy a Mozart opera. When the manager discovered they were people of color, he directed them...
Winthrop Buys Passage for Ironworkers
Winthrop Buys Passage for Ironworkers
On this day in 1643, John Winthrop, Jr. paid 50 pounds for the passage of skilled ironworkers from England to the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Initially, the men worked at the iron works that Winthrop and...
Marblehead Carved Out of Salem
Marblehead Carved Out of Salem
On this day in 1635, the General Court of Massachusetts Bay established the town of Marblehead on land that belonged to Salem. The move was meant to punish Salem for allowing Roger Williams to express...
Berkshire-Hathaway Announces Mill Closing
Berkshire-Hathaway Announces Mill Closing
On this day in 1958, the North Adams Transcript reported that the owners of the Berkshire-Hathaway Company had passed a death sentence on their factory in Adams. The company announced that it was shutting down...
Dewey Proposes Library Classification System
Dewey Proposes Library Classification System
On this day in 1873, Amherst College junior Melvil Dewey made a proposal to the faculty. He had been working in the college library and was frustrated by the lack of logic in the way...
Critic Declares Springsteen Future of Rock and Roll
Critic Declares Springsteen Future of Rock and Roll
On this day in 1974, 25-year-old Bruce Springsteen played at the Harvard Square Theater in Cambridge. Although popular with the college crowd in the Northeast, Springsteen was not yet a star. That night, he and...
Ames Brothers Celebrate "Golden Spike"
Ames Brothers Celebrate "Golden Spike"
On this day in 1869, officials of the Union Pacific Railroad drove the symbolic "Golden Spike" to mark the completion of the first transcontinental railroad. Telegraph wires attached to the spike and sledgehammer carried the...