Who We Are

    Founded in 1892, the Colonial Society of Massachusetts is a non-profit educational foundation designed to promote the study of Massachusetts history from earliest settlement through the first decades of the nineteenth century. The central mission of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts is to publish documents and other resources related to the early history of Massachusetts, broadly defined, from colonization to c. 1830, and taking in local, regional, transatlantic and other perspectives.

    The Publications Committee of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts accepts proposals for publications made by CSM members and others, in accordance with the Society’s central publishing mission. In considering proposals, the CSM is committed to achieving greater diversity in its publications, particularly in regard to documents and sources relating to Indigenous peoples, women, people of color, and LGBTQ history, and to increasing the diversity of its editors. Projects accepted for publication may be made available in print or in digital form, or both.

    All ninety-eight volumes of the Society’s publications are freely available to the public either for download or consultation through this website. (See Publications for the full list.)

    Please visit Activities for a more complete description of the Society's activities. 

    The Colonial Society is pleased to announce two new publications. The Minutes of the Dartmouth, Massachusetts, Monthly Meeting of Friends, 1699---1785, edited by Thomas D. Hamm, and The Papers of Francis Bernard, Colonial Governor of Massachusetts, Volume 6: 1769 - 1779, edited by Colin Nicolson. Both are available from the University of Virginia Press and Amazon, and can also be seen online on our Publications page).

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    Featured

    Forthcoming Publications

     

    The Writings of Daniel Gookin edited by David Hall and Adrian Weimer

    William Bradford: Correspondence, Dialogues, and Other Writings
    edited by Francis Bremer, Kathryn Grey, David Lupher, and Kenneth Minkema, 
    The Diary of William Bentley
    edited by Thomas Knoles

    William Hubbard's A General History of New England revised and annotated by Christopher Jedrey and Kenneth Minkema

    The Memoirs of Josiah Cotton & Allied Documents
    edited by Douglas Winiarski

    The Account Books of John Hull edited by David Hancock and Mark Peterson

     

    News

    April 20, 2023: Stated Meeting, 3 p.m., Jerrad P. Pacatte, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of History, Rutgers, will speak on “The Work of Freedom: African American Women and the Process of Emancipation in New England.”
     

    May 4, 2023: Author Talk, 6 p.m., Dror Goldberg (Ph.D., Rochester), senior member in the Department of Management and Economics at The Open University of Israel, will speak on his new book Easy Money:  American Puritans and the Invention of Modern Currency.  Refreshments available at 5:30 p.m.

    Open Houses: The Colonial Society of Massachusetts headquarters at 87 Mount Vernon Street in Boston (on Beacon Hill) holds Open Houses on the first Sunday of each month from 1 to 3 pm. All are welcome. For dates after May, 2023 please check back.