Past Events
Video recordings of past events can be viewed at this link.
Upcoming Events
Book Launch Celebration
Peter C. Mancall on “Contested Continent”
Wednesday, October 21, 2026, at 6 p.m. Hybrid Event
Please join us at No. 87 Mount Vernon Street, Boston, to hear Peter C. Mancall, Distinguished Professor; the Andrew W. Mellon Professor of the Humanities; the Linda and Harlan Martens Director of the USC-Huntington Early Modern Studies Institute; and Professor of History, Anthropology, and Economics at the University of Southern California speak on “Contested Continent.”
In his recent book “Contested Continent” Mancall offers a narrative history of North America from c. 1000 to 1680. The book spans the continent to tell the story of the rise of a booming transatlantic economy based on the extraction of American natural resources, the central role that European migrants and their descendants played in the enslavement of Africans and the displacement of Indigenous peoples; and the spread of self-governing polities where many enjoyed religious freedom.
The book will be available for purchase.
If you are unable to attend in person, join the live stream by clicking on this link: CSM Live Stream
To submit a question for the speaker during the presentation, please email [email protected]
December Stated Meeting Thursday, December 17, 2026, at 3:00 p.m. Hybrid Event
Please join us at No. 87 Mount Vernon Street, Boston, to hear T.H. Breen, the William Smith Mason Professor of American History (emeritus) at Northwestern University, speak on "The American Revolution on Trial."
In his recent book, Breen shows how Americans proved their commitment to the rule of law even before winning independence. In the winter of 1778, a dramatic court-martial forced an American community to confront the meaning of its independence. British General John Burgoyne, a prisoner of war, accused an American colonel of mistreating British prisoners and demanded a full trial before an American jury. Stunningly, American officers agreed—and even allowed Burgoyne, an enemy commander, to serve as prosecutor. Breen argues that this challenge sparked a rejection of aristocratic privilege at the heart of the revolutionary cause.
Professor Breen has held the Harmsworth Professorship at Oxford and the Pitt Professorship at Cambridge. He received a Humboldt Prize and worked at Göttingen and Munich, where he is a member of the Historisches Kolleg. He has taught at Caltech, the University of Chicago, Yale, and Trinity College Dublin, and has authored over ten books, most on the American Revolution.
If you are unable to attend in person, join the live stream by clicking on this link: CSM Live Stream
To submit a question for the speaker during the presentation, please email [email protected]
All in-person events take place at 87 Mount Vernon St., Boston Ma 02108 and are free and open to the public. They can also be joined online at https://bit.ly/ColSocEvent. To participate in an online-only event, use the Zoom link posted on this website next to the listing for that event.