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-nine 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 Correspondence of Thomas Hutchinson, Volume 5: July 1772 ---May 1774 edited by John W. Tyler and Margaret A. Hogan. 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 Papers of John Hancock, volume 1
    edited by Jeffrey Griffith
    The Writings of Daniel Gookin
    edited by Adrian Chastain Weimer and David D. Hall
    The Journal and Letters of Nathaniel Cutting
    edited by William Stinchcombe and Micah Alpaugh
    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

    2027 Winthrop Prize

    The Colonial Society of Massachusetts is pleased to call for submissions for the 2027 Winthrop Prize. The prize acknowledges the best work dealing with the history and cultures of the peoples who shaped the region now known as New England, leading up to and including the seventeenth century. It carries an award of $2,500.

    Nominations for the 2027 award are due February 1, 2027. For more information, visit https://www.colonialsociety.org/John_Winthrop_Prize and for details on how to nominate, email [email protected].

     

    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 events take place at 87 Mount Vernon St., Boston MA 02108 and (unless noted otherwise) are free and open to the public.