Events

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The History Department often receives event listings from other Harvard departments, centers, committees, and programs related to the field of history. For further information, please click here. 

Unless otherwise noted, all events are open to the public. See individual event posts for details. 

Upcoming Events

Frederick Douglass and Jesus Christ
October 13, 2026
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12:00PM - 1:30PM EDT
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Common Room, Center for the Study of World Religions, 42 Francis Ave., Cambridge, MA
Hybrid
Abolitionists described themselves as followers of Jesus, but they disagreed about what kind of person he was. Douglass’s ideas about Jesus took shape in dialogue with the Transcendentalists: his Jesus was fully human, but he spoke to his contemporaries...

In this Twilight: Tar Paintings in Conversation with American Transcendentalism
October 13, 2026
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4:00PM - 5:00PM EDT
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Common Room, Center for the Study of World Religions, 42 Francis Ave., Cambridge, MA
In Person
Please join us for the opening reception of Christopher Volpe's exhibition, In this Twilight: Tar Paintings in Conversation with American Transcendentalism. Titled with a line from Whitman's Leaves of Grass, In this Twilight opens a space between longing...

The Tobacco Takers: Puritans, Pipes, and Bodily Care
October 13, 2026
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6:00PM - 7:00PM EDT
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Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
Hybrid
Free Hybrid Lecture Location: Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 Speakers: Diana DiPaolo Loren, Deputy Director for Curatorial Affairs and Senior Curator, Peabody Museum, Harvard University Stephen W. Silliman, Professor...

The Reformist Language of Plants: Marianne Dwight’s Botanical Watercolors
October 19, 2026
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12:00PM - 1:30PM EDT
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Common Room, Center for the Study of World Religions, 42 Francis Ave., Cambridge, MA
Hybrid
Shortly after moving to the Transcendentalist utopian community of Brook Farm in April 1844, Marianne Dwight Orvis joined the “Fancy Group,” a collective of women who hand-painted goods for sale in Boston. She described the project as seeking the...

Center for History and Economics Tea Talk with Lori M. Bondioli
October 19, 2026
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4:30PM - 5:30PM EDT
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CGIS S-050
In Person
The next Center for History and Economics Tea Talk will be given by Lori M. Bondioli ( Harvard | History) on Monday, October 19, 2026 at 4:30pm, CGIS S-050. Talk Title: The Commercial Revolution of Medieval Egypt These informal gatherings, on Monday...

Passionate Micrology: Thoreau and Nietzsche’s Erotics of the Closest Things
October 26, 2026
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12:00PM - 1:30PM EDT
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Common Room, Center for the Study of World Religions, 42 Francis Ave., Cambridge, MA
Hybrid
Philosophers are often caricatured as having their heads in the clouds, their mind’s eye focused inwardly on far-off visions of “the good,” “the beautiful,” and “the true.” But Friedrich Nietzsche and Henry David Thoreau, the two greatest philosophical...

The Catholic Church and the Spanish Transition to Democracy (1975–1982)
November 4, 2026
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2:00PM - 3:15PM EST
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Hoffmann Room, Adolphus Busch Hall, 27 Kirkland Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
In Person
Speaker: Santiago de Navascués Martínez, Assistant Professor, University of Navarra; Visiting Scholar 2026-2027, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University. Chair: Jamie Martin, Assistant Professor of History and of Social Studies...

Center for History and Economics Tea Talk with Karthik Sastry
November 9, 2026
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4:30PM - 5:30PM EST
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CGIS K-262
In Person
The next Center for History and Economics Tea Talk will be given by Karthik Sastry ( Princeton | Economics) on Monday, November 9, 2026 at 4:30pm, CGIS K-262. Talk Title: TBD These informal gatherings, on Monday afternoons from 4:30-5:30 pm, bring...

Center for History and Economics Tea Talk with Fei-Hsien Wang
November 30, 2026
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4:30PM - 5:30PM EST
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CGIS S-050
In Person
The next Center for History and Economics Tea Talk will be given by Fei-Hsien Wang ( Radcliffe / Indiana University | History) on Monday, November 30, 2026 at 4:30pm, CGIS S-050. Talk Title: TBD These informal gatherings, on Monday afternoons from 4:30-5...

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