In September, the Paul Revere Memorial Association presents a series of lectures on the theme “One Hundred and Fifty Years of ‘Paul Revere’s Ride’: Facts, Fables and Fiction,” taking place on four successive Wednesdays at Old South Meeting House. This lecture series is made possible by a grant from the Lowell Institute.
Wednesday, SEPTEMBER 8, 2010
Listen, My Children: Paul Revere’s Ride in Poetry and Legend
Old South Meeting House, 310 Washington Street, Boston
6:30 to 7:30 pm
Using new research, historian and author Charles Bahne will examine how Longfellow created one of America’s most enduring legends—a tale which, like all legends, often strays from the truth. What did Longfellow know when he wrote the poem? Why did he include some details, and ignore or omit others? What about William Dawes and Samuel Prescott? Included in the program will be a world-premiere: the first-ever public reading of Longfellow’s complete first draft, including an entire stanza which was later deleted, and has never been published. Free and open to the public.
Wednesday, SEPTEMBER 15, 2010
The Lost and Legendary Riders of April 19th
Old South Meeting House, 310 Washington Street, Boston
6:30 to 7:30 pm
Beyond Paul Revere and his companions, Americans have passed along stories of other notable riders on April 19, 1775. Historian J. L. Bell investigates the facts and fiction behind such figures as Hezekiah Wyman, the dreaded “White Horseman”; Abel Benson and Abigail Smith, children said to have helped raise the alarm in Middlesex County; and Israel Bissell, the post rider credited with carrying news of the fight all the way to Philadelphia. Free and open to the public.
Wednesday, SEPTEMBER 22, 2010
“A Friend” of Paul Revere: The Role of Family Histories in the Ongoing Mystery of Who Hung the Lanterns in Old North Steeple, April 18, 1775
Old South Meeting House, 310 Washington Street, Boston
6:30 to 7:30 pm
On April 18, 1875, in front of a packed house at Boston’s Old North Church, Samuel Haskell Newman presented his family’s account of the night of April 18, 1775. Specifically, he identified his father, Robert Newman, as the man who hung the lanterns in Old North steeple on that historic night. One year later, in July, 1876, Reverend John Lee Watson of Orange, New Jersey, argued in a letter to the Boston Daily Advertiser that it was his relative, Captain John Pulling, who hung the signal lanterns. Old North Foundation historian and educator Bob Damon will evaluate these competing narratives and explore the important role that family histories play in our understanding of the history of the Old North Church and the beginnings of the American Revolution. Free and open to the public.
Wednesday, SEPTEMBER 29, 2010
Revering America: The Politics of Remembering the Revolution
Old South Meeting House, 310 Washington Street, Boston
6:30 to 7:30 pm
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was not the first, nor by any means the last, to make use of Revolutionary War history for other purposes. Just this past spring, George Pataki launched an anti-health care petition drive called RevereAmerica, from Boston’s Paul Revere Mall. Americans have always put the past to political ends. Jill Lepore, Kemper Professor of History at Harvard University and New Yorker staff writer, will discuss the fraught relationship between reverence and revolution. Free and open to the public.
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In 2010, H. W. Longfellow’s famous poem “Paul Revere’s Ride” turned 150. This website was created to collect information about that poem, the history behind it, and how it came to be written.
