Mass. Historical Society podcast explores momentous and bizarre objects from history

The Massachusetts Historical Society preserves hundreds of different artifacts and antiquities from the Commonwealth’s history, ranging from everyday items to papers from historical figures like John Adams and Thomas Jefferson.

In most museums, a small plaque helps visitors identify the significance and story behind a piece. But the MHS is taking artifact education one step further with a podcast, “The Object of History,” that uncovers the histories behind some of the state’s fascinating treasures. Radio Boston is joined by MHS Director of Research and podcast host Kanisorn Wongsrichanalai to learn about the project and the stories they're telling.

On some of the weirder things in the MHS collection… 

“I mean, we have — not just a box — but drawers full of hair.

People collected them in the 19th century. It was a memento from someone who either passed away or someone who was very famous. They just collected hair. They put it in their jewelry. They kept it in their letters. They handed it down to people. We have Napoleon's hair, too. If anyone's interested in seeing Napoleon's hair, they can come to the MHS.

We [also] have a portrait of George Washington by a painter by the name of Christian Gulliger, which looks very odd.

It used to greet people when they would come and visit our Red Room, and they'd say, 'Who is that? He looks very familiar, but we're not sure who that is.' And it's George Washington. But he looks a little odd. This is a man who had no teeth in his head by the time he died. By the time the painting [was] done, he had one tooth in his head. [So] it's possible he's wearing a secondary pair of teeth or he’s still experimenting with a [denture] prototype.”

On some of his favorite objects… 

“I’m a Civil War historian, [so] Robert Gould Shaw’s sword [was one of the first things] that I requested to see when I first came to the MHS. [It’s] the sword belonging to the commander of the 54th Massachusetts Regiment. We also have the pen that signed the Emancipation Proclamation.”

On what you’ll hear on the podcast and why it's important… 

“Well, we want to highlight different aspects of the collection. Some episodes relate to manuscripts, some are looking at paintings, some are looking at weird objects, and some are also inspired by folks who walk through our doors.

“This is the flag of the Bucks of America. And basically the flag is all we have — well there's a small medallion too, but those are the two artifacts that we have of a [militia] unit, made up of African Americans, that we know so little about formed immediately or around the time of the American Revolution. They're very much part of the fabric of Boston life, and it's remarkable that we have so little information out there about them.

That's one of the purposes of the podcast, too. To make sure that people know about the objects we have, and if they have more information, we're happy to hear it.”