J. L. BELL is a Massachusetts writer who specializes in (among other things) the start of the American Revolution in and around Boston. He is particularly interested in the experiences of children in 1765-75. He has published scholarly papers and popular articles for both children and adults. He was consultant for an episode of History Detectives, and contributed to a display at Minute Man National Historic Park.

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Check out the 150 Years of “Paul Revere’s Ride” website for information about Henry W. Longfellow’s famous poem. First published at the end of 1860, that poem had a profound impact on how Americans remember the start of the Revolutionary War.
J. L. Bell was a panelist in the discussion of “A Knock at the Door: Three Centuries of Governmental Search and Seizure” at the Old State House in Boston on 4 Nov 2009. View this event through the WGBH Forum Network.
Hear J. L. Bell “Gossiping About the Gores” at Old South Meeting House, archived by the WBGH Forum Network. (And follow along with the handout.) This talk from January 2009 follows one Boston family from the 1760s through the 1820s—striving in society, divided by politics, and occasionally star-crossed by love.
Read the transcript of J. L. Bell’s discussion of John Adams with Mike Pesca, host of N.P.R.’s The Bryant Park Project, in April 2008.
Check out the online exhibit about the 5th of November in Boston that J. L. Bell assembled for the Bostonian Society. People in Britain celebrated that date as Guy Fawkes’ Day, but in Boston it was “Pope-Night”—a riot of bigotry, violence, and giant puppets!
J. L. Bell’s article “A Bankruptcy in Boston, 1765” appears in the fourth-quarter 2008 issue of Massachusetts Banker. Download a copy of the entire magazine for free from this page.
J. L. Bell’s article “‘I Never Used to Go Out with a Weapon’: Law Enforcement on the Streets of Prerevolutionary Boston,” about town watchmen, army officers, and the Boston Massacre, is available in the Dublin Seminar volume Life on the Streets and Commons.
Children in Colonial America, edited by Prof. James Marten and published by N.Y.U. Press, features J. L. Bell’s chapter “From Saucy Boys to Sons of Liberty: Politicizing Youth in Pre-Revolutionary Boston.”

Wednesday, May 05, 2010

Twitter Feed, 25 Apr-4 May 2010

  • N. C. Wyeth's illustrations for KIDNAPPED, set in 1700s Scotland: bit.ly/bMsuhr #
  • Following a British redcoat soldier's paper trail, document by document: bit.ly/axpFTw #
  • No Paine, no gain—quotations from Thomas Paine via scholar Ken Burchell: bit.ly/cOuvnF #
  • Links for two magazines focused on American Revolutionary War. 1) bit.ly/b8TCQq 2) bit.ly/9AU9Lf #
  • Latest issue of EARLY AMERICAN STUDIES has a lot about Newport, RI, in 1700s: bit.ly/aixSu7 #
  • Review of TIES THAT BUY, book on businesswomen in Revolutionary US: bit.ly/8X65WN Author's thoughts on review: bit.ly/dppIFX #
  • RT @2palaver: I'm at New England Mobile Book Fair (82 Needham St, Newton). 4sq.com/7a8Vgb // A great place to be! #
  • RT @teachinghistory: Prof. Develop. workshop on George Washington & Harry Truman, offered by Truman Library: bit.ly/d1YAoK // Hunh. #
  • RT @NewYorker: Who owns the American Revolution? The Tea Partiers? by Jill Lepore bit.ly/aJoXsU #
  • RT @CapitolHistory: Today in 1782 a committee of Congress recommended establishing armories in MA, NY, PA, and VA. // Springfield! #
  • RT @paperspaints blog in Country Life today: 'Period houses: choosing paint' bit.ly/arZ4Sh #
  • RT @Boy_Monday: How does lecture about motivations of Civil War soldiers end up being about the memory of the American Revolution? #
  • RT @SarahBrannen: Watching a video about the USS Constitution for an illustration job. It is very interesting! #
  • RT @RicardoCP: Reading JEFFERSON, I'm reminded how grateful I am for handsome editions from @LibraryAmerica. #USHistory (via @roncharles) #
  • This morning broke news to Mom that her grad-school advisor had died at 93. Good man, came late to academe because of anti-Semitism. #
  • How to read a scholarly book well enough for graduate school, per @larrycebula: bit.ly/aa8rBU #
  • Good news in Philly, 2006: we dug the foundation. Bad news: we found bodies of 16 poor children from late 1700s. bit.ly/9kP8V9 #
  • RT @PaulRevereHouse: I posted 9 photos on Facebook in the album "Photos of the Paul Revere House" bit.ly/ccebhs #
  • RT @RedCoatCat: #art Updated RedCoatCat.com with new art.www.redcoatcat.com/?p=201 #
  • RT @classroomtools: The right lies about historical fact to make its points. Examples in Tim Hodson's FLUNKING HISTORY. bit.ly/9OhoOG #
  • RT @2palaver: Vermont towns settle centuries-old boundary dispute bit.ly/9kstUo #
  • Museum of Underwater Archeology exhibit on British sloop INDUSTRY, foundered in 1764: bit.ly/c05fOa #
  • Yale opens a research portal focused on American slavery and abolition: slavery.yale.edu/ #
  • RT @gordonbelt: Little Known Battle Cries of the American Revolution, and a look-a-like you might not expect: bit.ly/doJaDf #
  • RT @classroomtools: Read @WilliamHogeland's terrific post (bit.ly/aTsTmN) on President's endorsement of America: The Story of Us. #
  • RT @gordonbelt: Jefferson Today debates Thomas Jefferson's ideas and applies them to the present www.jeffersontoday.org/ #
  • Boston Public Library's Annual Meeting on Tues, 11 May, 8:30am, at the Copley Square Library. Setting priorities for branches, depts. #
  • Colonial America's busiest burglar—Isaac Frasier, born in Rhode Island, hanged in Connecticut: bit.ly/bRKH5E #
  • A Pennsylvania Anglican minister's resignation letter in 1776: bit.ly/9TYsDl #
  • Parsing John Adams's words to Thomas Jefferson in 1825 about "that great Principle" and "this awful blasphemy": bit.ly/c92vAa #
  • RT @sharon_howard: RT @history_geek Mary Toth gives birth to rabbits. Wellcome Library Item of the month, April 2010 ow.ly/1EFgc #
  • RT @franceshunter: "Tea-party politics at its most contentious" - Meriwether Lewis and the Whiskey Rebellion ht.ly/1EKLI #
  • John Adams contemplates extraterrestrials and their religious implications: bit.ly/9Q1rGD #
  • @PatriotCast Visited Andrew Craigie's postwar house in Cambridge this morning. Now Longfellow Nat'l Historic Site. #
  • RT @colonialwmsburg: Turns out role of Lady Dunmore is right up Mamie Gummer's alley! Find out how in this interview. bit.ly/byKtGO #
  • RT @gordonbelt: A Gentle Reminder to Special-Collections Curators... Don't be this librarian: bit.ly/99pFfp h/t @lynnemthomas #
  • RT @history_geek: AHA Today: Historical Maps Roundup ow.ly/1EFL2 Great stuff! #
  • RT @PaulRevereHouse: Paul & Rachel's son Joseph Warren Revere was born 30 Apr 1777. Can you guess who he was named for? bit.ly/antGPD #
  • RT @PaulRevereHouse: Witness the delicate 18th-c art of gilding by Nancy Dick-Atkinson bit.ly/bIg3Q0 #
  • Tomorrow's weather looks ideal for fife & drum muster in Lexington, Mass. bit.ly/9Nbc0X #
  • RT @gordonbelt: Gutenberg 2.0: What is the role of libraries and librarians? The future is clearly digital: bit.ly/bNztHL #
  • Spent morning visiting Washington's headquarters, afternoon reading Baroness Riedesel's letters, evening…shopping for milk. #
  • On anniversary of Washington's inauguration in 1789, old blog post probing 1852 description of the event: bit.ly/b3pOqf #
  • Went three places in Lexington before finding William Diamond Jrs' fife & drum muster today. Should've read the link I posted yesterday. #
  • How Boston 1775 blog would have looked if I'd started it 10 years earlier on Geocities: bit.ly/dsL47p (thx to @FuseEight) #
  • RT @history_book: The Liberty Tree: A Celebration Of The Life and Writings Of Thomas Paine (PM Audio) - Rosselson &al. amzn.to/9sxoes #
  • First heard about #aquapocalypse from a man in colonial garb. Is that more or less appropriate than reading about it in a tweet? #
  • Remember a month ago when everyone in eastern Massachusetts was complaining about having too much water around? #aquapocalypse #
  • RT @2palaver: Shakers gone, but "whipping tree" flourishes- Harvard, MA bit.ly/906bY5 // Shakers looked very suspicious in 1780s. #
  • Intricately carved gravestone of Martha Green in Waltham, Mass., 1768: bit.ly/9zxJlj #
  • Some of N. C. Wyeth's heroic images of American history: bit.ly/a7WTea #
  • Review of Wood's AMERICANIZATION OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN: bit.ly/aggOpB #
  • RT @hallnjean: "Planting the Imperial Postal System in British North America 1760-1840" online exhibit bit.ly/cY58jm #
  • RT @2palaver: History buffs zero in on Marshfield MA's Hatch Mill as a link to the town's past bit.ly/9yrcVm #
  • RT @PaulRevereHouse: Boiling water? Now we know why so much cider and beer were consumed in the... bit.ly/aLSJfY #
  • BOSTON GLOBE slide show of proposed extra states associated with New England, some dating to 1700s: bit.ly/d8risV #
  • Gordon Wood traces how US founders wrestled with term limits: nyti.ms/dlV4ii (Spoiler: men liked idea till they were in office.) #
  • Pvt William Johnstone wriggles out of a court-martial in 1777: bit.ly/9DINNe #
  • British Embassy in DC proudly posts video of redcoat reenactors at Battle of Lexington & Concord: bit.ly/dBQ5fo #
  • RT @inhuggermugger: 2day 1765, the 1st US medical school is established at the College of Philadelphia. #hhrs #ushistory #
  • RT @2palaver: Portsmouth's Black Heritage Trail hosts 6th annual symposium 5/8 @ Discover Portsmouth Center bit.ly/9UsTqK #
  • RT @rjseaver: posted will of Jonathan White (1730-1804) of Westport MA for Amanuensis Monday in tinyurl.com/RSAM0503 #genealogy #
  • RT @amhistorymuseum: The largest artifact on display is a Georgian, 2 1/2 story timber-framed house: ow.ly/1GiBC // From Ipswich! #
  • RT @aimeeburpee: RT Oldest surviving engine. RT @thehenryford: steam engine, c1740 twitpic.com/1kot1a #museumfactmonday #
  • RT @PaulRevereHouse: We update our Flickr page as spring works her magic in our garden - click on the photo badge bit.ly/aqsfsz #
  • Local review of Al Young's THE SHOEMAKER & THE TEA PARTY, study of poor man in the Revolution and our public memory: bit.ly/bhc7Qk #
  • Grandson of Col William Prescott of Bunker Hill sustains severe bread-crust injury at Harvard: bit.ly/auRRwE #
  • Where New England gravestones give different last names to husbands and wives—because they were enslaved: bit.ly/asfzkq #
  • RT @amhistorymuseum: Today in 1776: Rhode Island declares independence. More about the Revolutionary War: ow.ly/1GQ5A #
  • RT @lucyinglis: The Kissing Girls of Spitalfields: Being a Lesbian in Georgian London post.ly/eoBj #
  • NY Public Library's showing off its book-sorting machine: bit.ly/cQADWg #
  • .@WilliamHogeland: The #black #TeaParty crowd (yes) speaks: tiny url.com/28bacod // Is two a crowd? #
  • RT @PaulRevereHouse: only Tuesday, but we're already looking ahead to Saturday's visit from Revolutionary War Doc bit.ly/dcirrv #
  • RT @Boy_Monday: I rather wish that Cadwallader Colden understood the virtue of the unexpressed thought. #
  • Revolutionary War imagery + Hollywood trailer soundtrack / Pennsylvania politician = hilarious grandiosity: bit.ly/9COHXL #
  • .@jmadelman: A little postal history! bit.ly/aDGtyD // But we gotta get the names and addresses right: bit.ly/bbW sb8 #
  • RT @samryan: @Boston1775, your chapter in Marten's "Children in Colonial America" is fantastic for my undergrad thesis research… #
  • @samryan Great to hear. Always pleased to know people are studying that 60% of colonial America's population! #
  • Freemasonry exposés in the 1700s, coming from the local Freemasonry museum: bit.ly/bLKc4w #

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