February Hive 2017

We are pleased to announce this season's Hives, as well as a symposium planned for June.

This Sunday, February 12 is the first Hive.  We have a new location at the Masonic Lodge in Lexington 2 Bedford Street (up near the Green).

With the growing interest in civilian events, we're going to focus our attention this year on pre-war New England, starting with the Boston Massacre.  It is exciting to see more and more historic sites looking to improve the accuracy of their events and we are pleased we can contribute.  The Bostonian Society has adopted the approach pioneered by Minute Man NHP by teaming up with reenactors to apply material culture standards based on primary sources to this event. 

As you know, it's not enough to just show up and an event with a great kit.  Unless you know the background of what you are reenacting, you are just a person dressed in funny clothes.  This Sunday we are lucky to have a slate of speakers who are going to share some new research with us and give us a context in which this pivotal event occurred.

Gary Gregory will be discussing how the media was setting the stage for conflict.  John Bell will look at some of the people involved and the conditions in the city that would lead to the event.  And Greg Theberge will be sharing some exciting new material on what went down that evening, based on the testimonies from the trial as well as other published documents.

Oh yeah - and we'll take a look at the clothing standards and how they differ from the Battle Road guidelines that have become the baseline for so many events.

The doors open at noon for a half hour of The Buzz.  Catch up with friends, grab a cup of coffee.  The lectures start at 12:30 and we'll probably go till 4 -- we have a lot of material to cover!  

The Hive is free, coffee and tea will be available,  As always snacks to share are always welcome!   So noon -- Masonic Lodge 2 Bedford Street Lexington, MA   Be there!

The March Hive is on Sunday the 19th, where we will be continuing the civilian theme as we explore the professions of the New England seacoast cities and how these can be translated into creating an impression.  More info to follow.

And mark you calendars for the weekend of June 3/4.  The Hive will be holding it's first symposium.  Announcement to come -- watch your email!

See you Sunday!

Lexington Masonic Lodge 2 Bedford Street

It's in the Details! - Documenting the Uniforms of the 29th Foot

The 29th Regiment of Foot, infamous for their part in the Boston Massacre, has been recreated for this annual event!  Tonight (2/29) at 6:30 at the Old State House they will be doing a presentation that outlines the documentation for the uniforms they have reproduced for this year's Boston Massacre reenactment.  So don't let the threat of a little snow stop you.  Jump on the T and join us at the Old State House for what should be a very informative and fun presentation.

There are those who wonder, why go through the trouble of doing painstaking research to document every little detail of a British uniform, then reproduce several of them with very expensive but amazingly accurate materials, for an event that only happens once a year.  Wouldn't any redcoat uniform work?  The public doesn't know the difference. Because in the long run, this is about teaching the public about an important event in our history, that has lessons that are still relevant today.  And we owe the public accuracy and to portray the story in a way that reflects the latest research.  These uniforms are a vital interpretive tool. Sure, the public doesn't know what a 29th Foot uniform looks like; but they will in a couple weeks!  Is it a lot of work? Expensive? A little nuts?  Yes, all of the above, but in end, we are teachers, whether we like it or not.  And our students deserve the best we can offer them.

Oh and by the way -- the research part is a whole lot of fun!