Who we are
If you’re curious about how Massachusetts fits into the Protestant Reformation, puzzled by New England’s paradoxical reliance on the slave economy and site of the first printed American anti-slavery tract, or simply want to know how ordinary people of the 17th century loved, worked, worshiped, and died, then the Partnership of Historic Bostons is the place for you.
The Partnership of Historic Bostons was founded in 1999 as a partnership between people in Boston, Massachusetts, and Boston, Lincolnshire in England, to highlight the often forgotten history of the two Bostons. We aimed to fill the large gap in historical memory for the period between the founding of colonial Boston in 1630, and the Revolution 150 years later. We still do. But where we once focused primarily on Puritans, we now examine their impact, and the lives of the many and varied peoples who together made up a diverse early Massachusetts.
As a public-history society, the Partnership of Historic Bostons offers lectures by scholars and experts (these days, via Zoom), open discussions of primary documents, special events, walking tours (Covid-19 permitting), and a fall lecture series.
Our aim is to help you explore the fascinating, multifaceted, and multiracial history of Boston and New England through public history programs – and to challenge the myths that have grown up since the city’s inception.
As an all-volunteer 501(c)3 non-profit, we rely on people like you for donations, ideas, and enthusiasm.
“It brought me back to 17th century Boston amidst the modern city.”
attendee, PHB walking tour
Our commitment
The Puritans who arrived in Massachusetts in 1630 established a society more equal, with a broader franchise and greater distribution of wealth, than any other springing from Europe. They founded institutions that help define American democracy today: free education, literacy for all, the makings of representative government, the first American bill of rights guaranteeing jury trials and the right of free speech.
But for whom was Boston’s founding a new beginning?
For the Puritans, it offered the promise of a godly community in which they could worship as they wished. For others, 1630 marked a very different beginning.
For Native Americans, it was the start of a decades-long process that began with coexistence and cooperation, but ended in warfare, death from epidemics, loss of land and forests, and dispossession.
For the handful of Africans who arrived in 1638 – as recorded by governor John Winthrop – it was the start of New England slavery, as well as of a small, free black community.
Quakers, servants, sailors, Baptists, Scottish prisoners-of-war: all experienced the beginning of Boston differently.
The Partnership of Historic Bostons tells the story of these varied beginnings. One story cannot be told without the others.