In honor of the 200th anniversary of Russian-American diplomatic relations, the Massachusetts Historical Society and other organizations are about to kick off a series of events and exhibits:
The festivities start on Wednesday night, 19 September, with a talk by John Quincy Adams biography Lynn Parsons at the MHS, "The Yankee and the Tsar: John Quincy Adams and Russia." Refreshments at 6 p.m., lecture at 6:30. RSVP to 617-646-0560. Adams served as the first American ambassador to Russia, 1809-1814.
A dramatic presentation, "John Quincy Adams in Russia," will be performed by Parsons and actor Jim Cooke at the Old South Meeting House on Thursday, 20 September at 6:30 p.m. This show will also be mounted at the American Antiquarian Society in Worcester on 18 September at 7:30 p.m. and at the Amherst Center for Russian Culture on 23 September at 3 p.m. This event is supported by funds from the Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities and the U.S.-Russia Chamber of Commerce of New England, Inc.
And the grand event of the fall will be the exhibition we're about to unveil here at the MHS: 'Moments of Destiny': Two Centuries of Russian-American Diplomatic Relations from the Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society. The show will be available for public viewing every day from 27 September through 31 October from 1-4 p.m.
J.L. Bell at Boston1775 has some more on the JQ Adams angle and on the events, so certainly stop by there too.
