2025 South Shore History Symposium
Back by popular demand, the South Shore History Symposium will take place on April 26. This local history conference was hosted annually by the Back Roads of the South Shore for fifteen years until the COVID-19 pandemic led to its cancellation in 2020. We are delighted to revive this popular event this year to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution. See the Events page for details; we hope you can join us!
Meet the Speakers
Patrick Browne is Executive Director of the Plymouth Antiquarian Society. He holds a Ph.D. in History from Boston University. Prior to his doctoral studies, Patrick worked in public history for nearly 20 years as Executive Director of the Duxbury Rural and Historical Society and Pilgrim Hall Museum. He is the author of two books on local history and has published papers in the New England Quarterly and the Historical Journal of Massachusetts.
Michelle Marchetti Coughlin is a historian of early American women and the author of One Colonial Woman's World: The Life and Writings of Mehetabel Chandler Coit and Penelope Winslow, Plymouth Colony First Lady: Re-Imagining a Life. Formerly a longtime board member of the Abigail Adams Birthplace, she currently serves as a Trustee of Pilgrim Hall Museum and often works with historic sites seeking to integrate women's history into their interpretation.
Jim Glinski taught history at Xaverian Brothers High School for 41 years. He has written extensively on local history, including books on Scituate’s fire department, water supply, and temperance movement. He also contributed a chapter to Boston’s Histories, honoring historian Thomas H. O’Connor. A researcher for the Scituate Historical Society, he gives talks and tours for the North and South Rivers Watershed Association and serves on the Scituate Historical Commission.
Nancy Rubin Stuart is the author of acclaimed nonfiction books about women and social history. Her most recent books include Poor Richard’s Women, Defiant Brides, The Muse of the Revolution, and the best-selling American Empress. She is the President of the Mercy Otis Warren Society and Executive Director of the Cape Cod Writers Center.
Stephen O’Neill, a graduate of Boston College and Boston University, is Executive Director of Hanover Historical Society and Director of the Dyer Memorial Library in Abington. He was formerly Associate Director/Curator of Collections at Pilgrim Hall Museum and Senior Lecturer in History at Suffolk University. He is the author of The Life of Peregrine White: The First Englishman Born in New England and serves as Guest Curator/Consultant for the Alden House Historic Site in Duxbury.
