In the eighteenth century, if people in British North America had to travel, they stayed at public houses that were often just repurposed private homes.

Founded in 1807, the subscription library was a gathering place for local scholars, “men of business,” and members of the upper classes in search of knowledge.

In the 19th century, farm loans changed from a matter between associates into an impersonal, bureaucratic exchange.

In the 1950s, nightclubs featuring "Middle Eastern" music and belly dancers mixed and matched cultures, serving white audiences an exotic experience.

In 1966, Bobbi Gibb was the first woman to run the Boston marathon. Gibb had a bigger mission, however: to overcome prejudice against women in sports.

Louisa May Alcott's "Little Women" is a cultural touchstone. But what about the women behind the "Women," Alcott's real-life sisters on whom she based her characters? An interview with novelist Elise Hooper considers the life of "The Other Alcott."

Charles Sumner Eaton's “Temperance Spa” served alternative adult beverages like coffee, egg phosphates, and "Moxie Nerve Food," all in the name of health.

The “Saturday Evening Girls" was a Progressive-Era club that afforded urban, Jewish and Italian girls and women a chance at coveted social mobility.

Older than the nation, Harvard has always been elite, but it was only in the 19th Century that it became the school of the Boston ruling class.