Highlights of Boston History:
A Personal Perspective

Lowell Lecturer: Professor Thomas H. O'Connor

Professor Thomas H. O'Connor

On Tuesday, May 1, at 8 pm in Science Center C, Professor Thomas H. O'Connor will deliver the annual Lowell Lecture, titled "Highlights of Boston History: A Personal Perspective."

This topic is especially congenial to Professor O'Connor because he is widely acknowledged as the dean of Boston historians, having written numerous books on the history of Boston. In 1991 the Boston Public Library published the third edition of Bibles, Brahmins, and Bosses: A Short History of Boston. This was followed by Building a New Boston (1993), South Boston: The History of an Ethnic Neighborhood (1994), The Boston Irish: A Political History (1995), Civil War Boston: Homefront and Battlefield (1997), and Boston Catholics: A History of the Church and Its People (1998), all published by Northeastern University Press. His latest book Boston: A to Z (2000) was published by Harvard University Press.

Professor O'Connor is also the author of books and scholarly articles on United States history and the Civil War, including Lords of the Loom: The Cotton Whigs and the Coming of the Civil War (1968), The Disunited States: The United States in the Era of Civil War and Reconstruction (1972, with reprints in 1974 and 1978), and Religion and American Society (1975). He is the author or co-author of several textbooks on American history, notably The Heritage of the American People (1965).

However, to thousands of Harvard Extension School students, alumni, and alumnae, Professor O'Connor is known not for his prolific publications, but for his two popular courses: The History of Boston, 1630-1865 and The History of Boston, 1865 to the Present. These courses are perennial favorites with Extension students, attracting an average of 150 students each and ranking among the top ten courses every semester. He is also a favorite speaker at Harvard Ex-tension Alumni Association functions, particularly the annual Boston Harbor cruise.

A native of South Boston and a graduate of the Boston Latin School, Professor O'Connor received his AB and MA from Boston College and his PhD from Boston University. He has been teaching American history at Boston College since 1950--serving as department chairman from 1962 to 1970--and was recently named university historian.

Professor O'Connor is a member of the board of trustees of the Bostonian Society; a resident fellow at the Massachusetts Historical Society; and a recently re-appointed member of the Massachusetts Archive Commission. In 1993 he was awarded the honorary Doctor of Humane Letters by Boston College; in 1999 he was the recipient of the annual Gold Medal Award from the Eire Society of Boston.

The Lowell Lecture is sponsored jointly by the Harvard Extension School and the Lowell Institute of Boston, and is an annual public service event for the Greater Boston community. All Harvard Extension School graduates, students, and faculty are warmly invited to attend.