The Ticknor Society
Upcoming Events
Convivial Biblios of Boston is a gathering on the final Thursday of each month.
October 29, 2026: meet at Grafton Street Pub & Grill, 59 JFK Street, Cambridge, MA.
Convivial Biblios provides an informal opportunity for Ticknors—active, lapsed, and potential—to get to know one another over drinks and snacks. These initial gatherings are hosted by Ticknor co-vice presidents Patrick Olson and Christine Jacobson. To suggest a location or offer to host a future meet-up, please get in touch with Patrick and Christine, or write ticknor.info@gmail.com.
Collectors' Roundtable: Collecting Iconic Americana: Abraham Lincoln, Harriet Jacobs, and Huddled Masses Yearning to Breathe Free
At the 48th Boston International Antiquarian Book Fair Saturday, November 7, 2026, at 12:30 pm Hynes Convention Center, 900 Boylston Street, Boston, MA 02115
Featuring:
Three collectors, three ways of building a life around a single obsession. Thomas A. Horrocks shows how a serious Lincoln collection can be built on a modest budget, drawing on decades of pursuit that inform his forthcoming Abraham Lincoln in 50 Objects. Beth Carroll-Horrocks traces her long effort to document abolitionist Harriet Jacobs across formats—publications, artwork, ephemera—as a founding member of the Harriet Jacobs Legacy Committee. And Jeanne Schinto turns to photography itself, presenting a collection of immigrant photo-books spanning Muybridge to Steichen to Robert Frank. Moderated by Kathy Alpert, this Ticknor Society Roundtable is a conversation about what it actually takes to build a meaningful collection—the persistence, the instinct, and the occasional stroke of luck—around three of American history's most enduring subjects.
https://www.abaa.org/event/speakers-and-programming
Thursday, November 12, 2026, 4:00 PM: Curator's Tour of Fifty Shades of Modern exhibition at Houghton Library
Curated by Leslie Morris, 50 Shades of Modern showcases just a few of the thousands of acquisitions Houghton’s Modern Books and Manuscripts Department has made over the past 20 years. Dating from 1800 to the present, these items show the continuities of institutional collecting; initiatives supporting new directions in teaching and research; and the generosity of the many donors who have helped make the collection what it is.
RSVPs welcome, but not required.
Convivial Biblios of Boston is a gathering on the final Thursday of each month. (But this month, we'll meet on the third Thursday to avoid the Thanksgiving Holiday)
November 29, 2026: meet at Locke Bar & Restaurant, 6 Broad Canal Way, Cambridge, MA.
Saturday, December 5, 2026 10:00 am - 12:00 pm
Curator's Tour of the exhibition Pressing Importance: Salem and the Declaration of Independence at the Peabody Essex Museum.
Grounded in Salem’s connections to the Declaration of Independence, Pressing Importance shares two of the earliest broadside editions of the Declaration of Independence alongside Revolutionary-era manuscripts, newspapers, pamphlets and broadsides that showcase the nation’s founding values of democracy: freedom, liberty and equality.
Thursday, December 10, 2026, 4:00 PM: Visit to Brandeis's Goldfarb Library to see its important Judaica collection
Boasting more than 800,000 volumes, the Goldfarb Library at Brandeis University houses a growing collection in the sciences, creative arts, humanities, government documents, Judaica, and social sciences—including rare and unique collections.
Convivial Biblios of Boston is a gathering on the final Thursday of each month. (But this month, we'll meet on the third Thursday to avoid the Christmas Holiday)
December 17, 2026: meet at Parker's Bar at the Omni Parker Hotel, 60 School Street, Boston, MA.
