Thursday, October 15, 2026 · 7:00 PM – 8:30 PM
Community Room — 4 Sanger St., Sherborn, MA
Oregon State University historian Ben Mutschler will help us understand how major epidemics, as well as lesser ailments common in early America, impacted everyday life in early New England. Author of Province of Affliction, Dr. Mutschler’s talk is partially inspired by the recent donation of a 1754 document to the Historical Society that lists Sherborn’s diphtheria victims, several of whom are buried at the Old South Burying Ground. Join us in the Library’s Community Room to hear about the tenuousness of life before modern medical science, and see a handful of collection items that hint at how Sherbornites contended with the terribleness of disease—a suitably October theme! Please register to receive the Zoom link (this program is hybrid, we'll be zooming in with Dr. Mutschler on the big screen at the Library, or zoom in from your home:). This program is co-sponsored by the Sherborn Historical Society, the Sherborn Library and the Sherborn Council on Aging.