Curator's Choice: Moors' Powderhorn

J.L. Bell will discuss the provenance, history, and people connected with one of the fascinating items featured in our current exhibition, The Object of History: Ephraim Moors's powder horn. Carvings on the horn include a crude drawing of the Continental Army encampment on Winter Hill, five grenadiers, a mansion house, and the head of a beast. Aside from what the carving itself says and the name of the sea captain who donated it to the Massachusetts Historical Society, almost nothing else is known about this object. Bell will discuss his investigation into the object's details, and what they tell us about the Siege of Boston.

J. L.Bell is a Massachusetts writer who specializes in (among other things) the start of the American Revolution in and around Boston. His blog, Boston1775.net, features "history, analysis, and unabashed gossip about the start of the American Revolution in Massachusetts."