All times listed are in Eastern Standard Time
In 2021, the Mayflower Society launched a very popular Lecture Series covering a variety of Mayflower Pilgrim-related topics including their odyssey, their life and times, their maritime experience and, of course, genealogy!
Please plan to join us for a fun learning experience about the Mayflower Pilgrims and genealogy topics, right from the comfort of your own home.
- Monthly webinar lectures are free and open to the public.
- No pre-registration required.
- Live event links are posted below.
- Webinars are recorded and available on demand.
Missed a lecture? View previously recorded lectures on demand.
2024 Mayflower Society Virtual Program Schedule
Jonathan Lane — “Families and Freedoms: Connections Between the Mayflower and the American Revolution" May 16th - 7 PM
Jonathan Lane is an historian with the Massachusetts Historical Society and the coordinator for Revolution 250, an organization dedicated to commemorating the American Revolutionary War. He will discuss how the Mayflower passengers and their descendants were so impactful and influential in how the American Revolution ultimately took place.
Zoom webinar information:
Mark Schmidt—D-Day deceptions June 6 - 7 PM
June 6, 2024, is the 80th anniversary of the Normandy invasion—Operation Overlord, more commonly known as “D-Day”. But to keep such a massive undertaking a secret was an incredible feat unto itself. Mark Schmidt, Executive Director for the Mayflower Society and former director of the Museum of World War II, will discuss the magnitude of the deception, the politics that accompanied its implementation, and the extent of its success.
Zoom webinar information:
Dr. Lindsay Chervinsky—“Making the Presidency: John Adams and the Precedents that Forged the Republic” September 26 - 7 PM
As 2024 is an election year, Dr. Lindsay Chervinsky, an historian of the Presidency, political culture, and the government—looks at how our second President set the stage for many later traditions and trends.
Zoom webinar information:
Laurence Bergreen—Marco Polo October 10 7 PM
Marco Polo opened Asia to European trade, so we’re told, but we generally don’t know much else. Historian Laurence Bergreen remedies that by bolstering Polo’s reputation and arguing for his historical importance. Bergreen has written biographies of Louis Armstrong, Irving Berlin and Ferdinand Magellan, and here he retraces Polo’s steps to Mongolia and China.
Zoom webinar information:
Thomas Weaver: “The Electoral College: Why It Endures Despite Two Centuries of Criticism” November 7 - 7 PM
Despite the opinion of Alexander Hamilton that the Electoral College was the only part of the Constitution to escape criticism, few clauses in the Constitution have been subjected to more consistent and withering disapproval than the Electoral College. Thomas Weaver will explore the people and events that shaped America’s unique form in choosing a chief executive, telling the story through the eyes of people who lived it—including stories that involve murders, duels, shootouts, corruption, greed, teenage elopement, and a secret midnight ride in the back of a mail carriage to save the Constitution.
Zoom webinar information:
Stephen Tomkins, “The Journey to the Mayflower” November 14 - 7 PM
The sailing of the Mayflower was not just a foundational American event—it was also the culmination of a radical English religious movement. This is the story of that underground church, one of prison and killings, spies and subterfuge, theological controversy and sexual scandal, and the invention of religious freedom.
Stephen Tomkins is a writer, broadcaster, editor and speaker, and the author of seven books.
Zoom webinar information:
View On Demand Webinars
2024 Mayflower Society Virtual Programs
Pits, Posts and Palisades:
The Archaeology of Patuxet and the
17th century Plimoth Colony Settlement
Presenter: David Landon
Passcode: Z@gm63EE
Indian Wars of New England
Presenter: Michael Tougias
Passcode: T2qY09&X
2023 Mayflower Society Virtual Programs
Jump Starting Your Family History with Familysearch
Presenter: Lynn Turner
Passcode: N2iy*T3v
Puritans, Plagues and Promises
Presenter: Bill Cole
Passcode: SVHj&6V1
Bridging the Gap: Getting Around Brick Walls. Looking into Your Genealogical Background
Presenter: Denise Cross
Passcode: 5JKmGCs?
Welcome to the Plymouth Antiquarian Society
Presenter: Anne Mason
Passcode: %u$m2Kfa
Welcome to Plimoth Patuxet
Presenter: Tom Begley
Passcode: TXn3w=B.
The Virginia Venture: American Colonization and English Society 1580-1660
Presenter: Misha Ewen
Passcode: V6Zq.PKv
The Voyage of Mayflower 400
Presenter: Brett Phaneuf
Passcode: 36&K+PG%
Mutinous Women
Presenter: Joan DeJean
Passcode: +RZ.d!A0
Dress Codes: How the Laws of Fashion Made History
Presenter: Richard Thompson Ford
Passcode: =Jvu#4y8
The Fabric of Civilization: How Textiles Made the World
Presenter: Virginia Postrel
Passcode: nkSG^7h3
2022 Mayflower Society Virtual Programs
Beefing Up an Ancestor’s Timeline
Presenter: Jeanette Sheliga
Presenter: Bonnie Wade Mucia
Passcode: m3cL^zZC
Presenter: Mark Schmidt
Passcode: peNr@7j!
Presenter: Beth Finch McCarthy
Passcode: !Z#9hWdC
Presenter: Nancy Rubin Stuart
Passcode: %dLU$h17
Presenters: Mike Terry, Susan Abanor and Kenneth Whittemore
Passcode: ajI2.8wq
2021 Mayflower Society Virtual Programs
Made in America
Presenter: James W. Baker
Passcode: W?=YE77$
The Peregrine White Webinar
Presenter: Stephen C. O’Neill
Passcode: X&F9Sm5$