15 Oct “Literary Lectures” returns to the Omni Parker: A Q&A with house historian Susan Wilson
When Harvey Parker opened the School Street hotel in 1855, a gathering of literary luminaries — including esteemed authors published by Ticknor and Fields out of the Old Corner Bookstore: Longfellow, Emerson, and Hawthorne — began holding festive monthly meetings here known as the Saturday Club. For the rest of the nineteenth century, the Parker House was this prestigious group’s preferred home base. On Saturday, October 19th, the Omni Parker Hotel will begin hosting literary lectures called “School Street Sessions” which will be open to the public for free. Here we talk with Susan Wilson, organizer of the lecture series and house historian of the Omni Parker Hotel.
1.) In the spirit of the Saturday Club, you started “School Street Sessions,” a lecture-series available to the public for free at the historic Omni Parker Hotel. The series kicked off in 2016 and was interrupted by Covid, is this the first session since 2019/2020? How long will this year’s series go for? Will lectures be happening at regular intervals?
Inspired in part by the Literary Cultural District that was designated by the Mass Cultural Council in 2014, an ambitious group of local poets, writers, and historians began brainstorming the idea of having periodic literary afternoons at the historic Parker House. By 2016, we were able to launch a series of free public programs, in the spirit of the nineteenth century Saturday Club, which we called the “School Street Sessions.” The topics presented, in prose and poetry, ranged from the Mill Girls of Lowell and African-American Seamen in the Age of Sail to Ho Chi Minh’s sojourn in Boston and the development of the first atomic bomb. We were just about to run our next session in 2020 when the pandemic hit.
Our program on Saturday afternoon, October 19, will be the first since the pandemic, followed by a second program on November 16. If all goes well, we will produce two more in the spring of 2025.
2.) As a famously haunted historic hotel, what is your favorite spooky story from the Omni Parker? Have you ever been witness to mysterious occurrences in the hotel?
Oh, I think the classic is that the Number One elevator – which is safe, secure, and functioning wonderfully — gets periodically called to the third floor, though no one is standing there when the door opens. The legend, of course, is that someone is indeed standing there: the ghost of Charles Dickens. It’s just that we can’t see him. But Dickens loved Boston and he loved the Parker House, so who’s to say he’s not inviting us up for a visit? I have personally never witnessed one of the Parker House’s many alleged ghosts; my job as House Historian is collecting the stories that others tell!
3.) You’re well acquainted with the Old Corner Bookstore’s history and have written several pieces on such for HBI– Do you have a favorite fun fact from your time researching the building’s past?
I love the fact that during the tenure of the extraordinary firm called Ticknor & Fields, the very creative James T. Fields was known for finding and nurturing talent and befriending his authors, yes — but also for writing glowing reviews about his authors under fictitious names, then sending those reviews out to unknowing and grateful local newspapers, in order to promote his writers’ books and speaking careers!
4.) Why are literature and public discussion important in a 21st century Boston?
It’s no secret that we are in a period where individuals and groups are attacking books, our educational institutions, and our ability to learn, think, and evaluate. Truth is constantly being attacked by outrageous lies. I like to think that Boston is doing better than other regions of our nation — and maybe it is — but we all know that without books, knowledge, debate, discussion, and understanding we stand to lose everything, including our fragile democracy.
5.) You’ve written about historic hotels, the Old Corner, and, most recently, about Dr. Susan Dimock, the 19th century groundbreaking Boston physician. Are you currently engaged in any new projects, and do you want to share anything about that process/topic?
I’m apparently not yet through with Susan Dimock. So many people have said that her story would make a fabulous movie. So I am about to begin an introductory class on screenwriting given by Sundance. Somebody’s got to take the first step in getting this extraordinary tale made into a screenplay!
1880s-1900. King’s Chapel and Parker House, at the corner School and Tremont Streets.
On October 19th, the first “School Street Sessions” guest will be Christy L. Pottroff, an assistant professor in the English Department at Boston College where she teaches classes in early and nineteenth-century American literature. Her book-in-progress, Postal Hackers, tells the stories of the nineteenth-century misfits who hacked the U.S. postal system by using mail tools and protocols in extraordinary ways.
Location: The Kennedy Room at the historic Omni Parker House
Date: Saturday October 19, 2024
Time: 3:30 – 4:30 pm
Cost: Free
Libations: Enjoy socializing at the Last Hurrah after the presentation (a few steps across the lobby hallway from the Kennedy Room).
How to Get There: MBTA State Street Station (Blue or Orange Line) is a two-minute walk to the Omni Parker House. Park Street station (Red or Green Line) is a four-minute walk. Government Station stop is a four-minute walk.
Susan Wilson is a dedicated public historian in Boston and has written several pieces for HBI about the Old Corner Bookstore’s history. Read more from her here:
The Year Scrooge, Tiny Tim, and the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future came to Boston