Evening Lecture Series: Contention in the Commons

Speaker: Gordon Harris, Ipswich Town Historian

In the commons, the early Massachusetts town adopted English institutions of land management that often predated their own experience in the mother country, reproducing medieval systems whose roots dated back several centuries, but the communal system quickly failed. Disagreements over the division and usage of the common lands resulted in a switch to individual ownership by the end of the 17th century.

Members: free  | Non-members: $10.00