More than two dozen Massachusetts Historical Society Research Department seminars have been scheduled for 2013-2014, offered in five series: the Boston Area Early American History Seminar, the Boston Environmental History Seminar, the Boston Immigration and Urban History Seminar, the New England Biography Seminar, and the Boston Seminar on the History of Women and Gender, presented in conjunction with the Schlesinger Library of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study.

Look for innovative formats, including a town hall meeting on October 1 with Karin Wulf, the new director of the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture. Panel discussions will explore the law and the American Revolution, as well as ways of telling environmental history.

Other programs will highlight new methodologies: the first series kicks off on September 24, when John Logan of Brown University will present his research on black ghettos, which uses GIS methods to map black and white residential patterns over time.

Most programs take place at the MHS, 1154 Boylston Street in Boston. Most sessions consider a pre-circulated paper. The programs are free and open to the public, but those who subscribe to a series receive advance access to the papers that will be discussed. Visit http://www.masshist.org/2012/research/seminars for information. Seminars are underwritten by Cushing Academy in Ashburnham, Massachusetts.