Presence of the Past: Addiction
A conversation at the Cape Ann Museum

Cape Ann Museum Director of Library and Archives Dr. Molly O’Hagan Hardy will be joined by Boston University Public Health Professor and PAARI Board Member Dr. David Rosenbloom for a conversation about Gloucester’s efforts to aid residents who suffer from addiction, past and present.

This program is free and open to the public. The Museum galleries will remain open until 7:00 p.m. Call (978)283-0455 x10 for more information.

In the nineteenth century, “temperance” referred to the nationwide movement to abstain from liquor as a means of self-improvement. Igniting the fire that would eventually inspire Hannah Jumper, famed temperance lecturer John Gough visited the area on a number of occassions, and support groups, which were the precursors to the contemporary Alcoholics Anonymous, formed. Today, more than alcohol addiction afflicts the community. Gloucester is leading the way in fighting the nationwide opioid crisis. This program, offered in conjunction with the special exhibition Unfolding Histories: Cape Ann Before 1900, will address the various measures taken over the years to battle addiction to drugs and alcohol.

David Rosenbloom is currently Professor of Public Health at the Boston University School of Public Health where he focuses on US and international health policy and issues relating to substance use disorders. His more than 40 year career spans the public, private, not for profit and academic health sectors. From 1975-1983 he served as Commissioner of Health and Hospitals for the City of Boston. From 1984 to 1988 Dr. Rosenbloom was Vice President and then President of Health Data Institute, Inc, a company that pioneered the clinical analysis of medical claims data and developed managed care tools and techniques used throughout the country today. He has conducted, published research and led national community based demonstration projects in addiction prevention, treatment and policy. He has also led development of web/mobile based interventions to help individuals quit smoking, assess their risk for alcohol and drug related health problems, and reduce unhealthy drinking among veterans returning from combat. In 2015 Dr. Rosenbloom helped found and serves as a Director of the Police Assisted Addiction Recovery Initiative. He is the current Board Chair of the Boston Foundation for Sight.

Molly O’Hagan Hardy is the curator of the special exhibition Unfolding Histories, Cape Ann Before 1900 and has been recently appointed as the Director of Library and Archives at the Cape Ann Museum. Dr. Hardy previously served as the Director of Digital and Book History Initiatives at the American Antiquarian Society in Worcester where she oversaw digital research and pedagogical projects, both in-house and in the larger scholarly community. Her work has appeared in The New Centennial Review, Book History, Debates in Digital Humanities (2016), American Literary History, and Early American Studies. Dr. Hardy holds a Ph.D. and Master’s degree in English from the University of Texas at Austin and graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor’s degree in English and government from Bowdoin College.

Unfolding Histories: Cape Ann Before 1900 is the first major exhibition to bring together historical and archival material from nine Cape Ann institutions. The exhibit illuminates the area’s wide-ranging stories from Native American life to the first European settlers in the 1640s, the temperance movement, African American history and civil rights, women’s history, the advent of railroad and mass transportation as well as the literary, and cultural life during Cape Ann’s early years. Lenders to Unfolding Histories include: Annisquam Historical Society, Cape Ann Museum, Essex Historical Society and Shipbuilding Museum, Essex Town Hall, Gloucester’s City Hall, Gloucester Lyceum & Sawyer Free Library, Manchester Historical Museum, Sargent House Museum, and Sandy Bay Historical Society and Museums. The Museum is grateful to the sponsors of this exhibition: Jack & Anne Haley, Susanna Natti & Alan Willsky, Linzee & Beth Coolidge, J. J. & Jackie Bell, Arthur Ryan and Institution for Savings.