Special Speaker Event: Ambassador (ret.) Nicholas Burns

• 
  Wednesday, May 6th, 2026. 12 pm - 1:00 pm
• In-person and Virtual event. No registration required.
• State Library of Massachusetts - Room 341, Massachusetts State House
• Livestream on YouTube

Please join us in the State Library reading room on Wednesday, May 6th, 2026 at 12:00 pm for a conversation with former Ambassador Nicholas Burns! In lieu of a specific book, he will be presenting on the topic: Lessons From the Front Lines of the US-China Relationship.

Nicholas Burns grew up in Wellesley, MA. After graduating from Wellesley High School (class of ‘74) he attended Boston College (class of ‘78) and studied abroad at Paris-Sorbonne (‘77), where he earned his practical French Language certificate and met his future wife, Elizabeth Baylies. He went on to earn his MA in International Relations from Johns Hopkins University (class of ‘80) before embarking on a nearly three-decades-long career in Foreign Service under Presidents George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush. His work has taken him to various countries throughout Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.

©Grace DuVal/Harvard University

Although he transitioned from Foreign to Private Service in 2008, he has served on the boards of numerous non-profit organizations such as the Boston Committee on Foreign Relations and Special Olympics International. He has received many prestigious awards and distinctions which include: the Presidential Distinguished Service Award; the Secretary of State’s Distinguished Service Award; the Ignatian Award from Boston College; New Englander of the Year (2016) from the New England Council; the Boston College Alumni Achievement Award; the Jean Mayer Global Citizenship Award from Tufts University. In 2021, President Biden nominated and Congress approved Burns as the Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China. He served as US Ambassador to China from 2021 to 2025.

Future world leaders can benefit from his wealth of knowledge and experience at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government where he has taught since 2008. At Harvard, Professor Burns is the Roy and Barbara Goodman Family Professor of the Practice of Diplomacy and International Relations.

The State Library is excited to welcome Ambassador (ret.) Nicholas Burns to the State House and is grateful that he has made the time to speak with us. As with all our Author Talks, this lecture is free and open to all. Assisted listening devices will be made available upon request. This is an in-person and virtual event, and the livestream will be available on our YouTube channel courtesy of the Massachusetts House of Representatives Broadcast Services. If you are able to join us in person for this talk, attendees will be able to participate in a question-and-answer session with Ambassador Burns.

Be sure to sign up for our Author Talks newsletter and follow our social media channels (Instagram, Facebook, and X) for the latest information on our visiting authors. If you are unable to attend, the recording will be posted to our YouTube channel to watch anytime - view all past recordings here!

Any questions or concerns, please email us at AuthorTalks.StateLibrary@mass.gov. For more information on the State Library Author Talks series, please visit our site.

Maryellen Larkin

On behalf of the Author Talks Working Group  


Sources:

• Ambassador to the People’s Republic of China - U.S. Embassy & Consulates in China (usembassy-china.org.cn)
• Boston College Magazine - Winter 2003 (archive.org)
• CHINA Town Hall - NCUSCR
• Nicholas Burns | The Cohen Group
• RNB_Bio_Full_1.pdf (belfercenter.org)

Reflections on the Spring 2026 NEA Meeting, Resilience and Action in the Archives

This post is jointly written by our two Special Collections interns, who recently attended and presented at the New England Archivists' Spring Meeting.

Erin (left) and Charlsie (right)

At the end of March, we had the opportunity to travel to Portland, Maine to attend the New England Archivists’ 2026 Spring Meeting. The Spring Meeting is an annual two-day conference dedicated to networking and professional development for archivists at any stage in their career. We were fortunate enough to be selected to present on our work processing legislators’ papers in the State Library’s Special Collections department as a part of the graduate student lightning talks.

The first day of the conference, we attended several engaging sessions with topics ranging from document and textile preservation to gender in the archives. We also got the chance to meet and connect with other early professionals and Simmons students.

We started the second day by attending a panel about the importance of caring for ourselves and others in archival work. After lunch, it was time for the graduate student presentations. There were four other groups presenting, and we went last. It was great getting to meet the other presenters and hear about the projects they are working on. We were nervous when it was our turn to present, but the audience was extremely responsive and seemed interested in our work. We were also thankful to have processing archivist Alyssa Persson in the audience cheering us on. The presentation was centered around our experience processing the papers of Lois Pines, a former state representative and senator, as well as meeting her last summer. This project was very formative to our growth as archivists, so it was great to share our experience with an engaged audience of other people in the field. We are very grateful we were able to attend the conference and hope to return next year as professionals!


Erin Wood and Charlsie Wemple

Special Collections Interns

Welcome Spring with the American Robin!

Traveling through the thirteen original colonies by highlighting their state birds brings us to Connecticut this month! We're featuring the American Robin, which was designated as the state bird of Connecticut by the General Assembly in 1943. Audubon's print (plate 131) depicts the male, female, and young, all in the branches of the chestnut oak tree.

You may have seen images of the European Robin, which has similarities to the American Robin, but is a different group of bird entirely. So how did these two birds end up with the same name? The answer is that colonists thought the bird they were seeing in New England resembled the robin they knew at home, and started calling it by that name. 

Robins are sometimes considered to be a sign of spring, and as Massachusetts thaws out from a snowy winter, they are a welcome sight. Visit us from April 8 through May 12 to see the American Robin on display in our Audubon case.

This is our fourth state bird in our series, and you can catch up with all of those that have been featured here.

Elizabeth Roscio

Preservation Librarian

State Library or State Archives – What’s The Difference?

Homepage of the Massachusetts Archives website (L) and homepage of the State Library of Massachusetts (R)

A common misconception we encounter at the State Library is that we also serve as the archives for the Commonwealth. Patrons are often surprised to learn that the Massachusetts State Archives and the State Library of Massachusetts are separate agencies and operate independently of one another. The State Library of Massachusetts and the Massachusetts Archives are separate agencies. The State Library is part of the Executive Office for Administration and Finance one of the Executive offices under the Governor, whereas the Archives falls under the Secretary of the Commonwealth.

Diagram of the organizational structure

Both agencies collect and preserve materials pertinent to the historical record of the Commonwealth and while there might be some overlap in the materials both have within their respective collections – their collections are distinct from each other. The Commonwealth’s Constituent Experience Center of Excellence has created a Guide for state organizations on archiving documents which provides a helpful breakdown of who gets what in terms of State Library vs. the Archives. Keep in mind that there are always exceptions to rules and guidelines and not everything is always this straightforward – when in doubt, please ask:

• State Library of Massachusetts email: Reference.Department@mass.gov
• Massachusetts Archives email: archives@sec.state.ma.us

Aside from the types of materials the Library and Archives collect, a major factor that distinguishes them from one another is that they are in separate parts of Boston. The State Library is located inside the Massachusetts State House, right across from Boston Common.

The Massachusetts Archives, on the other hand, is located in Columbia Point – next to UMass Boston and the JFK Library.

This is the reason I always recommend contacting the Archives or the Library ahead of time to verify that whichever repository you are considering visiting actually has the item you need.

Time to add another complication: the State Library has a Special Collections Department which holds historic materials that are rare and fragile e.g., the Bradford Manuscript. Technically, the Special Collections does contain archival collections – however, these are predominantly the personal papers of past legislators, documents related to the history of the State Library and the State House building. You can learn more about the legislators’ papers by reading past blog posts: Collecting Legislative Papers. (Read more about examples of legislators’ papers with our collection on our blog, e.g., Ms. Coll. 179: Representative Josh S. Cutler Papers and Pride Month Spotlights from the Special Collections Department). Try to avoid confusing legislators’ papers the State Library collects with the legislative packets/packages kept at the Massachusetts Archives. Legislative packages/packets consist of whatever accompanies a copy of the bill when it gets submitted to the Archives – the packets should include the original petition with names of all petitioners, written changes in the bill, and sometimes other material such as letters, with margin notes. Note that I said “should” – sometimes all that is submitted is a copy of the bill. Again, it’s always best to contact the Archives ahead of time to verify (1) that there is a packet and (2) that there is material in it beyond a copy of the bill.

Another weird thing we’ve got going on is that the web address for our Digital Collections has the word “archives” in it. I don’t really have any advice for that other than to ignore that it says archives and to focus on the lib.state.ma part instead. The Massachusetts Archives has its own digital collections  – their web address also has the word “archives” in it, but it’s followed by sec.stat.ma … hopefully that helps. Don’t stress if you’re still unsure about which institution has the materials you need for your research – we’re always happy to point you in the right direction (again, it’s always best to email us and ask – just to be sure!).

Fun fact: the State Library also gets confused with the Boston Public Library. We often get asked where “the room with green lamps” is because for some reason a certain search engine *cough-cough* still likes to pull up images of the Boston Public Library’s famous Bates Hall reading room when people do web searches for the State Library.

Maryellen Larkin

Government Documents & Reference Librarian

State Library Newsletter - April Issue

Happy April! Our monthly newsletter is out now and full of information about our upcoming Author Talk, our newly exhibited items, a recap of events from last month, and more!

Pictured here is a preview, but the full issue can be accessed by clicking here. And you can also sign up for our mailing list to receive the newsletter straight to your inbox.