By Rob Velella

Jamaica Plain Historical Society hosted a “Margaret Fuller and the Transcendentalists” on February 2, 2010.  A lecture was led by Rev. Jenny Rankin, minister at First Parish of Concord, who told the story of Margaret Fuller, her relationship to Jamaica Plain (where she lived for a time), and her role in the circle of Transcendentalism.  The Loring-Greenough House was packed to overflowing for the event. 

Rev. Rankin, who has taught classes on Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and other Transcendentalists, kept the formal part of the event short.  The majority of the hour was dedicated to an informal conversation with the audience, who participated in getting closer to understanding Fuller and the Transcendentalist movement.  This portion of the talk was, no doubt, based on Fuller’s own “conversations,” a circle of women she brought together to discuss various intellectual topics.

The talk was sponsored by the Jamaica Plain Historical Society as part of the Jamaica Plain Tuesday Club’s “First Tuesday” program series. Fuller and her family lived in the area in a rented house beginning in 1839.