Bill Fowler: Leaving Massachusetts Historical Society

Several boldface names showed up the other night to fete Bill Fowler , who's leaving the Massachusetts Historical Society after eight years as director. Among those gathering at Doyle's in JP were Henry Lee of the Friends of the Boston Public Garden, longtime Republican operative John Sears , former state Senator Bill Saltonstall , and former senate president Billy Bulger , who cracked wise for 15 funny minutes. Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David McCullough and his wife, Rosalee , hosted. (McCullough, of course, just about lived at the Mass. Historical Society while researching "John Adams.") Not the retiring kind, Fowler's taken a teaching job at Northeastern.