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Note from the Archives: Boston's two birthdays

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Is Boston's birthday on September 7 or 17? The answer is more complicated than you realize!

Voices of Boston: In the wake of WWII, Morna Crawford moves to Fenway

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Morna Crawford came to Boston after World War II to take a job at the Museum of Fine Arts. She...

Voices of Boston: Arts and culture in Boston's Black community

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James Henderson, a black poet, playwright, and actor from Virginia, came to Boston in 1917. Boston...

Voices of Boston: The Jamaica Plain angel food cake robbery

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Elizabeth Amberman recalls the Great Depression in Jamaica Plain and a robbery over Betty Crocker’s...

Dorchester Avenue at Fields Corner looking south, raffic and Parking Department photographs (5110.002)

Voices of Boston: Rapid transit, 'Social Fights,' and a hippopotamus in Dorchester

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Franklin Park Zoo gets a hippo and Boston builds a rapid transit system. Three men reflect on...

Not forgotten: Keeping the legacy of the West End alive

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In September 2019, a group of undergraduate students at Simmons University began work on a project...

Voices of Boston: Louise and Miss Ives discuss education and innovation in Roslindale

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A Roslindale woman recalls her immigrant father’s claim that he had never truly experienced the cold...

July 4 Balloon Ascension ticket, 1861, City Council Committee on Celebrations, Collection 0140.013, Boston City Archives, Boston

Notes from the Archives: Celebrating Independence Day during the Civil War

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On July 4, 1861, Bostonians celebrated Independence Day as they grappled with the reality of civil...

Exploring Boston's neighborhood histories: An intro to an Archives blog series

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In the 1970s, Boston residents provided oral history interviews as part of the Boston 200...

Emancipation Day, 1888--East Main Street near 21st Southside, Richmond, VA, Valentine Richmond History Center

Notes from the Archives: Celebrating Juneteenth

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On this day in 1865, Union General Gordon Granger read General Order No. 3 to the inhabitants of...

Grand Army of the Republic directory, 1892, City Council Committee records, (Collection 0140.001)

Notes from the Archives: Memorial Day in Boston

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On May 30, 1868, Americans observed the country’s first Memorial Day.

Notes from the Archives: The Dragon on Washington Street

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While cataloging Public Works Department photographs at the City Archives, intern Alyssa True...

Heffernan Street, August 9, 1965, Boston Redevelopment Authority photographs, Collection 4010.001

After the West End: The fight for Barry's Corner

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Residents were arrested, tomatoes were thrown, furniture was tossed into the street. In a David-and...

320 children with Forsyth Certificates, each certificate representing 124 children totaling 39,680 with “All Dental Work Completed," 1922, Boston City Archives

Early steps towards universal children’s healthcare

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At the beginning of the twentieth century, interest in public health and child welfare grew.

Cambridge Street looking towards Blossom Street, West End, Boston Redevelopment Authority photographs, Collection 4010.001

The West End: Slum or bustling urban neighborhood?

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What characteristics do you think of when you hear the word "slum"? Deteriorated infrastructure...

Barton and Leverett Streets, July 19, 1959, West End Demolition Photographs (Collection 9800.008), Boston City Archives

The demolition of the West End

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In the 1950s, the Boston Housing Authority (BHA) announced plans to "redevelop" the West End, a...

Staniford Street. May 9, 1958. Boston, MA. West End Urban Renewal project, Boston Redevelopment Authority photographs.

Through the viewfinder: Urban photography in the 1950s

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The West End of Boston was once a diverse, bustling, working-class neighborhood of Boston. Then, in...

Petition to Operate Bowling Alleys on the Lord’s Day, 1947, Collection 0100.001, Boston City Archives

Bowling on the Lord's Day: The West End's bowling alleys

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If you put 15 Hanover Street into a GPS, it will bring you to the middle of a crosswalk looking...

Frederick Mansfield Campaign pamphlet, 1929, Box 1, Folder 5, Political ephemera 9800.006, Boston City Archives

Notes from the Archives: Winning the women's vote

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On August 18, 1920, 36 states ratified the 19th Amendment, giving women the right to vote. Women’s...

Washington School, circa 1920-1950, Collection 0403.002

The West End's Washington School: A look at Boston's Public Schools, past and present

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Boston's schools have always been an important part of the community! Early in the 20th century...

Drama "Erminie" at Elizabeth Peabody House, 1941. Photo by Roy J. Jacoby. MS22 P029 - Simmons University Archives

More than meets the eye: the Elizabeth Peabody House and Boston’s West End

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From the outside, the Elizabeth Peabody House was an unassuming building in Boston’s West End...

Eva Whiting White, 1920, Courtesy of Simmons University Archives

Meet Eva Whiting White, the West End's pioneering social worker

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Boston is a city known for its firsts. First subway, first public park, first public library, and...

Walker's Appeal, in Four Articles; Together with a Preamble, to the Coloured Citizens of the World, but in Particular, and Very Expressly, to Those of the United States of America, Written in Boston, State of Massachusetts, September 28, 1829.

David Walker: Boston's fiery anti-slavery writer

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In the fall of 1829, Boston abolitionist David Walker wrote and published a pamphlet entitled,...

West End Urban Renewal Project sign, circa 1958-1959, Boston Redevelopment Authority photographs, Collection 4010.001, Boston City Archives

Remembering the West End: An introduction to a Boston City Archives blog series

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Among the many transformations that Boston has undergone in its more than 300-year history, one of...

Drawing of Harriet Bell Hayden from her obituary, The Cleveland Gazette December 30 1893.

Boston's own Underground Railroad conductors: Harriet and Lewis Hayden

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In January of 1846, the Hayden family moved to Boston. The Haydens became key leaders in Boston's...

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#onthisday in 1919, molasses crashes through Boston's North End

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On January 15, 1919, a 50-foot tall tank ruptured, sending 2.3 million gallons of molasses rushing...

Union Street, Dorchester, 1888

Notes from the Archives: 150 years ago, Dorchester Joins Boston!

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In January 1870, Boston annexed the Town of Dorchester. In honor of the 150th anniversary of...

A Memorial of Phillips Brooks from the City of Boston, 1893, Collection 0100.006

On this day in 1835, Phillips Brooks, author of "O Little Town of Bethlehem," is born in Boston

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On this day in 1835, Phillips Brooks was born in Boston. Brooks served as the rector of Boston’s...

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#onthisday in 1755: Earthquake knocks the Faneuil Hall Grasshopper from its perch

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On November 18, 1755, an earthquake woke Bostonians and knocked Faneuil Hall's grasshopper weather...

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#onthisday in 1804: The 'Snow Hurricane' blows off the steeple of Old North Church

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On this day in 1804, the "Snow Hurricane" — also known as "the Great Gale of 1804" — made landfall...