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A Motion PIcture, self portrait of Margaret Foster Richardson, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts

The Mary Eliza Project: Ward 8 Voter Records Now Available

We've finished transcribing our Ward 8 Women's Voter Registers from 1920 and have added them into an easily accessible, searchable, and sortable dataset.

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Black Community Activism: Melnea Cass’s Early Beginnings

Melnea Agnes Cass dedicated her life to improving the world around her. Read more about the early life of this Boston champion.

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Unidentified volunteer pulling sled full of paper bags on Salem Street

Take a Virtual Tour of Boston During the Record-Breaking Blizzard of ‘78

Join us on a photo tour of Boston during the Blizzard of '78.

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Jordan Marsh, 1910

Boston’s Department Store Workers: Wage-Earning Women from the Women’s Voter Registers

Among the 50,000 women who registered to vote in Boston in 1920, a large number worked in various occupations in the city’s department stores.

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City Archives Awarded Recordings at Risk Grant

The Boston City Archives is thrilled to announce that it has been selected as the recipient of a $39,155 Recordings at Risk grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources. The grant will...

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Postcard of the Franklin Square House on the corner of Washington and East Newton Street, circa 1921. Courtesy of the South End Historical Society, Boston.

The South End’s Franklin Square House: Working Women Claim the Vote in 1920

For decades, wage-earning women and female students called the Franklin Square House in Boston’s South End home. In 1920, over a hundred of these residents claimed their new right to register to vote...

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"How Old Are You Madam" headline from the Boston Globe, 1920, Newspaper Archive

Traversing New Terrain: Registering Boston’s Women Voters in 1920

What exactly did these endeavoring women have to bring with them to successfully register as a voter?

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Two women pose on staircase

The Cherry Pickers of Lower Roxbury: Wage-Earning Women from the Women’s Voter Registers

Many of the women in Lower Roxbury and the South End registering to vote for the first time in 1920 supported themselves and their families working at the United Drug Co. factory.

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South End kids pose on stone lion, 511 Columbus Ave.

The Great Migration Revealed in Boston's Women’s Voter Registration Records

Among the 50,000 women who registered to vote in Boston in 1920, a large number living in the South End were women of color.

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Activism in Black and White: Mary Eliza Mahoney, Pathbreaking Nurse and Voter

Mary Eliza Mahoney registered to vote in Boston’s Ward 13 on August 18, 1920, the very same day that Tennessee ratified the women’s suffrage amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

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Asserting Black Women’s Right to Vote: Maria L. Baldwin in 1920

Maria L. Baldwin, a prominent African American educator, civil rights activist, and suffragist in Boston, signed up to vote in the fall of 1920.

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The Mary Eliza Project: Ward 13 Women's Voter Records Now Available

We've finished transcribing our Ward 13 Women's Voter Registers from 1920 and have added them into an easily accessible, searchable, and sortable dataset.

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In Their Own Words: Wilhelmena Crosson and James Henderson on Arts, Culture, and Education

In the 1970s, Wilhelmina Crosson, Boston teacher and education advocate, and artist and activist James Henderson told their stories to Boston 200 oral history interviewers

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Anna Cole graphic

In Their Own Words: Anna Cole and Reverend Richard Owens on Community Ties and Activism

In the 1970s, housing activist Anna Cole and Reverend Richard Owens, pastor of the People's Baptist Church, shared their stories with the Boston 200 oral history project.

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Jessie Gideon Garnett graphic

In Their Own Words: Jessie Gideon Garnett, Boston's First Black Woman Dentist

In the mid 1970s, Jessie Gideon Garnett, Boston's first Black, woman dentist shared her story with the Boston 200 oral history project.

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Digging into the digitizing of Boston's Hero Squares

Have you ever walked by a Hero Square and wondered who it was named for? The City Archives is digitizing the documentation for Boston's Hero Squares. Now, you can learn more about the squares, parks...

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It’s in the books: Boston’s new women voters in 1920

In 1920, over 50,000 newly enfranchised women registered to vote in Boston.

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Dancers at a North End Festival, August 23, 1973, Mayor Kevin White records, Boston City Archives

An ode to community: The religious feasts of Boston’s North End

From watching a game at Fenway Park to sailing on the Charles River, summers in Boston are defined by a variety of activities and customs. In Boston’s North End neighborhood, summers revolve around...

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Community culture and resilience in Chinese immigrant populations in and around Boston's Chinatown

Following the flow of residents from Boston’s Chinatown to the South End in the mid-20th century, Harry Dow and Richard Chin describe a history of cohesion, dispersion, flexibility, and resistance in...

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Corner of Unity and Charter Streets, 1893, Boston Public Library

Holding fast: Keeping traditions alive in Boston

Boston’s neighborhoods are made up of diverse populations each with their own specific histories. Bostonians who emigrated to the City bring their traditions with them. These traditions are often...

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Notes from the Archives: #onthisday in 1918, the Spanish Flu arrived in Boston

On this day, in 1918, two sailors housed at Boston’s Commonwealth Pier reported to the sickbay with the flu. These two men signaled the beginning of the second deadly wave of the Spanish Flu.

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Deep roots: Celebrating cultural traditions in Boston

Culture is woven throughout the fabric of Boston’s diverse neighborhoods. Across the City, family and friends gather to mark holiday, familial, and religious occasions. For residents, creating a space...

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Traversing Boston: Touring the City from above and below

Bostonians have been using public transit systems since the late 19th century. Street-level systems featured streetcars and trolleys that traveled down the center of Boston’s busy streets while a...

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Traversing Boston: Traveling the City before cars

Since the late 19th century, Boston’s transportation system has been on the move, always changing to fit the needs of residents.

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Professional Black Women's Business Club, circa 1960-1969, University of Massachusetts Boston, Joseph P. Healey Library

Creating community: Boston’s neighborhood clubs and organizations

In the first part of our two-part series on the role of community in Boston’s neighborhoods, we explored how community members work together to transform spaces like buildings and City blocks into...

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Close-up of men playing cards on Paul Revere Mall, North End, Boston, ca. August 1972

Creating community: Forming ties in Boston’s neighborhoods

In the first of a two-part series about the role of community in Boston’s neighborhoods, we look at how bonds and history are created between neighbors, and how community members ensure that their...

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Summer in town: Timeless recreation in Boston

As the temperatures rise in Boston, the arrival of summer is all but confirmed. Recreation, much like the idea of summer, is nearly universal and Boston’s neighborhoods have consistently provided...

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Wilhelmina Marguerita Crosson

The love of a teacher: Wilhelmina Crosson and Boston’s first remedial studies program

Boston has long been known for its commitments to education. Teacher Wilhelmina Crosson exemplified those commitments in her groundbreaking work advocating for under-served students. Crosson's work...

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Jessie Gideon Garnett

She knows the drill: Boston’s first female African American dentist

When Jessie Gideon Garnett first showed up at Tufts University’s School of Dental Medicine, she was told by a dean that her acceptance must have been a mistake.

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Notes from the Archives: The Great Fire of 1872

On November 9, 1872, the Great Fire of Boston destroyed more than 1,000 businesses in Boston’s downtown area.

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