Digital Commonwealth

In 1892, Boston Public Library accessioned the personal collection of Francis W. Palfrey, a colonel in the American Civil War (1861–1865). These 287 books formed the cornerstone of the 20th Massachusetts Regiment Collection, a collection now totaling over 6,000 items including printed books,... more

With the first battles of the American Revolution occurring in the Boston area, one of the most important historical time periods represented in the Norman B. Leventhal Map Center's pre-20th-century holdings is the American Revolutionary War era, defined broadly as 1750 to 1800. This collection... more

In the late 1890s, the family of William Lloyd Garrison, along with others closely involved in the anti-slavery movement, presented Boston Public Library with a major gathering of correspondence, documents, and other original material relating to the abolitionist cause from 1832 until after the... more

The primary geographical focus of the Norman B. Leventhal Map Center's pre-20th-century Boston and New England Maps Collection is the local region, encompassing Boston, Massachusetts, and New England. The collection consists of more than 600 maps of the city of Boston and approximately 1,000... more

The idea for establishing The Boston Printmakers came from faculty members and students at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, whose goal was to promote printmaking in Boston. At the invitation of Arthur Heintzelman, Boston Public Library’s first Keeper of Prints and an... more

Critical funding to support long-term preservation of and enhanced public access to Boston Public Library collections, including this one, was provided by the Associates of the Boston Public Library.

This collection contains letters written by Celia Thaxter (1835-1894) between 1869 and 1893. The majority of the letters are addressed to American writer Annie Fields (1834-1915) and document Thaxter’s daily life: writing and other artistic endeavors, gardening, book discussions, family troubles... more

Boston Public Library holds thousands of American manuscripts, printed books, and documents from the Colonial and Revolutionary War periods. The materials document American intellectual and political life before, during, and shortly after the Revolution. Highlights include: over 1,300 individual... more

Cuneiform script is one of the earliest known writing systems. Cuneiform first appeared in Sumer (present day Iraq), ca. 3400 B.C.E. Glyphs were created by pressing wedge-shaped reeds onto the surface of clay tablets. Surviving cuneiform tablets are written in a number of languages and record a... more

A curated selection of highlights from across the many collections held by the Boston Public Library's Rare Books and Manuscripts Department. Critical funding to support long-term preservation of and enhanced public access to Boston Public Library collections, including this one, was provided... more

This collection contains approximately 70 letters and 43 poems sent by Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) to Thomas Wentworth Higginson (1823-1911). In 1862, Emily Dickinson responded to an article by Thomas Wentworth Higginson entitled "Letter to a Young Contributor," which formed a personal and... more

Critical funding to support long-term preservation of and enhanced public access to Boston Public Library collections, including this one, was provided by the Associates of the Boston Public Library.

Boston Public Library's collection of fine bookbindings includes examples from Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and the Americas during a time period that spans the 15th–20th centuries. The collection falls into three major categories. Bindings from the Medieval period to the first quarter of the... more

The Grove Hall Memory Project was an effort by the Grove Hall Branch of the Boston Public Library to capture stories and images from the lives of Roxbury residents and to explore the role of Roxbury in twentieth-century Boston. The goal of the project was to provide audio/visual "snapshots" of... more

Donated by this owner of a Columbus Avenue saloon, the collection consists of photographs of professional baseball in Boston and personal scrapbooks from the 1890's to 1912. Originally displayed at McGreevy's tavern, Third Base, the photographs form the largest collection of its kind. It... more

The Norman B. Leventhal Map Center at the Boston Public Library is dedicated to the creative educational use of its cartographic holdings, which extend from the 15th century to the present.In pursuit of its mission, the Center collects and preserves maps and atlases, promotes research in the... more

Spanning the years 1914–1967, the Aldino Felicani Collection: Sacco-Vanzetti Defense Committee Records documents the efforts and activities of the Sacco-Vanzetti Defense Committee to free Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti from prison for the murders of Frederick Parmenter and Alessandro... more

Théophile Alexandre Steinlen (French, born Switzerland, 1859-1923) was an illustrator, printmaker, painter, and sculptor. Born in Lausanne, Switzerland, Steinlen studied at the University of Lausanne and worked as an apprentice designer in a textile factory before settling in the Montmartre... more

Thomas Rowlandson (1756-1827) was an English painter, printmaker, draftsman, and illustrator. Born in London, Rowlandson was a student at the Royal Academy and also made study trips to Paris. He established himself as a portrait painter while continuing his early interest in drawing... more