A late 19th-century Boston photographer, A.H. Folsom, captured this amazing picture of a sixth-grade class with almost every student examining a small desk globe. This image is part of a photographic survey commissioned by the Boston Public Schools in 1892-93. A number of these photographs were included in an album displayed at the Paris Exposition Universelle in 1900. While most certainly posed, the photograph speaks to the importance of geography and an understanding of global issues in the late-19th-century Boston Public School curriculum. In the same vein, the photograph can serve as an icon for the Norman B. Leventhal Map Center's mission of making the Boston Public Library's map collection available to Bostonians of all ages, particularly, the city's school children. The children portrayed in this photograph attended the George Putnam Grammar School which was located at 2025 Columbus Avenue. Today, the site of the Putnam school is across the street from the Eggleston Square Branch of the Boston Public Library. The school was named for Dr. George Putnam, the long-time pastor of First Church in Roxbury. He also served as a member of Boston Public Library's Board of Trustees from 1868-1877.
IIIF Manifest