February 2022 Newsletter

Hello Friends of The WEM,

In every newsletter since I started as Museum Director, I’ve written some version of, “This has not been anything like I was expecting.” Until now, that comment has always been followed by a note on the effects of COVID, but as many of you know, this year will be nothing like anyone could have expected for completely new reasons.

On January 15th the Museum flooded. I’ve already discussed the immediate fallout of this enough: the archives are basically okay, the Last Tenement exhibit has come down and can’t be put back, and our renovation plans are now scheduled for ASAP instead of early to mid-2023.

First off, I want everyone to know that while we recover The WEM will not be “closed.” I am leading biweekly walking tours, and we are planning to offer additional programs as well over the coming months. Of course, the physical space will be shut down, and it will be a while before I have a good sense of when we can return to full capacity. When we do, however, it will come with a pretty amazing transformation.

It’s also worth mentioning that, while the flood damage is a significant challenge, the destruction of the Museum space could have come at a much worse time. We have the renovation plans done, an architectural firm on hand, minimal setbacks to our renovation plans (only a floor has been installed so far), and a stronger position within the West End and Boston communities than ever before. If any of that wasn’t the case, it’s hard to say what this situation would look like.

Because of all that, I am completely confident that The WEM is going to reopen. It will do so as a dramatically modernized space, more capable of teaching visitors about the West End story, and better equipped to generate the revenue and growth we will need to continue providing our ever-improving exhibits, programs, and more. The topics, of course, will remain the same, but their presentation will be vastly improved.

In addition, when the Museum reopens we will do so with a proper staff. Making The WEM what it is has always been a big job, and it’s so exciting to be looking forward to that job becoming even bigger – as well as more manageable. The new WEM team will build on the Museum’s previously established growth, while allowing us to offer an even greater range of programs and exhibits than ever before.

I look forward to welcoming all of you back, not just to a recovered WEM, but to an even more energetic, dynamic and impactful one. Whenever that is, we should be ready for the next year that “has not been anything like I was expecting.”

Best wishes,
Sebastian Belfanti
Director, The WEM

By Leigh Blander

This February, The West End Museum’s Board of Directors elected two new members during its Annual Meeting.

Katie Burke (left) is an archivist at the Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site in Brookline, where she preserves, processes and digitizes museum collections. She also participates in interpretive programs through research and writing for that museum’s website and social media.

Burke first volunteered at The West End Museum to conduct oral history interviews with former West End residents and she is now collaborating on the Museum’s upcoming Charlesbank exhibit. She is passionate about the diverse history of the West End.

“I plan to help the Museum continue to collect, preserve, and explore the rich stories of this neighborhood. I hope my experience can help strategize archives collection and management in the long term while ensuring this history is publicly accessible.”

Samantha DiMauro (right) is a graphic design manager at Eataly and has a freelance design business based in Somerville. She works with brands to identify their design goals and plan and launch new brand identities. DiMauro has volunteered at The WEM since early 2021 helping to create the Museum’s new brand identity, which was launched in October. Since then, she’s been working with staff to redesign the Museum’s website…

By Leigh Blander

This Valentine’s season, we’re sharing the love story of Martha and Joseph Morello, who met in the old West End. On February 14, 2022, they celebrated the 60th anniversary of their engagement.

Here is Joseph’s story in his own words. He submitted it to The WEM after reading a request in a recent Museum email for West End love stories.

It was August 1960, and the Saint Dominic Feast was in full bloom. The impressive parade, sponsored by the Saint Dominic Society and assisted by the Augusta Fraternal Associates, had proceeded through the West End streets and had returned to its base beside the Joseph Russo Funeral Home. As evening fell, the adjoining streets filled with people enjoying the food vendors and the music.

As a young man with a mother heavily involved in preparing the celebration, I attended to provide support. Having been brought up by immigrant Sicilian parents, I was totally impressed by the Sicilian way of life, its food, its traditions, its people. Walking through the crowd, I spotted a beautiful young lady who I had seen at various times in the West End. I summoned my courage and approached the young lady, named Martha, and introduced myself, sharing that both our parents had a connection to the preparation of this celebration. My joy was that Martha was born and brought up in Sicily with all the Sicilian traditions I loved. Unfortunately, Martha was in a relationship, so I was shot down…

By Yasmeen Freightman

Throughout America’s history, our search for a more just society has often progressed through activism and reform. People challenge the status quo for the sake of social justice to improve the republic. Those improvements often take the forms of new and amended laws or transformed perceptions of the people around us. Today is no different. Many still endeavor to preserve and expand civil liberties to position America as a more inclusive nation. That’s why this Black History Month, we’re profiling a woman who made her difference crusading for the rights of women and African-Americans in late 19th century Boston.

Arianna Sparrow was a noted contributor to the suffrage movement in the Beacon Hill community starting in the late 1880s. She helped spearhead awareness initiatives alongside other women of color and leading suffragists in the Beacon Hill community, such as Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin and Maria Baldwin.

She first moved to Boston with her mother in 1852. Years later, she co-founded two distinct groups that advocated for suffrage causes as well as civil rights for people of color – the West End Woman Suffrage League and the Woman’s Era Club. After helping start the suffrage league in 1887, Sparrow served as an executive committee member. The group’s meetings often took place at the Twelfth Baptist Church on Phillips Street where they coordinated several activities in and around the West End, which was home to a large African-American population during the time. Sparrow’s home was also used as the main space for league members to visit and read the Woman’s Journal, a suffragist publication where the league reported details of their meetings and updates on their activities.

In 1893, after years of working on women’s reform efforts, Sparrow co-founded the Woman’s Era Club—an organization devoted to serving the interests and civic aims of Black people. The club was the first of its kind in Boston and was formed “for colored women and by colored women, to the end that problems of vital interest to the colored population might be discussed.” Club founders wrote and published the first national newspaper ever to be founded and edited by Black women called The Woman’s Era. Members raised money to purchase scholarships for African-American children to attend schools. They also led classes discussing “civics, domestic science, literature, public improvements, and questions of public importance to the colored race.” Additional fundraising efforts aided rights initiatives by people of color in Boston and other cities…

As we continue to move forward during the ongoing pandemic, The West End Museum is proud to share that we received a SHARP grant from Mass Humanities with funding made possible by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

This grant will help fuel our efforts to continue educating this community and the greater Boston area about the rich history of the West End.

We’re also thrilled to share that we are one of 192 organizations receiving support through Boston Cultural Council/Reopen Creative Boston funding this year. More than $3.4 million has been awarded to local organizations for general operating support and COVID-19 relief.

We’re so proud to be one of the many great Boston organizations that help preserve this city’s culture
and history. We look forward to continuing to serve our West End community.