Topic: Art & Literature
Art, fine arts, artists, books, film, authors, actors, other creative forms
Soothing the City with Soul: How James Brown Saved Boston While the rest of the country erupted in grief fueled riots in the days after the death of Martin Luther King Jr., Boston was quiet. The “Number One Soul Brother” James Brown had an almost sold out performance scheduled in the Boston Garden. Should it…
The Visionists were a group of bohemian writers, artists, and architects based primarily along Pinckney Street on the North Slope of Beacon Hill. Modeling their work after the arts and crafts movement, theosophy, and aestheticism. The short lived group left a mark on photography, the fine press, and Boston’s bohemian arts scene.
The Signscape of Scollay Square Scollay Square, Boston’s port-side entertainment center, was full of flashing marquees. Directional signs on theatres, peepshows, and taverns helped people find their way through the maze of cobbled streets and guided crowds to transportation or fun. Though Scollay Square was destroyed by urban renewal, the vibrant electric atmosphere has been…
The West End News: Headlines in the Summer of 1926One Summer in the West End, Part Two Over the course of four months in the summer of 1926, Lou Coffee and Francis R. Whelton published a newspaper by West Enders for West Enders. These papers gave a glimpse into the diverse immigrant neighborhood facing the…
The West End News: The Editor and the PublisherOne Summer in the West End, Part One Over the course of four months in the summer of 1926, Lou Coffee and Francis R. Whelton published a newspaper by West Enders for West Enders. These papers offer a glimpse into a diverse immigrant neighborhood facing the introduction…
Edmund L. Mitchell: Photographer of a Changing Boston With over 5,700 photographs, the Edmund L. Mitchell Collection, now housed at the Boston Public Library, offers a snapshot of Boston and the West End in a period of transition. As an amateur photographer, Mitchell nonetheless captured the city as it became something new. Edmund Lombard Mitchell…
Frances Appleton and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: A Romance Spanning the West Boston Bridge Two modern day bridges, the Longfellow Bridge and the Frances Appleton Footbridge reflect the love story of one of America’s great poets. The journey to Longfellow and Appleton’s happy marriage is tied to Longfellow’s many trips across the West Boston bridge in…
The West End Branch of the Boston Public Library Library service in the West End neighborhood began in 1896 in the Old West Church on the corner of Cambridge and Lynde Streets. The branch remained there until 1960 when the West End Redevelopment Project forced its closure. In 1968 the current library building opened at…
