Topic: Art & Literature
Art, fine arts, artists, books, film, authors, actors, other creative forms
Hammatt Billings: Architect and Illustrator of Abolition When he died in 1874 at the age of 56, Hammatt Billings was described as, “one of the best known of his profession in the country.” His name was a “household word where art was appreciated.” He was an architect, illustrator, designer, sculptor, and painter whose illustrations helped…
J.W. Strom and the Bowdoin Square Museum For a brief period of less than three years, J.W. Strom ran the Bowdoin Square Museum from the Parkman Building in Bowdoin Square. More of an enclosed carnival sideshow than our notion of a modern day museum, Strom’s venue offered Bostonians the most sensational entertainment 5 cents could…
Annie Adams Fields and Sarah Orne Jewett: A Boston Marriage on Charles Street Annie Adams Fields (1834 –1915) and Sarah Orne Jewett (1849 – 1909) shared a long and intimate relationship across several decades. Living together on Charles Street in the West End and traveling together to Manchester-By-The-Sea and around the world, the women formed…
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…
