Topic: Art & Literature
Art, fine arts, artists, books, film, authors, actors, other creative forms
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…
Joseph Caruso’s novel The Priest (1956) vividly captures daily life for the West End’s Italian immigrant population in the mid-twentieth century, drawing on actual events, historical landmarks, cultural rituals, and economic challenges which shaped the West End community for generations.
Charles Street Jail stands as a landmark of major national significance, both as a key example of the Boston Granite Style of architecture and as the embodiment of mid-nineteenth-century penal reform movements. The jail’s history was marked by dramatic shifts: initially celebrated as an architectural and reformist triumph at its opening in 1851; later decried for its “cruel and unusual” conditions in the 20th century, prompting its closure; before being reinvented as a luxury hotel in the 21st century.
Architect Alexander Parris (1780-1852) designed some of Boston’s most enduring neoclassical architectural landmarks, from Quincy Market to St. Paul’s Church. Parris also played a role in three notable projects in the West End: Massachusetts General Hospital’s Bulfinch Building, the Leverett Street Jail, and St. Joseph’s Catholic Church.
From 1958 to 1960, Claudia Kelty and Stephen Edgell systematically photographed the demolition of the West End neighborhood, street by street. The Edgells continued their involvement in post-demolition West End activities, creating an (unpublished) book on the West End and becoming members of the West End Historical Committee, and later its successor, the West End Historical Association. In March of 2023, their son, Stephen Edgell Jr., donated their extensive collection to The West End Museum, including records, art, ephemera, and, most significantly, the 1,700 photographs that his parents took during the West End Project.
Charles J. “Frani” Zanfani (1922-2001), born in Boston to Italian immigrant parents, first moved to the West End with his family in the 1950s. Displaced by the West End urban renewal project to the North Slope of Beacon Hill, Frani devoted the 1960s to meticulously photographing the destruction of the neighborhood. His photographic collection, preserved at The West End Museum, offers a poignant view into Urban Renewal and its devastating effects on the community.
