Leventhal Map & Education Center

Model Room | Bostonplans.org Boston’s Planning Department was established by Mayor Wu in 2024 to restore planning as a core function of City government and to shape growth that serves Boston’s residents and centers their needs.…

Mini-Boston isn't just for professional planners! The model room is open to the public from 9 am to 5 pm, Monday through Friday. You can visit the model room on the 9th floor of Boston City Hall. For more information, see buff.ly/Qnhq72H

Though it may be difficult to see why the city needs an itty-bitty version of itself, visualization is a key aid to good urban design. Even though computer graphics now allow for new forms of visualization, planners and designers still keep this physical model up-to-date with Boston's changing form.

The Boston Planning Department maintains a fully up-to-date basswood model of Boston. The 1:40-inch scale three-dimensional replica depicts downtown Boston proper and several surrounding neighborhoods.

Did you know there's a room in Boston City Hall where you can see the entire city ✨in miniature?✨

#bpl #LMEC #maps #bostonmaps #localhistory #bostonhistory #bostonmuseum #thingstodoinboston #bostontourism #BOSCityHall

Among the only remnants of the quaint 19th century neighborhood is the Sears Building, today facing the City Hall plaza, and filled with various shops and businesses. A particular standout among these is a large brass kettle hanging above a Starbucks. But you’ve heard that story from us before 😉

Notable figures like William Lloyd Garrison lived and worked in Cornhill, with his office as a notable stop in the Underground Railroad. Most of Cornhill was demolished during the Government Center project in the 1960s, and was replaced with space for government buildings, like City Hall.

Cornhill was home to the majority of Boston’s printing offices, bookshops, and all manner of utilities and services. Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, it also hosted Boston’s largest newspapers, including the “Massachusetts Spy” during the Rev. War and, a century later, the Boston Globe.

Once upon a time, this neighborhood, called Cornhill, was centered around the intersections of Queen, King, and Cornhill Street. Doesn’t sound familiar? That’s because, after the Revolution, those streets were renamed to Court, State, and Washington, respectively.

Do you ever wonder what neighborhoods Boston used to have that no longer exist? What would the city be like if they weren’t demolished? 🤔

Map: Parcel 10 : Sears Crescent, Government Center
Images: Digital Commonwealth, Historic New England

#bpl #LMEC #maps #bostonmaps #localhistory #bostonhistory

Wrapping up midterms assignments or trying to get ahead on your finals? Check out LMEC's research guides! 🔍📖

Whether looking to do some research or looking to do some quick learning of a new subject, we encourage you to check out this resource!

Check out the link in bio for LMEC's research guides

❗Join us this Friday, Nov 14 for our next map collection showing❗

In this installment of From the Vault, we’ll look at maps that demonstrate historic and contemporary shifts to place names.

#bpl #LMEC #maps #bostonmaps #localhistory #bostonhistory #bostonmuseum #thingstodoinboston #bostontourism

As someone who’s spent many solo hours soaking up the details of old maps — for stories, for my book, and for fun — what a treat it was on a rainy day to chaperone a fourth-grade field trip to @bplmaps.bsky.social and see some of the Leventhal collection through their eyes

❗Join us November 13 for a conversation in the Brown Seminar Series on women property holders of Boston’s waterfront in the late 1700s with professor Katy Lasdow❗

Use the link in our bio to register for the event.

#bpl #LMEC #maps #bostonmaps #localhistory #bostonhistory #bostonmuseum

Even though there’s no need to manually look up addresses today, the Blue Books still have a role to play as valuable documents for genealogical and historical study, thanks to their detailed insight into the names and lives of turn-of-the-century Bostonians.

But the Blue Books weren’t meant for just anyone. The “elite private address, carriage, and club directory” was marketed towards the upper class, as one could tell by looking at the ornate blue-gold cover. Boston at this time was highly segregated by class and social status.

However, the Boston Blue Book was not just a list of addresses. It contained indexed advertisements from all manners of shops, from locksmiths to clubs to breakfast cocoa vendors, as well as seating arrangements for the Boston’s premiere theaters.

At the time when the Blue Book was published, city maps became more common and more detailed, so many editions supplemented the addresses with an easier to navigate city plan.

The Boston Blue Books were a series of address directories, published in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by businessman Edward E. Clark. It should not come as a surprise that in the 1880s the only way to find the address of a person or a business would be by flipping through a directory book.

📖 Wanna find a shop’s address in the 19th century? Better pull out ye olde tome of addresses!

Map: Map of Boston: engraved expressly for Clark's Boston blue book (1885)
Source: BPL Research Guides, Internet Archive

#bpl #LMEC #maps #bostonmaps #localhistory #bostonhistory #bostontourism

Frequently Asked Questions: Atlascope Edition! 🔍

Use this guide to refresh yourself on Atlascope's intricacies or to get a better understanding of this tool before jumping to research. If you had additional questions about Atlascope, please leave them in the comments so we can answer them here.

In the spirit of Halloween, enjoy these particularly Gothic and spooky maps of New England! And take care not to be devoured by the monsters hiding in the trees…

The genocide of indigenous people, infamous witch hunts, and centuries of race and class-based discrimination have all left a dark spot on New England’s history. The implication that NE towns exist on blood-soaked land is both a powerful theme and an inspiration for the classic haunted backdrop.

New England’s bleak historical background also sets it apart from other regions. The Gothic genre, professor Bridget Marshall states, “is always interested in history, and New England has a deep and layered one.”

The cold, isolated woodland inspired a haunted atmosphere in stories, and later authors would continue the tradition of 19th century classics. The rainy, misty New England fall could also inspire dread; who know what lurks behind the white veil of mists?

“New England Gothic” is a genre centered around the anxiety evoked by the environment and history of the Northeastern US. BU professor Regina Hansen notes that authors like Hawthorne and Poe lived in a time when “people were terrified of the winter because they didn’t know if they would survive.”

Think of your favorite classic horror book, film, or story. There’s a pretty significant chance it is set somewhere in New England. From Stephen King’s “It” to Poe’s classic poems to H.P. Lovecraft’s famous mythos, New England towns have been disproportionately represented in horror media. But why?

If your hometown doesn’t look a little like a horror movie set every Fall, are you really living in New England? 👻🎃🕷️

Maps: Map of Salem Village 1692 (1866), Berlin Falls, N.H., and Berlin Mills (1888), The journey, or, cross roads ... [ca. 1831–1836]

Sources: Digital Commonwealth, Wikimedia

AI is already transforming how we live, work, and communicate. But how will it change democracy?

Use the link in our bio to register for event reminders. This program is co-hosted by BPL Digital Services and kicks off a series of digital talks on AI in library collections.

#maps #AI

Maps: Plan de la ville de Boston (1764), A correct view of the late battle at Charlestown : June 17th, 1775 (1775), The seat of war in New England, by an American volunteer… (1775), View of the country round Boston taken from Beacon hill (ca. 1775)
Source: WBUR