Burns Library

How the Cocoanut Grove Fire Changed Burn Care at Mass General and Beyond A small silver lining to the tragedy can be found in the advances in burn care that were made in treating survivors.

Contact us to look at the 1943 book yourself and read this blog from our friends at MGH for more of the story: mgriblog.org/2022/11/28/h...

In her book, “Burn Unit,” Barbara Ravage writes, “The patients exhibited every imaginable burn complication, making it possible to study this most complex of injuries in great detail. New ideas were tried, old methods discarded & the agenda for burn research was set for the next quarter century.”

Green cover of book with title "Management of the Cocoanut Grove burns at the Massachusetts General Hospital" with bookshelf in background

MGH treated 114 burn victims. Prior to the fire, MGH had researched new burn treatments including preventing infections by immediately covering a burn. This volume, published in 1943 by MGH dr Joseph Aub, was one of the 1st works to tell the story of the treatments tested in the wake of the fire.

Front page of Boston Sunday Globe with headline "400 Dead in Hub Night Club Fire, Hundreds Hurt in Panic as the Cocoanut Grove Becomes Wild Inferno"

#onthisday in 1942, the deadliest fire in Boston’s history ignited at the Cocoanut Grove night club. The fire took 492 lives and left many survivors with severe burns.🧵 @universalhub.com @hubhistory.com

Yellow cover of "New England Cookbook" by Eleanor Early

Page from the "New England Cookbook" with chapter title: "The Dish That Made New England Famous: A Chapter on Pies"

Still putting the finishing touches on your Thanksgiving menu? Maybe you’ll find some inspiration in Newton native Eleanor Early’s New England Cookbook. According to Eleanor, New England is the country’s “famous pie belt," making not only the most pies per capita, but also the best!

@universalhub.com

Advertisement for the grand opening of White Mountain Creamery on April 6

As we say farewell to a sweet BC institution, we’re remembering their beginnings in 1983. 

Share your White Mountain Creamery memories in the comments.

Open spiral bound notebook with handwritten diary entry recounting events on Boston College 10 hours after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy

On November 22, 1963, an assassin shot and killed JFK. Over 1,700 miles from the site of the shooting, BC freshman Philippe Thibodeau documented his reaction to the assassination and in his journal. That journal now lives at Burns Library. Read an excerpt here and visit us to see the entire journal.

Decorative blue and white plate with bird and animal images and a poem

We've digitized the commonplace book of American Baptist, Hetty Gillison Lincoln. Born in PA in 1789, Hetty lived in Boston from 1838 to 1867. In it, she reflects on faith and loved ones and kept transcriptions of poetry & letters, news clippings, and dried plants. library.bc.edu/iiif/view/BC...

Cover of "How to draw birds" with a color illustration of a swan preening

Images showing how to draw a swallow flying and hovering at a nest with partial and completed drawings

Images showing how to draw a partridge with partial and completed drawings

Table of contents for "How to Draw Birds" book

Today’s pick from Library Graphic Designer Kate Edrington is a 1940 volume entitled “How to Draw Birds.” Before Pinterest and Youtube tutorials, there were still ways to learn to draw your favorite things!

Visit us to take a look at the entire book.

bound pamphlet with fraying edges and title "The Trail of Michael Powers for the Murder of Timothy Kennedy

Red, black, and yellow paperback volume with title "The Pocket Mystery Reader"

Book jacket with a gallows and noose and title "Lizzie Borden: A Dance of Death"

Last week, we welcomed Dr. Vincent Portillo’s class “True Crime: Scoundrels, Villains, and Vice.” We had a lot of fun combing through our collections for murder and mayhem. Contact us for our reading list!

Newspaper clipping with image of Ferdinand Foch in uniform

Foch’s trip to Boston and his stop at Boston College is documented in our digitized “Father Rector” scrapbook. library.bc.edu/iiif/view/BC...

Newspaper clipping with headline "Honor Foch at Boston College"

Foch addressed BC students stating, “If we would make our countries great, more glorious, let both America and France take up the great work together and carry it through to a magnificent finish.” Students responded by singing both La Marseillaise and the Star Spangled Banner

Cover of program for event at "Boston College, University Heights, Newton, November 14, 1921" with image of Marshall Ferdinand Foch

inside of program for event featuring "Marshal Foch, Catholic Soldier"

At BC, students dressed in cap and gown lined present-day Linden Lane to greet the Marshall, while thousands of others stood in the background waving French and American flags.

Newspaper with headline "Hub Acclaims Foch, Defender of Liberty"

#onthisday in 1921, Marshall Ferdinand Foch, the Supreme Allied Commander on the Western Front during World War I visited Boston, making a special stop at Boston College where he received an honorary degree. @hubhistory.com @universalhub.com

Illustration of a crowd of people and firefighters moving along a street with a fire in the background and caption, "An aged man residing in Purchase Street and insisting on remaining in his old home is saved by force, from flames, by citizens

This issue lives in the Ellerton J. Brehaut Boston history collection, which includes other contemporary sources about the fire! Check out the finding aid and visit us to take a look for yourself: findingaids.bc.edu/repositories...

Illustration of a woman leaping from the window of a burning building with caption "A woman frightened by a gas explosion loses her life by jumping from a window on Summer Street"

Illustration of a woman seated in a chair that is tipping over, surrounded by laughing boys iwth caption "Mrs. Grant, a well-known and eccentric character, becomes the victim of a joke perpetrated by mischievous boys"

While Illustrated Police News had a sensational tone, many of the illustrations align with accounts from fire survivors.

Illustration of women with trunks and boxes, some weeping, with a fire burning in the background with caption, "Working girls driven from their homes endeavor to save their clothing and effects"

Illustration of sailors with guns in formation with a fire burning in the background and caption "Sailors from the Charlestown Navy Yard on their way to protect the post office"

A little over a week late, the The Illustrated Police News, Law-Courts and Weekly Record published a special edition documenting the fire. These illustrations of the fire and its aftermath helped readers visualize the destruction and chaos.

tabloid cover with headline Boston on Fire" and illustration of firefighters fighting an inferno in downtown Boston

Illustration of an exploding building with caption "Blowing up buildings to check the progress of the fire"

On November 7, 1872, the Great Fire of Boston ignited in the basement of a downtown warehouse. By November 10, the fire had destroyed 776 buildings over an area of 65 acres and killed between 20 and 30 Bostonians. 🧵 @universalhub.com @hubhistory.com

Illustration of a man opening a door a transparent humanoid figure in the foreground

Illustration of a figure dressed for cold weather traversing a barren landscape, with a large shadow falling nearby

Illustration of a figure dressed in a red coat and shoes kneeling in a graveyard with its hands lifted towards the sky

A figure appears to flee from soldiers entering a building with a figure in a coffin in the foreground

Everett Henry drew these illustrations for a 1934 edition of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. A copy of the edition lives in Burns Library. Intrigued and want to browse it yourself? Visit us! #Frankenstein #MaryShelley

Four individuals carry a litter in front of a stately building

Curved road lined by trees and a wall

These photos were pasted into Sally’s journal and were likely taken during her stay in Hong Kong. Read her entire journal here: library.bc.edu/iiif/view/bc...

handwritten journal entry reading "Peking was reported in the Revolutionists hands and Hong Kong went quite mad with joy. It was wonderful to have all the race barriers down. The whole stay in Hong Kong was happy and exciting."

“Peking was reported in Revolutionary hands. And Hong Kong went quite mad with joy,” she wrote. Sally felt that “all the race barriers” were down as the city celebrated. “The whole stay in Hong Kong was happy and exciting,” she recorded.

Woman seated on a balcony looks at a mountain view

On November 6, 1911, American Sally Fairchild wrote about her front row seat to the Xinhai Revolution, a revolution marking the end of China’s last imperial dynasty.🧵

handwritten ledger entry reading "Faithful, intelligent, willing and thoughtful. Rather inclined to worry and fuss more than is neccessary. Miss Kate Murphy continued to do good work and gave perfect satisfaction til the end"

Take a look at some excerpts from the ledgers and then explore them yourselves and let us know what you find! findingaids.bc.edu/repositories...

: handwritten ledger entry reading in part, " A nurse of good promise at first but it was soon discovered that she was sensational and untruthful. Always had a story going that her clothing was worn by some of the nurses or that the jewels were either worn or stolen. Made rather a serious mistake in giving medicine. It was decided a good chance to drop her

Some of the entries only give basic information, but others are....sensational

handwritten ledger entry reading in part "Portsmouth, NH, Miss. McEcher was a nurse of very good promise. Resigned saying "I do not feel as if I can do work and study justice"

The ledgers give student names, birthplaces, residences, their closest relatives, and details about their experiences in nursing school and after.

handwritten ledger entry reading in part "Miss. Mabel Josephine Vincent, Born in Montpelier Vermont, Age 21 years, March 16, 1900, Nearest relative, Rev. Father, D.J. Sullivan, Rector, St. Mary's Church, St. Alban's , VT"

Attn Boston genealogist and historians! We recently digitized student ledgers from St. Elizabeth Hospital School of Nursing in Brighton. @universalhub.com @shamrockgen.bsky.social @lizlgenealogy.bsky.social @dlgenealogist.bsky.social @allston-brighton.boston.gov findingaids.bc.edu/repositories...

Finally in 1913, the family emigrated to the United States. They reported that initially the poltergeist seemed to have joined them on the ship, but eventually faded away. These photos of the Murphy’s home were taken in the 1980s by photographer Bobbie Hanvey and live at Burns Library.

stone cottage surrounded by barren trees

The Murphy’s uninvited guest became known as Coneen Ghost or poltergeist. Eventually, the Murphys asked a local priest to perform an exorcism. He tried twice but the poltergeist persisted.

stone cottage surrounded by spindly trees

In the early 1900s, Bridget Murphy and her 7 children began hearing loud noises and footsteps in their Coneen, Ireland home They heard banging and rapping to the tunes of The Soldiers Song, saw plates thrown across rooms, and that the children’s beds were lifted off the floor.