The Boston Public Library's online collections and exhibits have caught the attention of the Scout Report several times in the past few years, and this recent addition should be interesting to those persons with a love of urban history and early examples of short films. Four films are made available here, including a panoramic view of the Boston subway from an electric car from 1901 and the short...

The Boston Public Library has crafted dozens of thematic collections documenting travel posters, Boston sports temples, industrial landscapes, and other bits and pieces from this vast and wonderful world. This particular collection documents many facets of business life and culture in and around the Hub. Here visitors will find over 110 images of switchboards at New England Bell, works spaces at...

The Boston Streets Project, developed at Tufts University, combines the use of photographs, maps and city directories to create a digitized online historical atlas of the Boston area. The concept behind Boston Streets is to use metadata and geographical information software to allow access to historical collection material. Among the fascinating material offered at this site are personal stories...

The ability to witness the streets of 19th century Boston would be quite a treat for those who love urban geography and history. This well-done set of documents from the digital collection from Tufts University makes that possible (in a fashion). The project was created with support from a National Leadership Grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, along with funds provided by The...

Boston has the oldest city archive in the United States and has recently embarked on an ambitious program to digitize more photos, maps, and other pieces of visual ephemera. This site offers a number of thematic photo collections, including ones dedicated to public institutions, city landmarks, the Boston Redevelopment Authority, and public celebrations. Visitors shouldn't miss the Peter H. Dreyer...

People may know about Longfellow and Poe, but do they know about the ongoing literary feud between these two sons of New England? They will after perusing this marvelous digital exhibit from the Boston Public Library and the Massachusetts Historical Society, which explores some of the "forgotten chapters" of the Hub's literary history. Designed to complement an in situ exhibit, this collection...

The Leventhal Map Center at the Boston Public Library has over 100,000 maps and they include renderings of British Palestine, West Africa in the 17th century, and many, many others. This corner of their collection brings together 122 maps that show land ownership in Boston, Pennsylvania, Haiti, and more. The maps of Boston are a real treat and they show the original Shawmut peninsula in 1645....

Boston merchant Harbottle Dorr, Jr. (1730-1794) was a noted merchant and member of the Sons of Liberty. He was also an avid newspaper reader. Beginning in 1765, Dorr spent more than a dozen years purchasing newspapers, writing comments in margins, inserting reference marks in articles, and assembling his own indexes. His papers of interest included the Boston Evening-Post, the Boston-Gazette, and...

Long before the preservation ethic and heritage tourism worlds were so closely intertwined, an enterprising journalist named William Schofield made a suggestion in the Boston Herald-Traveler to create a historical walking trail through the city that winds by some of the city’s primary historical sites. Seven years later, the Freedom Trail was a reality, and it remains one of the city’s most...