Boston Public Library Research Services

09/08/2026

Every month, Boston Public Library staff contribute to the monthly play list of music on Freegal. This month over half of the songs on offer were recommended by our department's Performing Arts specialist. She feels only a little bit guilty for monopolizing it. Go listen and let us know what you think!

Playlist · 26 songs

09/07/2026

The Lawrence Telegram was an evening newspaper that covered the city between 1896 and 1937, when it merged with the Sun to become the Lawrence Sun Telegram. The Boston Public Library holds this title on microfilm. For more information on the Boston Public Library’s newspaper holdings, check out our guide at https://guides.bpl.org/newspapers. In 1912, Lawrence had 3 daily evening newspapers and 2 daily morning newspapers.

09/06/2026

A poster advertising Harpers Magazine. To see other digitized graphics from the collection of the Boston Public Library please go to www.digitalcommonwealth.org.

09/05/2026

Founded in 1823 by twelve pharmacists, the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences is the second-oldest college of pharmacy in the U.S. and the oldest higher education institution in Boston. The first courses were offered in a series of rented rooms from 1867 until 1886, when the school bought its first building at the corner of Garrison and St. Botolph streets.

The college moved to its current location at 179 Longwood Avenue in 1918, into a building constructed specifically for them. Degrees in health sciences were offered beginning in 1979 and the building underwent an extensive renovation and expansion in the early 2000s.

Books at the BPL- https://tinyurl.com/5cad2328
MCPHS.edu, Evolution with Vision- https://tinyurl.com/h9yv8277
MCPHS Archives: There's More to the Story- https://tinyurl.com/3n56w4ae

09/04/2026

HOLIDAY CLOSURE: All BPL locations will be closed on Sunday, September 6 and Monday, September 7, 2026, in observance of Labor Day.

09/04/2026

Ms. is an American feminist magazine founded in 1971 by Gloria Steinem, Letty Cottin Pogrebin, Mary Thom, Patricia Carbine, Joanne Edgar, Nina Finkelstein, Mary Peacock, and Margaret Sloan-Hunter. It was the first national American feminist magazine.

Ms. was intended to appeal to a wide audience and featured articles about a variety of issues related to women and feminism. From July 1972 until 1987, it was published monthly. At its peak in the 1970s, Ms. enjoyed great success but was not always able to reconcile its ideological concerns with commercial considerations.

The Boston Public Library holds physical copies of Ms. in our Research Collection. You can request copies by emailing Research Services at [email protected] or calling (617)-536-5400.

09/03/2026

"Blue Beard Tableau," wood engraving by Winslow Homer, 1868.

Bluebeard is a legendary character known for murdering his 6+ wives and having an indigo tint to his beard. His final wife, Fatima, manages to escape her predecessor's fates and instead kills Bluebeard. This engraving by famed artist Winslow Homer was published in Harper's Bazaar and includes a Bluebeard poem, three prints of his engravings, and a description of Homer's tableau.

Happy !

The original print is held in BPL's Special Collections https://www.digitalcommonwealth.org/search/commonwealth:sn00b7076

09/02/2026

We’ve got a late start to school in Boston this year, with the first day being next Tuesday for the BPS, whereas in some suburban districts, today is the first day of school. The United States Department of Education has resources to assist with Birth to Grade 12” education, which can be found at https://www.ed.gov/birth-to-grade-12-education.
This image of the Stephen Weld School is from the collections of the Boston Public Library and can be viewed online at https://ark.digitalcommonwealth.org/ark:/50959/2227n373s. The school was located in Roslindale at the corner of Rowe and Canterbury Streets. Weld was a landowner in the area.

09/01/2026

The famed actor Tim Curry died on August 25, 2026, at 80 years old. He is probably best known for his starring role as Dr. Frank-N-Furter in "The Rocky Horror Show," which first appeared on stage in 1973. It was adapted for film in 1975, and that is the version that most people are familiar with. This songbook from the musical can be seen at the Central library at Copley Square for in-library use (call number M1508.O27R6 1974x).

08/31/2026

Hearst was busy in Boston in the 1920s. In 1921, the publishers of the Boston Evening American purchased the company that published the Boston Daily Advertiser and the Boston Evening Record. Given that the already published an evening paper, the Record ceased publication. It would seem that the Record name had a soft spot with Bostonians, as by the word Record was being used with the morning Advertiser for years to come. By 1929, it was the Advertiser part of the name that was shunted off to Sundays only. Here is a masthead from before that happened. Naturally, we hold the American, Record, and Advertiser for this period. For more information on the Boston Public Library’s newspaper holdings, check out our guide at https://guides.bpl.org/newspapers.