Browse Exhibits (5 total)

Educating the Hub: Three Centuries of Boston Public Schools

Explore the history of the Boston Public School System by taking a tour through the School Department Collections of the City of Boston Archives.

Jesse Harding Pomeroy: Massachusetts' Youngest Killer

On the evening of July 18, 1874, two South Boston workmen uncovered the body of 10 year old Katherine Mary Curran in a Broadway Street basement.  Two days later,  fourteen year old Jesse Harding Pomeroy, already imprisoned and awaiting trial for the murder of four year old Horace Millen, confessed to Curran’s death. When Pomeroy was convicted of the murder of Katie Curran and Horace Millen, he became Massachusetts’ youngest killer.  

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Celebrating Hyde Park: Documents and Images from the City of Boston Archives

In 1912, the Town of Hyde Park shed its independent identity and became a part of the City of Boston. Only forty-four years earlier, a group of men known as the Twenty Associates, had founded the Town of Hyde Park.  Led by Alpheus P. Blake, the Twenty Associates, purchased 100 acres of land on the Neponset River from Dorchester, Milton and Dedham to build their town.

Hyde Park grew quickly after its 1868 incorporation. The town’s picturesque scenery and proximity to Boston by rail attracted individuals and families interested in a more pastoral lifestyle. In 1887, 1500 individuals called Hyde Park home. By 1912, the year Hyde Park joined the City of Boston, the town boasted 15,000 residents.

These images and documents from the City of Boston Archives document Hyde Park’s rich culture and community in both its years as an independent town and its time as a beloved Boston neighborhood.

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Fighting Fire: The Establishment of Boston's Modern Fire Department

First established in 1678 as a group of volunteer fire companies, the Boston Fire Department reorganized in 1837. The reorganization marked the beginning of Boston's modern Fire Department.  One hundred and seventy-five years later, we're commemorating the advent of our city's Fire Department with documents and images chronicling the 1837 events that led to its establishment.

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Horace Mann School for the Deaf (1869-Present)

Established in 1869, the Horace Mann School for the Deaf was one of the first public day schools for the deaf in the United States. With support from the city of Boston and the state of Massachusetts, and the dedication of its faculty and school administrators, the school has continuously sought to provide a quality education to deaf students. The school continues to operate to this day in its Allston location. This exhibit looks at the history of the school through a selection of materials recently donated to the City of Boston Archives. The collection includes numerous photographs, school brochures, internal school records such as student registers, correspondence, and published works from the school's library.

The collection's photographs have been digitized and can be viewed on the City of Boston's Flickr site: https://www.flickr.com/photos/cityofbostonarchives/

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