Palaces for the People:  Guastavino and America’s Great Public Spaces
Central Library, Copley Square (Changing Exhibits Gallery)
September 28, 2012–February 24, 2013

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the Boston Public Library partnered to present the first major exhibition on the Guastavino Company and its architectural and historical legacy.  Rafael Guastavino—a Spanish immigrant, innovative builder, and visionary architect—and his son Rafael Jr. contributed to the design and construction of structural tile vaulting in over 1,000 major buildings across the United States, including the Boston Public Library, Ellis Island, and Grand Central Station.  Palaces for the People featured original drawings from the company’s archives; large-scale, contemporary photographs of Guastavino Company-constructed buildings; a half-scale model vault showcasing the firm’s building techniques; and historic artifacts, photographs, and manuscripts. This exhibition was sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

The People’s Own: Construction of the McKim Building
Central Library, Copley Square (Rare Books Lobby)
October 9, 2012 – January 31, 2013

Designed by Charles Follen McKim of the architectural firm McKim, Mead, and White, the Boston Public Library’s historic building on Copley Square opened its doors in February of 1895 at a cost of $2.5 million. This exhibition featured historic photographs documenting the library’s construction, dating primarily from August 1888 to December 1889. Held by the BPL’s Rare Books & Manuscripts Department and selected from the records of the library’s board of trustees, these photographs provide a pictorial narrative of the construction of the McKim Building, from the first shovels of earth to the beautiful edifice that stands today.

An Elevated View: The Orange Line
Central Library, Copley Square (Wiggin Gallery)
October 19, 2012 – January 19, 2013
Twenty five years ago, the MBTA relocated the Orange Line, dismantling the elevated rail that had long defined the City’s Southwest Corridor. Two years prior to the project, the private nonprofit agency URBANARTS organized, on behalf of the MBTA, a program called Arts in Transit. The project paired photographers with photography students to document the corridor in transition from Forest Hills to Dover Station. In the fall of 1985, the students and their teachers began photographing the Orange Line and its architectural and social surroundings. This exhibition featured over 65 photographs from the project held by the BPL’s Print Department.

America Votes: Mapping the Political Landscape
Central Library, Copley Square (Norman B. Leventhal Map Center)
March 26 – November 10, 2012

This timely, election-year exhibition featured approximately 30 maps, political cartoons, photographs, and other graphic images that date from the 1780s to the present. The display began with an exploration of gerrymandering—two hundred years of manipulating political districts for partisan objectives—and included maps illustrating the extension of the vote to non-property owners, blacks, and women. America Votes also featured multiple election results maps, with examples ranging from several early efforts to the most recent campaigns.

reThink INK: 25 Years at Mixit Print Studio
Central Library, Copley Square (Changing Exhibits Gallery, Wiggin Gallery, and Johnson Lobby)
April 12–September 1, 2012

Mixit Print Studio was established in 1987 in the former Mixit soap factory in Somerville, Massachusetts.  For 25 years Mixit Print Studio has provided a fully-equipped printmaking studio, aesthetic nourishment, and technical and critical exchange to Boston-area artists.  This collaborative exhibition—produced by the Boston Public Library and Mixit Print Studio—celebrated the studio’s 25th anniversary and the library’s deep and long-standing connection to the Boston printmaking community by featuring over 150 works by 71 artists in three venues throughout the Central Library.  Visit the exhibition page to learn more about the artists, view selected artwork from the exhibition, and see related programs.

Robert Browning at 200: His Enduring Importance
Central Library, Copley Square (Rare Books Lobby)
May 7–August 31, 2012

Culled from Special Collections archives of the Boston Browning Society, whose 19th century members donated unusual and voluminous items to the Boston Public Library to assure their preservation, this exhibition featured handwritten letters, poetry, and related manuscripts that illustrated the development of Robert Browning as poet, lover, and playwright. Editions of the Brownings’ published books were displayed alongside significant photographs and noteworthy portraits shedding light on the private and public Browning, his marriage to the poet Elizabeth Barrett, and his survival as a poet.

Forgotten Chapters of Boston Literary History
Central Library, Copley Square (Cheverus Room)
March 28–July 30, 2012

Between the Revolution and the Civil War, Boston was the preeminent center of literary creativity in the United States. Forgotten Chapters, an exhibition developed by Boston College faculty, students, and staff, explores stories about Boston’s literary history that have faded from memory. The companion website includes overviews of each “chapter” as well as an extensive audiotour of the exhibition.

Unconventional Maps: Exploring the Stories of Cartographic Curiosities
Central Library, Norman B. Leventhal Map Center
October 22, 2011–April 9, 2012

When reading maps, we expect map makers to use standard conventions, especially in regard to map projection or composition, orientation, scale, and symbols. The maps displayed here highlight a variety of unconventional maps spanning the history of the printed map.

 

 

Home Front:  Boston and the Civil War

Central Library, Copley Square (Johnson Lobby)
June 10—December 31, 2011

Through original manuscripts, prints, artifacts, and other material from the Boston Public Library’s special collections, Home Front provided a deeply personal look at this extraordinary period in American history and the war’s enduring impact on Boston and its citizens.

 

Torn in Two:  150th Anniversary of the Civil War
Central Library, Copley Square (Changing Exhibits)
May 12—December 31, 2011

To commemorate the American Civil War’s sesquicentennial, the Norman B. Leventhal Map Center at the Boston Public Library took a geographic and cartographic approach to exploring and illuminating the causes of the conflict, the conduct of the war and how it was remembered in later years. Torn in Two showcased 50 historic maps interwoven with 40 photographs, paintings, prints, diaries, political cartoons, music and press of the period, all from the Boston Public Library’s special collections.

Winslow Homer’s Illustrations
Central Library, Copley Square (Wiggin Gallery)
May 16-September 30, 2011

This exhibition explored Winslow Homer’s wood engravings for illustrated weeklies from 1858 to 1873. In the span of these 15 years, Homer portrayed rural life in America, the brutality of the Civil War, the changing roles of women, and the favorite pastimes of the American people.

 

Greetings from Boston: Vintage Postcards
Central Library, Copley Square (Johnson Lobby)
August 2010–March 31, 2011

Tour “vintage” Boston through this wonderful collection of postcards depicting some of our city’s most famous places and spaces in bygone days.

 

 

Away We Go! An Exhibition of Vintage Travel Posters
Central Library, Copley Square (Changing Exhibits)
May 13—October 17, 2010

Travel to twenty-eight handpicked destinations, on six continents, on a globetrotting route nearly 45,000 miles long — via some of the Boston Public Library’s most beautiful and important travel posters.

 

 

The Raven in the Frog Pond: Edgar Allan Poe and the City of Boston
Central Library, Copley Square (Cheverus Room)
December 17, 2009—March 31, 2010

In celebration of the bicentennial of Edgar Allan Poe’s birth, The Raven in the Frog Pond featured materials from the Boston Public Library’s special collections and elsewhere to tell the important story of Poe’s relation to the city of his birth. Curated by Boston College professor Paul Lewis, the exhibition presented newly uncovered information about Poe’s time in Boston and his celebrated squabbles with area authors, explored urban legends that have grown up around the Poe-Boston story, and considered what Boston has done (or failed to do) to celebrate this native son.

Cool+Collected:  Treasures of the Boston Public Library
Central Library, Copley Square (Johnson Lobby)
June 2009—June 2010

This year-long exhibition celebrated over 160 years of collecting by the BPL and featured some of the most beautiful, rare, and unexpected holdings from the library’s rich special collections. Enjoy these gems from the BPL’s collections, revisit some old favorites, and discover a few new surprises as well.

 

 

Boston & Beyond: A Bird’s Eye View of New England
Central Library, Copley Square (Popular Reading Room)
January—June 2008

Through a selection of 48 bird’s eye views of New England towns, learn about the region’s expansion and evolution during the last half of the 19th century. Take the virtual tour created from the exhibition Boston & Beyond and unravel the story of who we are, where we came from, and how we choose to perceive our world.

 

Journeys of the Imagination
Central Library, Copley Square (Changing Exhibits)
March–August 2006

Journeys of the Imagination explored the various ways that map makers from the 15th century, until today, have created their real and imagined world views for the public. The maps in this exhibition are examined not just as geographic records of the world at a particular time, but as documents that have a story to tell.

 

 

Faces & Places
Central Library, Copley Square (Popular Reading Room)
Spring and Summer 2003

In Faces & Places, the Norman B. Leventhal Map Center selected 70 historical maps portraying the countries from which the greatest number of Bostonians originate. The maps were juxtaposed against a collection of essays by middle school age students, depicting their family’s journeys to Boston.