Please join us this Thursday, March 14, for Stephanie Schorow’s illustrated talk on her newest book Drinking Boston: A History of the City and Its Spirits. Her book will be on sale following the talk. The book has fantastic photographs, some of which are taken from the Boston Public Library’s photograph collections. The book also has a wonderful QR code enabled app. Download it to your mobile device, take a walk around and see where many of Boston’s speakeasies, bars, and nightclubs were located. The photographs here are one of almost one hundred which depict Prohibition era Boston that have been posted to the BPL’s Flickr photostream. The undated photo below, from the wonderful Leslie Jones Collection housed in the Print Department, shows police dismantling a speakeasy after it had been raided.
Stephanie Schorow will speak Thursday, March 14, in the Rabb Lecture Hall of the Central Library, 700 Boylston Street, at 6pm. Her book will be sold after the talk.
The Boston Public Library’s Local & Family History Lecture Series is in its 10th year of sharing information about the history of Boston and its neighborhoods along with tips and guides for those beginning their own genealogical research. All talks will be held in the Commonwealth Salon, Wednesdays 6pm on the dates noted, except for the Drinking Boston talk, which will take place in Rabb Lecture Hall on Thursday, March 14, 6pm.
Chinese-American and native Bostonian Alice (Yee) Kane presents a historical overview of Chinese immigration from southeastern China to the United States during the 19th and 20th centuries. Among the elements considered are Chinese societal and cultural values, immigration patterns, immigration and naturalization laws, and resources specific to researching Chinese-American citizens as found in courts and National Archives and Records Administration centers.Ms. Kane previously worked in the Boston Public Library’s Microtext Department before becoming a professional genealogist and researcher.
One of Boston’s most noted archaeologists presents the history of this unique area and explains why it can be considered a neighborhood. Ellen Berkland is the former Boston City Archeologist and currently serves as the Archaeologist for the Department of Conservation and Recreation. 
From the revolutionary camaraderie of the Colonial taverns to the saloons of the turn of the century; from Prohibition—a period rife with class politics, social reform, and opportunism—to a trail of nightclub neon so bright, it was called the “Conga Belt,” 
Suzanne Gall Marsh will share stories of the Boston Harbor Islands including Portuguese fishermen who floated their homes from Long Island to Peddocks Island, the Lovells Island lighthouse family, the Great Brewster Island community, and other little-known stories about the Harbor Islands.Ms. Marsh is the founder of Friends of the Boston Harbor Islands and is a program facilitator at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute program at UMass Boston and a seasonal ranger/interpreter with the Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area. 
James Campano and Duane Lucia of the West End Museum present a broad look at an important American urban neighborhood from the seventeenth century to the present time. The West End Museum is a neighborhood museum located at 150 Staniford Street on the ground floor of West End Place, and is dedicated to the collection, preservation, and interpretation of the history and culture of the West End of Boston.Mr. Campano is the Founder of the West End Museum and Mr. Lucia is the Executive Director. 
Richard Andrew Pierce provides insight to those facing the challenges of researching family histories in the unique urban neighborhood setting that is the West End. He is a consultant to the West End Museum and a professional genealogist in Boston. Mr. Pierce has traced the ancestries and missing heirs for hundreds of clients. His books and articles include: 
UMass Boston houses many archival collections that are utilized by family historians and researchers interested in exploring Boston and Massachusetts cultural history through the lives of individuals. The 
