Genealogy and family history research is a popular pastime these days, especially with the advent of DNA testing and the popularity of TV shows like Who Do You Think You Are? and Finding Your Roots. The BPL is home to many collections and resources that can be useful to amateur genealogists and family historians…
National Squirrel Appreciation Day!
January 21st is National Squirrel Appreciation Day! In honor of National Squirrel Appreciation Day, here are some of our favorite images of squirrels from our digitized collections. These photos and images are available through the Digital Commonwealth, which is made possible through digitization services from the Boston Public Library. Click on any of the images to view them…
Recent Digitization Highlights: the San Sisto Choirbooks, 1475-1495
Thanks to the generous support of the Associates of the Boston Public Library, the BPL recently digitized two monumental, highly decorated prayer books from our collection of medieval and early renaissance manuscripts. The two manuscripts -- an antiphonary and a psalter -- once belonged to a larger set of 14 choirbooks created for the Benedictine monastery of San Sisto…
Wee the People: Exploring Social Justice with Kids
You may have noticed the name Wee the People popping up at events across the both the library system and the city in the past few years, and maybe you weren't exactly sure what they were actually doing. If not, now's your chance to find out more about this awesome organization! Wee The People is…
So Be Good…or Not
Good or bad? Right or wrong? You will have a hard time deciding while reading any one of these "good" thrillers. And check out these book covers! They say the eyes are the windows to the soul. So what do these eyes reveal? The Good Girl Never go with strangers... Nobody has ever taken care of Mia Dennett. Her upwardly mobile…
Boston’s Great Molasses Flood
Tuesday, January 15, 2019 is the 100th anniversary of Boston’s Great Molasses Flood. Shortly after noon, on that day in 1919, a storage tank containing over 2.3 million gallons of molasses collapsed in the city’s North End. A wave of molasses, estimated by some to be as high as 15 feet, and moving at a…
The Origins and Practice of Holidays: Feast of the Nativity
January 7, 2019 - Feast of the Nativity As we mentioned in our post on Christmas, Western Christian churches celebrate Christmas on December 25. However, Eastern Orthodox churches celebrate their Christmas on January 7. They typically call this day the Feast of the Nativity. The reason Eastern churches celebrate the Feast of the Nativity on…
The Origins and Practice of Holidays: Twelfth Night, Gurpurab Guru Gobindh Singh, Epiphany, Día de los Reyes
January 5, 2019 - Twelfth Night Twelfth Night is a Christian holiday, celebrated on January 5. It marks the twelfth and final night of the Christmas season and the coming of Epiphany. Contrary to popular belief, Christmas is not just December 25. Contrary to popular belief, Christmas is not just December 25. That is only…
Queer Fiction: January 2019
Welcome to the new year and a new LGBTQ+ Fiction blog! We are changing things up here with a new blog name, "Queer Fiction." Two other librarians are joining me this year: Veronica and Kirsten, both from the Reader Services Department. They introduce themselves below with some fast facts and their favorite queer fiction. And…
The Origins and Practices of Holidays: Mary, Mother of God, New Year’s Day, and Oshogatsu
January 1, 2019 - Mary, Mother of God On New Years Day, Catholics will celebrate the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, with a feast. This celebration is the octave of Christmas. An octave is an eight day extension of the feast. In the modern Roman Calendar, only Christmas and Easter have an octave. This…
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