This
fall the State Library will participate again in ArtWeek Boston, a “twice-annual 10-day collection of events
throughout the city that features unexpected and creative experiences that are
interactive or offer behind-the-scenes access to artists or the creative
process.”
Our event, a Special Collections Tour, will take place on Thursday, October 1,
from 1-2pm, in the Special Collections reading room. Visitors will see
treasures from the State Library collections that are not normally on public
view, including some of the earliest published laws of Massachusetts, a
realistic facsimile of Mayflower passenger William Bradford’s manuscript
journal Of Plimoth Plantation,
broadsides recruiting soldiers for the Civil War, photographs of
African-American soldiers, a handwritten journal by a Civil War soldier from
Massachusetts, early maps of Boston, and 19th-century birds-eye view
maps of other Massachusetts cities and towns.
Seats
are limited, and reservations are required. Participants can sign up through
the ArtWeek
Boston website, which provides a link
for reserving a seat, and directions to the Special Collections department.
