New Exhibit: Raising the Alarm

The State Library of Massachusetts joins the rest of the country in celebrating our 250th anniversary in 2026, and we are excited to announce that our new exhibit, Raising the Alarm: Revolutionary Broadsides at the State Library, is now open!

Boston and the surrounding area are known as the “Cradle of Liberty,” staking its claim as the birthplace of the American Revolution. And while many of the thirteen original colonies could make similar claims, the first battles and protests were waged within Massachusetts, the Sons of Liberty sprung up from its citizenry, and the first Committees of Correspondence, an integral system of communication employed during the war, were established here by Massachusetts’ own Samuel Adams.

Exhibit cases outside of the Library

Displayed chronologically, Raising the Alarm uses a selection of broadsides dating from 1773 through 1779 to interpret the Revolutionary War period in Massachusetts, providing a historical overview and examining how news was shared during the war, while also highlighting a significant primary source resource in our collection. Beginning in 2017, the State Library focused on a multi-year effort to conserve and digitize the 18th century broadsides in our collection. Recognizing the significance they hold in documenting the Revolutionary period, our Special Collections Department worked with the Northeast Document Conservation Center in Andover, Massachusetts to treat 70 broadsides. 

Ten broadsides are featured in our exhibit, like the one shown here from April 17, 1776. In this broadside, the topic of equal representation is raised by members of the Committees of Correspondence of Salem and Marblehead who acknowledge the loosening connection with Great Britain and looked towards the growing possibility that “we may soon be obliged to take up Independency for ourselves . . . as undoubtedly a Republic or Commonwealth will be our Form of Government.”

In the final case, the broadsides are complemented by other 18th century items found in Special Collections, including newspapers, almanacs, directories, and more. The exhibit also explores the Committee of Correspondence and some of the well-known patriots in its ranks, and gives special notice to one of our most famous broadsides, the Declaration of Independence, published by Ezekiel Russell in Salem on July 17, 1776.

Raising the Alarm is on view in the display cases outside of the library (Room 341) and is available during our open hours, Monday through Friday from 9:00 to 5:00, through spring 2027.

Elizabeth Roscio, Preservation Librarian
Exhibits Working Group

The State Library Turns 200: A New Exhibit and Collection Spotlight

We are excited to announce the opening of our new exhibit The State of Our Library: 200 Years of Serving the Commonwealth coinciding with our 200th birthday this month! As we celebrate this milestone, the exhibit showcases both the Library's impressive history and its current offerings. Using published documents, historical photographs and artifacts, and archival materials from the Library’s institutional records, the exhibit highlights our various services, resources, and technologies, as well as the changes and expansions to its physical space that have occurred over the last 200 years. 

Complementing our new exhibit is the 1856 edition of Ballou's Pictorial and a copy of Library Journal from March 1926, both on display this month in our Collection Spotlight case. Ballou’s Pictorial was a weekly periodical published in Boston from 1851 through 1859 (though up until 1855 it was published as Gleason’s Pictorial Drawing-Room Companion). We’ve written about this periodical in a previous blog post, but in a nutshell, it was full of interesting information to read or discuss, along with illustrations to examine. One of those illustrations is this full-page print of the “Interior View of the Massachusetts State Library” found in the May 31, 1856 issue. 

Illustration of the interior of the State Library
from Ballou's Pictorial, May 31, 1856

This image shows the Library, which at the time was only thirty years old, in its second location within the State House. Only one year prior, an addition to the building was completed that moved the Library to a central location and included two floors – a reading room and a balcony, as depicted in this image. The Library remained in this space for forty years, until another addition was completed in 1895 that moved the Library to its current location.

The same image was reproduced in the March 1, 1926 issue of Library Journal, a publication founded in 1876 by Melvil Dewey (of Dewey Decimal fame) and still in existence today. Included in this issue is a feature on the State Library as it celebrated its 100th birthday. The article, titled “A Century of the Massachusetts State Library” gives information about the founding and a synopsis of the State Librarians up to 1926. The article ends with a note on the collections, stating “its collection of statute law is said to be unsurpassed except by that of the Library of Congress. Perhaps its most interesting original manuscript is that of Governor William Bradford’s “History of Plimoth Plantation,” otherwise known as “The Log of the Mayflower.” One hundred years after the publishing of this article, the Of Plimoth Plantation remains one of the treasures of our collection and we are excited to share that it will be on display during our upcoming Open House on March 25.

While Ballou’s Pictorial and Library Journal will only be on display in our Collection Spotlight case from March 2 through March 31, The State of Our Library is on view in the display cases outside of the Library through 2026. If these items piqued your interest in the State Library's history, there is even more to be found in the full exhibit, so be sure to visit us Monday through Friday from 9:00 to 5:00 to check it out, or click here to see the online version!

Elizabeth Roscio, Preservation Librarian

Exhibits Working Group

A new exhibit on the Beginnings of the Textile Industry in Massachusetts

 

Doubling frame in a large woolen mill, Lawrence, Mass.
Keystone View Company, early 1900s. Stereoview.


The State Library invites you to our newest exhibit, The Beginnings of the Textile Industry in Massachusetts.

The exhibit concentrates on the flourishing textile industry in early 19th-century Massachusetts: the machinery of the Industrial Revolution, water rights, modern business practices, and the early labor force of educated farmers’ daughters. The display features holdings from the State Library Collections.

The exhibit runs from September 10 through December 31, 2013 and can be viewed outside of the Library, Room 341 of the State House. Library hours are Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm.

A special thanks to Mary Salzman, a former Reference/Exhibitions intern, who researched the topic, scanned many of the documents, wrote the panel text, and designed the exhibit layout.

A New Exhibit at the State Library of Massachusetts

Visit the State Library to see an exhibit entitled Doll E Daze: Footprints of African Americans in Transportation presented by the National Black Doll Museum. The exhibit showcases sixteen expressive art dolls that examine the impact that various modes of transportation played in the transformation of enslaved Africans to freed African Americans. These dolls stand at 24 inches and are decorated with items that chronicle the arduous journey to freedom from the early national period through the twentieth century and tell the story of the African American experience gathered over two hundred years of its existence.

The exhibit runs through August 31, 2013 and can be viewed in the reading room of the State Library (room 341 of the State House). Library hours are Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm.

Capital Blooms: Art & Artifacts

Starting on July 30th 2012 the State Library will feature an exhibit Capital Blooms, Art & Artifacts: Floral interpretations from the State Library Collection that will run until August 3, 2012.

This inaugural exhibit will feature floral arrangements which were created by members of the Beacon Hill Garden Club and the Waltham Garden Club. Each arrangement interprets through flowers and other natural materials four different items from our collection.

Please stop by the State Library during the exhibit to view the beautiful floral arrangements that have been created by the garden clubs.