On (Virtual) Display at the State Library

We might be biased, but we think one of the prettiest views in Boston is looking up from the Common to the State House. So this month, we’re sharing a lithograph of just that view in our virtual display case. Boston Common was drawn by James Kidder and published by Abel Bowen in Boston in 1829. It shows the State House and its neighbors atop Beacon Hill, with a swath of the Common in the foreground. Adults and children are shown strolling paths, cows graze on the grass, and young trees are shown in growing supports, all of which combine to create a bucolic scene in the middle of downtown Boston. 

A noticeable feature in this lithograph is that the State House is a much smaller building than its current size. This image shows the original building as designed by Charles Bulfinch and completed in 1798. A large addition, designed by Charles Brigham, was added to the back of the State House between 1885 and 1889, and the east and west wings, designed by architects Sturgis, Bryant, Chapman & Andrews, were added between 1914 and 1917. Though not visible from this exterior image, the State Library itself, which was established in 1826, would have been found within the walls of this 1829 State House, but not in the same location it occupies today. Visit the Flickr album from our past exhibit on the history of the State Library to learn more about the library’s location at its 1826 founding, its expansion and move in 1856, and the move to its current location in 1895. Just as the State House has grown over the years, so has the State Library!

While the State House dominates the view in this lithograph, there are a few other buildings of note visible. If you are facing the State House from the Common, as this view shows, the building that is visible to its right is the Amory-Ticknor House, located at 9-10 Park Street and 22-22A Beacon Street.  This is a Federal style mansion designed by Charles Bulfinch and built in 1804. Soon after its construction, however, the building’s owner Thomas Amory sold it and it was enlarged and divided into multiple dwellings (which is why it has door fronts on both Park and Beacon Streets). The rest of the building’s name comes from a later owner, scholar George Ticknor, who resided in the building at the same time that this lithograph was published. He lived in the building until 1871, followed by his daughter, Anna Eliot Ticknor, who lived in the building until 1884. After that, the building was used for retail rather than dwellings and has housed restaurants, coffee shops, and stores ever since. Over the years, the Amory-Ticknor house has seen some alterations, most noticeably, the addition of oriel windows on the upper levels, but the house still stands today. 

And to the left of the State House is another important building, but unfortunately, one that has not survived to the present day. The Hancock Manor was located at 30 Beacon Street, in fact, not far from where our Special Collections Department is located today. It was built in the 1730s for the merchant Thomas Hancock and his wife Lydia, who were John Hancock’s aunt and uncle. The stately mansion sat among outbuildings, gardens, orchards, and pastures - much different from the Beacon Hill that we know of today. John Hancock lived in the house after the death of his aunt and uncle, and it was after his death in 1795 that some of the pasture land was purchased by the Commonwealth to be used as the site of the future State House. For a number of years afterward, the State House and the Hancock Manor were neighbors until the mansion was demolished in 1863. Before it was torn down, relics and souvenirs were retrieved from the house, so even though it doesn’t live on in its entirety, pieces of the mansion can still be found in historical collections throughout Massachusetts and beyond.  

To take a closer look at the State House and its neighbors, click on the image above. And the next time you visit Boston Common, imagine what it looked like in 1829! 

Elizabeth Roscio
Preservation Librarian

Boston in Glitter

The Special Collections Department of the State Library holds hundreds of postcards depicting the State House, and with few exceptions each one is different. Some are postally unused, but many have stamps, postmarks, and messages on the back.

This new postcard came to the Library in early May from one of our regular donors.  It probably dates from between the late 1890’s to the mid 1910’s; it shows the Brigham extension at the rear of the building, but doesn’t show the East and West wings, which were completed by 1917.

In the photograph below, you can see both of the State Houses: the Old State House on Court Street, which was the seat of the state government until 1798, is inside the letter “T” in the word Boston, and the New State House (which isn’t really new anymore) is next-door in the letter “O.”

The best part of this new accession: the letters are outlined in glitter!

For more images of our State House postcard collections, see a small selection on our Flickr site: https://www.flickr.com/photos/mastatelibrary/sets/72157626293651362/.

Beth Carroll-Horrocks
Head of Special Collections

Treasure of the State Library for June 2012

With the nation marking the 150th anniversary of the American Civil War, there have been commemorations across the nation. The Massachusetts State House has had numerous events to mark this anniversary.

Just recently, Susan Greendyke Lachevre, Arts Collection Manager for the State House, completed a volume detailing the Art of the Civil War at the Massachusetts State House. The State Library has recently added copies to its collection and at some point, in the future, the report will be available online. As Ms. Greendyke Lachevre notes, publication coincides with the Sesquicentennial of the War. Her beautiful work, a detailed listing of holdings in the State House, was written by the Massachusetts Art Commission.

As is the case with many libraries across the country, the State Library owns artwork from the Civil War Era. The first of note is a plaster bust of Arthur Buckminster Fuller, a prominent Massachusetts clergyman who was killed in the battle of Fredericksburg in December of 1862. A blog entry from 2011 describes this sculpture and its focus

A second item owned by the library is a portrait of Charles Carleton Coffin painted by Frank H. Tompkins in 1891. Coffin, a New Hampshire native, lived for many years in Massachusetts. Unable to enlist in the war due to an injury in his youth, Coffin became one of the most famous journalists covering the war. He donated his portrait to the State Librarian C. B. Tillinghast and his successors in 1896. 

Pamela W. Schofield

Reference Department

State Library of Massachusetts

Vintage Postcards of the State House Now Available on Flickr

The State Library has scanned and uploaded a selection of our postcard collection onto Flickr for your viewing pleasure. Ranging from the early 1900s to the mid 1920s, the postcards primarily depict the iconic golden dome and façade of the Massachusetts State House. Also included are the Shaw Memorial, the General Hooker Monument, the interior legislative chambers, Memorial Hall, and the Brewer Fountain in the Boston Commons.

Most of the collection consists of traditional souvenir postcards, but some are of a more promotional quality. While not available online due to copyright restrictions, there is a group of campaign postcards depicting Massachusetts politicians, such as Governor Frank Sargent and Lieutenant Governor Elliot Richardson. To view these campaign postcards and our complete collection of postcards ranging from the early 20th century to the 1990s, please visit the State Library Special Collections Department, Room 55.

The majority of our collection of nearly two hundred postcards can be found in Souvenir 68, a gift of former State Senator Edward L. Burke. Additional postcards have been recently donated by Beth Carroll-Horrocks.

-- Marissa Sorek, Special Collections Intern

Interesting Find: The Dedication of a Rest Room

With the summer exhibit posted, in Special Collections we've begun researching two future exhibits, one on the town of Holyoke and another on women in politics. While searching the Burrill File subject list for records of women legislators we came across the subject folder State House - Women's Rest Room. With a heading like that we had to see what was inside.

The folder contains a typed address by Thomas F. Pedrick, Chairman of the State House Commission, given upon the dedication of the Women's Rest Room in the State House. Additionally, two copies of the photograph at left are included in the folder. The photographs (circa 1918) are marked as having been taken at the dedication. The photographs and full text of the address can be viewed in the Special Collections Department, but two excerpts from the address are included below.

"When it became an assured fact that the Wings* were to be erected, I was in hopes that a suitable retiring room might be provided for the ladies employed here, and with that idea in view, I addressed a communication to the State House Building Commission in 1913, urging them to set apart the necessary space for that purpose. ... But owing partly, I presume, to the unavoidable change in the personnel of the Building Commission, and largely to the changes they had to make in plans to provide quarters for the continually growing business of the departments, the right kind of a room for this special need could not be provided."

"But since the declaration of war against Germany, every line of business has passed through a great change, and the working conditions in this building have likewise changed, owing to the great increase in the work. Massachusetts has ever been foremost in giving her all when the country needed her, and again she is in the forefront. Her young men, in large numbers, are serving in the American army across the seas, on the battle fields of Flanders, Picardy, the Marne, and in the Toul sector. Her civilians are all enlisted in the Home army for the protection of the health of her people, and the conservation of food and fuel, in order that we may back up the boys at the front. One of our patriotic duties, surely, is to see that the young women in industry and office work are properly cared for in case of sickness."

With the men away at war, the influx of women to the workforce required concrete changes in the work place. And while I'm not sold on Pedrick's "women's rest room as patriotic duty" idea, the installation of such a space signaled that the times were definitely changing.

To make this item even more intersting, Pedrick's address was given in the presence of the then-Lieutenant Governor, Calvin Coolidge. Future President Coolidge can be seen in the above picture, front row, second from left.

- Lacy Crews, Preservation Librarian

* The East and West wings were erected between 1914 and 1917.

North American Wild Flowers Exhibit Now Open

Please join the library in celebrating summer with the exhibit: Mary Vaux Walcott's North American Wild Flowers.

Mary Vaux Walcott was an American botanist who used watercolors to capture the beauty of botany. The current exhibition assembles selected images from her 400 plate, five volume work published by the Smithsonian Institution in 1925.

The main exhibit is located just outside of the State Library, room 341 of the State House. Additional images can be viewed in Doric Hall on the second floor of the State House.

The exhibit runs through September 30, 2008.

-Lacy Crews, Preservation Assistant

May is National Preservation Month

Begun in 1971 and formalized into a month-long celebration in 2005, National Preservation Month celebrates America's diverse and irreplaceable heritage. This year's theme, This Place Matters, encourages citizens to visit historic places and buildings in their neighborhoods to learn the history of the spaces and what is being done to preserve these areas. Through the National Trust for Historic Preservation's web site citizens can upload pictures and videos of places that matter to them.

The State Library of Massachusetts is fortunate to reside within an historic place - The Massachusetts State House. Citizens can celebrate National Preservation Month by visiting the historic building, in person or virtually. The State Library holds many resources about the history of the State House building, the most prolific being The State House Historic Structure Report, a three-volume set that details the various additions to the current State House, as well as preservation goals for the future. This resource can be viewed in the Special Collections Department of the library, located in room 55 of the State House.

Further Resources:

• A Tour of the Massachusetts State House


• Evolution of the State House


• National Trust for Historic Preservation