Before an image of a map, a photograph, or the text from a book can pop up on a computer screen in the Boston Public Library (BPL) or your laptop at home, someone has to create a digital file from the original object. That’s the work of the BPL Digital Services Department. Two Step...
Full Print Edition
Blog Archives
The Tour Guide’s View
It’s summertime and tourists wander Boston neighborhoods on their own and in tour groups. What is it like to introduce visitors to our city? What surprises them? What do they love about our hometown and its history? We asked Alan Maltzman, founder of Boston CityWalks. He Loves His Work Alan has always loved taking...
Remember The Ladies
“I long to hear that you have declared an independancy—and by the way in the new Code of Laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make I desire you would Remember the Ladies, and be more generous and favourable to them than your ancestors.” Abigail Adams, (March 31, 1776 in...
Smoke Tree
A Cotinus Obovatus in the Public Garden was showing off the hazy look that gives the plant the nickname “Smoke Tree.” This botanical cameleon starts the spring with small greenish, yellow flowers that give way to these billowy, pink plumes. By autumn it will develop yellow, orange, red, or reddish purple leaves that last...
Rush Hour Row
There’s more than one way to beat gridlock on the Mass Ave Bridge. These rowers found a wide open express lane.
Finding That Peaceful Place in Boston
How many tranquil places can you name in Boston? Back Bay resident, Lynn Schweikart can tell you about dozens. In fact, she does in her book, Peaceful Places Boston: 121 Tranquil Sites in the City and Beyond. Seeing with Fresh Eyes Schweikart has a gift for finding words that make you look at a...
Shining Up Beacon
Glenda Mattes, Jackie Blombach, Sherley Smith, Cathy Wallace, and Janet Younker, members of the Garden Club of the Back Bay, gathered to finalize plans for their 2nd Annual Tree Pit Tending Day on May 18th. If you’d like to volunteer or learn how to care for a street tree near your home, meet the...
Attention To Detail
LAST WEEK’S ANSWER The carved decoration in last week’s clue is on the Massachusetts Avenue entrance to 416 Marlborough Street. Built as an apartment hotel in 1895, it was designed by Willard T. Sears. In his book, Built in Boston, Douglass Shand-Tucci wrote of the luxuries advertised for this residence, “…electricity in all rooms,...
Boston Landmark
Saturday’s sunshine brought out playmates for the splash fountain at the Christian Science Center. This water feature received Boston Landmark status in 2011.
David Bond: Neighbor and Jazzman
For some Back Bay residents, the upcoming Jazz Week is a once-a-year opportunity to immerse themselves in the world of jazz. For Marlborough Street resident David Bond, jazz is a full-time profession. Performing, composing, or teaching– jazz is part of his days and nights. Inspired by Coltrane Bond was a political science major when...