The Boston City Archives are located in West Roxbury, MA, and are the repository for all official records that must be kept to honor both the history of the municipal government in Boston and the legal rights of its citizens. [1] The City Archives were established in 1988. [2] The collection was originally housed in an old school building in Hyde Park, until the importance of preserving the expanding number of records became a focus of attention. [3] [4] [5]
The City Archives holds records for over 60 current and historic government entities and departments. The bulk of these records consist of documentation of the history of Boston since incorporation as a city in 1822, although some records go back to the early 17th century. It is only recently that many city departments have begun to give their records to the archives, so the collection is constantly growing. This is aided by the movement of the collections to the new facility in West Roxbury. Prior to this move, the Heritage Health Index Report had found that the resources and facilities at the Hyde Park facilities had been lacking. [6]
Most notably, the collections include:
Suffolk County is located in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, in the United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 797,936, making it the fourth-most populous county in Massachusetts. The county comprises the cities of Boston, Chelsea, and Revere, and the town of Winthrop. The traditional county seat is Boston, the state capital and the largest city in Massachusetts. The county government was abolished in 1999, resulting in Suffolk County now functioning only as an administrative subdivision of state government and a set of communities grouped together for some statistical purposes. Suffolk County is located at the core of the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH Metropolitan Statistical Area as well as the greater Boston-Worcester-Providence, MA-RI-NH-CT Combined Statistical Area.
The Boston Public Library is a municipal public library system in Boston, Massachusetts, founded in 1848. The Boston Public Library is also Massachusetts' Library for the Commonwealth, meaning all adult residents of the state are entitled to borrowing and research privileges, and the library receives state funding. The Boston Public Library contains approximately 24 million items, making it the third-largest public library in the United States behind the federal Library of Congress and New York Public Library, which is also privately endowed. In 2014, the library held more than 10,000 programs, all free to the public, and lent 3.7 million materials.
Roxbury is a neighborhood within the City of Boston, Massachusetts, United States.
Jamaica Plain is a neighborhood of 4.4 square miles (11 km2) in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Settled by Puritans seeking farmland to the south, it was originally part of Roxbury. The community seceded from Roxbury during the formation of West Roxbury in 1851 and became part of Boston when West Roxbury was annexed in 1874. In the 19th century, Jamaica Plain became one of the first streetcar suburbs in America and home to a significant portion of Boston's Emerald Necklace of parks, designed by Frederick Law Olmsted.
The South End is a neighborhood in Boston, Massachusetts, United States which is bordered by Back Bay, Chinatown, and Roxbury. It is distinguished from other neighborhoods by its Victorian-style houses and the parks in and around the area. The South End is the largest intact Victorian row-house district in the country, covering over 300 acres (120 ha). It has eleven residential parks. In 1973, the South End was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Much of the neighborhood was originally marshlands in Boston's South Bay. After it was filled in, construction began in 1849.
West Roxbury is a neighborhood in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, bordered by Roslindale to the northeast, the village of Chestnut Hill and the town of Brookline to the north, the city of Newton to the northwest, the towns of Dedham and Needham to the southwest, and Hyde Park to the southeast. West Roxbury is often mistakenly confused with Roxbury, but the two are separated from each other by Roslindale and Jamaica Plain.
Key bus routes of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) system are 15 routes that have high ridership and higher frequency standards than other bus lines, according to the 2004 MBTA Service Policy. Together, they account for roughly 40% of the MBTA's total bus ridership. These key bus routes ensure basic geographic coverage with frequent service in the densest areas of Boston, and connect to other MBTA services to give access to other areas throughout the region.
The Horace Mann School for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (HMS) is the oldest public day school for the Deaf and hard of hearing in the United States. Located in the Allston neighborhood of Boston, the Horace Mann School is a member of Boston Public Schools, and has a long history of providing education for deaf and hard of hearing students.
Boston Latin Academy (BLA) is a public exam school founded in 1878 in Boston, Massachusetts providing students in grades 7th through 12th a classical preparatory education.
The John D. O'Bryant School of Mathematics and Science, formerly known as Boston Technical High School is a college preparatory public exam school along with Boston Latin School and Boston Latin Academy. The O’Bryant specializes in science, technology, engineering and mathematics ("STEM") in the city of Boston, Massachusetts, and is named for one of Boston's prominent African-American educators John D. O'Bryant. The school is currently located on 55 Malcolm X Boulevard in the neighborhood of Roxbury, Massachusetts. With a student body of 1,500 7th–12th graders, this school is part of the Boston Public Schools. It currently shares a campus with the Madison Park Technical Vocational High School.
The Edward M. Kennedy Academy for Health Careers is one of several Horace Mann Charter Schools in the Boston Public Schools system. On April 25, 2010, the school was renamed to honor the late senator, Edward M. Kennedy.
Nubian Square is the primary commercial center of the Roxbury neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, located at the intersection of Dudley Street and Washington Street. It has long been the center of African American culture in Boston, prior to which the area was primarily Jewish.
Elma Ina Lewis was an American arts educator and the founder of the National Center of Afro-American Artists and The Elma Lewis School of Fine Arts. She was one of the first recipients of a MacArthur Fellows Grant, in 1981, and received a Presidential Medal for the Arts by President Ronald Reagan in 1983. She is also an honorary member of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority.
Freedom House is a nonprofit community-based organization in Roxbury, Massachusetts. Freedom House is located in an area sometimes referred to as Grove Hall that lies along Blue Hill Ave. at the border between the Roxbury and Dorchester neighborhoods of Boston. Although it was historically identified with Roxbury, Freedom House currently refers to itself as being located either in Dorchester or in Grove Hall.
Boston, officially the City of Boston, is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It has an area of 48.4 sq mi (125 km2) and a population of 675,647 as of the 2020 census, making it the third-largest city in the Northeast after New York City and Philadelphia. The Greater Boston metropolitan statistical area, including and surrounding the city, is the largest in New England and eleventh-largest in the country.
Roxbury Heritage State Park is a history-themed heritage park in the oldest part of Roxbury, a former town annexed in 1868 by Boston, Massachusetts. It is anchored by the Dillaway–Thomas House, a large colonial structure built in 1750 and thought to be the oldest surviving house in Roxbury. The location includes an adjacent 1-acre (0.40 ha) landscaped park with views of the Boston skyline, and is part of the Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston.
Stony Brook is a 8.5-mile (13.7 km)-long subterranean river in Boston. The largest tributary stream of the lower Charles River, it runs mostly through conduits. Stony Brook originates at Turtle Pond in the Stony Brook Reservation and flows through Hyde Park, Roslindale, Jamaica Plain, and Roxbury. It empties into the Charles River Basin just upstream of the Harvard Bridge. Stony Brook is fed by four tributaries, all of which are partially or entirely in conduits as well.
Girls' High School is a defunct secondary school that was located at various times in the Downtown Boston, South End and Roxbury sections of Boston, Massachusetts. The first public high school for young women in the United States, it was founded in 1852 as the Normal School for girls to be trained as primary school teachers. It was initially located above a public library in the former Adams schoolhouse on Mason Street. In 1854, the school's name was changed to the Girls' High and Normal School.
Elma Lewis School of Fine Arts (ELSFA) was founded in 1950 by Elma Lewis. The school, based in Roxbury, Boston, provided classes in a variety of artistic, social, and cultural topics, including art, dance, drama, music, and costuming. Lewis founded the school with the intention of promoting "programs of cultural enrichment for the benefit of deprived children" in Roxbury, Dorchester and throughout the Greater Boston area. The school closed at its Elm Hill Avenue location following an arson fire in 1985.
La Alianza Hispana is a social service agency founded in 1969 by residents of Roxbury/ North Dorchester to support Boston's Hispanic population. La Alianza advocates for equal access to services and public resources for the Hispanic Community by combating the effects of discrimination, poverty and challenges of migration.